History Main / VideogameSettings

!!Subtropes:

* AbandonedLaboratory: The deeper you go into the lab, the more likely you will find the horrors of unethical science.
* AbandonedMine: Nothing but old, yet still-functioning mining equipment here. Maybe they shouldn't have DugTooDeep…

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: If it isn't for combating toilet abuse, it's a whole new level.
* AdvancingWallOfDoom: Something deadly is chasing after you.

* AmusementPark: A carnival-themed level featuring typical attractions such as the roller coaster, the ferris wheel, and the HallOfMirrors.
* AmusementParkOfDoom: The aforementioned level, but since the villain has booby-trapped it or built it for nefarious purposes, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou everything is trying to kill you the moment you try them out]].

* AsteroidThicket: The typical asteroid field that requires shooting your way through to survive.

* BewareTheSkullBase: An dungeon level that takes place in a skull themed base or fortress.

* BigFancyCastle: A level that takes place inside a castle. Hopefully [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle the princess is actually in this one]].
* BigStormEpisode: A level which takes place in stormy weather.

* BleakBorderbase: A level set at the edge of civilization, typically where the PlayerCharacter is ReassignedToAntarctica.

* BossCorridor: ItsQuietTooQuiet.

* BuildLikeAnEgyptian: A big, old, sandy pyramid, commonly found in the ShiftingSandLand. If the devs are feeling particularly creative, you might get a big, old, sandy sphinx instead, complete with a puzzle or [[RiddleOfTheSphinx riddle]] that you have to solve in order to get the treasure inside.

* CaveBehindTheFalls: Where are the secrets hiding? Look behind the waterfall. Can be a small feature in another level type or a level in and of itself.

* CircusOfFear: [[CreepyCircusMusic Scary music]], [[TheFreakshow freaky performers]], [[MonsterClown killer clowns]]… the circus has come to town indeed. Expect gratuitous platforming sequences of TightropeWalking and trapeze swinging.
* ClockworksArea: An industrial area filled with moving gears and wheels.
* ConstructionZoneCalamity: A level that takes place in a construction site. What is being built here exactly, and is it safe at all? [[NoOSHACompliance It's not their concern.]] Just watch for reckless wrecking balls, falling bricks and rivets, swinging girder platforms, pounding hydraulic weights, and gratuitous pits of wet cement.
* ContainerMaze: A labyrinth of crates or containers in a warehouse, storeroom or dock.
* CrystalLandscape: A setting filled with or completely composed of crystals, gemstones and jewels.
* {{Cyberspace}}: The internet as a physical level.

* DecadeDissonance: Two cities side-by-side which are complete opposites.
* DerelictGraveyard: A place with a lot of burned-out, ruined, rusty, or generally abandoned ships or trains.

* DoomedHometown: The hero's home town is most probably going to be destroyed in a fiery blaze, generally by the BigBad.
* DownInTheDumps: A level that's based on a landfill or a scrapyard.

* ElaborateUndergroundBase: Underground is the best place for villains to hide.
* ElevatorActionSequence: When you find yourself on a big, spacious elevator, rest assured you're going to have an extended multi-combatant smackdown.

* FantasticNatureReserve: A zoo, wildlife reserve, or other home for supposedly extinct or mythical creatures.

* FloatingContinent: An otherwise-normal place that's floating in the sky, often for no adequately-explored reason.

* GameLevel: Hopefully when you finish one, [[YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle your princess is not in another castle.]]

* GravityScrew: A GimmickLevel which messes around with gravity in some way.

* HauntedCastle: When the BigBoosHaunt is a BigFancyCastle.
* TheHedgeOfThorns: The pricklier relative of TheLostWoods and JungleJapes, where the player must keep from getting stabbed by the massive spikes in the maze of pokey plants.

* IcePalace: A big, shiny palace made out of ice. Look out for ice spikes.
* IndyEscape: Areas where you have to chase away from boulders or other similar hazards forcing you to run.
* IslandOfMystery: An island containing much strangeness.

* LighthousePoint: Spooky haunted lighthouse.

* TheLostWoods: A huge, shadowy, sometimes creepy forest.
* LumberMillMayhem: Any place that contains gratuitous buzzsaws is dangerous enough to be level worthy.

* TheMaze: You will get lost here.
* MeatMoss: The walls are covered with flesh.
* MedievalEuropeanFantasy: Fantasy stories inevitably take place in a pastiche of medieval Europe.

* MonsterArena: Arena, often in the first or second big city visitable, where the party can fight slightly more advanced monsters at their leisure.
* MonsterTown: Baby monsters have to grow up somewhere, after all.

* NiceDayDeadlyNight: A level gets more dangerous at night.
* NightmarishFactory: The only thing this factory produces is fear and horrors beyond your imagination.

* NorthIsColdSouthIsHot: When the north of the world map has all the cold regions, and the south has all the warm regions.

* ObstacleSkiCourse: There is no such thing as a leisurely trip down the slopes.
* OminousFloatingCastle: A villainous base floating in the middle of absolutely nowhere.

* TheOutsideWorld: Typically the vast explorable world beyond the tutorial, starting town or setting; narratively can be outside a place of confinement or seclusion.
* TheOverworld: Usually an open field or whatever the "neutral" terrain is for the setting, used in non linear games as a go between for other points of interest.

