History Main / BrokenBridge

* Avalanche or large boulder blocks the mountain pass.
* An NPCRoadblock, where a person blocks your path or refuses to allow entry past a certain point.
* Impassable body of water, and [[GetOnTheBoat the boat]] is currently unavailable.
* A LockedDoor blocks your path, and cannot be opened, bypassed, or destroyed until you get the proper key.
* Adorable little kid asks for your help with some random task, like saving his lost brother or finding medicine for his mom. One or more of the members of your party will feel pity for him and, since they can't resist random chivalry, [[DudleyDorightStopsToHelp demand that you stop and help]]. If you try to leave anyway, they'll whine and [[ButThouMust stop you]].
* You've been [[PersonaNonGrata declared an outlaw in a particular place]], and can't return there until you've cleared your name.
* You're supposed to meet an {{NPC}} in a particular place, but they either haven't arrived yet or have gone off somewhere for a brief while. They won't show up until after you've wandered around town for a while and gotten yourself into trouble.
* You've commissioned an NPC to make an essential item or perform some other task for you, but they warn you that it's [[GoWaitOutside going to take a while.]] Since you can [[TakeYourTime stand around for days or weeks]] without the requisite time passing, the time elapsed in-game is [[EventDrivenClock instead measured by the plot advancement]].
* A strong enemy that is [[BeefGate utterly invincible against your abilities]] stands in your way. If you follow the plot railroad properly, then you will either get an upgrade that allows the undefeatable enemy to become beatable, someone else will come along to defeat it, or it will wander off.
* A puzzle thwarts the player's progress until a "correct" solution is discovered. Common in adventure games, and usually accompanied by the player's character saying ICantReachIt or InformingTheFourthWall.

If something ''appears'' to be a broken bridge, but never actually lets you by at any point in the game, see MissingSecret. When the bridge blocks the direct path but there's a long way around, it's likely just a DoorToBefore. AbilityRequiredToProceed is a subtrope of Broken Bridge. In this case, gaining new powers serves as a way to "repair" the bridges and move forward in the game.

* ''VideoGame/BlasterMaster'' tends to have wide maps and supposedly be non-linear, but you still have to travel though the levels and beat bosses in an order because you don't have required equipment and upgrades for your tank that let allow you to traverse though levels freely.

May overlap with InsurmountableWaistHeightFence, if the characters should logically be able to bypass or remove the obstacle but can't because the plot says so. BorderPatrol is a variant on the "impossibly strong enemy" idea mentioned above. In mythology, a similar concept is called ThresholdGuardians and finally the BeefGate for when the threshold in question can be overcome if your character(s) have become strong/skilled enough to overcome the aforementioned threshold.

While they both use monsters, {{Beef Gate}}s are different in that a BeefGate could be beaten by LevelGrinding, skilled play, or exploits. If the monster is made of invincibility until the plot says otherwise, it's a broken bridge.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', several floors throughout Tartarus act as dead ends which halt progress through the dungeon, but each becomes a regular floor after the relevant plot-related events occur.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona2'''s TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, there's an optional section of the dungeon that holds a valuable item. Unfortunately for you the door is [[BeefGate guarded by a powerful demon called Ahzi Dahaka]], which is invincible against ALL attacks, even almighty (!). The only [[GuideDangIt (and vaguely hinted upon)]] way to make it killable is to equip Faeriedone on an active party member, and ''then'' attempt to fight it. Faeriedone and the enemy have a conversation, which berserks the character who summoned Faeriedone but makes the Ahzi Dahaka vulnerable to attack.

* ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin 3}}'': The watery portion of the Garden of Hope where Blue Pikmin are obtained is blocked by a cinder block, which is giant from the point of view of the characters. It's not opened until after [[spoiler:getting Louie, where he'll run off with the juice and blow up the block.]]

** Lord Kalidor (Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger) is on his way to the Talisman's temple to attend its destruction by the priestesses. Unfortunately, a bridge he has to cross in a valley to reach the temple has collapsed, forcing him to make a long detour. That crucial time lost allows Queen Gedren to assault the temple with her forces, kill the priestesses and take the Talisman for herself.

!!Examples:

** The Mines are blocked off by a landslide and isn't cleared until the 5th day of your first Spring (which is your fifth in game day).
** The path to the train station and the Spa are locked until an earthquake on the 1st day of your first summer clears the path.
** The Secret Woods are blocked by a fallen tree which you can't break until you have the Silver Axe.

** The bus to the desert is broken down, and there is a literal broken bridge to the Quarry, both of which require completing bundles at the Community Center (or Joja Community Devleopments) to fix. After you gain access to the bus, you need to find the Skull Key on the 120th floor of the mine before you can access Skull Cave.
** Finally, the Witch's Hut is inaccessible until after you complete all the Community Center Bundles or Joja Community Development Forms, which then unlocks the quest to unlock the area.

