History Videogame / VirtualVillagers

*** Another early puzzle involves removing a giant stone from a pond in the center of the island, through which a giant squid emerges. The [[DiscOneFinalBoss last puzzle [[spoiler:in the first act of the game]]]]

*** One of the early puzzles is a ritual where four of your villagers worship in front of a Kraken Statue with a tentacle-bearded humanoid face. "Call of Cthulhu," anyone?

*** One random pop-up event is a WholePlotReference to "The Nameless City." Another is titled "Colors Out of Space."

*** One of the early puzzles is a ritual where four of your villagers worship in front of a statue of a tentacle-bearded humanoid face. "Call of Cthulhu," anyone?
*** Another early puzzle involves removing a giant stone from a pond in the center of the island, through which a giant squid emerges. The [[discOneFinalBoss last puzzle [[spoiler:in the first act of the game]]]]

*** One random pop-up event is a veiled reference to "The Colour Out of Space."

*** One random pop-up event is an abbreviated WholePlotReference to "The Colour Out of Space."

* DismantledMacGuffin: The Gong in VV2, the necklace in VV5.

*** One of the early puzzles is a ritual where four of your villagers worship in front of a temple whose facade is built like a tentacle-bearded humanoid face. "Call of Cthulhu," anyone?
*** Another early removing a giant stone from a pond in the center of the island, through which a giant squid emerges. The [[discOneFinalBoss last puzzle [[spoiler:in the first act of the game]]]]

* DismantledMacGuffin: The Gong

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: A villager's likes and dislikes aren't just for show, they also affect how often they'll interact with certain objects on the island. In fact, they'll ''refuse'' to interact with an object if they dislike it--villagers who dislike swimming will run out of the water if put in it, for instance.

* LovecraftLite: The environment and lore of "Virtual Villagers: Origins 2" contain several references to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos.
** One of the early puzzles has you perform a ritual where four of your villagers worship in front of a temple whose facade is built like a tentacle-bearded humanoid face. "Call of Cthulhu," anyone?
** Another early removing a giant stone from a pond in the center of the island, through which a giant kraken emerges. The last puzzle [[spoiler: in the first act of the game is a complex ritual to drive it away.]]
** The [[spoiler: second act of the game]] opens with [[spoiler: a volcanic eruption that destroys most of the buildings on the island and alters its landscape.]] The exposition character attributes it to the anger of "the Old Ones."
** One random pop-up event is an abbreviated WholePlotReference to "The Colour Out of Space."

* ShoutOut: [[spoiler: The fish of fertility]] from Virtual Villagers: A New Home is the same [[spoiler: fish of fertility]] from ''VideoGame/FishTycoon''. Likewise, the plants and fish you are trying to discover in Plant Tycoon and Fish Tycoon come from Isola, as are the bottled weather effects you can get in the ''Virtual Families'' games.

* GRatedSex: When you drop your villagers on another villager of the opposite gender, a kiss sound is played and the two will head to the shack, and the woman will come out with a baby. Occasionally before the male even gets to the shack, she will come out with a baby.
** If the female is prevented from going to the shack the baby will appear out of thin air in the mother's arms, fully dressed in swaddling clothes, which she will look after for ''two whole years''.

* LovecraftLite: The environment and lore of "Virtual Villagers: Origins 2" contain several references to the CthulhuMythos.

** The [[spoiler: second act of the game]] opens with [[spoiler: a volcanic eruption that destroys most of the buildings on the island and alters its landscape.]] The narration attributes it to the anger of "the Old Ones."

** Zigzagged/averted in ''Virtual Villagers 2'', where the gong of wonder can have unpredictable effects ranging from tech points, fertility, the loss of all stored food or even killing random villagers.

* EarlyGameHell: Most of the early game can be rough trying to train most of the villagers, as being untrained has a high failure rate, but the higher the experience goes, the lower the failure rate.

* DismantledMacGuffin: The Gong of Wonder in ''Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children'', and the heathen chief's necklace in ''New Believers''.

