History Main / BigDamnFireExit

[[folder:Real Time Strategy ]]
* ''VideoGame/WarcraftIIITheFrozenThrone'': Subverted. Maiev and her allies are fleeing the collapsing temple that held the [[ArtifactOfDoom Eye of Sargeras]]. While they get a decent way despite the falling ceiling, demons, and native monsters, eventually they find their escape entirely blocked. Maiev has the ability to teleport short distances and uses it to escape, but everyone else dies.

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'': A number of times, in all games.

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III: The Frozen Throne'', where Maiev and her allies are fleeing the collapsing temple that held the [[ArtifactOfDoom Eye of Sargeras]]. While they get a decent way despite the falling ceiling, demons, and native monsters, eventually they find their escape entirely blocked. Maiev has the ability to teleport short distances and uses it to escape, but everyone else dies.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' series may be king [[SamusIsAGirl (er, queen)]] of this trope. There are few if no games where Samus ends up calmly walking back to her ship; there's always a [[EarthShatteringKaboom time bomb]] that goes off [[LoadBearingBoss once the last boss has been thrashed]] and the exit path is always clear to navigate despite the common falling debris. ''Metroid Fusion'' has several Big Damn Fire Exits of the collapsing door/inaccessible wall variety, and the convenient exits largely involve Samus breaching security and angering her Federation clients.
** Prime Hunters takes this up to eleven. ''Every single one'' of the eight Octoliths will trigger an emergency countdown requiring a quick exit. None of the places fled from are actually destroyed, and all of them are actually revisited later, raising the question of just what Samus was running from. [[spoiler: The Oubliette]] also blows itself to pieces in true Metroid fashion at the end, but the escape is skipped over in cutscene instead of being played.

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* ''Franchise/MassEffect'' - A number of times, in all games.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' - Starship corridors are basically MadeOfExplodium. Except the [[RailRoading right one]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Persona 2}}'' dumps the heroes inside an aerospace museum with a bunch of visiting schoolchildren...plus a TimeBomb. Not only do you have to weave between the nonsensically-placed stairwells and get to the roof, but you have to rescue the kids stranded in various rooms. And then you get to do it all over again in the sequel!

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* ''VideoGame/TombRaider''
** In the original (and the ''Tomb Raider Anniversary'' remake), after Lara destroys the Scion, the Atlantean pyramid starts to collapse all around her. A conveniently-intact exit allows Lara to flee to safety [[spoiler:and confront [[TrueFinalBoss antagonist Natla]].]]

* Unfortunately for those of us in RealLife, this trope is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fire_disasters_involving_barricaded_escape_routes frequently not]] TruthInTelevision, although building codes nowadays ''try'' to make it an EnforcedTrope.

* [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0119.html This]] episode of ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick''
* Unfortunately for those of us in RealLife, this trope is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Fire_disasters_involving_barricaded_escape_routes frequently not]] TruthInTelevision.

->''"I was standing in the lobby of this hotel just minding my own business, and this guy came up to me and said, 'Sir, could you please move? You're blocking the fire exit.' As though if there was a fire, I wasn't going to run. If you are flammable and have legs, you are never 'blocking' a fire exit. Unless you're a table."''

[[folder: Platform Game ]]

* The last sector of ''VideoGame/{{Jumper}} Two'' is the same tower from Sector 9 destroyed by [=OgmoBots=] and [[CardCarryingVillain EvilBots]]. Doesn't seem to stop it from creating a path perfectly navigable with jumps, and there's a ''PressurePlate puzzle out of nowhere that's still perfectly functional''.
* In ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'', after beating the final boss, Wily activates the self-destruct mechanism and escapes. He also activates an anti-teleporting system, but Rock doesn't give up and uses the Hell Wheel to chase after Wily while escaping.

[[folder: Racing Game ]]

* Even when not going on during a race, earthquakes in video games tend to leave ramps in the road right in front of gaps. The track would be all sorts of impossible in the other direction and all other routes are blocked off, but the actual racecourse is still viable. Examples include just about every track in ''VideoGame/MotorStorm Apocalypse'' and Spilskinanke in ''VideoGame/{{Wipeout}}''.

