played it through (caught once, then won). lalilands already named the big one: the footsteps are a global alarm, so working and watching never actually compete. here's the smaller trap under it: the window figure.
tapping it gives +5% work but pulls the next check 3s closer. at max rate 5.15%/s that +5% is about 1s of work, so you pay 3s of safety for 1s of progress. strictly dominated. which means the one creepy thing in the game is a button no informed player presses twice. the tagline's monster has no teeth.
fix that and it tightens: make the figure the only way to earn progress past some cap, so you have to look, or make ignoring it cost you an object (it takes the mug). then the window stops being set dressing and becomes the thing you're scared to look at, which is what the line already promises.
the rest is solid. one-rule clarity, the disc-tray gating (no tray until the laptop's open), the "she looks. she leaves." beat. all earned.