Invisible Sun. A lot has been said about this game positive and negative. From glowing reviews on platforms usually reserved for more literary works (a good argument against such senseless semantic gatekeeping) such as the LA Review of Books, to internet screeds bemoaning its high price and supposed elitist nature that price point could seem to engender.
But let’s table all that for a moment and just say this, INVISIBLE SUN IS A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT OF FUN TO PLAY. And when it comes to whether or not a game is worth your money and time that is the metric I usually keep as my north star through the waters of critical theory and game design punditry.
Let me first start with an example of play with my current character Noah Bezdan. When you create a character in Invisible Sun, usually done in a session zero, you also organically create the neighborhood and your house as integral parts of your character. Yep, you read that right, THE WORLD BUILDING IS INTEGRALLY TIED TO YOUR CHARACTER BUILDING. So even at this very first tentative step into the world of the Actuality you are creating ties and bonds between your character and the world around them and giving yourself deep meaningful story/world links that you can feed off of when playing. In other words your character creation is just as much about planting story seeds that will continue to grow into story, character arcs and actionable moments throughout the entirety of your campaign.
For instance since Noah is a Logovore (he physically eats books and knowledge) and is an Apostate (he disavows all the schools of magic and any societal structures that would try and control the dissemination of magic or knowledge) it made sense for his house to be less than societally kosher as well. So in our session zero I came up with the idea that he lives in a FERAL HOUSE. A living construct that he first had to befriend and occasionally isn’t where it is supposed to be or tries to take bites out of other houses. Just this alone adds a host of story hooks and character moments to springboard from.
And the magic system at the heart of the game is incredibly diverse and open to player interpretation. The type of mage you are informs how you see the Actuality and magic itself giving you a matrix of possibilities from fully customizable character sheets, to magical formulas and schematics to reach into in any given situation. The game really shines when it allows the player to shape the very face of their magic to fit a given situation. And for the times when you don’t want to invent the flow of magic whole cloth (but why wouldn’t you) the Invisible Sun Black Cube comes with literal TOMES WORTH of spell cards and ephemera magical objects to use in play.
And speaking of the BLACK CUBE. THE THING IS INSANE. At first it can seem daunting, as a mystical puzzle box should. But it was in this exploration of the cube that the game really clicked for me. The mystery of exploring this box of magical tomes in ephemera in real life MIRRORS THE EXPERIENCE OF YOUR VISLAE/MAGE IN THEIR IN GAME AWAKENING INTO THE ACTUALITY. Holy shit. Monte Cook Games has given us an experience where just the sifting through the game books and cards etc becomes a ritual that attunes your mind to the experience of a magic user discovering their forgotten self from a past life before the Shadow of the mortal plane clouded their memories. Learning the game system and about the world as a player becomes intrinsically tied to the experience of your character doing the exact same thing in a physical manner I’ve never seen mirrored in another game product.
And minor spoiler here, think of the black cube the way you would a puzzle in a game like Myst/Riven. THERE ARE SECRETS that the clever adept will discover, PHYSICAL SECRETS. That is all this vislae will say on that matter.
So all that and more is why I play and will continue to play Invisible Sun. Monte Cook Games has given us a very specific, very special portal into a game world, and we all know how fleeting magical portals can be. . . you would be wise to step through it now before the Shadow reclaims it as its own.
The kickstarter final reprint of the game is in it’s final hours RIGHT NOW. Claim your place amongst the ranks of the Vislae...I for one look forward to seeing you in the Actuality.
INVISIBLE SUN KICKSTARTER