History Main / HubCity

** Lumiose City is based on Paris. If the Eiffel Tower expy didn't tip you off, maybe the fact that it's the biggest and most important city in a France-based region will. Also, among cities in the Pokémon world, it holds the record for the most routes leading into and out of it (five).

* Sigil (City of Doors), in the ''Planescape'' setting for ''Advanced TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons''. Similar cities crop up in other campaign settings: ''Forgotten Realms'' has Waterdeep (City of Splendors), for example, ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' has Sharn (City of Towers) and ''Greyhawk'' has...well, Greyhawk (City of...hey, the setting's named after it; what more did you want?).

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' was rather unusual in that the eponymous city didn't appear until very late in the game, and didn't even have all that much directly to do with the plot in it--though it ''was'' huge, composed of six areas where every other town in the game was no more than two screens if one was generous. ''Baldur's Gate 2'', on the other hand, starts you off in Athkatla ([[ArtifactTitle not only several hundred miles south but in a completely other nation]]), which you'll be returning to more than once. ''Throne of Bhaal'', the expansion to the sequel, didn't really ''have'' a capital city, though it did have your pocket plane as a home base.

* "Videogame/TheWitcher3WildHunt" has Crow's Perch, Novigrad and Kaer Trolde as the respective hub settlements for the Velen, Novigrad and Skellige Islands. The Blood and Wine DLC adds in the Toussaint region with Beauclair as the hub city.

* Vizima in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher''. [[Videogame/TheWitcher3WildHunt The third game]] has Novigrad.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'': The cities of [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Celadon, Saffron]], [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Goldenrod, Ecruteak]], [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Mauville, Lilycove]], [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Jubilife, Hearthome]], [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Castelia, Nimbasa]], and [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Lumiose]] from the various mainline games.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' -- Mabe Village

* The first three home console ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' games have each a rural or coastal hub village for the offline campaign and a larger, more populated city for the online campaign. The handheld games prior to the fourth generation have only one hub village for both campaigns (since those games only have local multiplayer support; the multiplayer quests are accepted within an indoor gathering hall). In both cases, the locations serve as residences for most of the non-playable characters and are also places authorized by the Hunter Guild to host quests for hunters to accept. The trope is averted in the fourth generation games, due to the presence of multiple villages and cities, meaning that there's no actual central hub.[[note]]Story-wise, each area has its own set of quests, but in practice ''any'' single-player quest can be accepted from anywhere. In contrast, the multiplayer quests can only be accepted in the gathering halls that support their corresponding ranks.[[/note]] The names of the hub villages and cities are:
** Kokoto Village ([[VideoGame/MonsterHunter2004 all first-generation entries]], single-player; multiplayer in ''Freedom'')
** Minegarde Town (original ''Monster Hunter'' and its G expansion, online)
** Jumbo Village (''VideoGame/MonsterHunter2Dos'', offline)
** Dundorma (''Monster Hunter 2'', online)
** Pokke Village (''VideoGame/MonsterHunterFreedom2'' and ''Freedom Unite'', single- and multiplayer)
** Moga Village (''VideoGame/MonsterHunter3Tri'' and ''3 Ultimate'', single player)
** Loc Lac City (''Monster Hunter 3'', online)
** Yukumo Village (''VideoGame/MonsterHunterPortable3rd'', single-player; multiplayer in PSP and online in [=PS3=])
** Port Tanzia (''Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate'', multiplayer in 3DS and online in Wii U)
** Astera (''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'', single- and multiplayer)

** Kamura (''VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise'', single- and multiplayer)

* The cities of [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Celadon, Saffron]], [[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Goldenrod, Ecruteak]], [[VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire Mauville, Lilycove]], [[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Jubilife, Hearthome]], [[VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite Castelia, Nimbasa]], and [[VideoGame/PokemonXAndY Lumiose]] from the various ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games.

