History Main / OpeningTheSandbox

** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in ''[[VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas San Andres]]''. Just like the previous games, the other areas of the map are blocked off from the one you start in by [[BrokenBridge closed off bridges and water]]. What's different is [[TheProtagonist CJ]] doesn't have SuperDrowningSkills like his predessesors and can cross the water no problem. The problem is as soon as you get on land you will get ''an automatic 5-star wanted level'' you can only remove after you have gone back to the areas you can explore.
*** As for the actual Opening The Sandbox moments, they include San Fierro and the rural counties Whetstone and Flint County to its south after "The Green Sabre" and the Las Venturas and the rural areas Tierra Robada and Bone County to its north and west after "Yay Ka-Boom Boom." In addition, optional [[SavePoint Safehouses]] in certain areas are locked from purchase until certain story quests are done even if you had access to them. These include Red County (the rural areas north and west of Los Santos) after "The Green Sabre," San Fierro until after "Are You Going To San Fierro," and Las Venturas after "Learning To Fly."

** Being a much more open game than previous entries in the series, ''[[VideoGame/PokemonLegendsArceus Legends: Arceus]] give you rideable Pokemon to open up the areas for you. Basulegion allows you to swim, Sneasler allows you to climb sheer cliffs, and Hisuian Braviary allow you for full flight.

Usually a very good time to get the InfinityPlusOneSword or go for OneHundredPercentCompletion. If the entire RPG is like this, it could be a QuicksandBox. This point also comes shortly before the PointOfNoReturn, or after if the game has certain forms of NewGamePlus.

** When you finally break the Skull Kid's curse in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''. As a human, you finally have a decent melee weapon and can leave town. The town itself also has various activities for Hylian Link.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'' opens up three times, each time when you [[DualWorldGameplay gain a new method of time travel, or a new season to summon]].

** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' the sandbox is opened after you open all three portals, getting the Clawshot also opens up a couple more opportunities.
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds'', the sandbox is opened when you enter Lorule. You need to go through seven dungeons, but you can do each of them in any order you please (with one exception: you can't reach the Desert Palace without going through the Thieves' Hideout first).
** In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'', while the Great Plateau is a sandbox itself, the rest of Hyrule is opened up when you get the Paraglider, ''including the final dungeon and final boss''.
* In ''{{VideoGame/Okami}}'', you can go back and get most of the missing collectibles once you've bought the DoubleJump and unlocked Kabegami's brush technique, allowing you to climb walls, but it's a lot less traveling to wait until you've gotten the Mist Warp technique (available after completing the fourth dungeon, Imperial Palace) so you can teleport between certain sacred mirrors.
* In ''VideoGame/GoVacation,'' once you get twenty Stamps (i.e., once you've played around half of the available minigames), you'll have the entire game open to you: All four Resorts, every minigame, and the [[AnInteriorDesignerIsYou Villa]].
* In ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'', for the first handful of hours, the game lightly leads players through the Forgotten Crossroads, Greenpath, and the Fungal Wastes through subtle context clues and following the trail of Hornet. Once you obtain the Mothwing Cloak and Mantis Claw allowing you to dash and climb walls respectively, you're free to go in several directions, though this is less apparent for first-time players. Shortly thereafter you'll meet Hornet at the Hollow Knight memorial in the City of Tears, giving you a goal, and marking the point where the game kicks the crutch from under your feet and opening up almost all of Hallownest to explore. A second instance is obtaining the Dream Nail from your first visit in the Resting Grounds, where you're now free to challenge Dream Bosses, open up new areas, and the location of the three Dreamers get added to your map.

** In contrast to its extremely linear predecessor, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins'' is far more open. After finishing the tutorial level, the six zones containing the titular coins have no set order to do them in, and players are free to, for example, complete part of one zone and then work on another, leaving the rest of the previous one for later.

** As shown in [[https://youtu.be/nn2MXwplMZA this video analysis]] by Game Maker's Toolkit, ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' holds your hand a bit longer, as the game railroads you down a pretty linear path until you get the Ice Beam and Power Bombs and work your way back to your starting ship, essentially making a giant loop. From this point, not only can you revisit every area you've been previously, whole swathes of the map are now open to you to explore freely.

[[folder: Real Time Strategy ]]

* The first two ''VideoGame/{{Pikmin}}'' games after you get Blue Pikmin, as that will allow you to explore the aquatic portions of each area (they're not a problem for Olimar or any of the other playable captains, but they are for the Pikmin of the other colors except Pink). To a lesser extent, this also applies to ''Pikmin 3'' once you get the Yellow Pikmin and rescue Charlie, since the game up to that point has been extremely linear and requires you to visit the first three areas in a specific order.

