History Videogame / Blackout

* {{Feelies}}/TieInNovel: The prequel novel available with the game.

* MadArtist: [[spoiler:The player character turns out to be one. Part of his secret lair is an atelier full of {{Spooky Painting}}s with overt demonic and apocalyptic imagery like something taken out of Creator/ZdzislawBeksinski and Creator/HieronymusBosch's imaginations.]]

* IAmWho: Personal details about the PlayerCharacter are gradually revealed as the game is played. [[spoiler:He is a young man by the name of Gabriel, he has had a rather hellish childhood, and he suffers from a severe case of dissociative identity disorder, having four different {{Split Personalit|y}}ies, and he is a SelfMadeOrphan]].

''Blackout'' is a Danish PsychologicalHorror AdventureGame created and produced by Michael Valeur and Creator/DeadlineGames and released in 1997, using FullMotionVideo, puppets, and hand-build miniature sets to tell a dark and disturbing story. The lack of actual challenges and focus on story and environments arguably makes it an early example of an EnvironmentalNarrativeGame. The game came on three CD's and also contained a novel, written by Valeur, and is seen from the point of view of two of the game's side characters, while the game's player character makes sporadic appearances in their intertwined stories.

* FourElementEnsemble: The main character's split personality manifests as such.
** The air personality is a carefree, easygoing [[TheGadfly Gadfly]].
** The fire personality is characterized by his extremely cynical world-view and TranquilFury. He also has a latent sadistic streak, and is obsessed with revenge and inflicting cruelty upon others.
** The earth personality is quiet, distant, shy, and modest and believes he is not very interesting.
** The water personality is childish, skittish, and fearful, and is plagued by feelings of abandonment and loneliness.
* FullMotionVideo: The game is quite a notable twist on this; instead of actors and full-scale sets, it uses puppets and handcrafted miniature sets.

''Blackout'' is a Danish PsychologicalHorror AdventureGame created and produced by Michael Valeur and Creator/DeadlineGames and released in 1997, using FullMotionVideo, puppets, and hand-build miniature sets to tell a dark and disturbing story. The lack of actual challenges and focus on story and environments arguably makes it an early example of an EnvironmentalNarrativeGame. The game came on three CD's and also contained a novel, providing additional information on the story from some of the side character's points of view.

Michael Valeur also wrote an accompanying novel, which came packaged with the game itself, which is seen from the point of view of two of the game's side characters, while the game's player character makes sporadic appearances in their intertwined stories.

* AssholeVictim: [[spoiler:The main character might be a SelfMadeOrphan, but it is rather hard to feel sorry for his parents, seeing how they both made his childhood absolutely miserable]].

** The bartender on the higher-less establishment, The Mask, is a a war veteran with a French-esque accent who as a preference for red cocktails and enjoy sharing his (at times rather depressing) war stories.
* BlindSeer: The old medium, Claire, ends her séances by removing her sun glasses, showing you the empty eyesockets beneath.

* CleanupCrew: [[spoiler:Turns that the main character fulfils this role in the local mob's production of snuff films. He cleans up the apartment where they carry out and record their horrific business, and in return he, in addition to some hush money, is allowed to live in said apartment for free.]]

* ExploringTheEvilLair: Made even worse by the fact that it is [[spoiler: your own, forgotten, evil lair that you are exploring]].

* MediumShiftGag: [[spoiler:In the "love/Act" ending, where Gabriel ultimately chooses to leave the city for a new life with Kathe, the latter transforms from her normal puppet self into a live actor as she leans in and kisses him. The rest of the ending then plays out entirely in live action, as he and Kathe drive away [[RidingIntoTheSunset towards the sunset]] in a car.]]

* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Turns out the main character murdered his own parents and took their heads and preserved in them in jars as trophies.]]

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Some of the events you witness are a result of the protagonist's mental instability; see the example LosingYourHead.
* WideOpenSandbox: The plot in and off itself is not very long, but the game is relatively non-linear and contain a lot of people to talk to and things to interact with.
* YouWakeUpInARoom: The opening of the game. The PlayerCharacter wakes up in a messy, bloodstained apartment with a headless body on the bed. One flash later, and the apartment is clean and the body is gone. The driving questions of the game then become: What happened with the body and who are you?

* AbusiveParents: Even the BigBad seems to feel a bit sorry towards [[spoiler:the main character]], recognising he behaves in such an odd way because of his absolutely hellish childhood.

* TheDon: "The Widow" is a RareFemaleExample, being the leader of the local organised-crime gang. [[spoiler:As it turns out, she is also the PlayerCharacter's employer.]]

** The fire personality is characterised by his extremely cynical world-view and TranquilFury. He also has a latent sadistic streak, and is obsessed with revenge and inflicting cruelty upon others.

