History PatchworkMap / VideoGames

** Update 1.7, known in the fandom as the Update that Changed the World, severely overhauled the biome generation system, with the aversion of this trope being one of the end results. Biomes are put into one four main categories: snowy (self-explanatory), cold (mountains, conifer forests), lush (other forests, prairies, swamps, jungles), and dry/warm (deserts, savannahs, badlands). Biomes are only placed next to biomes from their same category or an adjacent one, except oceans, which belong to none of these groups and can appear next to any biome. In essence, this means that biomes tend to be placed next to biomes you'd expect them to in real life, although the system isn't foolproof -- you can still find a lush jungle next to a snowless taiga forest, for instance. Since this system doesn't account for precipitation, there's also nothing stopping a swamp or jungle from appearing right next to a barren, lifeless desert.

* A common complaint about the world in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls2''. While the world of [[VideoGame/DarkSouls1 the previous game]] was very cohesive to the point that you could frequently spot other locations off in the distance, and extreme changes in climate had proper justifications (such as the fire area being hidden deep, ''deep'' underground, and the ice area being its own isolated world inside of a magic painting,) the world of ''2'' had no such cohesion. You could go from the poisonous Harvest Valley up Earthen Peak, an isolated windmill at the end of the valley, and from near the top ride an elevator further up to suddenly find yourself at Iron Keep, another series of ruins inside a massive lake of lava, or from Aldia's Keep up ''another'' elevator and end up at the Dragon Aerie, a castle on top of a series of massive rock pillars with dragons flying all around them, that should be easily visible from multiple locations but isn't. Drangleic Castle can be seen from multiple locations, but even then when you approach the tunnel leading to Dranglec Castle it's just off to the left of the tunnel, and after travelling in a straight line through the tunnel suddenly it's way off to the right instead.

** The biomes in Kalos (sixth generation), after the [[GreenHillZone central Kalos region]], change practically every route. After entering west Kalos onto Muraille Coast (cliffside with beach at the bottom), go on a detour through Route 9/Spikes Passage (rocky cliffs). Menhir Trail turns into simple grassland before going into Miroir Way, a mountain trail that provides the entrance through Reflection Cave to reach an oceanside city. Navigate the oceanside Fourrage Road, which provides the entrance to the open-ocean Azure Bay, and go through the next city and you'll reach the red-rock Lumiose Badlands. Pass through Lumiose City and you'll drudge through the marshy Laverre Nature Trail. One city later and you're in the lower-mountain trails of Brun Way and Mélancolie Path. Next city leads to the icy mountain containing Frost Cavern and the snow-covered Mamoswine Road. The next two routes are mountain valleys before reaching the snow-covered Snowbelle City (justified because the local Gym is putting out lots of cold air) that has a detour to the Winding Woods forest area. The final major route ends in a simple mountain area right before the rugged Victory Road. Phew!

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'': Once you reach Crocodile Isle, you go from a volcanic region, then to a swamp, then to an amusement park in the swamp, then to an ancient deciduous forest, then to a castle on an ice cap. Here it seems that the lower parts of the island, which connect with the sea, are all swamp except for the volcanoes, and the forest is much higher on the map than the swamp.

*** The Lost World map plays this straight. It is mostly a jungle, but it also happens to contain both volcanoes and ice caves.

** The Lost World map plays this straight. It is mostly a jungle, but it also happens to contain both volcanoes and ice caves.

** Update 1.7, known in the fandom as the Update that Changed the World, severely overhauled the biome generation system, with the aversion of this trope being one of the end results. Biomes are put into one four main categories: snowy (self-explanatory), cold (mountains, conifer forests), lush (other forests, prairies, swamps, jungles), and dry/warm (deserts, savannahs, mesas). Biomes are only placed next to biomes from their same category or an adjacent one, except oceans, which belong to none of these groups and can appear next to any biome. In essence, this means that biomes tend to be placed next to biomes you'd expect them to in real life, although the system isn't foolproof -- you can still find a lush jungle next to a snowless taiga forest, for instance. Since this system doesn't account for precipitation, there's also nothing stopping a swamp or jungle from appearing right next to a barren, lifeless desert.

* The Lost Hex in ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'', made up of random groupings of hexagonal pieces housing different biomes.

** In ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy,'' there are such oddities as a beach, volcanic fissure and jungle next to each other, a lava pit opening onto a lush green mountain pass, and (most perplexing of all) a snowcapped mountain directly above a massive volcanic caldera. This game sure loves its ConvectionShmonvection...

** The Smash Run area in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' has the apparent goal of putting together as many typical VideoGameSettings as it can into one floating island. The surface area alone, from left to right, has a forest, plains, desert, and snowy grounds all within walking distance of each other. Though this does help with quickly identifying where on the map you are, since it would be far more confusing even with the minimap if all locations looked alike.
** The World of Light in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' is an even more extreme example, as it's literally formed out of various video game settings haphazardly mashed together without regard for the natural consequences. As a result, we get a [[SlippySlideyIceWorld frozen snowy mountain]], a [[TheLostWoods poisonous forest]], a [[LethalLavaLand flaming lava-filled castle]], a [[Franchise/{{Splatoon}} Zapfish]]-powered [[EternalEngine power plant]], and even ''[[SpaceZone outer space]]'', all within short walking distance of a HubCity. In this case it's somewhat justified, as the World of Light is a MergedReality made up of what was left over after Galeem [[ApocalypseHow blew up the universe]].