If you are crossing a bridge and it breaks mid-crossing, forcing you to hang on for dear life, or if you are supposed to breeak a bridge to trap or defeat an enemy, that's RopeBridge.

* ''VideoGame/OmegaQuintet'' has dense walls of Blare blacking off deeper areas of dungeons that your Verse Maidens can't clear, but mysteriously disappear when you've proceeded far enough through the plot. The HandWave is that the Quintet's actions are weakening to overall Blare corruption and causing these barriers to fall along with it. There's also roiling black-and-white clouds that never go away, although these are pretty obviously a no-so-InvisibleWall at the entrance to a zone (necessary because pretty much everywhere without them rewards you for exploring backwards from your starting point).

-->'''Goombella''': "There's a guy like this in every town, huh? If there weren't, you'd go wherever you want and [[BreakingTheFourthWall beat the game so fast]]... Hee hee! Never mind. Let's never speak of it again.."

* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', several floors throughout Tartarus act as dead ends which halt progress through the dungeon, but each becomes a regular floor after the relevant plot-related events occur. While not necessary to advance in the game, in TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''VideoGame/Persona2'', there's a section of the dungeon that holds a valuable item. Unfortunately for you the door is [[BeefGate guarded by a powerful demon called Ahzi Dahaka]], which is invincible against ALL attacks, even almighty (!!). The only [[GuideDangIt (and vaguely hinted upon)]] way to make it killable is to equip Faeriedone on an active party member, and ''then'' attempt to fight it. Faeriedone and the enemy have a conversation, which berserks the character who summoned Faeriedone but makes the Ahzi Dahaka vulnerable to attack. It becomes a BossInMookClothing (though rare encounter) soon after you beat it.

*** Access to the western half of Kanto is blocked by the Snorlax napping at the entrance of Diglett Cave and the flotsam blocking the beach south of Fuchsia City. Only half of the Kanto Gym Leaders (Surge, Erika, Misty, and Janine) are available to fight initially, and the others (Brock, Misty, Blaine, and Blue) cannot be reached until the power plant crisis is resolved and you gain the Expansion Card needed to deal with the Snorlax. The southern beach won't open up until you approach it from the other side.

!!Examples

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* {{Lampshaded}} in [[http://www.adventurers-comic.com/d/20030422.html this]] ''Webcomic/{{Adventurers}}!'' strip.

*** You're actually allowed to ''enter'' Chargestone Cave this time before you fight Clay... However, you can only access a part of the first floor; the rest of it will be blocked off by Bianca and a random worker until you get the Quake Badge.

* In ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy'', there's an island you need to get to from your hometown. There's a boat there, but you can't use it unless you talk to the right NPC after completing a mission involving him in the nearby jungle. You can try to swim, whereupon a fish eats you. There's a segment on the island set over a lagoon, and the only way around the lagoon is on your hover-bike. You can swim it too, but guess what happens ''then''?
** Then, you run-jump like the hounds of hell are nipping at your heels and don't screw up. You can actually get around doing that, if you're fast enough. (Hint, you get three steps before you fall in and get eaten)
** The series was rife with these. Fixing them in ''The Precursor Legacy'' was Keira's job and the main reason for hunting power cells. ''[[VideoGame/JakIIRenegade Renegade]]'' had invulnerable security walls around Haven City that you had to get the right clearance to go through; hilariously, they were just as broken for the Krimzon Guard, meaning that you could set off an alarm and watch as the KG jetbike slammed into it and exploded. ''[[VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander Wasterlander]]'' had an array of interesting gadgets and super powers that you needed to get before you could enter certain areas.

* ''VideoGame/RealmsOfArkania: Star Trail'' half-follows this trope. You can murder a local in Gashok to gain a couple powerful weapons, but if you don't clear your name, ''bad things'' will happen: you'll be lynched if you stay the night in any inn, and trying to enter or leave will require you to fight past half a dozen armed guards.

*** Likewise, Kahuna Olivia of Akala will keep you from sneaking to [=KoniKoni=] City early via Diglett's Tunnel until you have the Grassium-Z crystal because the tunnel's full of Diglett that are getting out of hand.

*** An NPC obsessed with using Stoutland Search in [=HeaHea=] City will block off different parts of the city until you've completed the trials.

* ''WebVideo/CollegeSaga'' parodies this (and many other tropes): "A huge chair blocks your path." The chair is regular sized, made of plastic, and could be walked around if the heroes would walk on grass.

** ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' has a series of broken (or closed) bridges that block you from the rest of the state, initially from an earthquake warning. The in-game explanation is that the police told you to not leave town, you appararently become fugitive at that point. It is possible to cross over by swimming (and in one case by executing a particularly spectacular stunt jump) or even commandeering a train and driving it backwards (for some reason, it can only break through the rail blockades this way), but your wanted meter immediately shoots up to four stars, and won't go down as long as you're in the restricted area (plus, if you chose to take the train, the cops will blow it off the tracks, forcing you to get off it).

