Final Dungeon Preview

In video games, the player might take it for granted that the last area, level or world will be a remote, inaccessible place that won't be available until the end of the game when the stakes are at their highest and there's nowhere else left to go. After all, only such a climactic stage in the campaign could be worthy of this level's magnitude. Sometimes, however, the player gets to pay an early visit to the future site of their final confrontation.

This trope can manifest itself in several variants. The first visit may be treated as a dungeon in of itself with its navigation, enemies and available items differing from the final trek. It may just be a bare-bones version of the dungeon with little to offer in terms of exploration or treasures, with only the scenery and architecture (and perhaps the game's interface) foreshadowing the complete dungeon. Maybe only a tiny part of the dungeon is accessible, tantalising the player with a glimpse of what the rest of the level has to offer.

If it is made clear early in the game that the dungeon will be the final one, the preview can serve to make the player curious to explore the full place, increasing their sense of anticipation or foreboding for the endgame. On the other hand, keeping the last level as a mystery can surprise the player once they reach it and realise that they have been there before.

Sister Trope to Final Boss Preview, where one is given an early taste of an antagonist rather than a location. Compare New World Tease, Remixed Level, Where It All Began, and So Near, Yet So Far. Compare and contrast Disc-One Final Dungeon, where a level appears to be the final one only for the player to discover that the game is not yet complete; overlap between the two tropes is possible, however, as the player may initially visit the dungeon at a critical point in the middle of the game and later return for the true finale. Contrast All the Worlds Are a Stage, where the final level takes elements from earlier, different ones.

Note that at least part of the final level must be physically accessible to the player before the endgame for it to qualify as a Final Dungeon Preview; if the dungeon's exterior is simply observable from a separate area with no indication of what it contains, or if the dungeon appears only in a cutscene from which the player character is absent, then it does not count as this trope.

This trope does not include final levels which can only be reached early by exploiting glitches; the level must be reachable through legitimate means.

Due to the nature of this trope, beware of unmarked spoilers.

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Examples:

Action-Adventure

• Bomberman 64: Should the game be completed without having collected all the Gold Cards, the last image in the credits shows Bomberman on the Rainbow Palace, the true final level which can be accessed by finishing the Black Fortress with all collected Gold Cards.
• Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow: About halfway through the game, Soma passes through the Top Floor of Dracula's Castle to get to the Inner Quarters. The Top Floor is the final area of the game, though this is subverted if the player unlocks the Golden Ending.
• The Last Guardian: You first approach the Citadel from a narrow, wooden bridge but are unable to enter its interior. You and Trico are then attacked by a large group of armoured guards, which results in the bridge being destroyed and forces you to land onto another tower. After traversing through more ruins, you once again reach the Citadel's exterior thanks to Trico's wings healing enough for him to make the journey. This time, you can enter inside and make your way up the tower in the hope that you will finally escape the Nest.
• The Legend of Zelda:
  • The Legend of Zelda: An optional case. Link can enter the final dungeon any time after he gets bombs, but in the second room he'll be told he needs to have the full Triforce of Wisdom to go any further.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Oracle Games: In Oracle of Ages, Link enters the Black Tower while it's under construction early on to get a shovel. After it's completed, it turns into the final dungeon of the game.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: Early in the game, Wolf Link gets dragged to Hyrule Castle, where he is freed by Midna, traverses the high towers with her, and hears about Hyrule's plight from Princess Zelda before getting warped back to Ordon. He goes through the same area almost midway through the game to save an injured Midna. Link finally gets to storm Hyrule Castle as a proper dungeon at the end, though not the section he traversed as Wolf Link.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass: The Temple of the Ocean King, being the final dungeon explored at the start of the game. Due to a curse, the dungeon will gradually drain Link's health until he obtains the Phantom Hourglass, which allows time in the temple without taking damage. As you progress the game, you gain more time and are able to explore deeper in the dungeon, obtaining sea charts along the way. You can get to the end once you obtain the Phantom Sword to face the final boss.
  • The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds: Because the player initially enters Lorule from Hyrule Castle, the first place they see in the other world is the castle's counterpart. They are sent away from Lorule Castle to rescue the Seven Sages and obtain the Triforce of Courage so that they can defeat Yuga, who is restrained by Princess Hilda in the throne room. Once they have done so, the barrier on the castle is removed and they can navigate the entire place, eventually returning to the throne room.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: The player is free to make a beeline straight to Hyrule Castle to face Ganon from the moment they get the paraglider (though it isn't recommended since they will be severely under-equipped and the Final Boss fight will be a lot tougher). They are, however, encouraged to make multiple trips to the castle, both for the sake of several side quests and to grab some high-level weaponry.
• In Luigi's Mansion, at one point Luigi goes down a well, where he find a hallway leading to an entrance within the mouth of a lion gargoyle, to King Boo's room, where he is holding Mario captive. Luigi reaches out from the lion's head, but can't do anything, so he is forced to go back and continue his adventure until he finally gets into the room.
• Oddly enough, this winds up being the very first level in Tomb Raider II. The Great Wall is the first China level, and it's actually very oddly difficult for a first level, but gives a bit of a prelude of things to come when you return to China for the final three levels at the end of the game since there's danger almost everywhere, requiring you to think fast and carefully if you're to get through.

