Hype - Don’t Go Live

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F3sBx8gdbA0

Developer: Lake On Fire

Publisher: Lake On Fire

Available on: PC (Steam)

Live Views, Ghosts, and Subscriptions OH MY

It's a cold, dark night. You're staring at your phone, trying to figure out how to get famous. The answer? Throw on a mask and livestream yourself exploring a haunted location until you hit one thousand subscribers. Little did you know that things actually go bump in the night, and in this case, chasing you down a hallway trying to devour your soul. That’s how Don’t Go Live breaks onto the scene: a new twist on horror games by Lake On Fire!

You play as a faceless streamer that seems to be wearing what I can only describe as a Purge-esque emoji mask. Exploring haunted locations full of floating objects, spoiled food, and of course, squatters—I mean spirits. All while pumping up your viewer and subscription count to get to that coveted one thousand mark before you end the stream.

To Stream Or Not To Stream

One of the coolest things about this game is the fact that you are a streamer. Whether you stream in real life or not, this is something that gives you that feeling of being one of the greats. If you don’t stream, Don’t Go Live gives you the option to use simulated chatters, where the game basically gives you access to hundreds of “people” to react to your progress in the game. Unfortunately, hiding, sprinting, and just hanging out likely get the chat to call you out for faking the experience or being bored, and they start leaving faster than common sense disappears when you first see the love of your life. Whereas doing something like walking up to the ghost or mysterious object gets you more HYPE.

Now, one of the best things I have seen for actual streamers is the ability to link your own Twitch chat to Don’t Go Live. Yes, it still gives you simulated chatters because let’s face it, not all of us can get to a thousand subs, let alone a thousand per level. But it does still interact with real hype moments. The messages, the emotes, and, of course, alerts are all pulled into the game in real time.

The part where being a streamer in this game can be a little rough, those actions done by your real audience, the hype and chatty ones especially, create noise that attracts the entity. Yes, I did try this out, and yes, as you can imagine, I was on the run for much of my time as what is chat to a streamer other than bullies who love to watch you squirm. After spending a few hours with the demo, I had a chance to interview one of the developers. During this interview, I learned that the more saint-like community members can counter the chaos with the !help command, giving your “Good Noodles” a way to push back against the naughty ones.

The Future Looks Bright (And Terrifying)

Now to the nitty-gritty part. I have spent several weeks in their Discord watching as people would give Lake On Fire feedback, and one of the best things I have seen is that these people listen. From little suggestions of “We should be able to run backwards” to “Entity seems to be getting stuck here,” the development team is all over it, constantly trying to make their work better. There will be multiple locations and different entities, each with its own mannerisms and rules for interacting with the players. The team is also working on cooperative gameplay, which would mean two separate stream chats could really cause a lot of hurt for the players and streamers. No two runs will play out the same, so every adventure into the haunted clout-seeking world of Don’t Go Live will feel like a fresh nightmare you just stepped into.

What I found is that the game isn’t heavily reliant on jump scares, but it does give you the sense of impending dread. You never know what’s waiting around the corner you are about to turn, and you never know where the entity is until it starts hunting. All the while, things around you do tend to change. Objects move, and paths tend to magically appear. This, combined with the entity, makes you abandon your fight response and shift straight to flight!

The Don’t Go Live demo is currently out on PC, available on Steam, though the team at Lake On Fire says they are still in discussion on whether to take the game to consoles. Full game release date is still to be announced, so I will be awaiting semi-patiently with the rest of you for that announcement!

A Word from Lake On Fire:

“We're a small indie studio based on Reunion Island, France, and Don't Go Live is our first release under the Lake On Fire name. We built this game because we love horror and streaming culture, and we wanted to create something that blurs the line between the two in a way that hasn't really been done before. If you enjoy the demo, leaving a review on Steam means the world to us; it directly helps other players find the game. And we're just getting started!” — Ricoco, Social Media Manager, Lake On Fire

Play the Demo on Steam!