[[folder: Real Time Strategy ]]

* Subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III: The Frozen Throne'', where Maiev and her allies are fleeing the collapsing temple that held the [[ArtifactOfDoom Eye of Sargeras]]. While they get a decent way despite the falling ceiling, demons, and native monsters, eventually they find their escape entirely blocked. Maiev has the ability to teleport short distances and uses it to escape, but everyone else dies.

* Averted in the {{UsefulNotes/NES}} port of ''VideoGame/UltimaIII''; after defeating the final boss, the castle starts to collapse, and it's entirely possible to have your only escape route cut off, making the game {{Unwinnable}}.

[[folder: MMORPG ]]

* In the MMO ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'', the last mission of the "Hess Task Force" is set inside a volcano with a LoadBearingBoss. There is an emergency exit that leads out, and 30 seconds to take it after the boss goes down. This is generally more than enough, unless a player gets lost or stuck. The real danger is that the message informing players of the time limit has a lower priority than message like 'mission complete', 'level up', and other messages that stick around for a few seconds--so a player who doesn't know about the mission's little trick may get the 30 second warning when there's actually less than 10.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' has a couple in ''Prophecies'', both also GetOnTheBoat moments. In the Sanctum Cay mission, your character's original boat off the island is captured, but conveniently, there is a powerful mage on the island to [[SummonMagic summon]] [[DeusExMachina another one]]. In the [[PlanetHeck Hell's Precipice]] mission, your characters escape an erupting volcano by running to a boat that is conveniently available at an empty enemy dock.
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', the final boss of the new Heroic Deadmines, Vanessa [=VanCleef=], begins to set off demolition charges aboard her (landbound) pirate ship when she senses her impending defeat. A conveniently placed set of ropes enables players to swing away from the explosion before landing back on the ship, shortly after which she detonates ''another'' set of charges. The players, once again, simply jump off the ship with the ropes and swing back. Rather than try this a third time (as she did in the initial release), after her hit points are depleted she instead pulls a TakingYouWithMe with a powder keg. Of course, there are conveniently a few safe places to hide from the blast amid the fires, after which you collect your loot.

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[[folder: First Person Shooter ]]

* ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'' - following the [[spoiler: nuke that goes off in the first game]], the expansion sees you clawing through the wreckage of a building your chopper just crashed into. Despite every other stairwell or gangway being wrecked, there is always one left conveniently open for you. This game does it in a number of areas, barricading all but one door for you to head through. Cue a long enemy-ridden trudge through a row of terraced-houses as you attempt to hook up with your teammates who are waiting on the floor above.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}''
** ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'': Oh wait, you just set off a chain reaction that will obliterate the ring. And you need to reach the ''Pillar of Autumn'' 's Longsword hangar, while the station's blowing up all around you? Oh, how convenient that no matter how much shit blows up you will always have a clear and workable route. Not to mention the Warthog [[NoOneCouldHaveSurvivedThat conveniently laying around that hasn't been destroyed by oh, I don't know, a hundred thousand tons of starship crash-landing and being utterly gutted by fire, plasma and destruction]]. Then again, Warthogs are [[MadeOfIndestructium kinda built for that sort of thing]].
** Also happens in the ending of the ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'': [[spoiler: The ring is blowing the fuck up, ''again'',]] and the ground breaks under your feet. This one is slightly more plausible, in that if you screw around too long, the ground ''will'' fall out from under your feet, sending you to your death. There is still a clear path to the extraction point though.
** Similar, but not so implausible - ''Combat Evolved''[='s=] first level, "The Pillar of Autumn". You follow a guy down a corridor. He gets a bad case of dead when a doorway explodes in his face, but oh look - a passageway between the pipeways is there for you, so you can still reach TheBridge.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', the ''Forward Unto Dawn'' is being torn apart as it's being pulled into Requiem, yet while your path is highly unstable and racked with explosions, it's fairly simple to just sprint past all that as you run to the escape pods. [[spoiler: But the trope is ultimately {{Averted}}. A Covie cruiser also caught in the gravity well sheers through the ship when you're mere yards away from the pods, and you end up taking Chief's [[ItsRainingMen usual route to the surface]].]]
** The finale of ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians''[='s=] Meridian segment has you [[spoiler:running up a just-about-to-collapse space elevator to your Pelican; the structure holds together just long enough for you to make it to the dropship]].
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife''
** ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' has this happen a number of times -- things will collapse or stuff will fall apart, but you'll always be able to find the (only) way around.
** Arguably justified in ''VideoGame/HalfLife2''. You're under the supervision of [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien the G-Man]] as he makes subtle "arrangements" to ensure you have everything you need to fulfill your "contract".
* ''VideoGame/{{Singularity}}'' plays the trope straight. Walls will collapse during the fire but you'll find the exit.
* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' does this, particularly in the single-player story-driven games. You walk down a corridor, *BOOM*, something blows up and gets in the way. Hmm, what about the {{air vent|Passageway}} up there?
* ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare''
** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 1'' subverts this when escaping from a sinking ship. While there is a route back to the waiting escape chopper, the boat's not going to stop sinking to let you take your merry time. The path WILL collapse at certain places leaving you to drown.
** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 2'' does this two times: first in the Brazilian favelas, where a conveniently placed series of corridors through the huts allows you to reach the helicopter and escape from the onslaught of a gazillion angry militiamen. The second time it's in the Russian prison, where after the exit is blocked out by debris, Captain [=MacTavish=] says "Go back go back! We'll find another way out!" (which could be considered LampshadeHanging, or simply being a kickass commander and motivator). And another way out is obviously found, allowing everyone to merrily head towards [[spoiler: World War 3]].
** ''VideoGame/ModernWarfare 3'' also has a moment where this occurs. The mission "Scorched Earth" starts with an ambush in which [[spoiler: a burning building is dropped on the convoy]]. Later in the mission, Frost and the rest of his team make their way through the [[spoiler: collapsed building]], finding a way through. Could be [[LampshadeHanging Lampshade Hanging]], since the exit is literally a fire exit door.
* The first level of ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' sees the gang fighting their way out of a burning hotel, through the stairwells and corridors to a climactic race to the safe room in the lobby via the conveniently fireproof escape route.
* At one point in ''VideoGame/Postal2'', you find yourself in a library that's just been set on fire. Predictably enough, there's only one safe route out.
* ''VideoGame/{{BioShock|1}}'' begins with one: there's only one path through the flaming airplane wreckage, and it happens to lead directly to an island with a handy bathysphere...
* ''VideoGame/{{Descent}}'' is possibly the ur-example from 1995. On each level you have to destroy a reactor, then escape through an emergency exit before being caught in the explosion. No matter how much time is left on the clock, the escape sequences always have the fire chasing right behind you through the escape.
* ''VideoGame/{{Overload}}'', a [[SpiritualSuccessor spiritual successor]] to ''Descent'', carries over the exit mechanic, also preferring to add some intermediate exit doors that the player must also manually traverse through.
* In the last level of ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor: Allied Assault'', you have to escape from the [[CollapsingLair exploding and collapsing]] Fort Schmerzen, with the fireball chasing you all the way.

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* The first level of ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' sees the gang fleeing out of a burning building, down the conveniently fireproof escape route.

[[folder: Non-Video Game ]]

* At one point in ''{{Postal}} 2'', you find yourself in a library that's just been set on fire. Predictably enough, there's only one safe route out.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/{{Descent}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/BigFireExit_2854.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Well, at least that makes piloting a corpshop wastebarge into corridors infested with berserk robots sound a little better...]]

* There's a hotel in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' that consists of a bunch of rooms located around a central shaft. In the climax of one Ronin mission you end up [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome parachuting down this shaft while the hotel explodes around you.]]

* ''{{Singularity}}'' plays the trope straight. Walls will collapse during the fire but you'll find the exit.

* ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperStarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' has you go through Bowser's castle at the end. Of course, when you beat the villain, the place starts blowing up. You expect to have to walk through the entire pseudo-maze of Bowser's castle again, [[SubvertedTrope but then you realize that behind his throne is a door with a pair of stairs that leads to the front door.]] That's all it is. A pair of stairs.

* Averted in the {{NES}} port of ''VideoGame/UltimaIII''; after defeating the final boss, the castle starts to collapse, and it's entirely possible to have your only escape route cut off, making the game {{Unwinnable}}.