Adventure Games

• Space Quest:
  • At the beginning of Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge, when Roger is captured by Vohaul's goons, you get a sneak peek of his asteroid fortress.
  • Similarly, in Space Quest IV: Roger Wilco and the Time Rippers, the first trip to the Space Quest XII era allows you a preview of the entrance to its Final Dungeon.
• World's End Club begins with the Go-Getters venturing through the X-Fortress to confront MAIK. Subverted after this moment is reached however, as the real final area was teased behind the blue locked door beneath the underwater park in Kagoshima.
• In Yu-Gi-Oh! Forbidden Memories, you can attempt to visit the Vast Shrine for a quick glimpse, but won't be able to explore its true inner chambers until the Millennium Items have been collected.
• As soon as you get to Riven-na in Zniw Adventure, the game's final area, Jaw Mountain, which you won't visit until much later, can already be seen in the background.

First-Person Shooters

• Marathon Infinity: Blood Tides of Lh'owon has three alternate paths along the storyline leading to Bad Future versions of "Aye Mak Sicur", the final level, in which only a small section of the Jjaro space station is accessible.

Hack and Slash

• The very first battle of Warriors Orochi 3 is actually a variation of one of the endgame battles, since the whole point of the game is to Set Right What Once Went Wrong. Not only you are starting the game with a nine-star difficulty level, it is always scripted to fail no matter what you do.

Platform Games

• Conker's Bad Fur Day: Conker can visit the Feral Reserve Bank as early as getting the slingshot. Problem is, the bridge going there is unstable and will break if Conker attempts to cross it, leaving him no choice but to turn back.
• Jak 3: Wastelander: In one mission, Jak will take control of a robot onboard the Dark Maker's ship to destroy the shield generator. He'll later be transported onto the ship to confront Errol.
• Jurassic Park (Sega Master System): The island map always loads with the player on the Visitor Center, which is initially inaccessible but is revealed as the final stage once the other four are cleared without spending continues.
• Mega Man X2: Magna Centipede's stage is like every other Maverick stage in the game. However, the final level is revealed to also be Magna Centipede's level, except that there's a new detour which leads to the Final Boss.
• Ratchet & Clank (2002) starts peacefully on Veldin, when suddenly Clank crashes there, Ratchet notices it and goes to check what the hell happened. The only enemies are some frogs and robots that followed Clank, all quite easy to dispatch. However, over the course of the game, the Big Bad decides to destroy Veldin and station his Deplanetizer there, so the duo can continue well beyond Clank's crash site and the enemies are Elite Mooks and Dropships.
• Shadow the Hedgehog: The Last Way, the only level in the game's Last Story, is a remixed version of Final Haunt, the last level of the Pure Hero path. Since the Last Story unlocks after reaching all ten of the regular (non-canon) endings, and those endings can be reached in any order, this trope can be Played Straight, if the player does the Pure Hero endings early; Downplayed, if they save them for last; or both, if they do one Pure Hero ending early on and save the other for last.
• In Super Mario World, you can travel to two different secret levels of the final world, the Valley of Bowser, from Donut Plains and Chocolate Island. You are unable to access any of the standard levels from these places and must reach the world via the Sunken Ghost Ship to play them (or via Star World if you can figure out the proper shortcut to the final level).
• Yooka-Laylee and the Impossible Lair begins with an attempt by Yooka and Laylee at the eponymous Impossible Lair. Players actually can clear the level on their first attempt, and can even go back to try again well before exploring the other parts of the game—it's just not likely without the Beetalion Shield.

