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-> ''"If I owned this place and Hell, I'd rent this place out and live in Hell."''
-->-- '''Toombs''', on [[DeathWorld Crematoria]], ''Film/TheChroniclesOfRiddick'' (and paraphrasing a quote about Texas usually attributed to Philip Henry Sheridan)

Because there are so many types of {{Dystopia}}n settings, a {{Supertrope}} [[IndexIndex index]] was needed.

This is intended to cover both those settings where virtually any honest, decent, rational people wouldn't want to live if they had a better choice, and those that while some people REALLY wouldn't want to live here, [[NightmareFetishist others]] would find them to be a paradise or at least acceptable.

In a nutshell, for settings that are {{Dystopia}}s. For those who hate regional or NationalStereotypes, please instead see the HollywoodAtlas. When the [[HelpHelpThisIndexIsBeingRepressed oppressed]] fight back, see CivilUnrestTropes. Compare BeingInThisIndexSucks.
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!!Tropes:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: [[Big Fancy House The Big House ]]
:]] It might look a warm and cozy place to spend the night, but most guests are going to be [[{{Pun}} gravely]] disappointed.

[[index]]
* AmusementParkOfDoom: An amusement park that's dangerous due to either being abandoned and in poor condition, or being run by evil characters.
* ApartmentComplexOfHorrors: An apartment building is an awful place to live, whether for supernatural or mundane reasons.
* BadGuyBar: A bar where villains hang out.
* BedlamHouse: A loony bin that's old-fashioned, has abusive staff, and is usually unsanitary.
* BleakAbyssRetirementHome: Sending an old relative to a retirement home is a source of drama, the home itself is either dingy or boring, and the staff are at best patronising and at worst abusive.
* BoardingSchoolOfHorrors: A boarding school with mean teachers, bullies, and bad living conditions.
* {{Cloudcuckooland}} (in examples showcased InUniverse to be harsh places to live in): A place full of wacky customs.
* CircusOfFear: A circus that's abusive and/or run by supernatural horrors.
* DangerouslyGarishEnvironment: A place that's [[BrightIsNotGood brightly-coloured, but dangerous]].
* DaycareNightmare: A daycare where the workers are either mean to the kids, too patronising, or have a bad time themselves.
* DystopianOz: A DarkParody or dark adaptation of ''Literature/LandOfOz''.
* GasStationOfDoom: Horror movies that feature lonely American gas stations.
* HauntedHouse: A house that's either haunted by evil spirits or appears to be.
* HellHotel: A hotel that's scary, often due to being abandoned or run by a shady character.
* InnOfNoReturn: A place for accommodation that kills the people who stay there and steals from their corpses.
* LethalEatery: A restaurant that serves terrible food.
* LockedInTheDungeon: A character gets imprisoned in a dungeon.
* MenagerieOfMisery (for animals, especially those from wild species): A zoo or similar that's abusive.
* NightmarishNursery: A nursery or playground that seems anything ''but'' child-friendly.
* NoOSHACompliance: A workplace is very unsafe.
* OldDarkHouse: A spooky old house with poor lighting, in which people get murdered.
* OrphanageOfFear: An orphanage where the orphans are abused (usually via being punished severely and unfairly), made to do nasty chores, served bad food, and aren't allowed to play.
* PoundsAreAnimalPrisons (for animals, especially stray house pets): Pounds are portrayed as analogous to prisons.
* {{Prison}} (especially TheAlcatraz, HellholePrison and TailorMadePrison): A show is set in prison.
* SickeningSlaughterhouse: A slaughterhouse that's even messier than real-life slaughterhouses, neglectful to the workers, and/or inhumane to the animals.
* SinisterSouthwest: The American Southwest is a death trap.
* SuckySchool: A school which is bad at teaching due to budget issues, and usually full of bullies and mean teachers.
* TownWithADarkSecret: A small town, where all the citizens are in on a terrible secret.
* TrashyTrailerHome: Trailer parks are run-down, violent, and unsafe.
* {{Uberwald}}: A castle in a rural Eastern European neighbourhood that harbours a suspicious character such as a vampire or MadScientist.
* WorldOfJerkass: A setting that would be an ordinary place, except everyone (or almost everyone) is a terrible person.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: After The End: ]]
see ApocalypticIndex.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Nightmare worlds: ]]
It's NightmareFuel and doesn't bother to hide it.

