History Blog / InvisibleGames

* ItIsNotYourTime: [[spoiler:The Archivist was prevented from watching her mother play The Book of the Names of the Dead, let alone playing herself. It's implied that the only people who can play are people who are already on death's door or destined to die soon. She'll still have dreams of being approached one day to plsy the game.]]

* GuideDangIt: {{Invoked}} In ''Killswitch'', the backstory of the game could be revealed by a series of incredibly difficult puzzles. None of the fanbase was able to solve it until one user worked out a solution and posted it on the forum.

%% * ApocalypticLog: Simultaneously averted and fulfilled with [[spoiler:Yamamoto Ryuichi]]. He only manages one entry, but it's a doozy.

* BlessedWithSuck: Ghast, one of the two protagonist characters of the ''Killswitch'' game. He possesses a fearsome array of offensive powers, but his invisibility renders him all but impossible to control.

* ColorCodedForYourConvenience: In ''The Brightshaupt Device'', the metal discs Aemelia gave her grandchildren light up with different colors depending on what radio signals they pick up. For example, a red light indicated the frequency Yankees games could he heard, while a violet light indicated the channel a popular radio drama was on. The color closest to black they encountered was triggered when they caught a signal that played funeral music, shortly after coming home from Aemelia's funeral.

''Invisible Games'' was a fiction blog written by Creator/CatherynneMValente that was active from October to December 2007. It consists of a series of surreal - and sometimes quite disturbing - tales of mysterious games and their even more mysterious creators. ''Invisible Games'' is perhaps most noteworthy for being the home of the infamous video game urban legend ''Killswitch.'' The blog's in-universe author is identified only as "The Archivist" and no clues are provided regarding her identity beyond the fact that she is female.

The original blog is now no longer online, but is still currently able to be read in collection format [[https://www.scribd.com/document/240472330/Invisible-Games-Catherynne-M-Valente here]] or accessed through Internet Archive's Wayback Machine [[https://web.archive.org/web/20140923060525/http://invisiblegames.net/ here.]]

* AngstySurvivingTwin: Irja Pentintytär. The death of her brother and subsequent dissolution of her marriage leads to years of incredible technical brilliance, [[spoiler:despair, isolation, and [[DrivenToSuicide suicide.]]]]

* {{Calvinball}}: ''The Lenentine Cards'' is a magic realist take on this.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler:Irja Pentintytär]].

** Porto's in-game ending in ''Killswitch'' counts as well.

* GoMadFromTheRevelation:
** In ''Killswitch,'' the heavily implied fate of [[spoiler:Yamamoto Ryuichi]].
** In ''The Pentintytär Arcade'', [[spoiler:Torvald]] is so unhinged by the experience that [[spoiler:he spends years tracking down and collecting the individual games just so he can sit naked in the middle of them, clutching a gun and calling out Irja's name]].
* {{Hikikomori}}: Irja Pentintytär

* LifeImitatesArt: After lingering online for several years the original blog has finally vanished, echoing the fate of ''Killswitch,'' its most famous story.

* NintendoHard: The eponymous video game in ''Killswitch;" especially if the player attempts to play as Ghast.

* SingleAttemptGame: ''Killswitch'' had this as it's main gimmick, once the game is finished, so is the copy that was being played.

* AncientTradition: [[spoiler: The keepers of The Book. Implied to have evolved out of an order of Catholic nuns, these women are seemingly ubiquitous in The Archivist's homeland and mysteriously appear at the homes of terminally ill people, granting them access to a strange virtual reality game that provides them great comfort and profound revelations as they die.]]
* AngstySurvivingTwin: Irja Pentintytär. The death of her brother and subsequent dissolution of her marriage leads to years of incredible technical brilliance, [[spoiler: despair, isolation, and [[DrivenToSuicide suicide.]]]]

* BittersweetEnding: Agent Small and her ex-husband Agent Thin are finally reunited, but it is implied their lives will be no better than before. Making matters worse, [[spoiler: it's not even the real Agent Thin at all, just the latest in a series of [[ExpendableClone expendable clones.]]]]

* [[TheChessmaster The Clockmaster]]: Afanasy Rumyantsev, a builder of wondrous and amusing clocks who develops an elaborate game in which [[spoiler: his patrons form the parts of a vast, living clock that amuses him in turn.]]

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Irja Pentintytär]].

** [[spoiler: The dwelling place of the Archivist, and presumably Eglantyne the Wracked before her: an unnamed tropical region constantly besieged by [[PerpetualStorm eyeless hurricanes that last for years at a time.]]]]

** [[spoiler: The blog's penultimate entry is [[LostEpisode missing]], replaced only by an ominous "Access Denied" message. The final entry then seems to be the Archivist speaking in first person, relating her personal quest to find a game she watched her mother play as a little girl: a game which [[DeathSeeker only the dying are allowed to play...]]]]

* HopeSpot: It seems that someone will find the ending to the Ghast run of ''Killswitch'' after buying the last copy and planning to livestream it. [[spoiler: Yamamoto Ryuichi never records his run, only his BrokenTears.]]

** [[spoiler: [[ShoutOut The Book Of]] [[Creator/HPLovecraft The Names Of The Dead.]]]]

* SingleAttemptGame: ''Killswitch'' had this as it’s main gimmick, once the game is finished, so is the copy that was being played.

* ApocalypticLog: Simultaneously averted and fulfilled with [[spoiler:Yamamoto Ryuichi]]. He only manages one entry, but it's a doozy.
* AxCrazy:
** The mining machines of ''Killswitch'' after being given life by The Fires of the Earth.
** The Wilsons; the CoDragons of ''What Happened to Agent Small?''.

* DrivenToSuicide: [[spoiler: Irja Pentintytär]]

* GenreShift: The blog opens with the positive and uplifting pairing of ''Brightshaupt Devices'' and ''The Loneliness Engine,'' making the abrupt appearance of ''Killswitch'' that much more jarring.

* NintendoHard: The eponymous video game in ''Killswitch;" taken UpToEleven if the player attempts to play as Ghast.

The original blog is now no longer online, but is still currently able to be read in collection format [[https://www.scribd.com/document/240472330/Invisible-Games-Catherynne-M-Valente here.]]

* LifeImmitatesArt: After lingering online for several years the original blog has finally vanished, echoing the fate of ''Killswitch,'' its most famous story.

''Invisible Games'' is a fiction blog that was active from October to December 2007. It consists of a series of surreal - and sometimes quite disturbing - tales of mysterious games and their even more mysterious creators. ''Invisible Games'' is perhaps most noteworthy for being the home of the infamous video game urban legend ''Killswitch.'' The blog's author is identified only as "The Archivist" and no clues are provided regarding her identity beyond the fact that she is female. The page contains a tiny link to the web page of fantasy author Creator/CatherynneMValente, but Valente has not confirmed whether she is in fact the author.

The first tale in the ''Invisible Games'' sequence, ''Brightshaupt Devices'', can be found [[http://invisiblegames.net/?p=9 here.]]

** [[spoiler: The dwelling place of the Archivist, and presumably Eglantyne the Wracked before her: an unnamed tropical region constantly besieged by eyeless hurricanes that last for years at a time.]]