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has this with practically every new region. This one is partially [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that it's implied the Pokemon themselves influence the enviroments around them, especially in regards to [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokemon]].

* [[https://web.archive.org/web/20130507081229/http://codeflavor.com/bbs/screenshots/azeroth.jpg This]] is what the original ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' looked like from space. It is explained in that the world was forged by god-like creators: an entire continent was blasted to smithereens to form four smaller ones and a few island groups, and magic plagues/life-giving trees/{{Eldritch Abomination}}s all contribute to weird design. That, and the fact that it does need to be patchworked for game design. Still, somewhat downplayed -- aside from the stark transitions, though again, kind of necessary for a reasonable scale for play -- since, aside from a couple of places like Un'Goro and Desolace that are explicitly called out as being affected by powerful magic, the biomes do make a fair bit of sense, at least in an "armchair geographer" sort of way:
** Silithus, Tanaris, and Uldum are all adjacent deserts, and while at the same latitude as the jungle of Stranglethorn, combined with things like Feralas in relation to Thousand Needles and Ashenvale in relation to Azshara, it can be assumed that the prevailing winds blow west to east, and since the western side of Kalimdor is quite mountainous, a rainshadow resulting in arid climates on its eastern side would not be out of place. In contrast, the Eastern Kingdoms' west coast tends not to be very mountainous, so it has wetter climates at the same latitudes.
** Additionally, places like Dun Morogh and Winterspring are mountainous, having higher elevations than most of the rest of the continent, and so being covered in year-round snow would not be too much of a stretch. Of course, it isn't perfect since Dun Morogh is west of Loch Modan which, according to this reasoning, ought to be rather arid, but is instead, a large lake surrounded by fairly temperate evergreen forests.
* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** Extremely evident in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]].'' The world is cleanly divided into four totally different environments (swamp, snow mountain, beach and desertic canyon). [[AWizardDidIt A Giant Did It. Four Giants, to be exact.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'' does much the same, but partly averts it with the snow realm by having it gradually change from "snow everywhere" to "it looks ''sort'' of cold" as you get close to the border.
** Whoever designs the map for the ''Zelda'' games clearly has [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no idea how rivers work]]. They do normally start high and end low, which is better than a lot of examples on this page, but they do all kinds of crazy stuff on the way. The worst offender is probably ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', where two rivers ''cross''.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Ocarina of Time]]'' and ''Twilight Princess'' have the lush-lake-near-a-desert thing just as bad, if not ''worse''.
*** This in ''[=OoT=]'' may be somewhat justified in that Zora River (whose water is at least vaguely implied to be somewhat magical in some way, or at least magically generated) empties into Lake Hylia, which is right next to Gerudo Desert. However, in both games the two are separated by what look to be mountains. This would be justified if Lake Hylia would be desert if not for the water emptying into it.
*** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'' show the same lake near the same desert, with a field (steppes?) and mountains or hills separating them. Again, justified if Lake Hylia and the river leading to it are all that's keeping the rest of the region from desertification.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures Four Swords Adventures]]''. A desert and snowy region are right next door. This is justified in that the snowy region has been in an endless winter due to [[spoiler:the Tower of Winds vanishing]]. The ending even shows what it looks like after thawing out.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]]'' also has some crazy map parts. Most of the island is single-biome woods and mountains, but some levels feature volcanic activity that's nowhere else on the map. Also a mini desert next to a swamp and the friggin ocean. [[spoiler: Justified, since the whole island is just a dream of the Wind Fish.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' does much to justify the usage of this trope -- the icy regions of Hyrule are all high in altitude and thus have a lower temperature. The desert is separated from the rest of Hyrule by tall mountains and plateaus, meaning it can exist in (relative) proximity to the more temperate regions elsewhere. And all the differing air pressures from everywhere else would indeed result in the rainforest being where it is.
* ''VideoGame/RagnarokOnline'' suffers quite a bit from this; Ragnarok Wisdom [[http://adultimum.net/rw/62/ comments on it]].
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'' somehow manages to get around this one by placing the desert and the forest in different land masses. Not surprising, since it's based on California (notice the redwoods?) and Arizona, which really do look like that.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'' (well, the three GBA games at least) does this slightly differently, where forest and other [[GeoEffects terrain types]] are spread out in a ridiculously random way. Easily observed in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening.'' It isn't as bad as most examples, but Ylisse has a normal grassy plains climate, yet the only location to the east of Ylisstol, the capital, is a Desert Oasis. Which implies it's part of a larger desert. Which would be odd, considering it's on a peninsula. Looking at the map closely even shows a forest of trees along the path that just kind of end when you get there. Plegia is also pretty jarring when you pay attention. There's water on the west, a great wall on the north that separates it from Regna Ferox which appears to be perpetually snowy once you get over the wall, and the lush greenery of Ylisse on the east, and yet Plegia itself is nothing but desert wastelands, except for the southernmost part: a large village surrounded on all sides by extremely thick forest. Regna Ferox itself is perpetually snowy, which makes sense since it's the northernmost part of the continent, suddenly doesn't appear to be cold at all when you reach Port Ferox which is still on the same latitude. Possibly justified as you canonically only go to Port Ferox once, so it may just have been during warmer times. However, once you reach Valm, it's extremely lush and green all over, even the parts with higher latitude than Regna Ferox.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' puts the Macalania Forest next to the eternally frozen Lake Macalania. While that could be explained by the presence of Shiva ([[AnIcePerson the aeon of ice]]) in the latter, it wouldn't explain how the lake stays frozen after [[spoiler:the aeons disappear]]. Another example is the Calm Lands, a lush green plain right below the snowcapped Mt. Gagazet.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' has the Phon Coast -- a beach map with a very obvious ocean -- which is somehow at the top of a mountain. There's also Golmore Jungle next to the frozen Feywood. Most of this can be explained by [[AWizardDidIt the Mist]], [[AllThereInTheManual according to background information]]. The concentration of Mist in a certain area significantly affects its climate, though that still doesn't explain the beach at the top of a mountain.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest'' was an even greater offender; the world is divided into four climate zones of identical size, one representing each of the four classical elements, by a pair of planet-spanning mountain ranges that run directly along the equator and the prime meridian.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'' even lets you make up your own map by placing different regions on the map. The sequel on the other hand does a surprisingly good job at averting it.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' attempted to avert the trope back in its original release, but after the game was remade, a lot of areas were condensed for the sake of travel convenience, thus you get situations like, as of the ''Stormblood'' patch cycle, a forest area directly between two different desert regions. However, the developers did try to make the zone transitions somewhat seamless by having the area next to the zone border being a mix of two zones. For example, Eastern Thanalan is a mostly dry and arid zone, but to the far east of the map, there's some grass and trees growing in a few places and it becomes more dense when you approach the zone border that leads into the South Shroud, which is a forest region. Looking at the world map implies that the distance between each zone may be many miles apart, but the player will never actually walk that much since they'll appear in the next zone via loading screen. There are also applications to the effect of AWizardDidIt for more obviously-jarring transitions - Coerthas was originally temperate, mountainous grassland in the original patch cycle, but after the fall of Dalamud, its weather was screwed up, leading it to be reworked into an eternally snowy region - right next to the still-temperate forelands and hinterlands of Dravania introduced with ''Heavensward''.

