History Main / VideogameSetpiece

* The ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' games and expansion packs made heavy use of setpieces - everything from monsters breaking down doors to automated tours of labyrinthine factories.
** Valve once said that they use so many because ''Half-Life'' without set pieces is boring: Valve themselves learned this lesson while brainstorming on ''Half-Life'''s level design, sticking every single character, object and set piece they'd come up with so far into a single level and noticing how fun said level was to play. Such is the quality of their set pieces.
*** Of course, this leads to a phenomenon where [[ItsUpToYou the player's and only the player's mere presence causes things to happen]]. Unlimited enemies? They'll go away the moment you go around a corner! Scientists? Oh, they'll die the moment you enter the room. Fall off of a platform and an explosion across the way will send legions of enemies after you! The line between time and the player's location in space is extremely tenuous.

* Although the first two ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'' games predated this phenomenon, ''VideoGame/Doom3'' included several setpieces along with more traditional {{Cut Scene}}s.
* ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredator2'' used several of these, the most impressive being a [[CatScare false scare]] wherein a ceiling panel pops out, causing a curved pipe and length of cable -which look ''exactly'' like an Alien's head and tail- to come swinging out in front of the player.

* ''VideoGame/{{Killzone}} 2'' has a moment were a boarding party smashes through the side of your ship's hull meters away from you in a massive explosion. You then face a Hellghast-style ZergRush, a mere second after the level being relatively calm.
** It also has one later on when a flying unit's bugging you on the last level. It has chainguns and rockets, but can't actually kill you unless you suck. It's cool though.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' uses this as well. Most doors can be destroyed by the zombies and your gunfire and the majority of cars and other large objects can be tossed around by the Tank. A plane crashes in the finale of Dead Air and the wreckage gets scattered across the field and then becomes a part of the level.

Setpieces are as good as required in SurvivalHorror and other games with a creepy mood. Knowing that, with the next step forward, something unexpected could jump into view does wonders for keeping up the tension. SetpiecePuzzle and TeleportingKeycardSquad are subtropes.

Setpieces are as good as required in SurvivalHorror and other games with a creepy mood. Knowing that, with the next step forward, something unexpected could jump into view does wonders for keeping up the tension. The TeleportingKeycardSquad is one of the more primitive versions of the set piece.

* The second lap of the podrace level in ''[[VideoGame/LegoAdaptationGame LEGO Star Wars]]'' has Sebulba and another racer ramming each other. Sebulba rams the other guy into a butte, which falls over and blocks the path you took on the first lap.

* Although the first two games predated this phenomenon, ''VideoGame/{{Doom}} 3'' included several setpieces along with more traditional {{Cut Scene}}s.

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' features several impressive unique setpieces in its Splatfest-exclusive "Shifty Station" stages, but of note is the one for the ''Final Fest: Splatocalypse'' event: Throughout the match, there is a helicopter above the stage where Pearl and Marina can be seen [[InUniverseSoundtrack performing the background music live]]. At one minute remaining, Pearl descends down onto the center of the stage where she prepares the Princess Cannon. The first player to tag her -- notably the only instance of players in a PlayerVersusPlayer match getting to interact with a NonPlayerCharacter, and a major one at that -- gets to use the cannon; after giving the command to fire, Pearl shouts into the cannon, which turns her voice into a massive WaveMotionGun.

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' features several impressive unique setpieces in its Splatfest-exclusive "Shifty Station" stages, but of note is the one for the ''Final Fest: Splatocalypse'' event: Throughout the match, there is a helicopter above the stage where Pearl and Marina can be seen [[InUniverseSoundtrack performing the background music live]]. At one minute remaining, Pearl descends down onto the center of the stage where she prepares the Princess Cannon. The first player to tag her -- notably the only instance of players in a [=PvP=] match getting to interact with a NonPlayerCharacter, and a major one at that -- gets to use the cannon; after giving the command to fire, Pearl shouts into the cannon, which turns her voice into a massive WaveMotionGun.

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' features several impressive unique setpieces in its Splatfest-exclusive "Shifty Station" stages, but of note is the one for the Final Splatfest: Throughout the match, there is a helicopter above the stage where Pearl and Marina can be seen [[InUniverseSoundtrack performing the background music live]]. At 1 minute remaining, Pearl descends down onto the center of the stage where she prepares the Princess Cannon. The first player to tag her -- notably the only instance of players in a [=PvP=] match getting to interact with [=NPCs=], and a major one at that -- gets to use the cannon; after giving the command to fire, Pearl shouts into the cannon, which turns her voice into a massive WaveMotionGun.
--> "Splatted by the Princess Cannon!"

** ''Black Fate'' DLC has two of them: [[spoiler:Fulfilling a set of conditions will allow you to play the song "Tempestissimo", and should you fulfill specific conditions during that, most of the HUD disappears, Tairitsu appears on the right side of the screen, and the difficulty is kicked up by one level (Past becomes Present, Present becomes Future, and Future [[WhamShot becomes]] ''[[HarderThanHard Beyond]]'').]]

* ''Videogame/{{Arcaea}}'' does this for a couple of boss unlock events:

* ''VideoGame/AliensVsPredator 2'' used several of these, the most impressive being a [[CatScare false scare]] wherein a ceiling panel pops out, causing a curved pipe and length of cable -which look ''exactly'' like an Alien's head and tail- to come swinging out in front of the player.

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* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' features several impressive unique setpieces in its Splatfest-exclusive "Shifty Station" stages, but of note is the one for the Final Splatfest (LateArrivalSpoiler for the ''Octo Expansion'' DLC): [[spoiler:Throughout the match, there is a helicopter above the stage where Pearl and Marina can be seen [[InUniverseSoundtrack performing the background music live]]. At 1 minute remaining, Pearl descends down onto the center of the stage where she prepares the Princess Cannon. The first player to tag her -- notably the only instance of players in a [=PvP=] match getting to interact with [=NPCs=], and a major one at that -- gets to use the cannon; after giving the command to fire, Pearl shouts into the cannon, which turns her voice into a massive WaveMotionGun.]]
--> "Splatted by [[spoiler:the Princess Cannon]]!"

* ''VideoGame/{{Fortnite}}: Battle Royale'' frequently has one-time special events that can only be witnessed in-game if the player happens to be in the right place at the right real-world time, such as missiles causing tears in space-time and a sneak peek at the then-upcoming ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker''.

* ''VideoGame/Splatoon2'' features several impressive unique setpieces in its Splatfest-exclusive "Shifty Station" stages, but of note is the one for the Final Splatfest (LateArrivalSpoiler for the ''Octo Expansion'' DLC): [[spoiler:Throughout the match, there is a helicopter above the stage where Pearl and Marina can be seen [[InUniverseSoundtrack performing the background music live]]. At 1 minute remaining, Pearl descends down onto the center of the stage where she prepares the Princess Cannon. The first player to tag her gets to use the cannon; after giving the command to fire, Pearl shouts into the cannon, which turns her voice into a massive WaveMotionGun.]]

* ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' has setpeices as minigames, such as in the opening to the second game, involving the homicidal magically-animated Colossus of Rhodes, or jumping from pillar to falling pillar.