History Main / DirectContinuousLevels

* ''Legacy of Kain: Defiance'' would count. Arguably ''Soul Reaver 2'' and ''Blood Omen 2'' as well.
* The ''VideoGame/GodOfWar'' series. No division into levels, and no loadscreens to break up areas.
** That said, when the narrator speaks, it ''feels'' like a hard-break.
* Aside from one point where you're [[spoiler: captured by goblins]], ''VideoGame/{{Rune}}'' sees you go every inch from under the underworld to mountaintop fortresses and back again, the hard way.

* This is used rather strangely in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures'', where each area ends with the Links teleporting away, only for them to start the next level either on the screen they just left, or in one that clearly looks like it should be right next to the one they just left. After each main dungeon however, you're transported to a new area far from where you were. An exception comes in the Death Mountain stages where you end one stage in front of ladders leading up the mountain, and the next stage on a high-up ledge with no ladders in sight.
* ''VideoGame/{{Oni}}'' has a few pairs of contiguous levels. Tiger By The Tail->Hot Pursuit, A Friend In Need->An Innocent Life, Truth And Consequences->Cat And Mouse.

* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' did this too, seldom allowing you to go back to a previous level but always maintaining a certain direct progression from one area to the next and {{Foreshadowing}} later levels or parts of levels in the level you're in. Mostly averted in ''VideoGame/{{UnrealIITheAwakening}}'', where certain missions have sublevels.
* The 2010 ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' game does this to great effect. With a few exceptions, there aren't even anything like mission briefings before each mission, instead you get your instructions as the action unfolds, or as part of a discussion between characters as you get to the first objective. Each mission is separated by a (typically short) transition cutscene, in the later missions, typically only long enough to make it clear you are playing a different character. As an example, one mission ends with a pair of helicopters arriving. The cutscene shows them leaving, and the next level puts you in the gunner's seat of one of the choppers. At the end of that level, you have a cutscene of your choppers flying over the character you play for the next level. Probably half or more of the levels transition this way in the game.
** The older ''MOH'' games also did this, e.g. "Battle in the Bocage" in ''Allied Assault'' directly continues to "The Nebelwerfer Hunt", "Diverting the Enemy" ends with you crashing the gates to "The Command Post", "Sniper's Last Stand" is made up of two contiguous levels which in turn segue to "Hunt for the King Tiger", and "Return to Schmerzen" has a logical progression all the way through. Same for most of the levels in ''Frontline''.

* Each act of ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'' is contiguous, and extremely large. Several even invoke [[TakeYourTime something of a hot pursuit]]. However, Chapter 1 and Chapter 2 merge into each other, along with Chapter 6 and Chapter 7.
* ''VideoGame/SensoryOverload'' for the Macintosh used elevators, stairways, or airlocks(inexplicably) for transitions between levels.
* Most missions in ''VideoGame/SoldierOfFortune II'', and a few levels of the original. The [=PS2=] version of the original divided the levels into contiguous sublevels.
* ''VideoGame/{{Quake}} II''. The units or missions in the former each have a logical connection to the next, and you can (and usually need to) backtrack to areas within a unit, ala {{Metroidvania}}.
** In ''IV'', the levels are contiguous with a few breaks, Air Defense Trenches->Nexus Hub, Strogg Medical Facilities->Waste Processing Facility, Operation: Last Hope->The Nexus. Also, some missions in ''IV'' backtrack through previous levels.
* ''VideoGame/{{Marathon}} Infinity'' has three sets of levels like this: Poor Yorick-->Confound Delivery, Where Some Rarely Go-->Thing What Kicks, and Son of Grendel-->Strange Aeons-->Bagged Again. Frequently occurs in {{game mod}}s as well, such as Schmackle-->Life's End in ''EVIL''.