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'':
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' had swamps, snow, and volcanoes all within a few minutes of each other on Tallon IV, but the speed of the elevators probably means they were fairly far apart. The recent impact of the Phazon meteorite (aka the Leviathan), coupled with Phazon radiation, probably have a role in all of this.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' was similar in this regard for Aether, and unlike with Tallon IV it ''was'' explicitly because of the effects of the Phazon meteorite impact. The [[ShiftingSandLand Agon Wastes]] used to be lush green farmland, while the [[BubblegloopSwamp Torvus Bog]] was once a forest. In fact, it's implied that the whole section of Aether that Samus explores in the game was a fairly temperate biome overall before the impact threw the environment into chaos.
** Justified in ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'', as the game takes place on a biological research vessel, and the various environments have been artificially created to support creatures that need a watery area or a fiery area.
* ''VideoGame/JustCause2'' has a greatly varied environment, consisting of arid deserts, snowcapped mountains, lush jungles, open ocean, and the occasional bit of urban sprawl... all contained within a [[http://a.imagehost.org/0207/panau_map.jpg tropical island cluster]] slightly smaller than Oahu.
* ''[[VideoGame/PacManWorld Pac-Man World 2]].'' Here we have the Forest (actually a meadow) in the east, the Tree Tops rainforest in the south, the [[SlippySlideyIceWorld icy Snow Mountain]] in the west, and the [[LethalLavaLand volcano]] in the northeast.
* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter''
** In ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy,'' there are such oddities as a beach, volcanic fissure and jungle next to each other, a lava pit opening onto a lush green mountain pass, and (most perplexing of all) a snowcapped mountain directly above a massive volcanic caldera. This game sure loves its ConvectionShmonvection...
** Averted in ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'' and ''VideoGame/Jak3'', where most of the environment is a barren wasteland mixed with boreal forests and snow-capped mountains, to obviously fit the post apocalyptic appeal. ''Jak 3'' takes this further with most of the game being a massive desert. Ironically enough, the Woodlands in ''Jak 2'' are patched in between the mountains and desert.
** ''VideoGame/JakXCombatRacing'' includes three large cities (Haven, Spargus and Kras) and the Icelands all in close proximity. There are also jungle, deep desert, and tropical island venues, adding to the patchworkiness.

* Averted somewhat by ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', partly because it has less diverse terrain than its sister ''VideoGame/{{Civilization}}'' games, and so could put more work into the distinctions it did make. Rain shadows do exist, and it's even possible to create them on purpose by raising terrain. However, while one would expect the fertile Monsoon Jungle to be rainy, it can actually be placed in arbitrarily dry place by the map generator; same with the Great Dunes, which can end up wetter than the Jungle.

* Averted in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIII: Generations of Doom''. [[spoiler: The starting "world" is actually one of seven isolated pods of a {{generation ship|s}}. Most seem to be temperate, with varying amounts of grassland, forests, rivers, and lakes, but some have unusual climates, such as an ice world and a desert world. An early first generation quest suggests the ship's weather control system regulates the climes.]]
* ''VideoGame/HostileWatersAntaeusRising'' takes place entirely on an island chicane (artificial archipelago) located somewhere around New Zealand. The environment varies from hot to frozen over. {{Justified|Trope}} by the chicane undergoing rapid, hostile (un)terraformation. Especially visible in the last mission.
* Unavoidable in ''Website/NationStates''. You can make your nation's map as realistic as you like, but you can't really do anything about what the nations next to you do.
* Justified as a major plot point of ''VideoGame/SuikodenTierkreis'', starting from the opening scenes where a forest mysteriously appears near your village. Sometime later, a massive savanna pops into existence ''in the middle of a snow-covered mountain range''.
* An extreme example in the graphic chat/MMO, ''VideoGame/{{Furcadia}}'', users can make their own maps (called dreams) that other users can explore, chat, and RP on. Quite a few users have made dreams based on the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series by Creator/ErinHunter. In the books, the four clans of wild cats live in slightly different territories, such as one clan lives in moorland while another lives in a forest. In these fan-made dreams, however, the differences in the territories tend to be very drastic. It is not at all uncommon to find a Warriors dream with a barren desert, murky swamp, snowy tundra, and lush forest all sitting right next to each other with little or no transition in between, made even more drastic by the fact that the area of the dream would probably wind up being only 15 square miles or so in real life.

