Visibility
Video game concept
A container group for various effects, designs, contrivances, & such that manage how and what the player can see of the videogame world & its contents
Child groups
| Circadian cycle | Day and night cycles on their own outside of plot, location, or triggered events, possibly influencing NPC activities accordingly. | 1979 / 2024 | 493 games | |
| Cloaked NPCs | Includes creatures that are either completely or partially invisible. | 1993 / 2024 | 111 games | |
| Dark | The environs are unusually dark, either because it's a perpetual night, you're stuck in a structure with limited light sources or anything else, forcing you to use any light source(s) you can find or cope with what little you can find in the env | 1973 / 2024 | 423 games | |
| Detector | Player must or can use special detectors that reveal things otherwise imperceptible. | 2001 / 2015 | 28 games | |
| Distorted vision | Something can cause the protagonist's vision to get distorted or otherwise impaired. Especially cases where the vision is always distorted | 1994 / 2020 | 220 games | |
| Facing | The direction people, vehicles, or any other things are facing affects gameplay in some manner. | 1992 / 2022 | 90 games | |
| Field of vision | Simulates field of vision to a degree, making characters unable to see 360 degrees unless they're nonhuman, augmented or otherwise different. | 1998 / 2017 | 27 games | |
| Flares | Hand tossed flares. | 1999 / 2015 | 29 games | |
| Fog of War | Employs a fog of war, especially when it restores it once no-one sees in the revealed area anymore. | 1979 / 2021 | 238 games | |
| Glow sticks | 2007 / 2018 | 8 games | ||
| Infravision | 1995 / 2018 | 11 games | ||
| Invisible foes | Includes opponents that are visually completely undetectable. | 1983 / 2020 | 14 games | |
| Invisible platforms | Platforms that normally are normally undetectable. Some may become visible under certain circumstances and others may even be intangible unless something is done to or near them. | 1998 / 2018 | 24 games | |
| Invisible walls | Players' ability to fully explore and/or utilize their surroundings is thwarted by unexplainable invisible barriers. | 1989 / 2019 | 141 games | |
| Light | Light and illumination plays a vital role in gameplay, and not simply by dispelling darkness. | 1979 / 2015 | 39 games | |
| Line-of-sight | Enhances realism, simulating visibility constraints with objects obstructing or limiting sight. Players must strategize and navigate obstacles thoughtfully. | 1982 / 2021 | 166 games | |
| Nightvision | 1997 / 2016 | 43 games | ||
| Portable light source | Player can employ a lamp, flashlight, torch, or any other device, magic, or natural phenomena that produces light to better see in darkness. | 1979 / 2024 | 540 games | |
| Radar | Player has a radar or similar device, or an unexplained display that mimics it, that gives positional info to player of various objects of interest and possibly friend-or-foe detection. Whether or not it is a literal radar. | 1973 / 2020 | 415 games | |
| Secrets: Invisible | Includes secrets that are completely undetectable until discovered, usually by bumping into them accidentally and revealing them. | 1983 / 2014 | 19 games | |
| Tunnel vision | A condition where person sees only the center (focal) part clearly or sees only that part with everything else indistinguishable. | 1999 / 2014 | 9 games | |
| Visible LASERs | Non-weapon grade LASERs are peculiarly visible to normal human sight. | 1978 / 2020 | 87 games | |
| Vision enhancer | Player has some device, ability or piece of magic that somehow enhances their normal vision. | 1999 / 2012 | 28 games | |
| Vision indicator | Player is given some form of indicator of where other characters can see. | 1 game | ||
| Vision modes | Includes different view modes that convey different or additional information not otherwise available. | 1995 / 2015 | 31 games | |
| Weather effects | Weather plays a role that affects gameplay besides creating mood or limiting visibility. | 1977 / 2022 | 84 games | |
| Weirdvision | Any vision mode, tool, or such that can't be adequately described by anything else. Often has a name that suggests scifi tech (e.g. nanovision), supernatural powers (second sight), or such. | 1999 / 2019 | 51 games | |
| X-ray vision | Any vision mode, tool, or such that allows the player character to see through walls and other vision obscuring obstacles, regardless if it's literally an x-ray vision or not. | 2000 / 2016 | 24 games |