%% Image selected per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1650466740060039800
%% Please don't change or remove without starting a new thread.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/clocktown.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Clock Town, a terminal for Termina.]]

* Sigil (City of Doors), in the ''Planescape'' setting for Advanced TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons. Similar cities crop up in other campaign settings: ''Forgotten Realms'' has Waterdeep (City of Splendors), for example, ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' has Sharn (City of Towers) and ''Greyhawk'' has...well, Greyhawk (City of...hey, the setting's named after it; what more did you want?).
* Cymril in the ''TabletopGame/{{Talislanta}}'' game setting.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Battletech}}'': Most settled worlds only have one spaceport and one [[SubspaceAnsible Hyper-Pulse Generator uplink station]]. Wherever they're located is invariably the largest and most important (sometimes ''[[LandOfOneCity only]]'') city on the planet, and usually but not always the [[PlanetaryNation seat of the planetary government]] as well. An invasion force that takes control of both these sites has to all intents and purposes conquered the whole planet.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Everway}}'': There are lots of cities scattered through this game's [[TheMultiverse multiverse]], but as the title may hint, the game pays special attention to the city of Everway in the realm of Roundwander, "the Crossroads of the Spheres," which has an extremely exceptional 71 or more interdimensional gates. Everway is accordingly a bustling trade city where scholars know a great deal about other spheres and are always interested to learn more. However, it can't exert much direct power over other spheres (i.e. alternate worlds), because only a few people can traverse the PortalNetwork that links them, and they tend to have minds of their own.

* The Citadel in ''Franchise/MassEffect'' certainly counts, and it's even the capital of interstellar politics.
** It was even the capital of the Protheans's empire fifty-thousand years before the games. Of course, [[spoiler: it was designed by the Reapers so that every galactic civilization would make it their capital, so the first strike of their invasions would immediately take out the nerve center of the strongest galactic power and give them full access to all military and political data as well]].
** [[WretchedHive Omega]] acts as this in the [[VideoGame/MassEffect2 sequel]].

* Happy Garland in ''VideoGame/SteambotChronicles.''

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' does this a few times:
** In a variation, ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' makes this the FirstTown, but Midgar is still the Capital of the planet (Shinra's HQ is located here, natch).
** Deling City (though Esthar is ''far'' bigger) in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII''.
** The Grand Duchy of Jeuno in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', although nowadays Al Zahbi/Whitegate is busier.
** Rabanastre from ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'', also the first town. Archadia's capital Archades is also quite large, but not on the same scale and not as friendly. More importantly, there aren't nearly as many places to go in Archades due to its taxi system and being impossible to get around otherwise, cutscenes show it to actually be quite large.
** Eden is considered the capital of the planet Cocoon in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'' (with the notable fact that parts of it are made up of living creatures,) and the driving force of the characters' wanting to go there is at first to get help to remove their [[BlessedWithSuck l'Cie brands]], and later to [[spoiler: bring it crashing out of the sky.]]
** ''VideoGame/LightningReturnsFinalFantasyXIII'' has Luxerion, the "City of Light" that has a hand in most of the other events going on in the world (or what's left of it). Case in point, whereas the train stations in other areas are limited in the number of places on their menu, Luxerion has TWO stations that, combined, allow you to ride over to all three of those locales.
** Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Ul'Dah of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', which are also the starting points of the game depending on your starting class. Each expansion adds additional hubs, including Ishgard in ''Heavensward'', Kugane in ''Stormblood'', the Crystarium in ''Shadowbringers'', and Old Sharlayan in ''Endwalker''.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' has Lestallum, the biggest town that can be visited, with a wide array of vendors selling everything from cooking ingredients to battle gear. There's also a gas station where Noctis can fuel up, and a fancy hotel where the party can rest up. In the multiplayer component ''Comrades'', Lestallum also serves as the base of operations for the remaining members of the Kingsglaive AfterTheEnd.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts''
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'': Traverse Town, the first world that Sora lands in after his home world is destroyed. As the headquarters of the heroic characters, the player will keep coming back to it, both for plot reasons and because shopping and [[ItemCrafting synthesizing]] can only be done there.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'': Hollow Bastion, which was the penultimate level in the first game, now serves as a headquarters of sorts for Sora and his allies. Many crucial plot points take place here. However, in terms of gameplay, it's not quite as vital as Traverse Town, as shopping and synthesizing can now be done in every other world.
%%** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' has The Castle That Never Was and Twilight Town.
%%** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' has Traverse Town again.

* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'':
*** The largest city on Vvardenfell island (where the main game takes place) is Vivec, the {{Egopolis}} of the Dunmeri [[PhysicalGod Tribunal deity]], Vivec. It's made up of several massive cantons (each canton alone is larger than most other cities in the game) and you'll be visiting it repeatedly throughout the main quest as well as most faction quests. Balmora also qualifies as the 2nd largest city on the island, and the first big city you visit if following the main quest (as well as being where your primary quest-giver lives for the first half of the main quest lives).
*** As far as the Imperials are concerned, the technical capital of Vvardenfell is Ebonheart. However, it amounts to little more than a couple of Imperial-style buildings housing the Imperial-appointed Duke and some consular services, across the waterfront from Vivec City.
*** Played with with Mournhold, the actual capital of Morrowind which you visit in the ''Tribunal'' expansion. You're unfortunately limited to only a small part of the stated-to-be massive city, where the King of Morrowind (Helseth) and [[PhysicalGod Almalexia]] take up residence. For the purposes of ''Tribunal'' specifically, however, Mournhold does play this part -- if only because nearly the entire expansion takes place ''in'' Mournhold (the only ''Tribunal'' quest that isn't received in Mournhold is the one to get you ''to'' Mournhold).
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'':
*** ''Oblivion'' starts the main character out at the Imperial City prison sewer exit. While this does place the character closest to the Imperial City on the main map, the usual progression for a first-time player is to follow the first quest, which immediately takes you to Weynon Priory, just outside the city of Chorrol. The Imperial City is available to travel to at any time, though.
*** Subverted in the form of Kvatch, which is nearly as large as the Imperial City and even has an arena. It's subverted because the city gets [[KickTheDog razed to the ground by the invading Daedra]] before the player ever gets to see it. When you do get inside, it's nothing more than burning buildings and rubble.
*** Played straight in the ''Shivering Isles'' expansion for ''Oblivion'', in that the divided city of New Sheoth, capital of the Shivering Isles, is not available until you've finished the introductory quest. Until then, you're restricted to the village of Passwall.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' muddles this trope. Whiterun ultimately fits the description best as it is the Hub City of Skyrim due to its central location. However, due to the Civil War, the political hub cities of Skyrim are Solitude (for Imperial-aligned) and Windhelm (for Stormcloak-aligned) and both are large cities with port access to the other side of the country. Add into this the fact that all the Hold Capitals are Hub Cities for their holds, which add extra layers of complexity.
* Every country in ''VideoGame/ERepublik'' has a capital, certain actions can cause them to move, hence why the capital of the [=eUSA=] is Florida.
* Koorong in ''VideoGame/SagaFrontier'', the only city in the game from which you can travel to all of the others; the others only have a handful of destinations. Manhattan probably has more people, but you only have to visit there in a couple of the quests, and there aren't nearly as many buildings to go into.
* ''VideoGame/{{Freelancer}}'' has ''four'' Capital Cities, each one of the capital planet of the Houses: Manhattan, New London, New Tokyo, and New Berlin. In terms of where the player can actually go, however, they have the same four locations as every other planet, station, and outpost in the game: the Landing Pad, the Bar, the Ship Dealer, and the Trader.
* The online iterations of the ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar'' series have a singular location where players gather for supplies and meeting up for parties before embarking on adventures, including:
** Pioneer 2 in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'', one of the ark ships for the Pioneer Project, which has a hub for players to interact and gather for parties, along with a city with shops, a bank, and a quest counter.
** The GUARDIANS Colony in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarUniverse'', the capital of the Ghural System. Each planet also has a hub city of their own.
** Dairon City in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarZero''
** The ARKS Ship in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'', which has several amenities, including a shopping district, a cafe, a [[MinigameZone casino]], a PVP battle arena, and [[AHomeownerIsYou personal housing]].
* ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma'' has Gran Soren, which is oft described by Pawns as "the beating heart of all Gransys". It's the royal capital of the realm and has several amenities, including an inn where you can rest and handle your vocations, a Pawn Guild, bulletin boards with job listings, and a fair number of stores and vendors. [[spoiler: Subverted, the city would eventually collapse once you killed the dragon, and the true nature of [[VeryDefiniteFinalDungeon Everfall]] [[WhereItAllBegan would be revealed]].]]