Racing Games

• In Star Wars Episode I: Racer, the first track is a shortened version of the Boonta Eve Classic called the Boonta Training Course. You get to race the full course at the end of the game.

Role-Playing Games

• In CrossCode, you are captured and taken to the Vermilion Wasteland about halfway through the game and eventually have to sneak your way through the Vermilion Tower. You return to the Vermilion Wasteland during the endgame and the Vermilion Tower is the final dungeon. Some of the enemies during your first visit to the Wasteland are at endgame level, but you have a powerful Guest-Star Party Member to help you take them down.
• About midway through Dark Souls, you'll be taken by either Frampt or Kaathe to where you can place the Lordvessel after acquiring it in Anor Londo. Just behind where you put it is a large stone door that will only open once you have all the required souls from the main bosses, leading to the final area, the Kiln of the First Flame.
• In Daydreaming Derpy, you can head to the entrance of the apparent final dungeon as soon as you become able to move between parts of the dream world, but Derpy won't head inside alone. Completing the other three areas of the dream world will have the Crusaders meet up with her here and you can progress.
• In Dragon Age: Origins, you can potentially get captured and taken to the prison in Fort Drakon and have to sneak or fight your way out. The final dungeon is a return to Fort Drakon, which is now overrun by darkspawn.
• In Dragon's Dogma, you visit the Everfall in one of the first main quests after reaching the capital. It seems relatively innocuous at the time when it comes to plot relevance, though there is some foreshadowing involved. After you defeat the Big Bad, the Everfall expands from its location under the capital, revealing Alien Geometries, and it becomes The Very Definitely Final Dungeon.
• In Dragon Quest, you can see the Dragonlord's Castle from the starting town of Tantegel, but it's on an island that you can't reach until much later in the game. The only way to reach the castle is by taking a long walk across several bridges, through a few caves, and using a special item to create another bridge to access the island where the castle is built.
• In EarthBound (1994), there's a cave in the Lost Underworld that takes you to a small area in a void of black, with grassy jagged pathways out of reach and a reverberating brassy sound. This is actually the present-day version of The Cave of the Past, a barren area full of enemy robots but completely devoid of organic life aside from the final boss that you face at the end of the game.
• In Elden Ring, there is a special teleporter in Liurnia (which is usually the second zone, depending on the order you follow) that leads to Crumbling Farum Azula - a floating, crumbling citadel visited properly only as the final dungeon of the game. The zone you end up in is totally self-contained and doesn't allow you to go to the path of the main story, but the abrupt change of scenery definetly leaves an impact.
• In The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind, there is nothing stopping you from entering Dagoth Ur's citadel as soon as you are strong enough to deal with the powerful creatures guarding it. However, if you lack the Tools of Kagrenac necessary to actually defeat him and beat the main quest, he chastises you for coming unprepared and won't speak with you further. One Sidequest for the Tribunal Temple actually sends you inside, though the item you are there to retrieve is in an exterior part of the facility and you don't need to go all the way to Dagoth Ur's chamber.
• In Evolution: The World of Sacred Device, Mag and Linear are invited to the 8th Imperial Army's cruiser to meet with Prince Eugene, during which they can look around and eventually meet him in the captain's room. At the end of the game, Mag's party storms the cruiser to rescue Linear and the section that Mag and Linear initially visited is eventually passed through while the first battle with Eugene happens in the same place as the first encounter with him.
• Final Fantasy:
  • In the original Final Fantasy, the first major fight in the game happens at an ancient temple, which ends up being the entryway to the final dungeon in the game, that same temple 2000 years in the past, against the man who ends up being the final boss of the game.
  • Final Fantasy Mystic Quest: After defeating the Hydra boss in Lava Dome, a path opens up in the Focus Tower that leads to the lowest level of Doom Castle. You can only explore a small part of it that's walled off from the main part of the level, but you can fight some monsters and access a chest containing the Aero spellbook.