** Heritage Bridge cannot initially be crossed, due to undergoing repairs, while Blackwell Bridge, a drawbridge, cannot be lowered due to someone refusing to move their sailboat out from under it. Both of these bridges open up upon completion of the "Kung-Foolery" mission.

** ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground 2'', ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' 2005, and ''Carbon'' do it by blatantly plopping a "holo-barrier" with glowing padlocks in the roads that connect the boroughs.[[note]]Explained in ''Underground 2'' as [[BlatantLies "construction"]].[[/note]] Once you clear one of the campaign tiers, you get a message that simply says the next borough is open. Sort of makes sense, since the game also uses holo-barriers to define the corners at road intersections. The 2012 ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted2012 Most Wanted]]'' doesn't have this, unless you did not buy the ''Terminal Velocity Pack'' DLC (which contains the Hughes International Airport area), in which case it will be blocked by a holo-barrier and a prompt telling you to press a button to buy the DLC will appear on the screen if you get near it.

** ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedWorld'', which took place in a world combining ''Most Wanted'' 2005's Rockport and ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedCarbon Carbon]]''[='=]s Palmont City, had holo-barriers preventing players from accessing the roads connecting Downtown Palmont and Kempton on the western ''Carbon''-based side with Downtown Rockport on the eastern ''Most Wanted''-based side. This is because the area was literally broken; EA Creator/BlackBox / Quicklime Games never finished the small area as they pivoted towards adding more cars and other features, especially since the map was essentially complete anyway. There was also a holo-barrier placed just after the toll booths of (ironically) a bridge leading south of Downtown Rockport that would have supposedly led to the Tri-City Bay area from ''Undercover'' when that was ever developed, but again, the map stopped being expanded.

** ''VideoGame/NeedForSpeedUnderground 2'', ''[[VideoGame/NeedForSpeedMostWanted Most Wanted]]'' 2005, and ''Carbon'' do it by blatantly plopping a "holo-barrier" with glowing padlocks in the roads that connect the boroughs.[[note]]Explained in ''Underground 2'' as [[BlatantLies "construction"]].[[/note]] Once you clear one of the campaign tiers, you get a message that simply says the next borough is open. Sort of makes sense, since the game also uses holo-barriers to define the corners at road intersections. The 2012 ''Most Wanted'' doesn't have this, unless you did not buy the ''Terminal Velocity Pack'' DLC (which contains the Hughes International Airport area), in which case it will be blocked by a holo-barrier and a prompt telling you to press a button to buy the DLC will appear on the screen if you get near it.

** ''Need for Speed: Undercover'' has no limitations on where you can go, allowing access to all four "boroughs" from the beginning of the game. However, since you're trying to infiltrate specific criminal organizations, races and missions are restricted to that gang's borough until you've "cleaned up" and moved on. During races, there are a number of inexplicable ''road dividers'' painting the race pathway, and casually blocking off roads for ''illegal street races''.

** Auburn Bay Bridge cannot be crossed at first, due a roadblock. However, the roadblock is cleared very early on during the game's story, before starting the first special assignment.

** Heritage Bridge cannot initially be crossed, due to undergoing repairs, while Blackwell Bridge, a drawbridge, cannot be lowered due to someone refusing to move their boat out from under it. Both of these bridges open up upon completion of the "Kung-Foolery" mission.

* ''[[VideoGame/{{Stalker}} S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky]]'' featured a literal broken bridge. Not much of an obstacle in an open-world FPS game, right? Wrong. The player character went beyond SuperDrowningSkills and even touching the water with the tip of your toe meant instant death. You needed to find a guide that would lead you around it.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' is more forgiving with its broken bridges. At the beginning of the game, players start out in one of three regions: [[ShiftingSandLand Thanalan]], [[TheLostWoods the Black Shroud]], or [[PalmtreePanic La Noscea]]. For all intents and purposes, players are locked into their starting region until they are given clearance by the local government to travel by airship to the other regions by progressing the story. In theory, it is possible to travel between Thanalan and the Black Shroud by foot, but that entails moving through high level areas that you may not survive should you draw a monster's aggro. La Noscea, on the other hand, is an island nation, and you won't be able to swim to the other regions. Beyond these regions, other areas are locked out by story progression and whether you have the expansion needed to enter newer areas such as Ishgard or Othard.

*** You actually have to bribe a guard of a "closed road" to Saffron City with drinks [[FetchQuest which can only be brought from a specific vending machine in a specific town]], or in the remake, a nice cup of tea. To share, evidently, as the city was blocked on four sides.

*** Let us not forget the most quintessential of all "broken bridges": [[HeavySleeper SNORLAX]]! AGH! Snorlax is an extremely large and extremely lazy Pokémon that decided to take a nap in the middle of busy roads. The only way to wake it up is with a Pokéflute, which can only be obtained from Dr. Fuji.