[[folder: Role-Playing Game -- Eastern ]]

* After beating down Dalton the second time in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''.
* Most ''VideoGame/DragonQuest''

*** As for the actual OpeningTheSanbox moments, they include San Fierro and the rural counties Whetstone and Flint County to its south after "The Green Sabre" and the Las Venturas and the rural areas Tierra Robada and Bone County to its north and west after "Yay Ka-Boom Boom." In addition, optional [[SavePoint Safehouses]] in certain areas are locked from purchase until certain story quests are done even if you had access to them. These include Red County (the rural areas north and west of Los Santos) after "The Green Sabre," San Fierro until after "Are You Going To San Fierro," and Las Venturas after "Learning To Fly."

** ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' starts you off in the year 2088, mere minutes from when the bombs start dropping, to create your character and assign your SPECIAL points. After awakening from cryostasis, your fight to leave the abandoned Vault serves as a combat tutorial. Once you're out of the Vault, the Commonwealth opens up to you.

* Most ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games once you obtain a ship. Starting with ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'', flight is possible and getting the ability to fly opens up the world further. (However, ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' doesn't give the player the ability to fly until after completing the main story, so the ship is the main mode of travel until then.)

[[folder: Role Playing Game ]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' confines you to an underground vault, which serves as a tutorial level to teach you about combat and using your Pip-Boy, in the early part of the game. You eventually escape after the Vault falls into chaos, gaining access to the rest of the world.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' employs a {{downplayed| trope}} version:
** The game attempts to [[RailRoading confine you]] to [[FollowThePlottedLine find the man who tried to kill you]] in the early parts of the game with {{Beef Gate}}s. But the game also leaves options open for more perceptive players to device a way to sneak past the [[DemonicSpiders Deathclaws]] at Quarry Junction or evade the [[BigCreepyCrawlies Cazadors and Giant Radscorpions]] north of Goodsprings [[SequenceBreaking to get directly to Vegas]]. The game even has special dialogue from various [=NPCs=] if the player opts for this option.
** The 188 Trading Post north of Novac is the point where the entirety of the map is within reach of the player, where previously Beef Gates and terrain obstacles kept you confined.
* ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' starts you off in the year 2088, mere minutes from when the bombs start dropping, to create your character and assign your SPECIAL points. After awakening from cryostasis, your fight to leave the abandoned Vault serves as a combat tutorial. Once you're out of the Vault, the Commonwealth opens up to you.

* In ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' and ''VideoGame/TrialsOfMana'', gaining access to Flammie allows the party to travel through the air, providing access to previously unseen locations.
* After beating down Dalton the second time in ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger''.

* Throughout ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, this happens ''very'' early on compared to most other series. In most of the games, this happens right after character creation and escaping the NoobCave tutorial level, which can be mere ''minutes'' into the game. ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'' takes this to an extreme, releasing you into the world ''immediately after character creation''. At that point, {{Beef Gate}}s are the only thing preventing you from accessing absolutely everything.
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', the main opening happened immediately after Gorion was killed, with new maps unlocked as the chapters progress (it takes a fair while until you actually get to the eponymous city, for example). In [[VideoGame/BaldursGateII the sequel]], the moment you step out of Irenicus' dungeon (with a second opening after you step out of [[spoiler: the Underdark]]).

* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' hands you your ship and turns you loose after a couple hours of gameplay. [[Webcomic/PennyArcade Some people]] feel [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/11/19/ slightly intimidated]] by this. However, you still can't access ''all'' the star systems until you complete missions that unlock them, and there's no point at which you can freely go to any of the available planets; when you unlock the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, you lose the ability to go back to [[spoiler:the Citadel]].
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' lets you loose once you finish Freedom's Progress and [[spoiler:receive the Normandy SR-2]], but you can't explore ''all'' of the galaxy until after Horizon, about a third of the way through the game.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' opens up the sandbox after escaping from Mars, but more and more the star systems are gradually unlocked after each Priority mission.
* In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', once you get off Dantooine, you can go to whichever planet you want any time you want. [[spoiler: Except, you know, [[DoomedHometown Taris]].]]
* The ''Dragon Age'' series:
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': After you leave Lothering, you're free to go to each of the four armies you need to recruit in any order you wish, as well as visit any other location on the world map.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'': The world isn't as open as that in ''Origins'', but after meeting Varric in the very first cutscene of Act I, you're finally allowed to visit any of the locations within Kirkwall or its outskirts, whereas in the Prologue you were confined to linear progression.
** ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', for all its trying to be more sandbox-ey than the previous installments, doesn't quite open up until you make yourself at home in Skyhold, about 15 hours in. It does let you out into the Hinterlands--the biggest open area in the entire game--early on (right after the tutorial and Haven), but higher-level locations don't appear on the PointAndClickMap until Skyhold.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfDragoon'': There is a point near the end of the game where the party acquires a strange manta-ray creature called Coolan, who can fly them to any destination (although if you plan to go too far back through the game, have the relevant disc ready).
* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' likes to open all the side quests when the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon appears.
** First game: After the Float rises. You can't go back to China, however.
** ''Covenant'': Pretty much anytime, really, but the sandbox truly opens once the Stone Circle activates.
** ''From The New World'': Once you step into the Gate.
* ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'': AfterTheEnd. Which is relatively early in the game.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', while your PlayerCharacter arrives in Tokyo on 4/9, the game proceeds on a linear path for the first 9 days. On 4/18, you are allowed to explore daytime Tokyo, do Confidants, and go to the Palace. Sojiro allows you to explore nighttime Yongen-Jaya on 4/25 and cuts you loose on nighttime Tokyo on 5/6, and you unlock Mementos the next day.

* Similarly, most of the [[BonusBoss Bonus Bosses]] (And your [[SecretCharacter final member]]) in ''[[VideoGame/WildArms1 Wild ARMs: Alter Code F]]'' require you to go halfway into the final dungeon, grab a specific item and leave.
* Most ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' games once you obtain a ship. Starting with ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'', flight is possible and getting the ability to fly opens up the world further. (However, ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIX'' doesn't give the player the ability to fly until after completing the main story, so the ship is the main mode of travel until then.)

* In ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa'', the world starts opening up once you finish your main character's Prologue; as you visit different places for the first time, they're marked on your map and become more easily accessable.
* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic VI'' to ''IX'' had a gradual opening of sidequests and (to a somewhat lesser degree) locations over the course of the game, as well as an early moment when you can start crossing maps (VI arguably isn't an example, since that moment is when the game starts, but the other three have at least ''some'' degree of quest-finishing before that point).
* ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'' puts you on a linear path during the Campaign mode, but once you complete it, Adventure mode is unlocked and you can go wherever you want on the game map, with sidequests and Bounties as incentives to explore Sanctuary. Several areas exclusive to Adventure mode open up, as well.
* ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' starts off fairly linear for the first few areas. Once you complete Duncan's Factory, you're given free reign to go anywhere you want provided you can make it through the battles, the only caveat being you can't fight the FinalBoss until you sing the Eight Melodies to Queen Mary.
* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'' features the two-tiered variation of this trope: the sandbox is opened to you partially at the end of the (largely on-rails) Prologue, but you can only access about a quarter of Night City due to the police cordoning your native Watson district off from the rest of the city until the end of Act I. The rest of the sandbox is fully opened up at the beginning of Act II.

* In most of the side-scrolling ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'' games, getting the High Jump boots is the point when suddenly you can go (plot allowing) practically anywhere. In ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' and by extension its remake (''[[VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns Samus Returns]]''), the big "I'm free!" moment is getting the Spider Ball upgrade which allows you to cling to crawl walls in Morph Ball form. The Space Jump takes it UpToEleven by being the point where you can go ''literally anywhere in the game''.

* ''VideoGame/EndlessSky'' has two related openings: completing a tier 1 storyline[[note]]as of May 2017 only the Free Worlds one is completed and implemented[[/note]], and acquiring a jump drive. The tier 1 storyline unlocks the tier 2 storylines and many tier 2 missions, and the jump drive (which is most easily acquired towards the end of a tier 1 storyline, but ''can'' be acquired earlier) allows you to go to systems that aren't connected to human space with hyperlinks[[spoiler: or wormholes]].

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' lets you explore Hyrule freely once you rescue Princess Zelda from the catacombs. Once you complete four dungeons and defeat Agahnim for the first time, the entrance to Hyrule Castle becomes a gate to the Dark World (which holds eight more dungeons).