* Varrock, Falador, and Ardougne in ''VideoGame/{{Runescape}}''.
* Presumably to save on memory, ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'' only has one city and a few villages, and the city's not very big at all.
* In the ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games, [[VideoGame/PaperMario64 Toad Town]], [[VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor Rogueport]], [[VideoGame/SuperPaperMario Flipside]], and [[VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar Decalburg]] serve as a combination of this, the FirstTown, and the HubLevel.
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** Meltokio in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'' and Midgard in ''VideoGame/TalesOfPhantasia''.
** Every ''[[VideoGame/TalesSeries Tales]]'' game has at least one. ''VideoGame/TalesOfEternia'' has two, one for each planet the player can visit.
** ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' also had two. Zaphias, the Capital of TheEmpire and Dangrest, the capital of the [[TheAlliance the Guild Union]].
* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' was rather unusual in that the eponymous city didn't appear until very late in the game, and didn't even have all that much directly to do with the plot in it--though it ''was'' huge, composed of six areas where every other town in the game was no more than two screens if one was generous. ''Baldur's Gate 2'', on the other hand, starts you off in Athkatla ([[ArtifactTitle not only several hundred miles south but in a completely other nation]]), which you'll be returning to more than once. ''Throne of Bhaal'', the expansion to the sequel, didn't really ''have'' a capital city, though it did have your pocket plane as a home base.
* Creator/BioWare did more or less the same thing in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': Denerim is the largest city in the game (which isn't saying much), but you're discouraged from going there until later by a BeefGate or two. Justified in that the EvilChancellor is there at the centre of his power. It ''is'' full of sidequests and critical sequences of the main quests, and [[spoiler:TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon]]. In ''[[VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening Awakening]]'', it's Amaranthine and in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', it's [[CityOfAdventure Kirkwall]], seeing how there aren't any other cities in either game.
* ''VideoGame/{{Summoner}}'' featured Lenele, the city of the gods. To say that Lenele was immense would be a mild understatement (Unfortunately, Lenele is the only large city in the game that's still populated, although there was originally going to be another huge city next to Lenele, but it was scrapped midway through development).
* Most of the action in ''VideoGame/CityOfHeroes'' takes place in Paragon City, while most of ''City of Villains'' takes place in the Rogue Islands. Occasionally the two sides cross over. Each city has a Hub District that fits this trope: Atlas Park for heroes, Cap Au Diable for villains, and Imperial City for Praetorians.
* Jibral Castle Town in ''VideoGame/BlueDragon''.
* Vizima in ''VideoGame/TheWitcher''. [[Videogame/TheWitcher3WildHunt The third game]] has Novigrad.
* ''VideoGame/ArcanumOfSteamworksAndMagickObscura'' has Tarant.
* Bowerstone from the ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'' games. Subverted in both games in that the player visits Bowertone fairly early on.
* ''Perfect World International'' has Archosaur -- so huge that after the 19th level (in particular after what's generally called the "FB 19" dungeon for the respective race) ''everyone'' goes there and has more or less the same quests for at least the next ten levels, and thus go to the same areas; it's so huge that you can actually teleport ''within'' the city, to a teleport area in the north, west, and/or south. On the Heaven's Tear [=PVE=] server this player has seen the area immediately inside the west gate ''perpetually'' filled with players.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' has three of these, one for each continent.