* AnarchoTyranny: The leaders seize or maintain control through permitting lawlessness and [[AnarchyIsChaos chaos]].
* BadFuture: A future Dystopia.
* TheBigRottenApple: New York is polluted, crime-ridden, full of poverty, sleazy, or a combination.
* CampbellCountry: A horror story set in the UK.
* ChildlessDystopia: No children, no hope.
* CityNoir, if it's as mean and depressing as it seems.
* CrapsackOnlyByComparison: Whether the setting qualifies as a dystopia is arguable.
* DangerInTheGalacticCore: The galactic core (the middle of a galaxy) is inaccessible or dangerous.
* DarkWorld: A twisted parallel universe.
* DeathWorld: The laws of physics and the very landscape hate you.
* DespotismJustifiesTheMeans: Someone is fine with creating a dystopia as long as it means they get to rule in the end.
* TheDictatorship: When the government is repressive towards the population, or at least a significant portion of it, and can't be removed through democratic means.
* {{Dystopia}}: A setting that's bad due to sociopolitical issues.
* DystopiaIsHard: Even the triumph of evil decays over time.
* DystopiaJustifiesTheMeans: Someone goes out of their way to make everything as [[CrapsackWorld crapsack]] as possible.
* EldritchLocation: A place that disobeys the laws of physics.
* FascistButInefficient: Not only is the system horrendously cruel and repressive, in the end, ''it doesn't even work''.
* ForbiddenZone: It's forbidden for a reason.
* GaiasLament: The world, or part of it, is rendered terrible due to pollution or a natural disaster.
* GardenOfEvil: Mother Nature has decided her purpose in life is to kill you.
* GrimUpNorth: A very cold, scary, Northern place that may [[EvilIsDeathlyCold house an evil lair]].
* {{Hell}}: See InfernalTropes.
* {{Hellgate}}: An entryway between someplace normal and someplace very bad.
* HellishLA: Los Angeles is a crime-ridden, corrupt shithole.
* HelpHelpThisIndexIsBeingRepressed: The specific elements that dystopian societies run on.
* IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace: this one even warns you.
* LadyLand: It sucks to be a guy here.
* LegalizedEvil: Evil has the law on its side and there's nothing you can do about it.
* LovecraftCountry: A horror version of rural New England.
* {{Mordor}}, WalkIntoMordor: [[MemeticMutation One does not simply do it]] (read: these places are really hard to get into).
* NeverLand: An area ruled by kids or [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld people who look like kids]].
* NightmarishFactory: A factory that's deliberately a bad place to work.
* NoWomansLand: You ''really'' don't want to be a woman here.
* PeoplesRepublicOfTyranny: A dictatorship disguised as a republic that has a democratic-sounding name.
* PlaceWorseThanDeath: A place where nobody wants to go.
* PoliceState: A place run by corrupt law enforcement.
* PollutedWasteland: A nightmarishly polluted area.
* RepressiveButEfficient: Hard to live in, but could be vastly worse.
* RidiculouslyDifficultRoute: A character has to take a route that's difficult and/or dangerous to travel.
* TheSavageSouth: A southern area where the people are rude and/or the animals are dangerous.
* SociallyScoredSociety: Everything is dependent on your social interactions being ranked or scored. Good luck getting a job if you're unpopular!
* VichyEarth: Aliens enslave Earth's population.
* VillainWorld: TheBadGuyWins and shapes society in their own image.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Too Good To Be True: ]]
Just like a Utopia...Until you scratch the surface.
* CrapsaccharineWorld: A place that looks [[SugarBowl saccharine]] but is actually horrible.
* FalseUtopia: A place which seems perfect but has serious flaws in actuality.
* HouseHuntingMontage: Houses shown in these often seem perfect but have a [[BlatantLies tiny]] problem that makes them horrible to live in.
* SantasSweatshop: [[ChristmasTown Santa's workshop]] is portrayed as a sweatshop.
* StepfordSuburbia: A suburbia that's too good to be true.
* SuburbanGothic: A suburbia with a dark secret, but which lacks the "too perfect" vibe of a Stepford Suburbia.
* TechnoDystopia: Because it's got all this pretty future technology it must be good, right?
* UncannyVillage: A creepy village that seems like a nice place to live but has a dark secret.
* WorldOfSilence: A world with no conflict... but no individuality either.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: There Ain't No Justice|Will Prevail: ]]
Possibly a good place to hide from authorities, if you can keep from being victimized yourself.