* In most of the side-scrolling ''VideoGame/{{Metroid}}'' games, getting the High Jump boots is the point when suddenly you can go (plot allowing) practically anywhere. In ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' and by extension its remake (''[[VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns Samus Returns]]''), the big "I'm free!" moment is getting the Spider Ball upgrade which allows you to cling to crawl walls in Morph Ball form. The Space Jump takes it UpToEleven by being the point where you can go ''literally anywhere in the game''.

* Most ''Franchise/{{Ys}}'' games start out linearly, gradually opening up the rest of the world, and usually providing you with a [[WarpWhistle warp item]] to quick-travel to previous areas. Usually, there's at least one PointOfNoReturn just before or at the beginning of the FinalDungeon.

** When you finally break the Skull Kid's curse in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask''. As a human, you finally have a decent melee weapon and can leave town.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Okami}}'', you can go back and get most of the missing collectibles once you've bought the DoubleJump and unlocked Kabegami's brush technique, allowing you to climb walls, but it's a lot less traveling to wait until you've gotten the Mist Warp technique so you can teleport between certain sacred mirrors.

* In contrast to its extremely linear predecessor, ''VideoGame/SuperMarioLand2SixGoldenCoins'' is far less linear. After finishing the tutorial level, the six zones containing the titular coins have no set order to do them in, and players are free to, for example, complete part of one zone and then work on another, leaving the rest of the previous one for later.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' opens completely after Shadow Mario starts trying to steal FLUDD accesories and a Yoshi egg. When those are retrieved, every Shine Sprite from Delfino Plaza will be ready to be collected and any level yet to be unlocked will be accessible with the help of those powerups. In fact, by that point the only thing needed to unlock the final mission is defeating Shadow Mario in every level at least once each.

** Both Jak II and 3 feature this for the linear levels as well; after picking up a new gadget/ability and/or reaching a certain point in the story, you revisit an earlier level and get to explore new areas of it. For example, the second visit to the Strip Mine in II lets you use the [=JetBoard=] to explore the upper areas.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' employs a somewhat {{downplayed| trope}} version:

* In ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}, once your ship's FTL drive is repaired, you're free to go anywhere.

* The 360 game ''VideoGame/{{Crackdown}}'' is already a GTA-ish sandbox game to start with. But once you've beaten all three gangs and finished the end-game you can roam freely around the city with all your powerups available and the option of re-starting any of your previous missions in a mode that feels much more like OpeningTheSandbox than just having finished the game and being able to run around. There is also an DLC that adds GodMode, which has an option that also effectively gives you an OpeningTheSandbox mode.
* At the start of ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoViceCity'' you have several questlines to choose from and it's not immediately obvious which one is the "main" quest, giving you a good bit of freedom to play on the half of the map you have open. However, pretty soon you usurp the local mobster and full sandbox opens up with the ability to buy properties and getting their missions at your choosing.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'' has something like this. You are confined into one island at first, and you unlock the others as you progress. The island above you is unlocked when [[spoiler: Roman's Car Depot burns and you have to move with him.]] The next island is unlocked when you meet Playboy X. The last two are unlocked after the bank robbery mission.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV'' is an odd example. From the start, after the very first mission, the whole San Andreas map is open to you, but it's only after you unlock all three characters that you can fully explore and interact the entire world.
* ''VideoGame/JustCause 2'' starts you off raiding a military base and then a casino to teach the player the basics, then opens up the entire nation on Panau for you to explore. Many of the early Faction missions are disguised examples of what you can do in the sandbox.

** The game attempts to [[RailRoading confine you]] to [[FollowThePlottedLine find the man who tried to kill you]] in the early parts of the game with {{Beef Gate}}s. But the game also leaves options open for more perceptive players to device a way to sneak past the [[DemonicSpiders Deathclaws]] at Quarry Junction or evade the [[BigCreepyCrawlies Cazadors and Giant Radscoprions]] north of Goodsprings [[SequenceBreaking to get directly to Vegas]]. The game even has special dialogue from various NPCs if the player opts for this option.

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
** The game attempts to [[RailRoading confine you]] to [[FollowThePlottedLine find the man who tried to kill you]] in the early parts of the game with {{Beef Gate}}s, although smart players can sneak past the [[DemonicSpiders Deathclaws]] at Quarry Junction or evade the [[BigCreepyCrawlies Cazadors and Giant Radscoprions]] north of Goodsprings [[SequenceBreaking to get directly to Vegas]].

* In ''VideoGame/SecretOfMana'' and ''VideoGame/SeikenDensetsu3'' - After you get Flammie.