History Main / DarkWorld

[[caption-width-right:256:Oftentimes the "dark" part is literal.]]

[[caption-width-right:256:[[{{Dystopia}} A decayed shadow of the light world.]]]]

If you merely go back to your hometown when it's dark, even if the town's been infested by TheUndead, then you're merely in a RemixedLevel.[[note]]Unless your town got zapped ''into'' a Dark World, in which case, ''good luck''.[[/note]]

A Dark World is usually a type of AlternateWorldMap, if used as a world map.

* Most levels of ''VideoGame/{{Sanitarium}}'' are explicitly surreal, but there are a few that seem almost normal (like the asylum courtyard), and yet give a feel of bizarreness. [[spoiler:It was all a part of BlackBugRoom]].

* In ''Film/SuperMarioBros'', the parallel dimension city is essentially the Dark World to New York, though Mario can't much tell the difference. It's suggested in supplementary materials this was done consciously, Koopa looking at New York when he passed through the portal several decades earlier and getting ideas for how to rebuild the other world that he had just taken over.

** There's a Dark Realm in the ''[[VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy Devil Summoner:]] [[VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon Raidou Kuzunoha]]'' games, although it's not quite as creepy and twisted as most of these. It's mostly just, well... dark, and full of demons.

** There's a Dark Realm in the ''Devil Summoner: Raidou Kuzunoha'' games, although it's not quite as creepy and twisted as most of these. It's mostly just, well... dark, and full of demons.

* The ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'''s ''ComicBook/{{Ruins}}'' takes place in a DeathWorld that runs entirely on MurphysLaw, where nobody has the RequiredSecondaryPowers necessary to keep their powers from killing themselves and everyone around them and the {{Badass Normal}}s just end up getting themselves killed.

* ''Comicbook/DarkNightsMetal'' introduces the Dark Multiverse to the cosmology of the DC Universe. It's a multiverse that runs entirely on FinaglesLaw, where the want of a nail turned pivotal events to their worst possible outcome, twisting the hope and nobility of DC's heroes into monstrous nightmares. Each world in it is said to be the worst nightmare anyone had at any point in their life come true. The best people can hope for there is to be traumatically deformed into monstrous beings, incapable of becoming anything like they were ever again before their worlds are erased, or die. The worst outcomes turn heroes into monsters immeasurably worst than the villains they fight, who are motivated to seek out uncorrupted worlds to take over when theirs ends.
* ''Comicbook/ImmortalHulk'' showcases the Hulk as a horror story and along with the darker tone comes the Below-Place. The Below-Place is depicted as the lowest point of existance and even lower than every hell. It was stated by Brian Banner, Bruce Banner's ArchnemesisDad, that the Below-Place is the foundation of the idea of hell. The Below-Place takes on the older interpenetration of hell being a place utterly devoid of anything and cut off from everything, including god. The Below-Place itself spans the entire multiverse and is a desolate landscape littered with signs of ruined civilizations copied from the multiverse serving as the dark mirror to creation. To make matters worse, while there are "people" in the below place called [[EmptyShell qliphoths]] that are duplicates of every sentient creature in the multiverse but still don't count as companionship as they are empty husk people and devoid of souls while spouting phrases their templates said during their lives with no real thought. If this dark existence devoid of all true life and contact with anything else weren't bad enough, there is the being trapped there since before existence began. A being of pure hate and the UnseenEvil in the multiverse that despises all living beings while wanting to annihilate everything to make all dead and hollow as itself. A being that has influenced every evil entity and person consumed by evil [[InMysteriousWays subtly]] without anyone even realizing its manipulations. The shadow below the multiverse and creation's other face....[[TheAntiGod The One Below All]].

* Closed Space in ''LightNovel/HaruhiSuzumiya''. Gloomy.

* The Dark Planet, formerly called the Dimension of Darkness from ''Fanfic/MyBravePonyStarfleetMagic''.

* ''Film/SonysSpiderManUniverse'' is a CrapsackWorld full of supervillains and monsters who would prefer to not kill innocent people, and [[spoiler:since it is an AlternateUniverse to the more idealistic [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] and other [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy Spider-Man]]-[[Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries related]] [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse universes]], the SSU can be seen as this trope in comparison]].

* OlderThanFeudalism: According to the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manichaeism Manichean]] religion founded in ancient Persian, [[TomatoInTheMirror we're in one right now.]]

* The alternate dark hotel from Trilby's Notes of ''Videogame/ChzoMythos.'' [[spoiler:The same effect starts taking place in the Optimology basement in 6 Days a Sacrifice, though it serves no real gameplay purpose.]]

* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry1'' has the Demon World which is a dark counterpart of the Human World.