* ShoutOut: [[spoiler: The fish of fertility]] from Virtual Villagers: A New Home is the same [[spoiler: fish of fertility]] from ''VideoGame/FishTycoon''. Likewise, the plants and fish you are trying to discover in Plant Tycoon and Fish Tycoon are from Isola, as are the bottled weather effects you can get in the ''Virtual Families'' games.

* TheChosenOne: The Golden Child in the first game, who will bring peace and fortune to the villagers.

** The Heathen Chief is the leader of the heathens and is distinguished by his decorative mask. He is usually found at the northeastern corner of the village which is hidden behind the bushes and he sometimes comes out of there. He's a MasterOfAll and converting him will require all purple masked Heathens to be converted and his daughter’s necklace fully reassembled. Like the purple masked Heathens, he's unaggressive and will not affect your villagers. Upon his conversion it’s heavily implied that his daughter was the girl from the “forbidden love.”

* DeathOfAChild: Implied with the ghost girl in ''Virtual Families 3''. A letter mentions that she died in a freak accident before your little people move in and can only be put at rest by finding her doll.

* GameplayAndStoryIntegration: A villager's likes and dislikes aren't just for show, they also affect how often they'll interact with certain objects on the island. In fact, they'll ''refuse'' to interact with an object if they dislike it.

* GottaCatchEmAll: The collectibles, which allow you to have a greater population for each completed set. Only children can gather them since they'll focus more on their jobs upon reaching working age (14). The fourth game gives the collectibles a purpose.

* RandomEvent: Sometimes, random events happen as you play the games, which may give you extra food, boost a villager's skills, or [[BreadEggsMilkSquick kill them]], for example. Some of these events give you choices which give you different results. In the earlier games, some of the events could actually kill your villagers or otherwise remove them permanently.
* SamePlotSequel: Virtual Villagers Origins 2 follows the same structure as Virtual Villagers 1: A New Home, where a bunch of people flee from an island due to a volcano erupting, and end up on an island they nickname Isola.
* SequelHook: In the ending of Virtual Villagers 4, an abandoned mask is seen afterwards.

* SurpriseIncest: Your villagers have zero qualms about breeding with their relatives, so you may leave the game running for a while and return to find that two villagers engaged in a little inbreeding while you weren't looking. It's not as prevalent from ''Virtual Villagers 2'' onwards, as that game introduced a lineage mechanic that showed who a child's parents are, making it easier to keep track of who is related to whom (though that doesn't stop the incest from occurring, intentionally or otherwise).

** The Heathen Chief is the leader of the heathens and is distinguished by his decorative mask. He is usually found at the northeastern corner of the village which is hidden behind the bushes and he sometimes comes out of there. He's a MasterOfAll and converting him will require all purple masked Heathens to be converted and the necklace fully reassembled. Like the purple masked Heathens, he's unaggressive and will not affect your villagers.

* DeathOfAChild: Implied with the ghost girl in ''Virtual Families 3''. A letter mentions that she died in a freak accident before your little people move in.

* GottaCatchEmAll: The collectibles, which allow you to have a greater population for each completed set. Only children can gather them since they'll focus more on their jobs upon reaching working age (14).

* RandomEvent: Sometimes, random events happen as you play the games, which may give you extra food, boost a villager's skills, or [[BreadEggsMilkSquick kill them]], for example. Some of these events give you choices which give you different results.

* StarCrossedLovers: The chief and the princess from ''The Secret City'' were members of the opposing Nature and Magic factions who fell in love despite the conflicts between their tribes. When the factions discovered this forbidden romance, the tribes went to war and their civilization fell to ruin.

* AChildShallLeadThem: The Golden Child in the first game. In the third game, ''The Secret City'', it's possible for a child to become chief of the tribe.

* GottaCatchEmAll: The collectibles, which allow you to have a greater population for each completed set. Only childred can gather them since they'll focus more on their jobs upon reaching working age (14).

* SuperSpeed: A villager who likes running will move faster than the others on the map, which is useful in getting tasks done faster. [[InvertedTrope On the other hand]], a villager who ''dislikes'' running will move like molasses.

* GottaCatchEmAll: The collectibles, which allow you to have a greater population for each completed set.