  • Final Fantasy Tactics plays with this a bit, despite the fact that there's only battles and not dungeons to explore. However, a number of significant battles occur at Orbonne Monestary, such as the opening tutorial, a few sequential battles midway through the game, and then returning there at the end of the game, where you're taken to the Necrohol of Mullonde, the true final area of the game.
  • When Tidus gets swallowed by Sin near the very beginning of Final Fantasy X, he hears his father Jecht calling out to him, and Tidus swims down to a figure standing at the top of the ruins of a Blitzball arena before waking up. That arena is where the final battle of the game takes place.
  • Final Fantasy X-2: Yuna has a brief encounter with the final boss in the Farplane Meadow before being sent back into the Bevelle Underground, seemingly thanks to The Fayth showing her the way out.
• Golden Sun actually inverts this with its sequel, in that Venus Lighthouse is the final dungeon of the first game, while it's the starting location for the second game. This makes sense as the second game starts a little bit before the end of the first game's story.
• In Haven (2020), the volcano where Source's Flow Bridge originates is located on the islet Wakiri in the Lethal Lava Land zone, but out of reach until you complete the repairs on the Nest.
• Kingdom Hearts:
  • Kingdom Hearts II: Virtual Twilight Town serves as the Tutorial Level. You won't see it again until near the end of the game, when it is revealed to house a portal that connects to the final level, The World That Never Was. In fact, the portal has been always there from the beginning, but cannot be accessed until you switch from Roxas to Sora.
  • Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep:
    • In Terra's story and Ventus' story, the two end up going to a world referred to simply as the Badlands after the first three worlds are completed. In Terra's case, he is summoned there by Xehanort regarding Vanitas, and all his entries are just cutscenes. In Ven's case, he chases after Vanitas there and has a boss fight against him. Both of them (and Aqua) return to this world at the end of their campaigns, with it now being called the Keyblade Graveyard.
    • In the Secret Final Campaign, Aqua fights Terra-Xehanort in the previously visited Radiant Garden. Subverted for the Final Mix version which introduces another secret campaign that has Aqua travelling the Dark World.
• The Legend of Heroes: Trails from Zero starts with Lloyd and the team entering the underground tomb where the mastermind of the recent crimes in Crossbell is waiting and begins to head in, though said introduction actually occurred in an entirely different Alternate Timeline.
• Mario & Luigi:
  • Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time: At one point, the time portals leading to the other major areas open up around Peach's castle, with the last one connecting to Shroob Castle. An early visit will have the party stopped at front of the impenetrable gate, followed by Stuffwell suggesting to head back for now.
  • Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam: Partway through the game, Mario, Luigi, and Paper Mario reach Bowser's Castle, where they rescue Peach and Paper Peach and defeat Bowser Jr. and Paper Bowser Jr. Afterward, Bowser and Paper Bowser rocket the castle into the sky and upgrade it to Neo Bowser Castle; the heroes spend the rest of the game getting back up there.
• Marvel Ultimate Alliance sees you venture into Castle Doom at the beginning of the second act to rescue Jean Grey and Nightcrawler... or so it seems. As you soon discover, you have in reality been teleported to a facade of the castle which is a part of Murderworld. It isn't until the game's final act that the heroes travel to the real Castle Doom. The background music for the fake version even foreshadows this, utilising the instrumentation used for the real deal while also sampling motifs from Murderworld's music.
• Downplayed in Miitopia; in the second half of Greenhorne, a path opens up to the north. Taking this path leads to a dead end in a snowy area. While not the final dungeon, this area is part of one of the first locations you visit after defeating the Dark Lord.
• The final level of all three storylines of Nox is set in the local equivalent of Hell — however, the Wizard storyline sees you going there quite a bit earlier, when the Big Bad Hecubah banishes you to it after killing your master, so you have to escape before you can return to your quest.
• Olberic's storyline in Octopath Traveler begins in the ruins of Hornberg during a flashback to its fall. The ruins are eventually revisited in the present during the quest that opens after all eight traveler stories have been completed, by which point it's clear that the ruins of Hornberg happen to be above the Gate of Finis, which Lyblac has been trying to get into in order to revive her father Galdera.
