History Main / InvisibilityFlicker

* In SandyMitchell's ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novel ''Duty Calls'', the inability of a psyker to prevent this is what lets Cain survive long enough for Jurgen's return. (And the cover story is that it was let him kill his assassin.)

* Once your cover is blown in any ''SplinterCell'' game, everyone sees you, regardless of how dark the surroundings still are, and anything you do that doesn't involve killing or finding a better hiding place.
** That's not ''quite'' true. In the first two games, yes, enemies develop a magical "see you anywhere" ability. But in ''Chaos Theory'' and ''Double Agent'', they'll continue to shoot at the spot you just were at, or somewhere nearby and ''won't'' track your movements with superhuman seeing, allowing you to salvage the situation by skulking away and then coming up from behind.

* Likewise, in ''RomancingSaGa: Minstrel Song'', the "Lurk" and "Move Silently" abilities prevent enemies from seeing or hearing you, respectively...unless you run into one on your own, in which case a battle begins (Either in Melee; closer range and more BP) or you get the initiative (Attack First) and after you win the stealth abilities are no more.

* In most varieties of 'TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', "attacking" cancels out invisibility spells or items affecting a character. But not bashing inanimate objects with a club, or stabbing a willing target, or opening a cage with dangerous things in it. It's apparently a very intelligent spell...though really, how hard is it to detect "directly inflicting harm on an unwilling target"? Anyway, it is the literal truth (in most cases) that AWizardDidIt.

* ''PerfectDark'' follows this trope. Cloaking will temporarily deactivate when you or an enemy attack (which includes firing guns, pistol whipping, punching, and throwing things) under the [[JustifiedTrope justification]] that sudden movement disrupts the cloaking field. Shields will also blink occasionally; useful for spotting shielded enemies and seeing the shield strength of allies, on account of shields [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience being color-coded by how much power is left]] (bright-red for full and dark green for almost gone).

* ''PerfectDark'' follows this trope. Cloaking will temporarily deactivate when you attack (which includes firing guns, pistol whipping, punching, and throwing things) under the [[JustifiedTrope justification]] that sudden movement disrupts the cloaking field. Shields will also blink occasionally; useful for spotting shielded enemies and seeing the shield strength of allies, on account of shields [[ColorCodedForYourConvenience being color-coded by how much power is left]] (bright-red for full and dark green for almost gone).

* The ''TenchiMuyo'' {{Spinoff}} ''TenchiMuyoGXP'' has an episode where [[BewareTheNiceOnes Kiriko shows her stuff]]. She changes into a skintight battlesuit with a cloaking device, which seems to do the traveling blink right after every pirate she kills. This very nicely shows how much blood she's managed to get herself covered in, and just how damn scary her scowling face looks.
* This seems to happen to the Major a lot in the various ''GhostInTheShell'' properties.

* In ''SoulEater'', Black Star, who is quite skilled at stealth, insists on making the biggest entrance possible, thus preventing his sneak attacks from working. On the other hand, when appropriately motivated he is essentially composed of Badass, and doesn't particularly need surprise.

* In ''GlobalAgenda'', the Recon class pops out their stealth all the time when using their abilities or getting shot at.

* Happens all the time in the ''Spiral Knights' '' pvp mini-game, Lockdown. In the game the player can become a recon. You cannot see a stealthed enemy recon, but you will be alerted to their presence. Remaining near a stealthed opponent will lower your defense. Further, due to the game's mechanics, activating stealth immediately after attacking will cancel part of your attack animation and speed up your attack. So, a common tactic is to stealth near your enemy, lower their defenses, attack, and immediately restealth.

* ''VideoGame/EscapeVelocity'': Nova has this for the Wraith, everytime they get close, they flicker a bit, same when they're angered and they attack you. The Polaris gets a cloaking [[{{OrganicTechnology}} organ]] but requires you to decloak in order to fire weapons, later in the specific storyline, the Scarab and Raven are upgraded to have a specially modified Polaron ([[{{MacrossMissileMassacre}} multi-]])torpedo tubes that allow you to fire while cloaked.

* In ''{{Halo}}'', attacking while cloaked would cause your cloak to disappear, although ceasing your attack makes it reappear. This has obvious gameplay balance advantages, of course.