* Morning Land in ''VideoGame/BillyHatcherAndTheGiantEgg''. It has the wooded [[GreenHillZone Forest]] [[TheLostWoods Village]], next to the beach/oceanic like [[PalmTreePanic Pirate Island]], which in turn is right next to the volcanous [[LethalLavaLand Dino Mountain]], which is next to [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Blizzard Castle]] ([[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin guess]]). And in the middle, with all the others surrounding it, is [[ShiftingSandLand Sand Ruin]]! [[CircusOfFear Circus Park]] and [[FloatingContinent Giant Palace]] don't count, seeing as the former isn't in any particular biome, and the latter is in ''the sky''.
* ''VideoGame/SimonTheSorcerer''. You have a temperate forest right next to a swamp right next to some icy mountains, and so on, and so on; in its defense, it IS a magical world.
* Played straight (presumably for humorous effect) in the "Big Super Happy Fun Fun Game" level of ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsGame''. The main hub of the level is a forested area, which leads directly (read: you open a door and you're right there) into a lava area, an ice area, and a sky area. Lisa actually [[LampshadeHanging questions]] how the lava area and the ice area can be so close together.
* In ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' the border between desert and grassy fields is ''a fence'', both from the northern and western sides. The western border eventually turns into a river and a sea. The eastern border is a river and a sea all along, and across the river from the northern part of the desert, both to the east and the west, lie separate swamps. Another swamp lies in the corner of the desert, separated from it by a plateau from two sides and bordering with the sea from two other.
** Isn't helped by that fact that a bright and sunny, almost Mediterranean fishing village (Catherby) is positioned right next to a snow-drenched arctic-esque craggy hill. Might be justified by the altitude, though -- if the world wasn't compressed for player convenience (to the point of two longitudinal or latitudinal minutes being the minimum distance a player can travel, doing so in 0.6 seconds at walking pace), the White Wolf Mountain would possibly be quite high and capable of being cold. Ice Mountain is located at the same latitude.
*** Additionally, the very northern reaches of the world are so cold, the player takes all-stat damage. The Ghorrock fortress is located even further north. Squeeze past an ice block into the Wilderness, and without changing latitude, you'll reach a scorched land with surface lava features in seconds. At least the Wilderness has some justification. It is the site where a FantasticNuke went off, and it apparently is supposed to be much lower elevation than the areas to the immediate west of it, which are mountains and plateaus.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' has this with practically every new region. This one is partially [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that it's implied the Pokemon themselves influence the enviroments around them, especially in regards to [[OlympusMons Legendary Pokemon]].
** The VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver [[VideoGameRemake remakes]] provide a near-literal example of this trope. In ''[=HeartGold=]'' and ''[=SoulSilver=]'', you can customize the Safari Zone, allowing you to put any terrain near any other, theoretically allowing fields next to deserts and lakes next to savannahs, etc.
** Unova, the setting of Gen V, has Route 4, which is a desert surrounded by forests and a huge city, with the transitioning area being about as long as a building. This is especially egregious because Unova is otherwise a dead ringer for (a strangely underdeveloped version of) the UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity metropolitan.
** There are other examples throughout the series. For example, in Sinnoh (where the fourth generation takes place), a snowy city is fairly close to a tropical island, and in Hoenn (third generation) there is a rainy route near a desert route.
** The biomes in Kalos (sixth generation), after the [[GreenHillZone central Kalos region]], change practically every route. After entering west Kalos onto Muraille Coast (cliffside with beach at the bottom), go on a detour through Route 9/Spikes Passage (rocky cliffs). Menhir Trail turns into simple grassland before going into Miroir Way, a mountain trail that provides the entrance through Reflection Cave to reach an oceanside city. Navigate the oceanside Fourrage Road, which provides the entrance to the open-ocean Azure Bay, and go through the next city and you'll reach the red-rock Lumiose Badlands. Pass through Lumiose City and you'll drudge through the marshy Laverre Nature Trail. One city later and you're in the lower-mountain trails of Brun Way and Mélancolie Path. Next city leads to the icy mountain containing Frost Cavern and the snow-covered Mamoswine Road. The next two routes are mountain valleys before reaching the snow-covered Snowbelle City (justified because the local Gym is putting out lots of cold air) that has a detour to the Winding Woods forest area. The final major route ends in a simple mountain area right before the rugged Victory Road. Phew!
** In both the anime and the ''[=FireRed=]''/''[=LeafGreen=]'' games, there are tropical archipelagos not too far south of the icy Seafoam Islands (or at least, they're implied to be icy, given that that's the only place in Kanto where a lot of Ice-type Pokémon, including Articuno, are found. In Pokémon games in general, the "icy cave/island" which forms the Ice-types' lair tends to come out of pretty much nowhere).
** ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'' finally breaks the trend with the tropical Alola region (which is based on Hawai'i), which has a nearly completely uniform climate. The closest it gets to this trope is Ula'ula Island, which puts both the desert and the ice area right next to Tapu Village. Even then, the ice area is Pokémon's version of Mauna Kea, meaning that it's largely cold due to its altitude.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVII'' has a similar zoo, although you don't customize it; you find the plans for each biome.
* Somewhat deconstructed in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphoniaDawnOfTheNewWorld''. Since the two worlds merged together, the climates have gone insane. Deserts are freezing over and the north pole is melting.
* The island in ''[[VideoGame/BackyardSports Backyard Football 2006]]''.
* Averted in ''[[VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline Lord of the Rings Online]]'' [[http://lorebook.lotro.com/wiki/Special:Interactivemap here]]; but when [[Creator/JRRTolkien someone else]] has already done the dirty work, it's a bit easier to pull off.
* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVAbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder'' takes place in the land of Serenia, which is mostly forest, but it is bordered by a hot desert to the west and a cold mountain range to the east. Sort of. The mountain is not on top of the forest; it's stated the screen's a few hours later. It's still implausible, but not ''quite'' bordered.
* Done so blatantly in ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Tooie]]'' that it almost counts as a lampshading. When Banjo rises to CloudCuckooLand, we see the Isle O' Hags laid out below, with all the disparate levels right next to each other -- most significantly the blazing volcano and freezing mountain of HailfirePeaks.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/DiabloII'', where there's a specific "travel gap" between the different Acts -- an (unseen and assumed) caravan takes you from the temperate Rogues camp to the desert of Lut Gholein, then an unseen boat takes you from the desert to the jungle of Kurast, then the end of that Act a magical portal directly to Hell is opened. If you have the [=LoD=] expansion, a helpful angel teleports you directly from Hell to the snowy mountains for the fifth Act.
* Similarly averted in ''VideoGame/TorchlightII''. An Embercraft takes you to the Ossean Wastes of Act II then Grunnheim of Act III, Act IV simply involves you travelling underground into a similarly hellish environment. Though Act I does feature snow just North of rain frequented badlands but it's more due to the fact you travel far up a mountain. The loading screen maps also show where each of these act areas are in relation to each other (including the burning town of VideoGame/{{Torchlight}}) but there's no figure of distance, meaning it could be averted or played straight depending on the scale of the map.
* Lampshaded in ''VideoGame/PaperMario64''. While two separate areas being next to each other and having different climates isn't rare, there's one part of the game where a forest borders a gulch, and the sky is lit according to which side of a gate you're on. Goombario's description mentions how it's amazing that the scenery can flip between the two so quickly.

