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Visiting these towers typically serves three purposes (although these may not be present all at once):# Unfogging or revealing a large amount of the nearby area on the in-game map to better allow the player to navigate it and find their way around.# Reveals side quests, collectibles, activites, and other points of interest for the player to engage in. This is usually constrained to the newly-unfogged areas so that the player isn't overwhelmed by getting an entire map's worth at once.# Acting as a new [[WarpWhistle fast travel]] location for players to come back to, allowing them to seek out and clear the new objectives and then return to find another (or otherwise be used to return to this area).

Due to the non-linear nature of open-world video games, developers will often create certain in-game limitations in order to gate player progress. The most common version of this is the "Ubisoft Tower," a location on that map that, when cleared, will unveil large portions of the map. This is a two-part feature: on one hand, this creates an easy template for challenging the player, as the developers can re-use the location multiple times but in different variations in order to create new content, and to center the interesting content of the game world around the tower so players are gravitated towards them.

Visiting these towers typically does two things. First, it reveals a large section of the in-game map for the player to see, often revealing objectives, side-quests, and other such activities for the player to engage in, in such a way that doesn't overwhelm them by giving them the entire map's worth at once. Second, it typically provides a WarpWhistle location for players to come back to, allowing them to seek out the different objectives, clear them, and then return to find another.

May overlap with VideoGameVista if it allows the player to see gorgeous scenery from high up as a way of making the world feel bigger and more expansive. Compare PortalNetwork.

Subtrope to HighlyVisibleLandmark.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' does it a little bit differently with its "Skyview Towers". Link still finds towers and Link does still survey the land from a great height, but he no longer has to actually climb the tower (most of the time). Instead, the tower itself blasts him into the air and Link uses the Purah Pad to scan the surrounding landscape. Like its predecessor, it doesn't fill anything in on the map, merely uncovering a section for the player to see the topography of, but these towers also serve as excellent places to vault Link into the sky so he can make his way to the many sky islands floating above Hyrule. In [[BeneathTheEarth the Depths]] below Hyrule, light roots serve a similar function. They only reveal a small circular portion of the map though, which is part of the difficulty in exploring the Depths, and working out where they are and how to reach them is often no easy task.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' does it a little bit differently with its "Skyview Towers". Link still finds towers and Link does still survey the land from a great height, but he no longer has to actually climb the tower (most of the time). Instead, the tower itself blasts him into the air and Link uses the Purah Pad to scan the surrounding landscape. Like its predecessor, it doesn't fill anything in on the map, merely uncovering a section for the player to see the topography of, but these towers also serve as excellent places to vault Link into the sky so he can make his way to the many sky islands floating above Hyrule.

May overlap with VideoGameVista if it allows the player to see gorgeous scenery from high up as a way of making the world feel bigger and more expansive.

** ''VideoGame/ImmortalsFenyxRising'': Clearing out the fog from the map requires you to climb massive statues of the Gods, though finding collectibles can done with the Farsight ability which can be used anywhere.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZelda'':

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': The "Sheikah Towers" require Link to climb them and insert his Sheikah Slate into a terminal at the top. Unlike Ubisoft, in which visiting these points reveal a typically-circular portion of the map and unlock objectives, visiting a Sheikah Tower fills in the borders of an entire region, and does ''not'' add objectives to the map. Instead, the player has to manually scout out where shrines and other points of interest are, putting more emphasis on exploration, rather than ticking off a checklist of objectives. Since they are WarpWhistle destinations, they also double as convenient high points for Link to use his paraglider. In addition, ''reaching'' these towers is often a challenge by itself, as various obstacles (such as being covered in Malice or thorny vines, heavily guarded or located in a BottomlessPit) make each tower a puzzle to solve.

[[folder: Creator/{{Ubisoft}}]]
* Ubisoft both [[TropeMaker made]] and [[TropeCodifier codified]] the trope, as almost all of their game series include these, hence their nickname "Ubisoft Towers".

[[AC: Creator/{{Ubisoft}}]]

[[AC: Non-Ubisoft examples]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Franchise/AssassinsCreed https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ubitower_6.jpg]]]]

* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' has the Tallnecks. Large robotic dinosaurs with Saucer-shaped heads who gather telemetry from all the other robotic wildlife. They patrol around ruins, and the player has to climb the ruins they circle, then jump onto the passing Tallneck to then scale its titular neck to the saucer section and thus get map information. They are basically a (slightly) mobile version of this trope.

** They first came to prominence in the ''Franchise/AssassinsCreed'' series, where they are named "Viewpoints", and when climbed by Altair, Ezio, and other player-characters, they would reveal sections of the map and allowed them to track objectives. A Viewpoint from [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedI the first game]] is pictured above.
*** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood'' added onto this with "Borgia Towers", which had to be destroyed before Ezio could pay to open shops in the area.
*** ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedIVBlackFlag'' featured viewpoints, but also featured naval strongholds, which had to be conquered by Edward Kenway in order to reveal portions of the ocean map to reveal locations and collectibles when using the ''Jackdaw.''