* PatchworkMap: When the game world is [[SpaceCompression considerably smaller than it would be in real life]], you have to pack in a bunch of different biomes in a very small area.

* PipeMaze: Not only do you have to get to the end… you'll probably be soaked by the time you're done.
* PlanetHeck: A level of fire, brimstone and men with pitchforks.

* PollutedWasteland: An extremely polluted area filled with deadly waste and poisonous gas, courtesy of your friendly neighborhood ToxicInc
* PortTown: It's a city that's got [[GetOnTheBoat boats to get on]].

* RecurringLocation: A place which is not the main hub or boss area in a series, but which appears over and over again within the same series.

* RibcageRidge: A level that takes place in the skeletal remains of a large creature.

* RuinsForRuinsSake: Okay, they're ruins… but why are they there? What are they ruins ''of''?

* SharkTunnel: A transparent underwater tunnel. Common in {{Racing Game}}s.

* SinisterSubway: It's a subway, but haunted and spooky and dripping with stale water and monster-infested.
* SkateHeavenIsAPlaceOnEarth: You can skate anywhere, everywhere, and in fact ''must'' do so.

* SoNearYetSoFar: The goal of your quest is very near or even right at the starting point, but you can't actually reach it until the climax.

* SpaceStation: A level that takes place in a space station. May involve fighting aliens and/or robots, as well as a GravityScrew.

* TechnoWreckage: A dilapidated high tech zone.
* TempleOfDoom: An ancient temple or city, complete with ancient traps designed to anciently behead or disembowel you.

* {{Tomorrowland}}: An inexplicably technologically-advanced area in a place where it obviously doesn't belong.

* TreeTopTown: A level set in the tree tops of a forest, featuring treehouses, vine-swinging and, of course, BottomlessPits.

* TropicalIslandAdventure: A tropical island. Usually an assortment of jungle, beach and temple levels, with an obligatory volcano in the middle.
* UltimateForge: The only place to make the Sword of Ultimate Plot Advancement, invariably somewhere very difficult to reach.
* UrbanRuins: A city fallen into ruin.
* UnderwaterBase: A base of operations kept on the sea floor. Climate-controlled, so there is no need to worry about drowning or decompression, but very likely the villain and his minions are stationed here, which brings its own set of problems.

* UnderwaterRuins: Majestic, decrepit ruins of something or other surviving under the sea for millenia. Probably with fully-functioning treasure chests.

* {{Wackyland}}: An especially whimsical, surreal, or nonsensical area in a video game.
* WhereItAllBegan: The location where the game ends and the location where the game begins are one and the same.
* TheWildWest: In the good ol' frontier, alongside the {{Wutai}} of {{Ninja}}s and GangplankGalleon of {{Pirates}}
* WindmillScenery: When the GreenHillZone features windmills as part of its geography.

* {{Wutai}}: Obligatory East Asian pagoda-filled analogue. Expect to see {{ninja}}s, {{samurai}}, [[EverybodyWasKungFuFighting kung fu masters]], {{geisha}}, and/or TheThingThatGoesDoink

* HailfirePeaks: A level that has two settings in one, e.g. half of the level is full of ice, the other half is full of fire.

* BossCorridor: It's quiet… Too quiet.

* BewareTheSkullBase: An dungeon level that takes place in a skull themed base.

* SkyscraperCity: A level taking place inside a huge bustling metropolis. Expect to run across streets filled with [[EverythingTryingToKillYou crazy traffic]], scale tall skyscrapers, and jump from building-to-building. Hope you're not afraid of heights.

* RiverOfInsanity: You have to cross a river or travel down it. Watch out for jumping fish, crocodiles and the occasional rapids and waterfalls. Don't fall in!

* ShiftingSandLand: The desert stage, [[{{Disney/Aladdin}} where it's flat and immense and the heat is intense…]]

* AsteroidThicket: The typical asteroid field that requires shooting your way through to stand a chance.

* BonusDungeon: An optional level where the enemies and challenges are typically harder than the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.

* AmusementParkOfDoom: A carnival-themed level featuring typical attractions such as the roller coaster, the ferris wheel and the HallOfMirrors, [[EverythingTryingToKillYou all waiting to kill you the moment you try them out]].

[[caption-width-right:500:Counterclockwise, from bottom: GreenHillZone, ShiftingSandLand, SlippySlideyIceWorld, PalmtreePanic, TheLostWoods, DeathMountain, BubblyClouds, and LethalLavaLand. SpaceZone is the star world floating above the other eight.]]

[[caption-width-right:500:Clockwise, from bottom: GreenHillZone, ShiftingSandLand, SlippySlideyIceWorld, PalmtreePanic, TheLostWoods, DeathMountain, BubblyClouds, and LethalLavaLand. SpaceZone is the star world floating above the other eight.]]

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/new_super_mario_bros_wii_world_map.png]]

* HauntedCastle: When the BigBoosHaunt is really big and fancy.

* TropicalIslandAdventure: A tropical island.

[[caption-width-right:500:Clockwise, from bottom: GreenHillZone, ShiftingSandLand, SlippySlideyIceWorld, PalmtreePanic, DeathMountain, BubblyClouds, and LethalLavaLand. SpaceZone is the star world floating above the other eight.]]