* ''VideoGame/BrutalLegend'' has about half a mile and a deep chasm between icy mountains and sweltering jungle. Most of the other transitions are better, though.
* Zig-zagged in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'':
** Originally, the game tried to simulate biomes according to wetness and temperature; therefore, a change in either of them would mean a change of biome. This system was eventually abolished, and afterwards you could walk in rapid succession from a temperate forest, to a tundra, to a sandy desert, to a tropical rainforest. Without skipping a beat. The Beta 1.8 update changed that once more by making biomes significantly bigger, reducing the starkness of the contrasts, though you can see a desert that shares close boundaries with a very large, temperate forest and ocean. The [[BiggerIsBetter Large Biomes]] world option obviously makes these borders even less obvious/common.
** Update 1.7, known in the fandom as the Update that Changed the World, severely overhauled the biome generation system, with the aversion of this trope being one of the end results. Biomes are put into one four main categories: snowy (self-explanatory), cold (mountains, conifer forests), lush (other forests, prairies, swamps, jungles), and dry/warm (deserts, savannahs, mesas). Biomes are only placed next to biomes from their same category or an adjacent one, except oceans, which belong to none of these groups and can appear next to any biome. In essence, this means that biomes tend to be placed next to biomes you'd expect them to in real life, although the system isn't foolproof -- you can still find a lush jungle next to a snowless taiga forest, for instance. Since this system doesn't account for precipitation, there's also nothing stopping a swamp or jungle from appearing right next to a barren, lifeless desert.
** This trope still persists on a large scale. The location of the biomes is still randomly generated, and there is no equivalent in ''Minecraft''[='=]s FlatWorld to arctic circles or an equator. As such, a typical ''Minecraft'' world ends up looking like a stretch of chiefly temperate environments with areas of arctic cold and tropical heat randomly scattered around everywhere.
* ''VideoGame/TheHunterClassic'': hunting reserves are situated on archipelago with various biomes from Arctic to Australian desert & rainforest
* ''VideoGame/WonderBoyIIIMonsterLair'', which has DirectContinuousLevels in parts, goes from SlippySlideyIceWorld to ShiftingSandLand to GreenHillZone to PalmtreePanic and back to SlippySlideyIceWorld in the second half of the game. ''[[VideoGame/WonderBoyIIITheDragonsTrap The Dragon's Trap]]'' is also somewhat guilty.
* The lower areas of Paradise City in ''VideoGame/BurnoutParadise'' are tropical and resemble Florida, then there's the geologically implausible California-style mountains with a parody of the Hollywood sign, and temperate forests/vegetation.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'' not only has jungle with MisplacedVegetation and savanna right next to each other, but Mt. Kilimanjaro is way too close to the Tsavo/Mombasa area.
** Forerunner installations like the titular Halos are like this too, but it's justified by them being artificial worlds deliberately designed to have their systems to enforce this trope.
* ''VideoGame/AnUntitledStory'' has its entire world compressed into few hundred screens. As such, there's a {{s|lippySlideyIceWorld}}nowfield that borders with a sunny town and a grassy (and moonlit) hill without ''any'' barriers, or a {{l|ethalLavaLand}}ava covered [[EternalEngine factory]] that borders directly with [[UnderTheSea a water grotto]], a grassy plain from above and ''a tree''.
* Notably averted in ''VideoGame/{{Mabinogi}}''. Regions are laid out in a relatively realistic manner. eg. The region of Rano is divided into roughly equal parts; the rolling prairie land of Maiz Plains, the scrubland of Muyu Desert, and the lush, verdant Karu Forest, sitting side by side in that order. However, each region is separated from its neighbor by a high, almost impassible mountain range that effectively shadows the desert from the moisture laden air to either side of it. The only notable exception is the deserts of Connus; but this is justified by the in-game backstory as the result of [[AWizardDidIt a magical catastrophe resulting from a great war]], which also resulted in the frozen wasteland of Physis.

