History Main / ChaosArchitecture

* In ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', Piper got a job in an Italian restaurant in the pilot, but from the second episode onwards she works in a different restaurant named "Quake". While both the set and the outside shots are different, it is implied to be the same place.

* Two examples in ''Series/{{The Office|US}}'':

** Minor example: a new office appeared out of nowhere behind Creed's desk right after Jim got promoted to co-regional manager in season 6.

* The Hub in ''Series/That70sShow'' was just not the same place in the pilot.

Massively averted by British newspaper comic ''ComicStrip/ThePerishers'', at least when drawn by its original artist Dennis Collins in the 60s and 70s. The layout of the characters' home town was so consistent it might have been based on a real town. Having said that, the interior of Wellington's disused train station often looked bigger than the exterior.

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongebobSquarepants'': Spongebob's pineapple, Squidward's Easter Island home, and Patrick's rock are constantly subject to change depending on the episode. Patrick's rock is justified on account of Patrick making most of the furniture out of sand.

* When Samus revisits Zebes in ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'', all that's left of the original architecture is a little bit of the initial chamber and the remains of Mother Brain's original jar. Except for Ridley still being in lower Norfair, there are no other analogues to the original game.
* ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'', being a retelling of the original, is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttLXScfRHcw surprisingly faithful to it]] (down to the same ledges that you jump on, sometimes), but once you kill Mother Brain and finish the game, [[spoiler:the plot goes firmly off the rails and Samus goes to places that never existed in the original, including a couple rooms between the Space Pirates' mothership and the rest of the game which look like the Wrecked Ship from ''Super Metroid''.]]

* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Ys}} Ys Origin]]'', one member of the search party describes Darm Tower as having constantly shifting floors.

* The TropeNamer is ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'', where it was explained that Dracula's Castle itself was a "Creature of Chaos", constantly changing for different people. This also explained how {{NPC}}s [[TookAShortcut got to areas]] it took the player special abilities to get to. Heck, that's how the castle changes every ''game''.
** One odd result of this pops up in the [[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Chronicles of Sorrow]] duology. As a result of the events of ''Aria of Sorrow'', the Castle is permanently sealed away. In ''Dawn of Sorrow'', the place you explore is stated to be an "exact replica" of Dracula's Castle. How can you build an "exact replica" of something that has no constant, definitive shape? Other than building an exact replica of how the castle appeared at ''one'' point in time, making this MetaphoricallyTrue, that is.
** This is taken to an ''extremely'' nightmarish extent in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadow2''.

** The disappearance of at least one of the continents, the Lands of Danger and Despair, is explained [[spoiler:when you visit it in ''VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII - Serpent's Isle''.]]

* Ditto with ''VideoGame/BatenKaitos Origins'' -- same towns and world map as the first game, but most of the dungeons from the first game are inaccessible and new ones can be found in areas that were empty or inaccessible in the first game.

* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
** Nearly every single game in ''Super Mario Bros., VideoGame/PaperMario, VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi, VideoGame/MarioKart, VideoGame/MarioParty'' and all spinoffs takes place in the Mushroom Kingdom. You however would not know it, since whole towns apparently appear, disappear and get moved around, places like Peach's Castle, Luigi's Mansion and Bowser's Castle get completely rebuilt once per game, and various landmarks can appear one game and be gone the next.
** There -are- a few things that carry over between games. Peach's Castle typically has a town of some sort around it where all the Toads seem to live, though its layout and what it's actually called vary. Bowser typically resides in a place with a ton of Lava, and Luigi's Mansion can rebuild itself... It doesn't explain ''anything'' else though. Many newer Mario Games avoid this by moving to new locations, like [[RecycledINSPACE SPACE]].