* In ''[[VideoGame/FirstEncounterAssaultRecon FEAR]]'', each Interval is a set of continuous levels, and the intervals themselves usually have direct continuity from one to the next, sometimes with transition cutscenes such as the helicopter ride from the abandoned building to the dock warehouses between Intervals 1 and 2.
* The original ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' was continuous or nearly so for each army's storylines.
** Each act in ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty 4: VideoGame/ModernWarfare'' is contiguous for the most part, e.g. Blackout->Hunted->Death from Above,The Bog->War Pig->Shock and Awe, All Ghillied Up->One Shot, One Kill, and Ultimatum->All In->No Fighting in the War Room->Game Over, although the levels [[TwoLinesNoWaiting alternate between]] the American and British storylines for the first act, and there are occasional hard breaks.
** ''Modern Warfare 2'' also has "Takedown"->"The Hornet's Nest", "Wolverines"->"Exodus", "The Only Easy Day was Yesterday"->"The Gulag", "Of Their Own Accord"->"Second Sun"->"Whiskey Hotel", and "Just Like Old Times"->"Endgame".
* ''VideoGame/{{Goldeneye1997}}'', ''VideoGame/PerfectDark'', and ''Perfect Dark Zero'', like most other mission-based FPS's, use continuous blocks of levels for each mission; the former has a particularly long example in the form of St. Petersburg.
* Some [[GameMod custom mapsets]] for ''VideoGame/{{Doom}}'', such as ''[[http://www.doomworld.com/idgames/index.php?id=8131 Talosian Incident]]''.
* ''VideoGame/FarCry1'' follows this format, with the only separations being the mission debriefing screens.
* In ''VideoGame/RainbowSixVegas 1'' and ''2'', each Act is a continuous series of Scenes (levels), with the TitleIn being the only indication of a level transition.
* Done in the ''VideoGame/BioShock'' games: each "level" blends into the next, the only indication that you've changed levels being the different locales - and in ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'', Booker's narration on the loading screen.

* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' uses elevators for the transition between its linear set of testing chambers but never breaks your control of Chell, particularly once you escape into the backrooms.
** Same in [[VideoGame/{{Portal 2}} the sequel]], though there is one [[IFellForHours implied]] time skip.
* ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'' did this between acts, with the end of one act also being the beginning of the next. Between zones, it had a transition (such as falling down a cliff into the next level - Angel Island > Hydrocity - or being shot from a cannon into the next level - Carnival Night > Icecap), but the zone transition isn't quite an example of this trope, while the act transition is.
** ''VideoGame/SonicTripleTrouble'' did it once, between acts 2 and 3 of Sunset Park Zone: no "level complete" screen or music, the signpost just falls through the ground, and the HeadsUpDisplay [[DramaticDisappearingDisplay exits through the top of the screen]] (there is no HUD in the third act of each zone). The game only tells you you're now in act 3 if you die.
** ''VideoGame/SonicTimeTwisted'' has both act and zone transitions. Unlike in ''Sonic 3'', zones also transition from one to the next without a fadeout.
** ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' has act and zone transitions, but most of the zones take place in different islands of the series' setting. The player is usually teleported between them through the power of the Phantom Ruby, but some transitions are [[PlotHole missing]] from the story.
* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'', at least the first game, has no seams between zones and no obvious loading. A player can walk from one end of the land to the other without ever seeing a load screen.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Pitfall}}'' arcade game does this.
* Level 6 in ''VideoGame/PrinceOfPersia1'' ends with you jumping into a pit, and Level 7 starts with you falling and grabbing a ledge. Later, Level 12 is contiguous with Level 13.
* Stages 6 and 7 in ''VideoGame/{{Flashback}}''.

* Every level in ''VideoGame/TheAdventureOfLittleRalph'' is connected by continuous corridors hiding the DynamicLoading.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Gods}}'', levels are divided into worlds. Despite showing a completion bonus screen at the end of each world, they are entirely continuous until the end of the level.

* ''[[VideoGame/RaySeries RayForce]]'' does briefly show the individual level's names, but there's no score screen or Fade To Black and all of the levels have a logical link between them, unlike most {{Shoot Em Up}}s.
* In ''Videogame/{{Raiden}}'' or at least the first two games and the DX version of the second, the game starts with you taking off, having no fadeouts (except in some lesser ports) upon finishing a stage, having you return to base before being propelled to the space for the last few levels, and then returning to the base AND (depending on the version) taking off back to the first level for another loop or just stops there.