* {{Justified|Trope}} in ''VideoGame/AValleyWithoutWind'', where a recent cataclysm has shattered reality and made continents out of "time shards" from different times and places at complete random, so it's entirely possible to have a region of deep Ice Age adjacent to some Lava Flats. Also mentioned are powerful and very hostile forces holding the world together this way; putting one foot across the border of a time shard is fatal (unless you're a [[PlayerCharacter Glyphbearer]]).
* Very common in most games by Creator/{{Nifflas}}. The geography tends to change ''halfway through a screen,'' indicating a new area.
* ''VideoGame/FossilFighters'' takes place entirely on one smallish island and a couple of tiny ones around it. Yet, the selection of locales include SlippySlideyIceWorld, LethalLavaLand, GreenHillZone, BuildLikeAnEgyptian, DeathMountain, MinecartMadness, TheLostWoods and ShiftingSandLand, all clustered closely around a lust lagoon with a GangplankGalleon at the bottom. The convection alone should cause a permanent storm-cell over the island, and yet, it [[ItsAlwaysSpring never even rains]] anywhere on the island. Despite occasional weather-reports to the contrary.
* The world of ''VideoGame/{{Scribblenauts}} Unlimited'' is a blatant example, having several biomes right next to each other within walking distance (putting aside why you would ever need to walk in a ''Scribblenauts'' game). This isn't just an approximation for convenience of the map, either, nor is there any gradual transfer in unseen areas between the locations; at several points in the far right end of the map, you can see the geography suddenly turn from that of one region to another. This includes a swamp cutting into plains, which leads to a tundra, which leads to canyons, which has its neighboring desert end at a seemingly tropical beach.
* The Lost Hex in ''VideoGame/SonicLostWorld'', made up of random groupings of hexagonal pieces housing different biomes.
* The [[http://www.mariowiki.com/File:NSMBUMushroomKingdom.png world map]] of ''VideoGame/NewSuperMarioBrosU''. For example, it suddenly cuts from plains to desert, then it leads up to a tundra with nothing in between.
* The enigmatic island of ''VideoGame/TheWitness'' doesn't appear to be more than two miles across, yet as [[http://static.giantbomb.com/uploads/original/1/16049/2440101-1752757018-13614.jpg these]] [[http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8371/8493773968_6293b332b0_z.jpg pictures]] [[http://the-witness.net/news/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/World_Map_Edited-426x384.jpg show]], there is a [[ShiftingSandLand desert]], a [[JungleJapes tropical forest]], lots of [[TheLostWoods temperate forests]], and several other environments packed in that tiny space.
* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry''
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'': Donkey Kong Island goes from a tropical rainforest, to a mine setting in the side of a grassy hill, to a temperate forest, to an ice capped mountain, to a polluted grassland, to a giant cave. This is actually justified, as most of the game involves you climbing up a very large mountain which will have similar changes in scenery in RealLife. It's pretty logical about the change too; the temperate forest is at a higher altitude (and thus colder) than the jungle, and the ice cap is higher still.
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest'': Once you reach Crocodile Isle, you go from a volcanic region, then to a swamp, then to an amusement park in the swamp, then to an ancient deciduous forest, then to a castle on an ice cap. Here it seems that the lower parts of the island, which connect with the sea, are all swamp except for the volcanoes, and the forest is much higher on the map than the swamp.
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble'': The Northern Kremisphere features stuff like a ski resort level in the sunny lake world, a deep water coral reef level in the mountain world and a whole jungle world in a game where the settings should be entirely based on temperate geography (with said world being at the northernmost point in the map even, ironically enough).
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'': The game actually justifies the trope by having the first levels of each world being a transition between it and the previous world. For example, the first level of the [[PalmtreePanic beach world]] has Donkey Kong leaving the jungle from the first world, and the first level of the [[EternalEngine factory world]] has several rock formations in the background which belong to the previous [[DeathMountain cliff world]].