* Moonside from ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'', though [[spoiler:it's just a hallucination caused by the Mani Mani statue]].
* ''VideoGame/EdenEternal'' has two parallel worlds, one of which is the dark world.

* ''VideoGame/FableHeroes'' has a dark version of each of it's levels that you can play once you beat the light version of the game.
* ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'', the titular city and the vast cavern of the Neath that surrounds it, It's dark, but also often whimsical and fun.

* ''VideoGame/{{Mabinogi}}'' sets part of its mainstream story quest-chain in Tir Na Nog, a dark version of the Uladh region of the main world. It features prominently in the conclusion to the conclusion of the Generation 1 story. To most of the human {{NPC}}s, it is only a mythological paradise, which they may or may not believe in. Very few know the truth about it.
* ''VideoGame/{{Vindictus}}'', the prequel to Mabinogi, is about the battle to escape the Shadow World in order to reach the promised land of Erinn, where the original game takes place.

* The Plane of Myrror in ''VideoGame/MasterOfMagic'' is a Dark world counterpart to the primary plane of Arcanus.

** There's a Dark Realm in the ''[[VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy Devil Summoner:]] [[VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsKingAbaddon Raidou Kuzunoha]]'' games, although it's not quite as creepy and twisted as most of these. It's mostly just, well... dark, and full of demons.

* The Meta-World mechanic from ''[[VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry Ougon Musoukyoku]]'' has this kind of effect on the stages when used. Some of the Meta-World versions of stages are [[AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield pretty]] [[SceneryPorn fantastic]].

* The ''WebOriginal/TheBackrooms''[[note]]also referred to as "liminal space", though the latter is a much broader concept[[/note]] is entirely about this sort of place. It started out as a creepypasta about an alternate universe consisting of endless dilapidated office space that can be reached by "noclip[=[ping]=] out of reality in the wrong place", but is now an entire family of Dark Worlds.

* In ''WebVideo/MarbleHornets'' [[spoiler: Tim]] is briefly [[spoiler: transported]] to someplace that probably qualifies.
* The [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man]] (or other various things in the mythos) will occasionally end up teleporting the characters to some very strange places, and it's sometimes very unclear whether a given place is one of these or not.

* The live-action adaptation of ''Film/BeautyAndTheBeast2017'' shows the interior of the Beast's castle to be a dark and haunting with years of disuse.
* ''Film/CarnivalOfSouls'':
** It may be one of the first films to use this. The protagonist would at times slip out of the perception of those around her, losing all sound as well. Other times, near the titular Carnival, the games and rides would come alive, as would ghoulish dancers who beckoned her...
** The remake ''Film/CarnivalOfSouls2'' also features this, but in a different vein, quite obviously imitating ''Jacob's Ladder''.

* ''Film/DarkCorners'' has the female protagonist living in two parallel worlds, one of which is a SugarBowl (in it she is known as Susan Hamilton), and another is this trope (in it she is Karen Clarke).

* In ''Film/SilentHill'', Rose travels to the town of Silent Hill which alternates between "normal" and "dark world" throughout the film.

* Svartalfheim in ''Film/ThorTheDarkWorld''. No wonder, since the trope was name-dropped within the title. This realm was home to the Dark Elves, led by Malekith.

* ''Literature/{{Coraline}}'': The Other World is a perfect example of this. Interestingly enough, it first tries to look like an improvement over the real world.

* Terry Brooks explored this idea even earlier in his ''[[Literature/MagicKingdomOfLandover Landover]]'' series, wherein it was revealed in the first novel, ''Literature/MagicKingdomForSaleSold'' that Abaddon is a Dark World of Landover.

** The alternate Bruges in "The Journal of J.P. Drapeau".
** Hinted at [[MindScrew rather bizarrely]] in "The Christmas Eves of Aunt Elise".
* Shadow in Tim Waggoner's ''Like Death''.

* Graham Masterton's ''Mirror''.

* Yami-gaia in ''Literature/SailorNothing'', from the Japanese word for ''dark'' and Greek for ''Earth''.

* Overall it's not completely dark, but ''Series/{{Neverwhere}}'' does have spots that distinctly qualify, such as The Bridge of Night and The Beast's Labyrinth, and it does exist parallel to Earth.
* In Season 5 of ''Series/OnceUponATime'', the characters visit Hades which manifests as a Dark World version of Storybrooke.

* Considering that the Light universe in ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' was ruled by a totalitarian theocracy led by an inhuman monstrosity, it's saying something that the Dark universe was actually '''''worse'''''. There's one world in the dark universe called "the darkest planet in the Dark Zone" by the characters. [[spoiler: Yes, ''of course'' they're [[TakeThatUs talking about Earth]].]]