** Lion's Arch in Tyria, Kaineng Centre in Cantha (which is only the administrative center of Kaineng City -- the city itself covers more than ''half'' of Cantha, making Kaineng the best example of this trope in Guild Wars), and Kamadan, Jewel of Istan in Elona. these three places are the centres of player trading and chat in their respective campaigns, and are distinguished by being the places you have to go to have access to travel to the other continents.
** Lion's Arch continued to enjoy its HubCity status in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', now as a neutral city populated by all races rather than a human capital (it's a long story). It contained portals to all racial cities, as well as [=PvP=] and high-end [=PvE=] content, dungeon gear vendors, and crafting stations. Then, in a subversion of StatusQuoIsGod, [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore it was destroyed at the end of the Living Story season one]] and left a depopulated ruin. The player hub and all services were temporarily moved to Vigil Keep until the city was deemed safe enough for them to return.
* ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'', set in Neverwinter, is a [[GameplayAndStorySegregation relatively large]] city. Not only is the first entire section of the game set ''exclusively'' in the metropolis, but one comes back to it for the final battle. Hordes of the Underdark, meanwhile, subverts it: you start off in Waterdeep, which plays this role to the ''[[TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms setting]]''... with only a (small) city block available for exploration, and not that much to do; the main part of the chapter is about exploring Halaster's Undermountain.
* Prontera from ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline''.
* Britannia from ''VideoGame/UltimaOnline'' and other Ultima games.
* ''VideoGame/EveOnline'' has Jita, which is so busy that it has its own dedicated nodes to run it and special rules to manage the traffic. Other market hubs include Amarr, Dodixie, and Rens. Putting some numbers to this, Jita regularly tops 1000 people. It usually has about 2% of the entire active population at any given time, while there are some 7500 other systems.
* Tolbi from ''VideoGame/GoldenSun''.
* [=YouTube=] in ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm''. It’s the largest city in the game and the one that you’ll be revisiting after each of the next few chapters. It’s also the home of the eBuy department store and the Battle Arena.
* Big Ape City from ''[[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1 Donkey Kong Land]]''.
* Any city from ''VideoGame/MountAndBlade'', but you'll find the place that your leader hides out will be the most commonly visited because sucking up to him is a great way to keep your place in your faction.
* ''VideoGame/DungeonsAndDragonsOnline'' takes place mostly in the city of Stormreach (see below) The game was even called "Stormreach" before it became an AllegedlyFreeGame. As you level up, you move through the city's different districts. It helps that the game takes place almost exclusively on Xen'drik, which doesn't exactly have other major civilized areas.
* Liberty City and Vice City in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' series -- the former of these is played more straight in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII GTA3]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/GrandtheftAutoLibertyCityStories Liberty City Stories]]'', where the action is more self-contained (Alderney in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV GTA4]]'' is treated by the Libertonians as a separate city, despite sharing the same conurbation zone -- not quite unlike New Jersey to New York City IRL). As for ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andreas]]'', it's an odd case because the action is rather equally split between Los Santos and San Fierro, with a smaller part of the action being set in Las Venturas.
* ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'':
** ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' has Station Square. This is where you start out (with most characters), and it has three full Action Stages in it (the first of which is quite large) -- Speed Highway, Emerald Coast, and Casinopolis.
** ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' has Soleanna, an Italy-inspired city-state from which nearly every stage is accessed (the few that aren't are from a BadFuture).
** ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' has "Town Stages" situated in each of the game's major countries from which the action stages are accessed (in the [=PS360=] versions, anyway). The Town Stages are inspired by different real-world regions, including Apotos (Greece), Spagonia (London), Mazuri (southern Africa), Holoska (the Arctic), Chun-nan (rural China), Shamar (the Middle East), Empire City ([[BigApplesauce New York City]]), and Adabat (southeast Asia). [[spoiler:There is also a hub for the final area, Eggmanland.]]
* It varies in each ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' game.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 1}}'' had The Hub as the largest population and trade center of the wastes.
