I love it when a horror game isn’t afraid to get incredibly weird with it. From cats with wings to a woman who should be dead, Livber: Smoke and Mirrors has it all. A visual novel, comparable in style and tone to games like Disco Elysium and Fear and Hunger, I didn’t know what I should be expecting. From the start of the game, I know that I’ll be interacting with a woman whom I loved by the name of Lilith. She calls me back to the place we first met, five years after her death. What I wasn’t expecting, however, was what happened to my character after this reunion. Well, depending on what dialogue choices I picked.
PSA: Don’t Eat Too Much of the Meat in ‘Livber: Smoke and Mirrors’. If You Know, You Know.
Livber: Smoke and Mirrors isn’t what it seems. From the start, it’s a beautifully illustrated horror game, one that features a total of eight different endings. Even the demo, which I’ve played through multiple times with different dialogue choices, can change as you progress. But the content within is what is truly disturbing. Lilith is a psychopath in every sense of the word. She may seem like she has good intentions, but nothing that she’s doing is for you. She may say it is, and she may act innocent, but I can promise that one wrong word can lead you down a path you don’t want to go. But there’s something so alluring about Lilith, and I can’t quite put my finger on it.
The idea of a woman who is so in love with you that she’d find out how to escape the clutches of death is something some folks may dream of. But, between the succulently written dialogue in Livber: Smoke and Mirrors and the undertones of her true motivations, it may be time to reevaluate your choices. Some of the choices in Livber: Smoke and Mirrors are meant to make you feel like a bad person. But more than likely? These choices are going to give you the best chance to get the happy ending you deserve. It’s a game that gets under your skin, with detailed descriptions of every event transpiring around you.
Pick Your Next Words Carefully, as They Could Potentially Be Your Last
What I think impressed me the most, however? How one line of dialogue could completely throw your run under the bus, or save you from your potentially impending doom. Livber: Smoke and Mirrors is delightfully sinister, and a game that would likely have me scared to go to sleep if I played it at night. You never know where Lilith is going to be, now do you?
Everything within the world of Livber: Smoke and Mirrors is created by hand. No AI is used here, from the detailed and utterly gorgeous artwork to the smattering of words strewn upon my screen. It’s terrifying, while also still falling into mature themes with grace. The demo has me intrigued enough that the Q3 2025 launch doesn’t feel so far away. For a game created by six people and their cat? It’s incredibly ambitious. I’m already scared to see what the rest of the game is going to look like.
The post ‘Livber: Smoke and Mirrors’ Had Me Feeling Uncomfortable, and Much Like Lilith, I’ve Got a Taste for More appeared first on VICE.
