Viral horror game Livber: Smoke and Mirrors is basically spooky Disco Elysium

Text-based games were a thing long before Disco Elysium, and they'll exist long after it has exited the public consciousness. Right now, however, it is a core part of the social zeitgeist and has led to a resurgence of text-heavy RPGs and narrative games. Citizen Sleeper and Norco are two of my favorites to achieve relative success in ZA/UM's wake, and more are on the horizon. Rue Valley and Esoteric Ebb, in particular, but also a game called Livber: Smoke and Mirrors. This transplants Disco Elysium's text-heavy narrative into a horror setting, and I'm ready to be freaked the heck out.

After going viral in the Disco Elysium subreddit thanks to its choice-based narrative and unique art direction, developer InEv Games released a demo for Livber: Smoke and Mirrors, which you can play now.

The forthcoming horror game has over 60,000 words, 10,000 of which are voiced. That falls short of Disco Elysium's staggering 1.2 million, but it's nearly a full novel's worth of writing, with every word trying to instil fear into your very being.

InEv Games also promises eight different endings, depending on the choices you make throughout the game. It will be interesting to see how Disco Elysium's lyrical style will transition to a horror game, but if the splash that it's made online is anything to go by, players are ravenous for more.

I'm a bit of a scaredy cat myself, and the only horror game I've actually finished is Alien: Isolation. While I appreciate its greatness, I can't say I enjoyed the experience of hiding in lockers and crawling through vents. I might have to take the plunge on a second horror experience with Livber: Smoke and Mirrors, though, because I'm a sucker for a literary style and anything invoking Robert Kurvitz piques my attention. Besides, I read horror novels okay, so this is basically the same, right?

Livber: Smoke and Mirrors is set to release in September 2025. You can wishlist it and download the demo here.

If you, like me, are a little bit scared of the dark, try out some of the best indie games for a breath of fresh air. If you want something that's guaranteed to entertain you, the best PC games are right here.

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