How are users affected when stimuli in virtual environments don’t align with their expectations? This phenomenon, known as incongruence, tends to occur frequently in virtual reality, such as when avatars clip through walls or when sound effects are insufficiently realistic. In order to further explore incongruence in subtle manners, we developed a walking technique manipulating the timing and sound of footfall, the sound of a user’s footsteps, while using arm-swinging as a proxy for natural walking. We then conducted a within-subjects experiment investigating the impact of our technique on task load and presence. Our results indicate the significance of footfall timing as a factor of task load, and highlights how congruent footfall is important to maintaining presence. Finally, analyse our paper from an industrial perspective by suggesting applications and linking it to case studies by Khora, a leading Scandinavian XR production studio.