[[caption-width-right:305:Apparently [[TheHero Mario]] renovates as many times as he [[SaveThePrincess saves princesses]].[[labelnote:L - R top to bottom]]''VideoGame/Super Mario RPG'', ''VideoGame/Paper Mario'', official German ''Club Nintendo'' comics, ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga'', ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolutionMarioMix'', and ''[[VideoGame/DrMario Dr. Mario 64]]''[[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:305:Apparently [[TheHero Mario]] renovates as many times as he [[SaveThePrincess saves princesses]].[[labelnote:L - R top to bottom]]''[[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/a/a1/SMRPG_MP_Marioshouse.png Super Mario RPG]]'', ''[[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/0/0c/Paper_Mario_House.png Paper Mario]]'', [[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/c/c1/MariosHouse-CN.jpg an official German Nintendo magazine]], ''[[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/9/9a/MarioLuigiHouse.png Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'', ''[[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/a/a4/DDRMM_MarioHouse.png Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix]]'', and ''[[https://i.imgur.com/1wiUVBZ.png Dr. Mario 64]]''[[/labelnote]]]]

[[caption-width-right:305:Apparently [[TheHero Mario]] renovates as many times as he [[SaveThePrincess saves princesses]].[[labelnote:L - R top to bottom]]''[[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/a/a1/SMRPG_MP_Marioshouse.png Super Mario RPG]]'', ''[[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/0/0c/Paper_Mario_House.png Paper Mario]]'', [[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/c/c1/MariosHouse-CN.jpg an official German Nintendo magazine]], ''[[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/9/9a/MarioLuigiHouse.png Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'', ''[[https://mario.wiki.gallery/images/a/a4/DDRMM_MarioHouse.png Dance Dance Revolution: Mario Mix]]'', and ''[[https://i.imgur.com/1wiUVBZ.png Dr. Mario 64]]''

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1414401077021263200

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/SuperMarioBros https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/peachcastle_2501.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Apparently [[DamselInDistress Peach]] renovates as many times [[SaveThePrincess as she gets kidnapped]].[[labelnote:The games]]L-R, going down: ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros1'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', ''VideoGame/MarioGolf: Advance Tour'', ''VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach'', ''VideoGame/SuperMario64 DS'', ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'', ''VideoGame/PaperMario64''[[/labelnote]]]]

* [[VideoGame/HarryPotter The video games of each Harry Potter movie]] - as the technology has gotten better and the games have changed to follow the respective storylines, things in the sandbox style Hogwarts of ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets Chamber of Secrets]]'', ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerOfAzkaban Prisoner of Azkaban]]'' and ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix Order of the Phoenix]]'' are very different (''Philosopher's Stone'' and ''Goblet of Fire'' were more level based games).

* ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': Cerulean City gym received a redesign between Kanto and Alola. Its brightly colored, dome-shaped exterior was replaced and its swimming pool became a retractable battlefield.

* Mostly averted in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'', in which the entire game map is set ''above'' the map for the original ''VideoGame/{{Fallout|1}}'' with only a little overlap; only a handful of locations on the top of the original map reappear here and for the most part they have been justifiably altered since decades have passed between the two games. ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', ''[[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas New Vegas]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/{{Fallout4}} 4]]'' avoid the issue entirely by being set in entirely different areas (further east into Nevada for ''New Vegas'', and the entire opposite side of the continent for ''3'' and ''4'').

* ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''

** Happens in the third game, VideoGame/GoldenSunDarkDawn. The geography of Angara and presumably all of Weyard is radically altered by [[WorldSundering the events]] at the end of The Lost Age. This conveniently solves the problem of the entire world being more or less explored out by the end of the GBA games. How come we didn't see all these ancient kingdoms in the previous games? [[AWizardDidIt The Golden Sun did it.]]

