History Main / DirectContinuousLevels

* In ''ResidentEvil5'', each chapter's area connects to the next in some manner, for example Chapter 1-2 starts in the area where 1-1 left off, and at the end of 1-2 an elevator leads from the furnace area to the garage where Chapter 2-1 starts.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' smoothly transitions into cutscenes by adding widescreen-esque bars with the level names on them, but without changing perspective immediately. All of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'''s missions are pairs of contiguous levels: The Armory->Cairo Station, Outskirts->Metropolis, The Arbiter->The Oracle, Delta Halo->Regret, Sacred Icon->Quarantine Zone, Gravemind->High Charity, and Uprising->The Great Journey. ''Halo 3'' has Crow's Nest-->Tsavo Highway-->The Storm-->Floodgate.
** ''VideoGame/HaloReach'' also has seamless transitions between most levels, such as at, the end of Winter Contingency, you hitch a ride on a Falcon to ONI Sword Base in real time, complete with SceneryPorn. Tip of the Spear picks up where Nightfall left off. Long Night of Solace ends with Noble Six falling from orbit, and the next level, Exodus, starts right after his landing.

* Most missions in ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II'', and a few levels of the original. The PS2 version of the original divided the levels into contiguous sublevels.

* Quite a few shmups by {{Toaplan}} (''Truxton'', ''Vimana'', ''VideoGame/{{Dogyuun}}'', ''VideoGame/FireShark'' etc.) play like one really long [[EndlessGame (often looping)]] level occasionally broken up by boss fights.

* Stages 4-6, 9-10, and 11-14 in ''VideoGame/WonderBoyIIIMonsterLair''. Not so in the MegaDrive version, which cuts out five of these levels.

* ''FarCry'' follows this format, with the only separations being the mission debriefing screens.\

* ''FarCry'' follows this format, with the only separations being the mission debriefing screens.

** Each act in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4: ModernWarfare'' is contiguous for the most part, e.g. Blackout->Hunted->Death from Above,The Bog->War Pig->Shock and Awe, All Ghillied Up->One Shot, One Kill, and Ultimatum->All In->No Fighting in the War Room->Game Over, although the levels [[TwoLinesNoWaiting alternate between]] the American and British storylines for the first act, and there are occasional hard breaks.

* The 2010 ''MedalOfHonor'' game does this to great affect. With a few exceptions, there aren't even anything like mission briefings before each mission, instead you get your instructions as the action unfolds, or as part of a discussion between characters as you get to the first objective. Each mission is separated by a (typically short) transition cutscene, in the later missions, typically only long enough to make it clear you are playing a different character. As an example, one mission ends with a pair of helicopters arriving. The cutscene shows them leaving, and the next level puts you in the gunner's seat of one of the choppers. At the end of that level, you have a cutscene of your choppers flying over the character you play for the next level. Probably half or more of the levels transition this way in the game.

** The older ''MOH'' games also did this, eg "Battle in the Bocage" in ''Allied Assault'' directly continues to "The Nebelwerfer Hunt", "Diverting the Enemy" ends with you crashing the gates to "The Command Post", "Sniper's Last Stand" is made up of two contiguous levels which in turn seque to "Hunt for the King Tiger", and "Return to Schmerzen" has a logical progression all the way through. Same for most of the levels in ''Frontline''.
* ''{{Halo}}'' smoothly transitions into cutscenes by adding widescreen-esque bars with the level names on them, but without changing perspective immediately. All of ''{{Halo 2}}'''s missions are pairs of contiguous levels: The Armory->Cairo Station, Outskirts->Metropolis, The Arbiter->The Oracle, Delta Halo->Regret, Sacred Icon->Quarantine Zone, Gravemind->High Charity, and Uprising->The Great Journey. ''Halo 3'' has Crow's Nest-->Tsavo Highway-->The Storm-->Floodgate.

* ''{{Uncharted}}'' does this to maintain its movie-like feel. Chapter numbers and titles sometimes appear onscreen, but while you're still moving your character and in full control. No loading screens show up inbetween areas, and the game flows continuously. On the rare times that Nate ends up somewhere completely unexpected (usually as a result of loss of consciousness), it tends to be as jarring for the player as it is for him.

** ''VideoGame/SonicTripleTrouble'' did it once, between acts 2 and 3 of Sunset Park Zone: no "level complete" screen or music and the signpost just falls through the ground. The game only tells you you're now in act 3 if you die.

** Each act in the ''ModernWarfare'' series is contiguous for the most part, e.g. Blackout->Hunted->Death from Above,The Bog->War Pig->Shock and Awe, All Ghillied Up->One Shot, One Kill, and Ultimatum->All In->No Fighting in the War Room->Game Over, although the levels [[TwoLinesNoWaiting alternate between]] the American and British storylines for the first act in each game, and there are occasional hard breaks.

* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'' works this way as well.

* ''VideoGame/Growl'' - Every stage in the game is set in the same level until Round 6, when the players enters a cavern.

* The arcade versions of the first two ''VideoGame/DoubleDragon'' games have continuous stages until reaching the hideout of the final boss.

** The stages in the arcade version of ''Super Contra'' are also connected; for example, you enter the base doors at the end of Stage 1, and Stage 2 takes place from an overhead perspective inside the base, after which you exit to the jungles of Stage 3, then that progresses to the two alien lair stages.

* ''Videogame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'' does this in a way. The end of each level shares the look of the beginning of the next level, subtly implying their connection to each other. Sometimes the theme of future levels are set up in earlier levels. For example, one level takes place during a storm, and lightning strikes a grassy field in the background setting it on fire. The next level takes place in the resulting brushfire.

* ''VideoGame/{{Scramble}}'' is probably the TropeMaker for continous-scrolling shooters. The end of each level opens up onto a piece of flat terrain, a short message is displayed with an accompanying jingle, and then the next level scrolls into view.

* ''SuperMarioBros'' has Mario take pipes into the underground and underwater levels, and the end of the third level of each world has him entering a BiggerOnTheInside dungeon.

* All three Ikari games (VideoGame/IkariWarriors, Victory Road, and Ikari III: The Rescue) have this.

* DarkSouls has a different aesthetic and name for each area, but they're all connected with no loading screens apart from the Painted World of Ariamis which is accessed through a painting in Anor Londo. Anor Londo and the Undead Asylum can't be accessed on foot from the rest of the world, as you are flown to and from them in cutscenes. The towers of the Duke's Archive above Anor Londo can be seen from vantage points like the Undead Church, so it's technically still connected.
* ''FinalFantasyX'' does this for a good majority of the main story.
** Ditto with ''FinalFantasyXIII'' to an extent. There are points were characters branch off and take airships to other locations, but otherwise it's linear.