** In ''Franchise/FarCry'''s [[VideoGame/FarCry3 third]] and [[VideoGame/FarCry4 fourth]] installments, these are known as "radio" and "bell" towers respectively. Both reveal more of the map, liberate weapons in the area, and reveal more objectives.
*** Lampshaded but ultimately averted in ''VideoGame/FarCry5''. An early mission has the player climb a tower to activate an antenna as part of a story mission, with Dutch joking how the player must think he'll have them do that all over the county - in clear reference to the notorious presence of this being a regular mechanic in other Ubisoft games, but this game in fact has no such mechanic.
** ''VideoGame/WatchDogs'' used CTOS towers to reveal collectibles and the map.
** In ''Videogame/ImmortalsFenyxRising'' clearing out the fog from the map requires you to climb massive statues of the Gods, though finding collectibles can done with the Farsight ability which can be used anywhere.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' has "Statues of the Seven," which reveal more of the map, act as fast travel points, ''and'' heal the party if you ask them nicely. The heal function can be toggled so merely teleporting to a statue heals your characters. Ordinary "teleport waypoints" merely do fast travel. Both can be seen on unrevealed areas of the map, but only activate when visited in person. Unlike most other examples however, it doesn't need (or made) to be climbed on, though a few Statues are located high up in places that can only be reached by climbing.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' implements Nintendo's own version of these towers, the "Sheikah Towers", which require Link to climb them and insert his Sheikah Slate. Unlike Ubisoft, in which visiting these points would reveal a typically-circular portion of the map and would unlock objectives, visiting a Sheikah Tower fills in the borders of an entire region, and does ''not'' add objectives to the map. Instead, the player has to manually scout out where shrines and other points of interest are, putting more emphasis on exploration, rather than ticking off a checklist of objectives. Since they are WarpWhistle destinations, they also double as convenient high points for Link to use his paraglider. In addition, ''reaching'' those towers is often a challenge by itself, as various obstacles (such as being covered in Malice, being heavily guarded or located in a BottomlessPit) make each tower a puzzle to solve.
* ''VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfMordor'' and its sequel ''[[VideoGame/MiddleEarthShadowOfWar Shadow of War]]'' used ''Barad-Silme'' or "forge towers" to reveal the map, reveal collectibles, and function as respawn and quicktravel locations.

* ''Videogame/StateOfDecay'' uses the same "manual scout" feature as ''Breath of the Wild'' well [[OlderThanTheyThink years before its release]]. It was however optional except for the tutorial, as both the minimap and full map will automatically reveal points of interest.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' has "Statues of the Seven," which reveal more of the map, act as fast travel points, ''and'' heal the party if you ask them nicely. The heal function can be toggled so merely teleporting to a statue heals your characters. Ordinary "teleport waypoints" merely do fast travel. Both can be seen on unrevealed areas of the map, but only activate when visited in person.

* ''VideoGame/GenshinImpact'' has "Statues of the Seven," which reveal more of the map, act as fast travel points, ''and'' heal the party if you ask them nicely. Ordinary "teleport waypoints" merely do fast travel. Both can be seen on unrevealed areas of the map, but only activate when visited in person.

** In ''VideoGame/FarCry'''s [[VideoGame/FarCry3 third]] and [[VideoGame/FarCry4 fourth]] installments, these are known as "radio" and "bell" towers respectively. Both reveal more of the map, liberate weapons in the area, and reveal more objectives.

Due to the non-linear nature of open-world video games, developers will often create certain in-game limitations in order to gate player progress. The most common version of this is the "Ubisoft Tower," a location on that map that when cleared, will unveil large portions of the map. This is a two-part feature: on one hand, this creates an easy template for challenging the player, as the developers can re-use the location multiple times but in different variations in order to create new content, and to center the interesting content of the game world around the tower so players are gravitated towards them.

* ''VideoGame/SpiderManPS4'' has Radio Towers Spider-Man needs to find and hack, which reveal all objectives in their vicinity and allow Spider-Man to respond to crimes in progress. This being a Spider-Man game, there's not that much climbing involved since you'll be web-slinging at rooftop levels to begin with.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' implemented Nintendo's own version of these towers, the "Sheikah Towers", which required Link to climb them and insert his Sheikah Slate. Unlike Ubisoft, in which visiting these points would reveal a typically-circular portion of the map and would unlock objectives, visiting these towers would fill in the borders of an entire region, and would ''not'' add objectives to the map. Instead, the player had to manually scout out where shrines and other points of interest were, putting more emphasis on exploration, rather than ticking off a checklist of objectives. Since they are WarpWhistle destinations, they also double as convenient high points for Link to use his paraglider. In addition, ''reaching'' those towers is often a challenge by itself, as various obstacles (such as being covered in Malice, being heavily guarded or located in a BottomlessPit) make each tower a puzzle to solve.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' implemented Nintendo's own version of these towers, the "Sheikah Towers", which required Link to climb them and insert his Sheikah Slate. Unlike Ubisoft, in which visiting these points would reveal a typically-circular portion of the map and would unlock objectives, visiting these towers would fill in the borders of an entire region, and would ''not'' add objectives to the map. Instead, the player had to manually scout out where shrines and other points of interest were, putting more emphasis on exploration, rather than ticking off a checklist of objectives. Since they are WarpWhistle destinations, they also double as convenient high points for Link to use his paraglider.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' implemented Nintendo's own version of these towers, the "Sheikah Towers", which required Link to climb them and insert his Sheikah Slate. Unlike Ubisoft, in which visiting these points would reveal a typically-circular portion of the map and would unlock objectives, visiting these towers would fill in the borders of an entire region, and would ''not'' add objectives to the map. Instead, the player had to manually scout out where shrines and other points of interest were, putting more emphasis on exploration, rather than ticking off a checklist of objectives. They also double as convenient high points for Link to use his paraglider.

TITLE CROWNER [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/crowner.php/AlternativeTitles/UbisoftTowers?open=all#t02cqyk9 HERE]]. (for real this time)

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