** The series makes you go through the control tower on Installation 04 ''three'' times. The first time in ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' you're ascending it to place Cortana there, and two levels later you're back to rescue Cortana (and your own ass). Then the installation is gone, never to be seen again...or is it? [[spoiler:The very last level of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' has you returning to the control room where you intentionally activate the ring to stop the Flood.]] In ''Combat Evolved'', the tower and the surrounding area is pretty much the same both times, albeit in a state of decay after the Flood hits it, while [[spoiler:in the third game, the tower and control room are identical to how they were in the first game, but the surrounding area has changed quite a bit (for example, that walkway on the mountains wasn't there the first time). Justified though, since this technically isn't the same place, but a rebuild of the old place, since Master Chief obliterated the original structure in the first game]].
** Somewhat justified in the case of ''High Charity'', as it's been mostly converted by the Flood when you return to it in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', but the remaining original structures still look rather different than they did in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}''.

** In ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'', the ''Forward Unto Dawn'' received a major design change in order to create a more interesting playspace. That said, WordOfGod is that its original ''Halo 3'' design is still the canon one.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls''

* ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}''

* Justified in ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei: VideoGame/{{Persona 3}}'', with Tartarus, as it, like the shadows, breaks down at the end of every midnight hour, and thus comes back at the start of the next midnight hour, meaning that there is a likely chance of the tower, besides important points such as the entrance, will completely change in their layout. They also state/imply (could be wrong on this) that the tower is a shadow as well, and that would add a more reasonable justification for the change, as all shadows are based on human emotion and events day to day change there would be reason for the tower, one of the largest shadows, to change.

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' shows a much different and more complex version of the Aperture Science Enrichment Center than in the first game. Of course, it's been a ''very'' long time between games and much of it has fallen into ruins, but the game also shows that the entire Enrichment Center is composed of mobile, infinitely reconfigurable test chambers, so the trope is explicitly justified. Towards the end of the first game you also see large areas of the center from a distance, and it's clear you only ever explored a tiny part.

* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands 2}}'' averts this at the very end: one of the final areas of the game (Arid Nexus: Badlands) is actually the first area of the original VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}, with any changes justified by the fact that the local MegaCorp took over the area.

* ''VideoGame/{{Postal}} 2'' has a bit of this going for it. The expansion, ''Apocalypse Weekend'', starts with the protagonist in the hospital for a self-inflicted gunshot wound, but the hospital he's in is completely different from the one that was in the original game, being much larger; the closest you get to an explanation is that upon exiting the hospital, the map name briefly shown upon loading the next one is given as "Lower Paradise", indicating you're in a different area of the city (although that doesn't answer why said part of the city wasn't at least visible on the map you had your daily errands written on). The next DLC, ''Paradise Lost'', causes some more issues by going back to the original game's maps and gameplay style - for the most part things make sense, with buildings only damaged by the nuclear explosion from the end of ''AW'' rather than somehow completely relocated (and the difference between repurposed buildings and newly-constructed ones is incredibly apparent), but the area the player ends up going to at the end, the "Hell Hole", is explained as the "heart" of the town and supposedly the source of the nuclear explosion - it's actually the exact same spot the player character's trailer had been at in the original game.

** Additionally, VideoGame/StrongBadsCoolGameForAttractivePeople uses a consistent layout... that contradicts most if not all of the toons. The most egregious example is putting the entrance to Strong Bad's computer room on the opposite side from where it has always been (first runner-up is probably making Strong Mad's room only accessible via the bathroom, which defies all known laws of building design in addition to continuity).

[[folder:Web Comics]]

** Third film: The location of the Fat Lady's portrait is changed ([[TheOtherDarrin as is the Fat Lady]]). Hagrid's hut is moved next to a newly-added giant sundial, which is accessed across a newly-added bridge attached to a newly-added courtyard at the foot of a newly-added ClockTower. The hospital wing is moved to the top of this tower. The Whomping Willow position has changed: it's still very close to the woods, but now it's farther away from the main building and in a more mountainous area.

** Final film: The viaduct connecting the entrance courtyard to the other side of the castle is reangled so that it instead connects the entrance courtyard to a cliff in front of the school.

** Second film: The sand pit around the Quidditch pitch is replaced with a trench. The hospital wing is changed. Lockhart uses a different classroom than Quirrell used in the first movie, and this is maintained as the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom for the rest of the series.