* CaughtInTheBadPartOfTown: A town that has a dangerous part where outsiders aren't welcome, and a character accidentally winds up there.
* TheCityNarrows: A lawless area of a city.
* CrapsackWorld: Anything and everything that can go wrong ''will'' go wrong, in the worst possible way.
* FailedState: A fallen nation that lacks the ability to enforce its laws or provide for its citizens.
* ItIsBeyondSaving: A place so messed up that people are arguing for either abandoning it, actively destroying it, or ''both''. (Though whether it belongs here or in Not So Bad is up for interpretation.)
* NeglectedRez: Impoverished reservations for UsefulNotes/NativeAmericans, often exploited by outsiders for resources and facing disproportionately high rates of addiction, crime, unemployment, and suicide.
* NotSoSafeHarbor: A dangerous coastal town full of drunken sailors and pirates.
* OutlawTown: By criminals, for criminals.
* SadistShow: Everyone in this show's setting is abusive, abused, or both and no one is sympathetic.
* TheSavageSouth: See its description in the "nightmare worlds" place.
* SoiledCityOnAHill: A city that was so bad it was destroyed.
* TotalitarianGangsterism: When ''the criminals'' are the ones performing the DayOfTheJackboot, you ''know'' you're in a hellhole.
* UrbanHellscape: A look TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture, where the city is infested with violent criminals, and the police are either too ineffectual to stop them or can only do so by being that much more brutal.
* ViceCity: Crime rates are so high, it's a wonder that people still live there.
* WorldOfBadass: Everyone is a badass... even that innocent little HeartwarmingOrphan.
* WorldOfHam: Everybody has to take and act out ''everything'' in such an overly exaggerated manner that it often resorts to screaming, chasing and fighting all over the place.
* WretchedHive: ...of scum and villainy, of course.
* WrongSideOfTheTracks: The poor area of town.

[[/folder]]

[[folder: Not So Bad: ]]
A bit smelly, a bit sour, but it's ours. (Or to quote ''WesternAnimation/{{Aladdin}}'': "It's barbaric, but hey, it's home.")

* AdvertOverloadedFuture: The future is full of ads.
* BadPresent: The present is fine for us, 'cause we're used to it, but the time-traveller from the past sees it as bad.
* CrapsackWorldEscapistSanctuary: It's an awful place to live, but as long as you can dream and play, it's bearable.
* TheDungAges: The Dark Ages are portrayed as grody but not terrible.
* DingyTrainsideApartment: A cheap, dilapidated urban apartment next to train tracks. At least the rent is ''relatively'' affordable.
* DoomedHometown: The place the hero first appears in will get destroyed.
* DyingTown: A town that isn't thriving.
* {{Egopolis}}: Dictators renaming towns after themselves.
* GhostTown: A town that's abandoned or has very few citizens. Often portrayed as spooky but not straight-up evil.
* HatedHometown: A character hates the place they grew up in.
* HorribleHousing: A house in poor condition, meant to highlight the residents' poverty.
* IndustrialGhetto: A poverty-ridden, usually polluted, industrial neighbourhood.
* ItIsBeyondSaving: Those who disagree will likely consider it more along the lines of this. Again, whether it belongs here or "there ain't no justice" is up for interpretation.
* LostWorld: A place that's kept off the maps.
* QuirkyTown: Those that don't have a [[TownWithADarkSecret dark secret]] can actually be pretty nice when you get used to them... or at least get used to not being able to get used to them.
* ScavengerWorld: When a lot of people are killed, the rest has to scavenge as they don't know how to make things.
* SchoolIsMurder: Students are routinely murdered by monsters, but it's the only school in town.
* SmallTownBigHell: A small town with a CloseKnitCommunity... but if something happens to you, ''everyone'' will know about it.
* ThrowAwayCountry: A made-up country that disaster strikes.
* UsedFuture: ''[[VideoGame/EVEOnline In Rust We Trust!]]''. Namely, sci-fi tech that looks dingy and used but works.
* AWorldHalfFull: A world that's dark and gritty but there's hope.
* WorldOfSnark: A place that isn't so bad, except everyone's got a sharp tongue.
[[/index]]
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