** The Active Camouflage in ''HaloReach'' partially drops while the user is moving.

* Stealth powers in ''CityOfHeroes'' work in a similar fashion. But while the stealth ability is "suppressed" when you are attacking, taking damage, or interacting with objects, any other benefits the power has will still apply. The Stalker archetype even gets a massive 'sneak attack' damage bonus for initiating their assassin strike while stealthed, as well as a much higher chance to deal double damage with their other attacks.

->"They can cloak but they can't completely hide themselves."
-->-- Batou, ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex''

* {{EscapeVelocity}}: Nova has this for the Wraith, everytime they get close, they flicker a bit, same when they're angered and they attack you. The Polaris gets a cloaking [[{{OrganicTechnology}} organ]] but requires you to decloak in order to fire weapons, later in the specific storyline, the Scarab and Raven are upgraded to have a specially modified Polaron ([[{{MacrossMissileMassacre}} multi-]])torpedo tubes that allow you to fire while cloaked.

* For some reason, the Replica Assassins in ''[[FirstEncounterAssaultRecon F.E.A.R.]]'' can't seem to stay invisible and punch you at the same time. Although it's less of an invisibility flicker and more of a "pop into existence about 3 inches from your face before smacking you one".

* All stealth units in the ''CommandAndConquer'' series had to uncloak to fire (except Pathfinders from Generals, who had to WALK for that instead). In the first ''Red Alert'', submarines were handled as stealth units... Never mind that in RealLife, the first submarines did the perfect opposite: As they weren't equipped for prolonged periods underwater, they usually stayed afloat out of battle.

** That and stealthed units/buildings in Dawn and Sun can be revealed by getting a unit close enough that they would essentially be touching it. And the force attack (ctrl) command is your best friend for targeting cloaked buildings.

* The Stealth ability in ''{{World of Warcraft}}'' makes you invisible until you interact with something (unless the interaction is Pick-Pocketing), or until you get too close to something that's looking right at you.

* ''{{Warcraft}} 3'' has the Wind Walk spell that turns a unit invisible until it runs out of time or attacks a target, upon which it (usually - you can alter the ability on custom maps) deals bonus damage. The Permanent Invisibility passive ability and other types of invisibility also break upon attacking or casting a spell, the former reasserting itself quickly when action ceases.

* In SandyMitchell's ''CiaphasCain'' novel ''Duty Calls'', the inability of a psyker to prevent this is what lets Cain survive long enough for Jurgen's return. (And the cover story is that it was let him kill his assassin.)

* Used in ''DungeonCrawl'' to indicate your Invisibility spell is about to run out. Also, you can occasionally get a glimpse of where invisible creatures are while you're fighting them, and being invisible while standing in something that gets displaced (fog, water, etc.) reveals your position.

* In ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' you can have two different kinds of cloaking, anti-device and anti-human. You couldn't have both as cybernetic implants at the same time, though you could pick up anti-human cloaking devices which worked for a little while. You were free to attack as much as you liked, but the duration of the cloak was very limited.
** It is perfectly possible to get both, you just have to leave second subdermal slot open and wait for second invisibility can which can be found later in the game.
** The sequel allows you to have both right off the bat by having the anti-device and anti-human cloaks in different slots.

* Franchise/StarTrek's Klingon and Romulan combat starships have cloaking fields that must be turned off in order to attack. The Klingons managing to overcome this technical difficulty is a major plot point of ''Film/{{Star Trek VI|The Undiscovered Country}}'': the ship in question is only partially visible for a split second due to being backlit by the glowing torpedo it fires.

** A variation in ''StarTrekIII'', where a Klingon cloak is just slightly flawed, and Kirk spots something is up when a star seems to shift position slightly as the cloaked ship passed in front of it.

* This happens in ''{{Gauntlet}}'' when a player picks up the invisibility amulet.

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* One of Molly Carpenter's favoured battle tactics in ''Administrivia/TheDresdenFiles''. That and her patented 'One Woman Rave' spell.

* One of Molly Carpenter's favoured battle tactics in ''TheDresdenFiles''. That and her patented 'One Woman Rave' spell.

* The [[spoiler: Nox]] in the ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'' episode "The Nox" turned invisible, but then would reappear when [[spoiler: healing or resurrecting someone.]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'', attacking enemies with your weapons causes invisibility to break. Very annoying when you're trying to BackStab and sneak. For some reason, your abilities don't break cloak.

* Using the Phase Cloak in ''VideoGame/Oni'' allows you to be briefly visible, but you reappear when you touch someone or fire a weapon.