** Second film: The sand pit around the Quidditch pitch is replaced with a trench. The hospital wing is changed.

* The sets for ''Theatre/TheOddCouple'' and ''Series/HappyDays'' were completely changed when they went from a SingleCamera setup to Filmed Before A StudioAudience, without the characters moving to a different apartment/house (also Arnold's Drive-In on ''Series/HappyDays'' - the other permanent set). Oh, and one time {{Justified|Trope}} when Arnold's burned to the ground and they built a new Arnold's.

** At the end of the first game, an... event... causes the architecture of both the "real" and "unreal" sides of the town to topple into an unnerving mishmash, where familiar environments connect to each other in new and bizarre ways. Your save file, which always keeps you apprised of where you are, will helpfully tell you that your current location is "Nowhere".

* Averted in ''VideoGame/GoldenSun2001'', which takes place on one and a half continents, while ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' takes place [[ExpansionPackWorld all over the world]] ''except'' those one and a half continents.

->'''Maria:''' It's strange... this castle is different than I remember it.\\
'''Alucard:''' This castle is a creature of Chaos. It may take many incarnations.\\
'''Maria:''' Then I can't rely on my memories, huh? Oh well, I'll do my best. Good luck.
-->-- ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight''

* ''VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission'', being a retelling of the original, is [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ttLXScfRHcw surprisingly faithful to it]] (down to the same ledges that you jump on, sometimes), but once you [[spoiler: kill Mother Brain]] the plot goes firmly off the rails and Samus goes to places that never existed.

** Tails' lab in ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' is near the Mystic Ruins. ''VideoGame/SonicBattle'' gives him a separate house in Central City. In ''VideoGame/SonicRush'', it's now near the Water Palace, but ''VideoGame/SonicChroniclesTheDarkBrotherhood'' returns it to Central City. Tails' workshop in the 3DS version of ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'' is near Windy Hill.
** The Master Emerald switched locations between ''Sonic 3 & Knuckles'' and ''Sonic Adventure''. It was originally in an underground shrine but is now out in the open near Mystic Ruins.

[[caption-width-right:350:Apparently [[DistressedDamsel Peach]] renovates as many times [[SaveThePrincess as she gets kidnapped]].[[labelnote:The games]]L-R, going down: ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosWii'', ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBros1'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'', ''VideoGame/MarioGolf: Advance Tour'', ''VideoGame/SuperPrincessPeach'', ''VideoGame/SuperMario64 DS'', ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU'', ''VideoGame/PaperMario64''[[/labelnote]]]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]

* Averted in ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheBrokenSeal'', which takes place on one and a half continents, while ''VideoGame/GoldenSunTheLostAge'' takes place [[ExpansionPackWorld all over the world]] ''except'' those one and a half continents.

** ''358/2 Days'' is entirely made of recurring worlds, often with somewhat different layouts (read: smaller, but with more platforming), though Twilight Town is near identical to the original, and [[Disney/PeterPan Neverland]] is entirely different (because it actually takes place ''in'' Neverland this time, instead of Hook's Ship and London).

** [[Disney/{{Aladdin}} The Cave of Wonders]] ''never'' looks the same way twice. Kinda [[JustifiedTrope justified]] seeing as how, y'know, a ''Genie'' used to live there. Who KNOWS what kind of crazy magic that place has?

* ''VideoGame/GoldenSun'':
** Averted in the RPG games, where the first opus only takes place on one and a half continents, while the second one takes place [[ExpansionPackWorld all over the world]] ''except'' those one and a half continents.

** Happens in the third game, Dark Dawn. The geography of Angara and presumably all of Weyard is radically altered by [[WorldSundering the events]] at the end of The Lost Age. This conveniently solves the problem of the entire world being more or less explored out by the end of the GBA games. How come we didn't see all these ancient kingdoms in the previous games? [[AWizardDidIt The Golden Sun did it.]]