Livber: Smoke and Mirrors

Livber: Smoke and Mirrors is a visual novel about a guy, who after 5 years, returns home to reunite with his former lover. The novel is filled with choices that lead to eight different endings. A full, blind playthrough is probably about a couple hours, maybe less, but you'll likely want to go through the story at least a couple times to learn more about the world. As of this writing (Nov 22, 2025), my playtime of ~7.5 hours is from an attempt to find all the endings and achievements; though I'm not 100% convinced everything is possible to obtain; at least right now. [strike]The game currently lacks a few quality of life features, such as an ending list or chapter select; though the latter is apparently in the pipeline slated for a future release. Overall, I did enjoy Livber, and do recommend it, it's pretty creepy in spots and I enjoyed the mystery, however it could definitely use some polishing in spots; there are probably a few too many choices that lead to the same end (I think I got ending 2 a dozen different ways, for example) and with no way to know what choices lead where (or what choices you made in previous runs), it can get a little frustrating after you've played through the story a few times and are just looking for the different paths and achievements.[/strike] EDIT: After the Narrative Map update and achievement fixes, Livber has become a much more polished game. The narrative map acts as a chapter select of sorts, showing which paths you've yet to unlock. It goes a long way towards helping to find all the endings and really makes it easier to identify the spots you missed in previous read-throughs. The dev has been quite responsive to bug reports and has really cleaned up the issues I reported. Livber is an enjoyable and creepy choose-your-own adventure that I recommend playing all the way through, not just once, but multiple times to see all different content.

What a strange visual novel. I think I'd recommend it. This is clearly translated from Turkish, and it was often hard to tell when the language was being extremely poetic and when it was just some odd localization. The story feels mostly vibes-based instead of a tightly plotted narrative, but that's interesting in its own way.

Just finished the 1st chapter. Game is amazing. You can really feel the atmosphere.

I also played the demo of the game. It was an amazing experience. I had to play it again from the beginning to understand the story better. I think it's a very deep story. I'll play it a few more times to see the different endings.

I just reached 2nd ending of the game. Story and sounds of the game was amazing. As a horror fan I loved it. I will go back and play it again to see the other endings. Hope to see more visual novels from these guys!

After the demo, I was curious about the rest of the story. That was very interesting experience for me.

Before Livber: Smoke and Mirrors came out, I was emailed about the demo and I really wanted to play it since there was clearly so much care put into the game. I never got around to it, but the developers were kind enough to reach out to me again with a key and I couldn't be more thankful. I don't usually write reviews, like ever, but I thought I would this time because I really enjoyed the game! The strongest aspect of this game is its writing, although there are some minor errors littered throughout the English translation. These were rarely distracting. There were some metaphors that may not have come across perfectly (like when Lilith kept saying she wants us inside her, but maybe that's an intentional euphemism). Sometimes, descriptions would become repetitive, turning into a list of 3-4 adjectives where just one would do. But mostly, that style of writing does land and ends up providing a unique and detailed description of an area or it conveys intense emotion. Overall, I liked the story that was being told. The more you explore the game, the more it unravels which feels rewarding. The biggest flaw with this game is that there seems to be no save slots. Although, it doesn't take too long to get back to where you were before. It would also be helpful to have somewhere to check which endings you've already obtained. I also heard that the team spent a lot of time fleshing out the world that this story is set in, so I hope they use Gaia for a future project! This game throws some new terms at you, highlighted words that you can hover over for a short explanation. This never became overwhelming, since you aren't bombarded with too much information all at once and much of it can be likened to something that exists in the real world or existing fantasy. And of course, the art is gorgeous. The scenes look like they're pulled from a painting and I found it really exciting when I'd come across supplementary sketches and notes to examine. I will also say that while I enjoyed it, this game was different from what I expected. It's pretty straightforward, with five different endings that serve to flesh out the main story. This results in a linear story where every aspect feels purposeful.

I absolutely loved this game. The writing is very descriptive and helps pull you deep into the story. The sound and music were fantastic and helps set the mood. The art style is beautifully haunting. I have always been a big fan of graphic novels and this one really scratches that horror itch. The branching story line can lead you down many paths and leads to different endings so it has replay ability. I look forward to the updates they are going to make with the game as well as what the devs will do next. Interested in seeing a playthrough of the game? Check out my youtube video https://youtu.be/GRxc8X1PNzM

[h1]Great Story, Twisted Plot[/h1] I honestly not a fan of psychological horror games, but this one? I LOVE THE TWISTS IN EVERY CHAPTERS AND ENDINGS!! The stories kept making me gagged and flabbergasted, supported by the graphics. Yes, I feel uncomfortable during the game because of disturbing graphics, but the stories are 100/10!! The obsessions, love, and wanting to be 'one' with spouse...it's thrilled me.

"Livber: Smoke and Mirrors" is a short VN game with a disturbing psychological horror story about love, trauma and mysticism. It does an excellent job at creating the atmosphere that pulls us in with its creepy art and emotion-filled music. The story doesn't pull punches when it comes to unsettling mysticism, gore and body horror, and it truly hits the "psychological" aspect of the horror, unsettling us with its backstory which gets unravelled piece by piece. Although this is predominantly a psychological horror game in an eerie dark fantasy setting, it is also a beautiful story that's focused on love and letting go, about two souls that found themselves in difficult circumstances, where hard choices had to be made, and what it means about the present moment. Don't expect it all to be clear cut and on-the-nose. A lot of it will require you to piece together the meaning on your own, and even by the end you might still keep asking yourself questions. It helps to try several endings to understand more. And speaking of that, there are plenty of choices to make, although majority of the story is fairly linear, and, aside from a couple of early endings, most of the endings result from a handful of choices at the end. The game has a narrative map in its main menu, so you can come back and replay different scenes in order to find new paths through the story. A single playthrough took me about 1.5 hours, but if you want to witness all the scenes and endings, it will take longer. I would've preferred for the game to have more art, particularly to have more image transitions in the action scenes, but what's there is still functional and conveys the necessary atmosphere, which is also greatly helped by the amazing soundtrack. I enjoyed this emotional and unsettling VN. It didn't overstay its welcome. It didn't pull punches. It didn't have anything unnecessary. Every part of it was a piece of the whole that contributed to the experience of delivering a beautiful, dark story.