* Played perfectly straight in ''VideoGame/{{Terraria}}'', in which the biomes are randomly generated and divided from one another upon world generation. Like the page image, you can go straight from a frozen tundra into a desert. The only consistency is that the Snow and Jungle biomes are never next to each other depending on which side of the world the Dungeon is generated in. The Snow biome will always be in the direction of the Dungeon and the Jungle is located in the opposite direction from the center spawn point.
* ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'':
** The Smash Run area in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosForNintendo3DSAndWiiU'' has the apparent goal of putting together as many typical VideoGameSettings as it can into one floating island. The surface area alone, from left to right, has a forest, plains, desert, and snowy grounds all within walking distance of each other. Though this does help with quickly identifying where on the map you are, since it would be far more confusing even with the minimap if all locations looked alike.
** The World of Light in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' is an even more extreme example, as it's literally formed out of various video game settings haphazardly mashed together without regard for the natural consequences. As a result, we get a [[SlippySlideyIceWorld frozen snowy mountain]], a [[TheLostWoods poisonous forest]], a [[LethalLavaLand flaming lava-filled castle]], a [[Franchise/{{Splatoon}} Zapfish]]-powered [[EternalEngine power plant]], and even ''[[SpaceZone outer space]]'', all within short walking distance of a HubCity. In this case it's somewhat justified, as the World of Light is a MergedReality made up of what was left over after Galeem [[ApocalypseHow blew up the universe]].
* ''VideoGame/OutRun 2'''s course grid is a mashup of disparate locales from around the world, such as Lake Geneva, Windsor Castle, the Black Forest, Transylvania, the Pyramids of Giza, Paris, etc. all within miles of each other.

* ZigZaggedTrope in ''VideoGame/TheBattleForWesnoth''. Campaign maps will try to keep the terrain relatively sane (although the varying scale of the maps means that there will sometimes be deserts right next to snowfields), but multiplayer skirmish maps ''have'' to be a wild patchwork for the sake of balance, since different units have varying movement and defense ratings on different terrain types.
* The Adventure Worlds in ''VideoGame/LegoDimensions'' take the worlds of their source materials and size them down to the size of a large island, which in some cases results in this:
** The ''[[WesternAnimation/TheLegoMovie LEGO Movie]]'' world has [[BigApplesauce Bricksburg]], [[TheWildWest The Old West]], [[MedievalEuropeanFantasy Middle Zealand]], and an [[LethalLavaLand unnamed lava-filled area]] all on the same landmass (though they were adjacent to each other in the original movie as well).
** The Midway Arcade world features locations based on several old arcade games, including ''VideoGame/{{Rampage}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Defender}}'', ''VideoGame/{{Gauntlet}}'', ''VideoGame/MarbleMadness'', and ''[[VideoGame/{{Sprint2}} Super Sprint]]'' all within walking distance.
** The ''Series/DoctorWho'' world is especially notorious about this, having both the 19th and 21st Century versions of London, Mars, Telos, Trenzalore, and Skaro all on one landmass.
* In ''VideoGame/ThetaVsPi7'' this is lampshaded with "The Land of Confusing Weather".
* A common complaint about the world in ''VideoGame/DarkSouls2''. While the world of [[VideoGame/DarkSouls1 the previous game]] was very cohesive to the point that you could frequently spot other locations off in the distance, and extreme changes in climate had proper justifications (such as the fire area being hidden deep, ''deep'' underground, and the ice area being its own isolated world inside of a magic painting,) the world of ''2'' had no such cohesion. You could go from the poisonous Harvest Valley up Earthen Peak, an isolated windmill at the end of the valley, and from near the top ride an elevator further up to suddenly find yourself at Iron Keep, another series of ruins inside a massive lake of lava, or from Aldia's Keep up ''another'' elevator and end up at the Dragon Aerie, a castle on top of a series of massive rock pillars with dragons flying all around them, that should be easily visible from multiple locations but isn't. Drangleic Castle can be seen from multiple locations, but even then when you approach the tunnel leading to Dranglec Castle it's just off to the left of the tunnel, and after travelling in a straight line through the tunnel suddenly it's way off to the right instead.
* ''Videogame/MonsterHunterWorld'': While the game's various settings ([[JungleJapes the Ancient Forest]], [[ShiftingSandLand the Wildspire]] [[BubblegloopSwamp Wastes]], [[UnderTheSea the Coral Highlands]], [[CorpseLand the Rotten Vale]], [[LethalLavaLand Elder's Recess]], and [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Hoarfrost Reach]]) are distant enough to not be obvious, ''Iceborne'' introduces the Guiding Lands, a single zone that contains elements of all the other levels slapped together, which the Research Commission notes is highly unusual.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fe}}'' at least partially averts this, with all of the biomes having logical transitions between one another; e.g. a river flowing downhill from the mountains to the sea, a backwater swamp, a rain-shadowed desert valley, and glaciers at high altitudes.

* ''VideoGame/TheWolfAndTheWaves'': The island has a savannah, a forest, and a desert right next to each other.
* ''VideoGame/Pikmin2'': The four areas appear to be close to each other on the world map, but each one is themed after a different season. This means that the snow-covered Valley of Repose is near by the warm and sunny Perplexing Pool and the ForestOfPerpetualAutumn Wistful Wild. ''VideoGame/Pikmin3'' avoids this by having its world map show that its areas are a great distance away from each other and the first game has a less drastic change in climate between its areas.