** New Reno got all the developer love in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'', but the New California Republic's capital city was also very important in terms of the story since it belongs to the largest faction in the game universe, and there are much more shops there. San Francisco was pretty important in the last quarter of the game as their shops offer many end-game high-tech equipment that you can't get from anywhere else.
** VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}} was more decentralized, with no real cities. Megaton and Rivet City were the biggest, with Rivet City being bigger and having a better market, while Megaton had more plot and player housing. Like in the second game, the Citadel was big after The Waters of Life.
** In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', the eponymous city is this in almost every way. While it's only the center of political power for Mr. House and the Families, all the major factions have an interest in it.
** ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' has two such cities: one is Diamond City, the "green jewel of the Commonwealth", built in the ruins of Boston's real-life Fenway Park baseball stadium, hence its name. The other is Goodneighbor, which seems like a WretchedHive in comparison with its population of addicts and grifters, but is a safe haven for all who enter, even ghouls ([[FantasticRacism who are barred from entering Diamond City]]).
* The huge, multi-layered Ceres City seems to take up nearly half the game in ''VideoGame/AlterAila Genesis''. In the original, the Slums serve as a hub for most routes; among other benefits, technological genius Tinder lives there.
* [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Killingrad]] in ''VideoGame/HeavyWeapon'' is the capital city of [[TheEmpire the Red Star forces]], and the [[DiscOneFinalDungeon Disc One Final Level]]. It's also the level where you first fight against some of the commies' deadly machines such as the KillSat and [[AdvancingBossOfDoom Bulldozer]], both of which can OneHitKill you.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein|2009}}'' has Isenstadt, in which the player can interact with various resistance groups, buy weapon upgrades, and tangle with random Nazi patrols between missions.
* The ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' series features these heavily. Each game is basically a series of hub cities, linked by story missions.
** For the first game, it's mostly self-contained mission areas, but Hell's Kitchen, Hong Kong, and Paris act like this, as well as the UNATCO HQ [[spoiler: until JC turns against them]].
** ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' has Seattle, Trier, and Cairo.
** In ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'', there are essentially two hub cities: Detroit in the United States and Lower Hengsha in China. Although Montreal and Upper Hengsha were supposed to be hub cities as well, they were DummiedOut and reduced to single levels at the last minute.
** ''VideoGame/DeusExTheFall'' takes place entirely in Panama City (with the exception of the tutorial mission), not even using the self-contained missions outside the hub city structure of the other games. While it will likely never see a sequel, text in the game files indicate plans for the sequel to focus on New York City (specifically, parts of New York City connected by an anarchist-infested subway system).
** ''VideoGame/DeusExMankindDivided'' has Prague, although Rabi'ah is prominent enough throughout the story that it may become the next hub city in the series.
* Millenium City in ''VideoGame/ChampionsOnline'' is this, as well as a CityOfAdventure. The trope mostly focuses on Renaissance Center, which is the one-stop shop for everything in the game. Other zones have conveniences as well, but nothing comes close to [=RenCen=].