* IncestIsRelative: After the age of 18, villagers can reproduce with anyone of the opposite sex, including their relatives. Which they can and will do -- with or without player input.
** It's especially notable in the first game, where [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness women did not have an age limit on reproduction like they would in later installments]], so that [[AbsurdlyElderlyMother women in their sixties or seventies]] could end up having children with their ''grandsons.''

* SurpriseIncest: As mentioned in IncestIsRelative, your villagers have zero qualms about breeding with their relatives, so you may leave the game running for a while and return to find that two villagers engaged in a little inbreeding while you weren't looking. It's not as prevalent from ''Virtual Villagers 2'' onwards, as that game introduced a lineage mechanic that showed who a child's parents are, making it easier to keep track of who is related to whom (though that doesn't stop the incest from occurring, intentionally or otherwise).

** Purple (Heathen Masters): Only four of these heathens exist, one in each major area of the village (ie. farm, research lab, mausoleum, and hospital). Converting them involves a specific task for each of them: Heal the Heathen Doctor, rebuild the ruined aquaduct for the Heathen Farmer, impress the Heathen Scientist with a scientific problem three times, and beat the Heathen Builder in a building contest by using the Time Warp Power.
** The Heathen Chief is the leader of the heathens and can be distinguished by his decorative mask. He can usually be found at the northeastern corner of the village which is hidden behind the bushes and he sometimes comes out of there. He's a Jack of All Trades and converting him will require all purple masked Heathens to be converted and the necklace fully assembled. Like the purple masked Heathens, he's unaggressive and will not affect your villagers.

* ''Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children'': Two TooDumbToLive villagers venture into the cave and fall down a waterfall, landing on the other shore of Isola, where they find some [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin lost children]]. They begin making a new tribe there while discovering more mysteries. A lot of people thought this ended the series, but it made [[CashCowFranchise money]], so:
* ''Virtual Villagers 3: Secret City'': A group of villagers venture to the North shore of Isola, where they find an abandoned civilization. They decide to [[OnceAnEpisode make a new tribe there]] and discover more mysteries of Isola. [[CapcomSequelStagnation It's not over yet folks.]]
* ''Virtual Villagers 4: The Tree of Life'': This game received a mixed reaction. The Tree of Life features, what else, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin a tree of life]], that your villagers have to nurture back to health. This was the very first game that you could select what villagers you wanted to start out with.
* ''Virtual Villagers 5: The New Believers'': The most recent game, New Believers finally makes the player a literal God, as they have to get some heathens to believe in them, [[ItMakesSenseInContext a giant flying hand god which is worshiped by the villagers]]. Guess how it ends. [[HappyEnding Just take]] [[OnceAnEpisode a wild guess.]]
* ''Virtual Villagers Origins 2:'' While not technically a sequel, it is more of a reboot. Released in 2017 after 7 years. Released exclusively for iOS/Android.

* AChildShallLeadThem: The Golden Child in the first game. In the fourth game, ''The Secret City'', it's possible for a child to become chief of the tribe.

** Red (Senior Heathen Guards): While the red-masked heathens are fully docile, their masks are so terrifying to your villagers that they will immediately run away if they get too close to them. These heathen can also only be converted by using the Earthquake power.

** Yellow (Heathen Guards): Unlike their blue-masked brethren, orange-masked heathens will actively chase your villagers if they get too close to their guarded areas, causing your villager to stop what they're doing and run away. They can only be converted by using the Earthquake power several times.

* EarlyGameHell: Most of the early game can be rough trying to train most of the villagers, as being untrained has a high failure rate, but the higher the experience goes, the lower the failure rate.

* NoAntagonist: Averted in New Believers, where the masked villagers nicknamed heathens will oppose you and guard most of the areas. The ones wearing orange masks in particular will actively chase your villagers away if they get too close to their guarded areas.

* DismantledMacGuffin: The Gong of Wonder in ''Virtual Villagers 2: The Lost Children''

* NoAntagonist: Averted in New Believers, where the masked villagers nicknamed heathens will oppose you and guard most of the areas.