* Maps in ''VideoGame/ArkSurvivalEvolved'' can come across this way because they "need" to represent all the biomes that the dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals live in. The original map, The Island, is the straightest example by virtue of its snow biome in the northwest of the map--it sharply transitions into beach or temperate/tropical forest, and sometimes diving into the ocean off its northern edge shows that it's ''warmer'' in the water! There's also the redwood forests in the center of the island, which only exist on that part of island between a bunch of rivers, and everything around it is either tropical jungle or a swamp which ''also'' quickly transitions into a tropical jungle. The Center and Valguero maps similarly have many sharp biome transitions; Ragnarok is slightly better in part because the snow biome is restricted to the extreme altitudes of the map and the volcano biome is justified as being the result of recent, ongoing eruptions, but the sudden transition from forest to desert in the southeastern part of the map, or from temperate beaches to a savannah in the southwest, is less understandable.
* The hub world in ''VideoGame/LegoMarvelSuperHeroes2'' is Chronopolis, a hodgepodge of spatio-temporally displaced areas from across Earth and even beyond. You have [[TheDungAges Medieval England]] next to [[{{Tomorrowland}} Manhattan 2099]], [[{{Tomorrowland}} Xandar]] sandwiched between [[LethalLavaLand Asgard]] and [[WeirdWest the Old West]], [[UnderTheSea Lemuria]] off the coast of [[BigApplesauce Manhattan]], and that isn't even the half of it.
* ''{{VideoGame/Bugsnax}}'' has Snaktooth Island, which has a deciduous forest, a snowy alpine region, a desert, and a tropical beach, all within walking distance from the main town. Possibly justified, given that [[spoiler:it's an EldritchLocation]].

* ''VideoGame/TheWitness'': There are an awful lot of different biomes close together on such a small island. It's possible to stand in one biome and see three others at any given time.

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble'': The Northern Kremisphere features stuff like a ski resort level in the sunny lake world, a deep water coral reef level in the mountain world and a whole jungle world in a game where the settings should be entirely based on northern geography (with said world being at the northernmost point in the map even, ironically enough).

** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble'':
*** Lake Orangatanga, which has a beach, planks, a factory, caves, and a ski resort.
*** The Northern Kremisphere features stuff like a ski resort level in the sunny lake world, a deep water coral reef level in the mountain world and a whole jungle world in a game where the settings should be entirely based on northern geography (with said world being at the northernmost point in the map even, ironically enough).

** Averted in ''Jak 2'' and ''3'', where most of the environment is a barren wasteland mixed with boreal forests and snow-capped mountains, to obviously fit the post apocalyptic appeal. ''Jak 3'' takes this further with most of the game being a massive desert. Ironically enough, the Woodlands in ''Jak 2'' are patched in between the mountains and desert.

** [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1 Donkey Kong Island]] goes from a tropical rainforest, to a mine setting in the side of a grassy hill, to a temperate forest, to an ice capped mountain, to a polluted grassland, to a giant cave. This is actually justified, as most of the game involves you climbing up a very large mountain which will have similar changes in scenery in RealLife. It's pretty logical about the change too; the temperate forest is at a higher altitude (and thus colder) than the jungle, and the ice cap is higher still.
** In [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest the second game]], once you reach Crocodile Isle, you go from a volcanic region, then to a swamp, then to an amusement park in the swamp, then to an ancient deciduous forest, then to a castle on an ice cap. Here it seems that the lower parts of the island, which connect with the sea, are all swamp except for the volcanoes, and the forest is much higher on the map than the swamp.
** [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble The third game]] isn't as justifiable, having stuff like a ski resort level in the sunny lake world, a deep water coral reef level in the mountain world and a whole jungle world in a game where the settings should be entirely based on northern geography (with said world being at the northernmost point in the map even, ironically enough).
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' actually justifies the trope by having the first levels of each world being a transition between it and the previous world. For example, the first level of the [[PalmtreePanic beach world]] has Donkey Kong leaving the jungle from the first world, and the first level of the [[EternalEngine factory world]] has several rock formations in the background which belong to the previous [[DeathMountain cliff world]].

** The World of Light in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' is an even more extreme example, as it's literally formed out of various video game settings haphazardly mashed together without regard for the natural consequences. As a result, we get a [[SlippySlideyIceWorld frozen snowy mountain]], a [[TheLostWoods poisonous forest]], a [[LethalLavaLand flaming lava-filled castle]], a [[VideoGame/{{Splatoon}} Zapfish]]-powered [[EternalEngine power plant]], and even ''[[SpaceZone outer space]]'', all within short walking distance of a HubCity. In this case it's somewhat justified, as the World of Light is a MergedReality made up of what was left over after Galeem [[ApocalypseHow blew up the universe]].

** Whoever designs the map for the Zelda games clearly has [[ArtisticLicenseGeography no idea how rivers work]]. They do normally start high and end low, which is better than a lot of examples on this page, but they do all kinds of crazy stuff on the way. The worst offender is probably ''Twilight Princess'', where two rivers ''cross''.
** ''Ocarina of Time'' and ''Twilight Princess'' have the lush-lake-near-a-desert thing just as bad, if not ''worse''.
*** This in ''OOT'' may be somewhat justified in that Zora River (whose water is at least vaguely implied to be somewhat magical in some way, or at least magically generated) empties into Lake Hylia, which is right next to Gerudo Desert. However, in both games the two are separated by what look to be mountains. This would be justified if Lake Hylia would be desert if not for the water emptying into it.
*** ''A Link to the Past'' and ''A Link Between Worlds'' show the same lake near the same desert, with a field (steppes?) and mountains or hills separating them. Again, justified if Lake Hylia and the river leading to it are all that's keeping the rest of the region from desertification.
** ''Four Swords Adventures''. A desert and snowy region are right next door. This is justified in that the snowy region has been in an endless winter due to [[spoiler:the Tower of Winds vanishing]]. The ending even shows what it looks like after thawing out.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda''

* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy''

* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}''