* In ''Videogame/{{Borderlands}}'' the town of New Haven is the closest thing to civilization you'll find, and you'll frequently return there for new quests or to buy/sell loot. In ''Videogame/{{Borderlands 2}}'', there's the much more prominent hub of Sanctuary, which serves as the Crimson Raiders' base, as well as your own, and it contains the largest concentration of vendors, certain respawning [=NPCs=], a buttload of quests, a safe for storing extra money and items, Claptrap's secret stash (which lets you transfer items between your characters), a Quick-Change station for changing your look and reassigning your skill points, and several unique vendors (including Crazy Earl's Black Market and the Golden Chest). It's your home on Pandora. It also happens to be the only area that levels up with you during the main story, so the vending machines will always be worth checking. ''Videogame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' has the slightly less prominent Concordia, which functions much like Sanctuary but with some new additions: a Grinder to combine unwanted items, a bar with cocktails that give you special effects for a while, and [[AntiFrustrationFeatures a station to enter SHiFT codes and redeem their rewards]]. Unlike Sanctuary, it loses plot focus about halfway through the game, and since all vending machines level with you this time around, there's not as much incentive to keep coming back.
* Most Artix Entertainment [=MMOs=] have one of these: ''VideoGame/AdventureQuest'' has Battleon, ''VideoGame/DragonFable'' has Falconreach, ''VideoGame/MechQuest'' has Soluna City.
* Downplayed in ''VideoGame/RavenmarkScourgeOfEstellion''. While the political center of the Empire of Estellion is the city of Atium, where the Obsidian Perch (TheEmperor's throne) is located, the economic and social hub of the Empire is most definitely in the Twin Cities of Whitewater and Istoni (connected by bridges across the Deverra river). This is where the four Queens (think of them as department heads) rule. There are other fairly-sized cities in the game, although you only know that from the in-game [[AllThereInTheManual Codex]]: East Isle (a rebellious recently-conquered island city), Halfling Quarter (a [[{{Hobbits}} Jackdaw]] city built into a huge crack in the ground), Silvergate (capital of the Commonwealth of Esotre), New Carsis (capital of the Kaysani), Redemptor’s Watch (a smaller Kaysani city; HQ of the Redeemers).
* Tairon in ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden2004''.
* ''VideoGame/PlanetAlcatraz'' has the Northern City as the largest settlement on the [[PenalColony prison planet]]. There's also Kreuzweizburg, a fortress, inhabited by political prisoners. The sequel also introduces Cop City.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'': In the games following the first one, Scuttle Town is the place where Shantae can spend her gems to purchase items and spells.
* ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'' has Eden, a beacon of civilization in the vast and unforgiving post-nuclear wastes. Compared to other small settlements that dot the wasteland, Eden is a veritable metropolis with clean water, fresh food, and limitless power. There are many shops to frequent (using money instead of simple barter) and amenities of all sorts, including a colosseum, a casino, a hostess club, and a video arcade.
* The first three home console ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' games have each a rural or coastal hub village for the offline campaign and a larger, more populated city for the online campaign. The handheld games prior to the fourth generation have only one hub village for both campaigns (since those games only have local multiplayer support; the multiplayer quests are accepted within an indoor gathering hall). In both cases, the locations serve as residences for most of the non-playable characters and are also places authorized by the Hunter Guild to host quests for hunters to accept. The trope is averted in the fourth generation games, due to the presence of multiple villages and cities, meaning that there's no actual central hub.[[note]]Story-wise, each area has its own set of quests, but in practice ''any'' single-player quest can be accepted from anywhere. In contrast, the multiplayer quests can only be accepted in the gathering halls that support their corresponding ranks.[[/note]] The names of the hub villages and cities are:
** Kokoto Village ([[VideoGame/MonsterHunter2004 all first-generation entries]], single-player; multiplayer in ''Freedom'')
** Minegarde Town (original ''Monster Hunter'' and its G expansion, online)
** Jumbo Village (''VideoGame/MonsterHunter2Dos'', offline)
** Dundorma (''Monster Hunter 2'', online)
** Pokke Village (''VideoGame/MonsterHunterFreedom2'' and ''Freedom Unite'', single- and multiplayer)
** Moga Village (''VideoGame/MonsterHunter3Tri'' and ''3 Ultimate'', single player)
** Loc Lac City (''Monster Hunter 3'', online)
** Yukumo Village (''VideoGame/MonsterHunterPortable3rd'', single-player; multiplayer in PSP and online in [=PS3=])
** Port Tanzia (''Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate'', multiplayer in 3DS and online in Wii U)
** Astera (''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'', single- and multiplayer)
** Seliana (''Monster Hunter World: Iceborne'', same as Astera)
** Kamura (''VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise'', single- and multiplayer)
** Elgado (''Monster Hunter Rise: Sunbreak'', same as Kamura)
* Each game in the ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' series has one, and it's from there where the player's party can access the inn to rest and save the progress, the shop to buy and sell goods, the bar to accept sidequests and talk to non-playable characters, the office of the city's political ruler to accept story missions, the explorer guilds' gathering hall to recruit and manage party members, and the exit that leads to the Yggdrasil Tree (or the overworld leading to it, in the case of ''Legends of the Titan'' and ''Nexus'') where most of the adventure takes place. The names of the cities are: Etria ([[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyI first game]] and its remake ''Millenium Girl''), High Lagaard (''[[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIHeroesOfLagaard Heroes of Lagaard]]'' and its remake ''The Fafnir Knight''), Armoroad (''[[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIIITheDrownedCity The Drowned City]]''), Tharsis (''[[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyIVLegendsOfTheTitan Legends of the Titan]]''), Iorys (''[[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyVBeyondTheMyth Beyond the Myth]]''), and Maginia (''[[VideoGame/EtrianOdysseyNexus Nexus]]'').
* ''VideoGame/StellaGlow'': Lambert City is the capital of the kingdom where all characters live in, serving as the resting area for Alto and all characters who join him over the course of the adventure. During Free Time, Alto can chat with the characters to increase mutual affinity, tune Witches in case one of them is in need thereof, accept jobs to earn money, do free exploration, and buy or sell products as well as refine orbs. During Mission Time, only the last two actions can be performed, since time will only pass when you're completing the main story objectives. Lambert City is also where you can save your progress outside story-based save prompts. It remains the safest location for the characters [[HubUnderAttack until the second half of the game]].
* Vagrant's Rest in ''VideoGame/{{Ashen}}'', which you liberate at the very start of the game. An interesting take on the trope in that it starts as little more than a small campsite with a few lean-tos scattered around the ritual stone. However, you get to see it steadily grow over the course of the game with debris being cleared, and building foundations popping up as you progress. By the end, it has developed into a fully functioning small town.
* ''VideoGame/Wasteland3'': Colorado Springs is the largest functioning city left in the post-apocalyptic United States, thanks to the Patriarch who rules with an iron fist but otherwise has managed to maintain order and stability. There is a large downtown area full of various merchants, the Patriarch's opulent palace at The Broadmoor, and the remains of Peterson AFB, that [[PlayerCharacter Ranger Team November]] takes over as their base of operations.

* ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' features Waddle Dee Town, a small settlement in the New World consisting of primarily Waddle Dees, hence the name. The player can play some minigames, upgrade Copy Abilities, partake in the Colosseum's boss fight cups, rewatch cutscenes, listen to the in-game music, visit Kirby's house, or return to the world map.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

** ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' has "Town Stages" situated in each of the game's major countries from which the action stages are accessed (in the [=PS360=] versions, anyway). The Town Stages are inspired by different real-world regions, including Apotos (Greece), Spagonia (London), Mazuri (southern Africa), Holoska (the Arctic), Chun-nan (rural China), Shamar (the Middle East), Empire City ([[TheBigApplesauce New York City]]), and Adabat (southeast Asia). [[spoiler:There is also a hub for the final area, Eggmanland.]]

-->-- ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' [[note]]In practice, Inkopolis Square is more of a HubLevel, though.[[/note]]

-->-- ''VideoGame/Splatoon2''[[note]]In practice, it's more of a HubLevel, though.[[/note]]