History Main / ScenicTourLevel

[[folder:First Person Shooter]]
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife1'' may be the [[TropeCodifier codifier]] if not TropeMaker (We even used to call this trope Black Mesa Commute), beginning with a slow tram ride through Black Mesa. The player can move freely inside the tram and look in all directions, but the tram itself moves independently.
** ''VideoGame/HalfLifeOpposingForce'' was somewhat related, in that the player was introduced to the military's insertion and situation (even if Adrian awakes hours after his chopper crashes). ''VideoGame/HalfLifeBlueShift'' starts in the same way, and, amusingly enough, once the ride is over it inverts the original game's opening sequence, as the player plays the role of the security guard who gets stuck just outside a door at the start, and can watch from the side as Freeman passes him by in another car.
** ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'' also has the scene in the Citadel, where an immobile Gordon is transported through the Citadel and up to the top floor for several minutes and giving the player some of the only glimpses of the inner workings of their adversary.
** ''Half-Life 2'''s intro also fits this, where you are introduced to City 17 by walking around in the train station and then the surrounding city. Admittedly, the cops provide a semi-enemy (they will attack you if you get too close), but you can't really be killed in this, so it still counts.
** Additionally, ''Half-Life'''s opening is split into the uncontrolled tram sequence and the controlled "get yourself to the lab" sequence. Both help introduce you to the controls, specific characters, and the current situation, and if you pay attention, certain plot points.

* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 2'''s Russian boot camp (which ends in an actual attack by Germans) and, in ''Modern Warfare,'' Soap going through the basics with Gaz at an SAS station, both of which are [[JustifiedTutorial justified tutorials]].
** Many of the levels also start with a quick helicopter ride to the starting area. It's possible to shoot, but doing so is a waste of ammo so you're pretty clearly just supposed to kick back and hum [[Film/ApocalypseNow The Ride Of The Valkyries]].

* ''VideoGame/Prey2006'' starts you off at a bar owned by the main character's girlfriend, where you can talk to people, gamble on poker machines and headbang to Music/JudasPriest until the inevitable AlienAbduction occurs.

* ''Videogame/{{Portal 2}}'' has many segments seemingly designed to show off just how ''big'' Aperture Laboratories is:

* The first several days of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' gradually introduce the different areas the protagonist can visit. The effect is more obvious in ''[[UpdatedRerelease FES]]'', where the PlayerCharacter automatically walks with a friend through different parts of town, giving the player a good look in the process.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' tours various areas of Vault 101 during the JustifiedTutorial, some of which are otherwise inaccessable.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' starts with you being given a small tour of your house in the Pre-War era and of Vault 111 before the main action begins. Later on in the game, if you join the Brotherhood of Steel, you're given an aerial sightseeing tour of the Commonwealth while riding a Vertibird to the Brotherhood of Steel's CoolAirship, the Prydwen. You also get a brief but representative tour aboard a fishing boat or a monorail when you first enter the separate maps of the ''Far Harbor'' or ''Nukaworld'' [=DLCs=], respectively.

[[folder:Third Person Shooter]]

* ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' starts the player in chains on a cart where they are given some scene setting by fellow prisoners. The scene is notable for letting you know ''just enough'' of the setting to get by (there's a rebellion, these guys against these other guys), but telling you ''nothing'' about the history between the last game and this one (a span of ''two hundred years'') aside from the fact that the Nine Divines are now the Eight Divines. You have to find out out the rest for yourself.

[[folder: Horror]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Bioshock Infinite}}'' takes this UpToEleven, with not just entering Columbia via rocket, but afterwards spending a good deal of time walking around trying to get your bearings. Even if you're rushing, it'll take about 20 minutes for you to get to the first combat stage.