* Evil Hat Productions' ''TabletopGame/DontRestYourHead'' is an RPG set in a world clearly inspired by the titular ''Film/DarkCity'', and Neil Gaiman's London Below from ''Series/{{Neverwhere}}''; and which is reachable by the protagonist only after succumbing to destabilizing, long-term insomnia-fueled madness-inducing sleep-deprivation.

* One of the first video game appearances of a dark world is in the cult classic NES game ''VideoGame/MonsterParty'', a platformer that has a boy named Mark help a gargoyle named Bert defeat a bunch of monsters. The first level's set in a pastel GhibliHills world with rows of happy people in the background beneath a a bright blue sky. Halfway through the level, a bolt of lightning crashes, and everything changes: the people are rotting corpses, the world's turned to sickly shades of green and black, and the music's changed to a solemn dirge.

* ''VideoGame/PandorasTower'' invokes this trope with the Dawn and Dusk Towers. Both towers are physically in the same dimension, but are near-identical to each other in terms of design and structure. The Dawn Tower has a luminous golden energy overflowing within its interior and is overall a light-themed tower, whereas the Dusk Tower houses a luminous purple energy that represents darkness. Aeron has to frequently warp from one tower to another by activating certain dimensional rifts with Light Stones or Dark Stones (depending on the color of the rift). And to fight the bosses, the chains in both towers must be broken as well.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' is a dark world to 1950's Futurism, a world where the "City of Tomorrow" became reality only to be laid waste by nuclear war. Through most of the series we're entirely in this world, but for a precious few minutes at the very beginning of ''VideoGame/Fallout4'' we get to experience the dream that was lost.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' is a dark world to 1950's Futurism, a world where the "City of Tomorrow" became reality only to be laid waste by nuclear war. Through most of the series we're entirely in this world, but for a precious few minutes at the very beginning of Fallout4 we get to experience the dream that was lost.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' is a dark world to 1950's Futurism, a world where the "City of Tomorrow" became reality only to be laid waste by nuclear war. Through most of the series we're entirely in this world, but for a precious few minutes at the very beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout4}'' we get to experience the dream that was lost.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' is a dark world to 1950's Futurism, a world where the "City of Tomorrow" became reality only to be laid waste by nuclear war.

* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' has the titular protagonist travel to Hell that looks like the immediate aftermath of a nuclear strike of modern Los Angeles. With demons.
* In ''Film/{{The Dark|2005}}'', Adele takes a trip into Annwyn which is certainly a Dark World even if it is meant to be a sort of Celtic hell.

* "The Gloom" or "Twilight" in Night Watch (2004) and Day Watch (2006). (Based on the novels by Sergey Lukyanenko). This world is a black and white version of our world, with some useful magical properties, but it drains the person entering of their life energy so it's used at high risk.
* In ''Film/SilentHill'' (2006) Rose travels to the town of Silent Hill which alternates between "normal" and "dark world" throughout the film.
* In the ''Film/SuperMarioBros'' movie, the parallel dimension city is essentially the Dark World to New York, though Mario can't much tell the difference. It's suggested in supplementary materials this was done consciously, Koopa looking at New York when he passed through the portal several decades earlier and getting ideas for how to rebuild the other world that he had just taken over.

* The afterlife for people who killed themselves in ''Film/WristcuttersALoveStory'' is essentially a mild version of this trope. Its just like the regular world, only less colorful and more depressing, and nobody ever smiles. And there's a black hole under the front passanger seat of the protagonist's roommate's car.
* Film/SonysSpiderManUniverse is a CrapsackWorld full of supervillains and monsters who would prefer to not kill innocent people, and [[spoiler:since it is an AleternateUniverse to the more idealistic [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse MCU]] and other [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy Spider-Man]] [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries related]] [[WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse universes]] the SSU can be seen as this trope in comparison]].

%%* ''Wiki/TVTropes'': DarthWiki/DarthWiki is where all the negative opinions go to. And a couple of other dark stuff.
* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-3283 SCP-3283]] leads to an AlwaysNight version of the city of Boise where the buildings seem to be freshly constructed and beyond city limits is an endless forest. The stars are too bright and don't match Earth's night sky. A member of an exploration team even references the trope name when describing it.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms Backrooms mythos]][[note]](also referred to as "liminal space", though the latter is a much broader concept; [[TheWikiRule also, yes,]] there is [[https://backrooms.fandom.com/wiki/Backrooms_Wiki a wiki]])[[/note]] is entirely about this sort of place. It started out as a creepypasta about an alternate universe consisting of endless dilapidated office space that can be reached by "noclip[=[ping]=] out of reality in the wrong place", but is now an entire family of Dark Worlds.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms Backrooms mythos]][[note]](also referred to as "liminal space", though the latter is a much broader concept; [[WikiRule also, yes,]] there is [[https://backrooms.fandom.com/wiki/Backrooms_Wiki a wiki]])[[/note]] is entirely about this sort of place. It started out as a creepypasta about an alternate universe consisting of endless dilapidated office space that can be reached by "noclip[=[ping]=] out of reality in the wrong place", but is now an entire family of Dark Worlds.

