After playing for a while, I finally made my way to the second safehouse, and thought I did a good job preparing for the night. I boarded up all the windows, repaired the doorways, and thought I made some pretty clever use of the furniture, to block any potential intruders... So the night arrived, generator was on, I was hiding in a fairly "secure" location of the building... Then the first cultist(?) arrived, and what do you know, he found his way directly to my hiding place in the house and easily pushed aside any furniture barricades. I felt a little cheated at that point, like all the preparation was useless. Don't they have lines of sight or something? Seemed like he knew exactly where I was in the building, even though the lights were off and I didn't make a sound.

I managed to knock him out, healed myself, then eventually took down another that broke through one of the windows. So far so good. A moment later -something else- entered through the window and -- to cut this story short, my character got completely raped. :|

So I was wondering, was this intentional? Are you supposed to lose during that first night in the Silent Forest(?) safehouse? Or did I just screw up? :|

P.S.: The game is still fun. In a creepy, freaky, masochistic way.

There is quite a significant step-up in difficulty between safehouses.
Hideout 1 is easy. Enemies rarely attack your barricades, usually opting to push their way through the hole in the kitchen wall instead.

Hideout 2 is a little harder. You'll want to nail all doors and windows shut every night since at least one entrance will be broken into each time. Enemies will sometimes break barricades even if they cant see you and will search from room-to-room looking for you.
Putting furniture in front of doors is useless since they will just push them aside. furniture is usually only good for blocking line-of-sight.
Putting furniture on the outside of doors can be more effective but enemies will break furniture in 2-3 hits and it costs significantly more to repair than barricades

You should also invest in traps. Place Bear traps in front of all windows (avoid doors as they will stop them from opening inwards, prompting the savages to smash your doors.)
If you have any spare glass bottles you can smash them on the ground to make broken glass traps that will take off about a third of an enemies health while allowing you to walk over them freely.
As for weapons you should probably have a pistol and a shovel by now. although be warned that the sound of pistol shots will alert more enemies.

You will probably also find a bike bell in the crafting table of hideout 2 which you can use to summon a man who can carry your stuff from any other hideout in exchange for a bottle of alcohol.

Finally, if you don't have enough boards and traps to secure your hideout properly you can hide in a corner with a wardrobe in front of you and if you stay perfectly still enemies will never find you in 80-90% of cases. Although later in the game there will be random events that will force you to move around more.

Surviving in the second (and later third and fourth) hideouts is perfectly possible but you need to be smart about it.

Yeah, so I noticed! I opted to move back into the old place for now, for the nights. Is there a greater trader reputation reward, if you survive a night in the more dangerous places?

Also, how useful are those mutation perks? I've gained a few levels, but it seems like the negative perks have a stronger impact on gameplay than the positive ones... ? Also, does the game grow more difficult as you gain levels? I'll definitely have to look into traps. I didn't even know about the broken glass thing. Is it single use, or will the glass remain on the ground? I don't have a pistol, but I did build a shovel. Does it have unlimited durability, or will I have to constantly repair it, like the nail-board? Right, I did find one, but had no idea what it's good for. That's some Dark Souls level weird shit right there! Awesome! Is it a single use item? That's the thing, I thought I was quite smart about it, at least using the knowledge I had at the time. I mean, I barricaded the house up, used the furniture as additional barricades, hid in a well secured room, turned the light off and didn't make a sound -- and yet that cultist ( I think that's what they're called ) made his way straight towards me, through several rooms and barricades. That felt kinda cheap. :/

Anyhow, thanks for all the tips!

Yes. each hideout gives more reputation than the last. the first is 100 per night. the second is 150 per night, the third is 200 per night and the fourth is 250. The mutation perks can be very useful. Although you need to remember that you have them.
personally, I kept forgetting about them, especially in situations where they could've helped me survive.
you may as well gain at least the first two levels since you get the first negative perk regardless of level once you reach chapter two.
The second tier drawbacks are easily mitigated. I chose Extra vulnerability to poison since the only way you can be poisoned is by stepping on a mushroom (I think).
The game does not get more difficult as you gain levels. the difficulty only changes based on what area you're in. Glass traps are single use, like every other trap. However they can be picked up and re-positioned without destroying them unlike bear traps or chain traps. Since they are initially created by throwing a glass bottle they can be created over top of existing bear traps to make them more effective All melee weapons must be repaired from time-to-time. However if you choose to give the shovel both durability upgrades it will last longer than any other weapon in the game. Luckily guns do not have to be repaired but you must buy or find ammo. The bell is not single use. It can be used as many times as you want in chapter 1. However it will not work once you progress past the Bunker door into chapter 2. Also keep in mind that the NPC that transports your stuff is an alcoholic and will drink any alcohol he carries, delivering empty bottles Instead. You'll probably want to keep your light on every night. The "Shadows" event can trigger and spawn ghosts that can drain your health while you're in the dark.
It may seem as if the enemies are making a beeline straight towards you but usually if they break in on the other side of the building they don't know where you are and are simply searching from room-to-room. However enemies can spot you through the cracks in your walls and windows so you'll want to keep out of view if you want to minimize fights. sometimes enemies will just wander in and out again if they cant find you.

However from hideout 2 onward you should expect a bare minimum of 1 fight every night and prepare accordingly.

Oh, I kinda expected it would be at least 200 for the second safe-house. I've been playing some more and managed to survive a few nights in the new safe-house. I think I just got unlucky on my first night there, because even back then I survived the cultists, but that other creature ripped me to shreds. Still, 50 extra reputation seems like a small reward, considering the extra investment in preparations and supplies, compared to the first safe-house. I guess the main advantage is that you're closer to other locations, such as the village. And once again, that's the kind of ideas and attention to detail that turn a game into something special. Yeah, I got that a few times in the first safe-house. But isn't it just a random event? Or is it specifically triggered by keeping the lights turned off? Seems to be the former. Either way, I usually wait next to a lamp, so if I need the light, I can just switch it on. As far as I know the generator uses less fuel, if you don't keep all the lamps switched on all night long... ?

I'm in the second house as well and as far as I can tell enemies don't know your location, but will look around for you and the layout of that building (if it's the same in every game) happens to make you really easy to find. Difficulty is definitely ramping up as well, as I almost always get attacked at night by at least two savages. The game does a good job of making me want to keep the lights on and squeeze into a corner.

Like leadchef says, you can block the doors with furniture if you want to, but they'll smash it to bits and it costs a lot to get repaired. Instead, I put it on my side of the door so that it gets moved away, but as I can see it move in the darkness from a distance I'll get a heads up that someone is coming.

I just got to Hideout 2 as well and it seems like the savages are going to ineviatbly break though my barriers every night. The thing is, I don't want to waste resources every day repairing them. I heard resources are finite in this game. I'd rather just hide but I figure if I'm going to end up having to fight them every night, I might as well take the fight to them and meet them outside and take them on. That way I only have to repair my weapon instead of having to repair my weapon AND my barriers.