• Paper Mario:
  • Paper Mario 64: After each chapter ends, you play through a brief segment where you control Peach and sneak through her occupied Castle to find out more about Bowser's plans. By the time Mario gets there at the very end, the only area you wouldn't have already been able to explore as Peach is the final boss arena.
  • Super Paper Mario: After the first and second chapters, there are short segments featuring Peach and Luigi waking up at Castle Bleck, trying to escape, only to be tracked down and hypnotized by Bleck's assistant Nastasia. It is not till the final chapter where you actually travel to Castle Bleck for the final battle with Count Bleck.
• Persona:
  • Persona 4: When you rest on the first day of arriving in Inaba, you awaken in a strange area. Upon moving forward and reaching a door, you are entered into a fight which ends in a few turns and you wake up for school. This is never brought up again until you reach the true ending, where it is revealed to be Yomotsu Hirasaka, the final dungeon of the game.
  • Persona 5:
    • At several moments, Morgana has a recurring nightmare where he emerges from darkness standing in front of a mysterious red entrance. Said entrance is the passage into Mementos Depths where the Final Boss lies.
    • Royal: At the start of October, Joker and Morgana enter an unknown Palace to rescue Kasumi when she suddenly gets dragged into the Metaverse. After the rescue, the duo decide to ignore the area since it isn't related to their current target. It's not until the third semester when the Palace becomes the final level against the True Final Boss.
• Secret of Evermore gives you a few very brief moments of playing in Omnitopia just as the opening sequence ends, culminating with a fight with several robots before you're shipped down to Evermore proper. Sure enough, Omnitopia is the final dungeon of the game. There's even a slight nod to the Dog's robot form just before you travel to the surface.
• By the end of Skies of Arcadia it's revealed that the first dungeon of the game - the ancient Shrine Island - is actually just a small chunk of the lost floating continent of Soltis, and once Soltis returns from Deep Sky, Shrine Island becomes the entry point to the final dungeon.
• Steven Universe: Unleash The Light has the Palace of Light, which is explored at the start, but the rest of the level can only be progressed by collecting keys scattered throughout each world.
• The endgame of Xenoblade Chronicles 1 features two successive dungeons which both have been visited earlier in the story on separate occasions.
  • The Bionis' Interior. The party passes briefly through it to make their way from Satorl Marsh to Makna Forest, with the location having seemingly little significance. However, the fact that it has a page in the Collectopaedia despite the apparent lack of available collectables as well as the presence of inaccessible Heart-to-Hearts and Ether Crystals on the map indicate that this is not the last time you will visit the place. Indeed, while making your second journey to Prison Island much later, you are finally able to explore the rest of the dungeon, which now contains collectables and enemies as a result of the Bionis' body returning to life.
  • Prison Island, which on the first visit is where Shulk upgrades the Monado and fights Metal Face for the second time. Despite being the backdrop for several pivotal events, the dungeon itself has few enemies, is devoid of collectables and only a few of its many floors are accessible; this changes once you return to confront the final villains of the game once and for all.
• The Museum of Natural History in Parasite Eve has nothing to find or explore the first two times you visit since you're only there to progress the plot. The hallways leading to other parts of the museum are blocked off. By the end of day 5, the museum is fully explorable and serves as the final area to navigate before dealing with the Big Bad.
• In Ys: Ancient Ys Vanished ~ Omen game, the Abandoned Mine has a seemingly redundant room behind the boss chamber, which turns out to be part of the Final Dungeon of Ys II: Ancient Ys Vanished – The Final Chapter, after the eponymous Floating Continent returns to Earth.

Survival Horror

• The Evil Within does this with the very first chapter. Sebastian explores a sewer underneath Beacon Memorial Hospital and some of its basement level while trying to escape the Sadist, totally unarmed and severely wounded to the point he can only limp around. Later on, in the final chapter of the game, you return to the hospital and even some of the same rooms, significantly better equipped for the challenges ahead. It's no easier than the first time, but at least you've got weapons to defend yourself with this time around.

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