History Main / ForebodingArchitecture

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[[quoteright:295:[[VideoGame/SeriousSam https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/2013-08-02_00001_4012.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:295:[[ThisIsGonnaSuck Uh-oh]].]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Blood}}'', if it's ground, prepare for zombies climbing out of it. If it's a gargoyle statue, prepare for it [[MistakenForGranite coming to life]]. If it's a small hole or a passageway too low for you to fit even when crouching, prepare for rats, spiders or, worse, Hell Hands to emerge from it. If it's water, there will be Bone Eels and Gill Beasts. If it's dark, prepare for phantasms. If it's neither of the above, Cultists and Fanatics are waiting for you.

** The original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros'' has Bowser's fire flying past you to show that you are almost near a (fake, or in the final level's case, real) Bowser at the end.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowOfTheTombRaider'': whenever you enter a place with vegetation to hide in, explosive barrels, or items that you could throw to distract enemies, you can be sure that you are gonna use them soon. Sometimes even in advance of several minutes, as you proceed onward and then backtrack just to find the same area now filled with hostiles.

** The same applies to most cover-based games, such as ''VideoGame/GearsOfWar'' and ''Franchise/MassEffect''- contrary to what most players will be used to, if you're in a wide open arena you're probably safe. If you see lots of waist-high obstructions, expect trouble.
*** From ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'': "Another thing that characterizes the ''Gears of War'' universe is chest-high walls. The two opposing armies have both realized that chest-high walls are the key to victory. Every single battleground is littered with chest-high walls, everyone's bombs seem specifically designed to reduce buildings to chest-high walls, the Locusts have developed technology to make chest-high walls rise out of the ground, and if all else fails Mother Nature herself will step in and make rocks fall from the ceiling forming chest-high walls!"

* Although ''VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows'' is pretty much completely filled with foreboding architecture (and music) I think we all knew, as soon as we started Robbing the Cradle, that this was going to be unpleasant. (Though we could not have anticipated how scary it really was.)

* Practically every narrow ledge in ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'' requiring the Grip Grab to traverse will have a [[WallMaster Snapdragon]] leap out and attack you.

** The same applies to most cover-based games, such as ''GearsOfWar'' and ''Franchise/MassEffect''- contrary to what most players will be used to, if you're in a wide open arena you're probably safe. If you see lots of waist-high obstructions, expect trouble.
*** From ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'': "Another thing that characterizes the Gears of War universe is chest-high walls. The two opposing armies have both realized that chest-high walls are the key to victory. Every single battleground is littered with chest-high walls, everyone's bombs seem specifically designed to reduce buildings to chest-high walls, the Locusts have developed technology to make chest-high walls rise out of the ground, and if all else fails Mother Nature herself will step in and make rocks fall from the ceiling forming chest-high walls!"

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series the type of a dungeon usually indicates which kind of enemies you will encounter, but not always. For example, dwemer ruins contain automatons, daedric ruins contain daedra, crypts/catacombs contain undead etc. Usually the more important a quest is the more likely this trope is averted.

* All of the Bowser levels from ''SuperMarioGalaxy'' end with green checkered stairs that get smashed away by meteorites before the boss battle against [[BigBad Bowser]].

* Generally, this trope is rarer in Role Playing Games, where boss fights are often telegraphed by [[BossBanter lengthy]] [[TalkingIsAFreeAction conversation]] and battles take place in a [[AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield pocket dimension]]. But in BaldursGate, one room on the third floor of a dungeon seems suspiciously large. The player slowly creeps into this too-wide and too-tall cave, anticipation mounting, when, all of a sudden, [[AttackOfThe50FootWhatever MASSIVE DRAGON]] [[GiantSpaceFleaFromNowhere OUT OF NOWHERE]].

* Practically every narrow ledge in ''[[{{Banjo-Kazooie}} Banjo-Tooie]]'' requiring the Grip Grab to traverse will have a [[WallMaster Snapdragon]] leap out and attack you.

* Small alcoves in SeriousSam are usually a sign of an incoming marsh hopper wave.