* Near the end of ''VideoGame/AlanWake'', [[spoiler:it's revealed that one of these sort of exists under Cauldron Lake]].

* Near the end of ''Videogame/AlanWake'', [[spoiler: it's revealed that one of these sort of exists under Cauldron Lake.]]

* The PC Game ''VideoGame/BlairWitchVolumeIRustinParr'' uses this trope to help explain some mysteries of the movie ''Film/TheBlairWitchProject''. The woods of Burkittsville contain hidden "paths", as described by Native American lore, that twist through different levels of reality. While the normal forest is safe enough, there are other versions of it, such as the crimson-lit "Red Woods" and the foggy, twilight "Blue Woods", each inhabited by its own monsters and bearing key geographical differences (for example, in the normal woods, Rustin Parr's house has burned to the ground, but it's still standing in the Red Woods). The worst of these worlds is the Black Woods, a snowy, pitch-black level of reality that "[[EldritchAbomination the Hecaitomix]]" has made its home.

* In the ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' tie-in video game you keep alternating between the real world and Hell (which, as mentioned above, is a hellish version of the real world) to solve puzzles, leading to some ridiculous situations. At least one reviewer snidely remarked that this is the first game that ''literally'' makes you go ToHellAndBack to ''open a door''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Disgaea 2|CursedMemories}}'' features an unlockable Dark World, all the regular stages are similar with much stronger enemies and a malevolent sun that screws with the players every few turns.
* [[ArtefactOfDoom The Casket]] at the beginning of ''{{VideoGame/DLIRIUM}}'' is apparently some sort of portal to {{Hell}}. Opening it apparently transforms the manor it's set in into a haunted wasteland filled with tormented souls.
* ''[[VideoGame/{{Doom}} Doom 3]]'' has moments throughout the game where the hero seems to see reality change from the already wrecked, lifeless base into a blood-streaked, skeleton-littered nightmare world, only for everything to snap back to normal a second later. And the "Resurection of Evil" expansion has an {{NPC}} outright state that the [[spoiler:Delta Labs area is phasing in and out of the AnotherDimension, {{Hell}},]] creating a more tangible Dark World where the two intersect.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', another Creator/BioWare product, has ''The Fade'', which consists largely of flawed copies of material-world areas floating in a spooky void. This is [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] though, since the landscape of the Fade, with the exception of [[OminousFloatingCastle The Black City]], is an ever changing reflection of the dreams of mortals brought into being by spirits and demons.

* Moonside from ''Videogame/EarthBound'', though [[spoiler: it's just a hallucination caused by the Mani Mani statue]].

* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series:

[[folder:Web Animation]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{Dreamscape}}'': The Unworld. Its a dreary world of no escape that people are dragged into by Shadow Hands sent out by the resident EvilOverlord. "A Curse or a Blessing" casually reveals it's the root of all evil too.
[[/folder]]

* In ''Webcomic/HorrorShop'' there exists a parallel dimension to the real world called Shadow, inhabited by closet monsters, bogeymen, and other ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight. This dimension can be accessed from closets and other doorways, and resembles a version of the real world where everything was designed by Creator/TimBurton.

* In ''Downtown'' by George Right, the protagonist gets on a wrong subway train and ends up in a very strange and creepy alternate version of New York. [[spoiler:He was actually DeadAllAlong, and the world is a very dark version of MundaneAfterlife.]]

%%* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms Backrooms mythos]][[note]](also referred to as "liminal space", though the latter is a much broader concept; [[WikiRule also, yes,]] there is [[https://backrooms.fandom.com/wiki/Backrooms_Wiki a wiki]])[[/note]] is entirely about this sort of place.

* ''Wiki/TVTropes'': DarthWiki/DarthWiki is where all the negative opinions go to. And a couple of other dark stuff.

* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Backrooms Backrooms mythos]][[note]](also referred to as "liminal space", though the latter is a much broader concept; [[WikiRule also, yes,]] there is [[https://backrooms.fandom.com/wiki/Backrooms_Wiki a wiki]])[[/note]] is entirely about this sort of place.