* MediumShiftGag: [[spoiler:In the "love" ending, where Gabriel ultimately chooses to leave the city for a new life with Kathe, the latter transforms from her normal puppet self into a live actor as she leans in and kisses him. The rest of the ending then plays out entirely in live action, as he and Kathe drive away [[RidingIntoTheSunset towards the sunset]] in a car.]]

* PlayerAndProtagonistIntegration: The game plays quite a bit around with the trope. Amongst the first things player is asked to do is to name the player character, and the game treats the player and the main character as the same for the most part in the beginning of the game, but it gradually turns out that the main character actually has a name and past outside of what the player has established. But this actually fits with the main character suffering from amnesia and a SplitPersonality, and it is strongly implied that the player themselves is actually not playing the playing the main character, per se, but rather that they are playing as one of his split personalities.
* PyroManiac: [[spoiler: Arson is the modus operandi of the protagonist's violent and vengeful fire-personality]].
* QuestForIdentity

* TheShrink

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness

* MediumShiftGag: [[spoiler:In the "love" ending, where Gabriel ultimately chooses to leave the city for a new life with Kate, the latter transforms from her normal puppet self into a live actor as she leans in and kisses him. The rest of the ending then plays out entirely in live action, as he and Kate drive away [[RidingIntoTheSunset towards the sunset]] in a car.]]

** "Act" ending. [[spoiler:Gabriel decides that he loves Kate above everything else and wants to live with her. Kate admits that she knows the path before them won't be easy with Gabriel's mental health issues, but she is willing to give it her best try. The two of them leave the city for a new life in the South where Kate has gotten a new job.]]

* MultipleEndings: [[spoiler: It depends on what personality you choose and some other choices made during gameplay]].

* TheDon: "The Widow".

* YouWakeUpInARoom

* ChoiceAndConsequenceSystem: Subtly done. Firstly, the game offers the player relatively few straight-up either-or choices and the consequences of them aren't immediately obvious, secondly, the game is more about tracking how the player interacts with the world (i.e. how often does the player buy drinks at the bars, have sex with (or just talk to) the prostitutes at the local brothel, have sessions with the therapist, or pay visits to the library, to mention a few), and mainly uses these parameters to alter the story.

* BlindSeer: The old medium, Claire, ends her séances by removing her sun glasses, showing you the empty eyesockets beneath.

* ChoiceAndConsequenceSystem: Subtly done. Firstly, the game offers the player relatively few straight-up either-or choices and the consequences of them aren't immediately obvious, secondly, the game is more about tracking how the player interacts with the world (i.e. how often does the player buy drinks at the bars, have sex with (or just talk to) the prostitutes at the local brothel, or pay visits to the library, to mention a few), and mainly uses these parameters to alter the story.

NeedsWikiMagicLove.

* BlindSeer: The old medium, Claire, ends her séances by removing her sun glasses, showing you the empty eyesockets beneath.

* ChoiceAndConsequenceSystem: Subtly done. Firstly, the game offers the player relatively few straight-up either-or choices and the consequences of them aren't immediately obvious, secondly, the game is more about tracking how the player interacts with the world (i.e. how often does player buy drinks at the bars, have sex with (or just talk to) the prostitutes at the brothel, or pay visits to the library, to mention a few), and mainly uses these parameters to alter the story.

** The fire personality is characterised by his TranquilFury. He also has a latent sadistic streak, and is obsessed with revenge.

''Blackout'' is a 1997 Danish PsychologicalHorror AdventureGame created and produced by Michael Valeur and Creator/DeadlineGames, using puppets and hand-build miniature sets to tell a dark and disturbing story. The lack of actual challenges and focus on story and environments arguably makes it an early example of an EnvironmentalNarrativeGame. The game came on three CD's and also contained a novel, providing additional information on the story from some of the side character's points of view.

The story of the game proper starts when you, the main protagonist, wakes up in a messy and a dark apartment at the sound of a phone ringing, having lost most of your memory and as a result having no idea who or where you are. Answering the phone only gives a cryptic message, asking you if you have fulfilled your task, and a examination of your surroundings reveals blood stains on the walls and headless body in the bed. Before you can inspect the body any closer, you immediately have another blackout, and when you wake up again, you find a notably cleaner apartment, and the body and any evidence it has ever been there are gone. Thus begins a search for your true nature, the cause behind your madness, the constant blackouts and the identity and fate of the body.

* EnvironmentalNarrativeGame: The game contains no actual challenges or puzzles. If you just walk around exploring and talking to people the story will progress anyhow. The only real challenge comes if you are trying to find out how to get a specific ending.

* SelfMadeOrphan: [[spoiler:Turns main character murdered his own parents and took their heads and preserved in them in jars as trophies.]]

* IAmWho: Personal details about the PlayerCharacter are gradually revealed as the game is played. [[spoiler:He is a young man by the name of Gabriel, he has had a rather hellish childhood, and he suffers from a severe case dissociative identity disorder, having four different {{Split Personalit|y}}ies, and he is a SelfMadeOrphan]].