* Quite a few shmups by Creator/{{Toaplan}} (''Truxton'', ''Vimana'', ''VideoGame/{{Dogyuun}}'', ''VideoGame/FireShark'' etc.) play like one really long [[EndlessGame (often looping)]] level occasionally broken up by boss fights.
** ''VideoGame/{{Dogyuun}}'' actually has you face a few of the previous level's enemies at the start of a level, just to emphasize this.
** Another Toaplan example that is surprisingly ''not'' a shooter is the obscure ''[[http://retrovania-vgjunk.blogspot.it/2011/10/demons-world-horror-story.html Demon's World]]'', a horror arcade platformer later converted to Turbografx 16. Basically the game is one huge level with varying environments.
* ''Starblade'' is a rail-shooter that does this.
** As well as Atari's Franchise/StarWars and Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack arcade games[[note]]which are also rail-shooters.[[/note]] (but not Film/ReturnOfTheJedi).
* Many 3D {{light gun game}}s, especially the first ''VideoGame/TimeCrisis''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Xevious}}'' has 16 areas which succeed each other seamlessly (even those ending with {{Boss Battle}}s), and [[EndlessGame loop endlessly]].
* ''VideoGame/{{Scramble}}'': It, and its semi-sequel Super Cobra, are probably the TropeMakers for continous-scrolling shooters. The end of each level opens up onto a piece of flat terrain, a short message is displayed with an accompanying jingle, and then the next level scrolls into view.
* ''VideoGame/RefleX'' does this with stages 1 to 6.
* Ditto for the last four stages of the arcade version of ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}} III'' (BossRush->[[EternalEngine Fortress]]->[[WombLevel Bacterian's Lair]]->EscapeSequence), and the [[DeathMountain mountain]] and [[UndergroundLevel underground]] stages earlier in the game. Each of these sub-levels has their own backgrounds and music.

* In the arcade version of the original ''VideoGame/{{Contra}}'', the final four stages (the tundra area, the energy zone, the hangar and the alien's lair) are all set in one continuous level. In fact, if it wasn't for the changing backgrounds and music (and the fact that the game's [[http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=flyer&db=videodb&id=5167ℑ=2 Japanese flyer]] lists the stages), the final four stages almost feel like one longer-than-usual stage since there's no indicator when a stage begins or ends.
** The stages in the arcade version of ''Super Contra'' are also connected; for example, you enter the gate at the end of Stage 1, and Stage 2 takes place from an overhead perspective inside the base, after which you exit to the jungles of Stage 3, then that progresses to the two alien lair stages.

* ''VideoGame/{{Thexder}}'' had all its levels connected by narrow horizontal corridors.
* ''Varth: Operation Thunderstorm''.
* All three Ikari games (VideoGame/IkariWarriors, Victory Road, and Ikari III: The Rescue[[note]]Which is technically a beat em up, but is still part of the same series.[[/note]]) have this.
* Creator/{{Konami}}'s ''Lightning Fighters'' is one long vertical scroll which doesn't even momentarily stop for the end-of-stage messages.

* Universal's ''VideoGame/CosmicAvenger'' has levels that just directly connect to each other without any pause between them.

* The ''VideoGame/SyphonFilter'' series does this with most of its missions. Case in point: the first level has you racing to the bottom of a subway station to disarm a bomb, the second has you climbing out of said station after it is destroyed, and the third has you chasing one of the villains through the main subway line, [[RailroadTracksOfDoom which is still active]], then that continues to the Washington Park and Freedom Memorial. In the last act of the game, there's Pharcom Warehouses=>Access Tunnels=>Missile Silo. The final act of ''SF 2'' goes directly from the Agency Biolab to the New York slums to the sewers to a parking garage. Same for Interstate 70=>Mountain Bridge=>Union Pacific Train, Airbase Interior=>Airbase Exterior, and Club 32=>Industrial District=> Volkov Park in that game.
* In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'', each chapter's area connects to the next in some manner, for example Chapter 1-2 starts in the area where 1-1 left off, and at the end of 1-2 an elevator leads from the furnace area to the garage where Chapter 2-1 starts.

** Ditto the Toaplan-inspired ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}}'' series.

* The ''VideoGame/TombRaider'' series uses this for individual levels within chapters, especially the third game (e.g. jumping down a shaft to the next area), but there are still disjunctions between chapters.

Compare UnbrokenFirstPersonPerspective, a similar technique for maintaining gameplay immersion.

** Which is a continuation of what [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns its predecessor]] did with its world themes. The first level in each world shows traces of the previous world's theme, so, for instance, [[RuinsForRuinsSake 3-1]] starts out on the beach before moving into the ruins, [[UndergroundLevel 4-1]] has you coming out of ruins before going into a cave, and [[TheLostWoods 5-1]] starts out in a cave before blasting you up into the forest canopy. The only exceptions are [[JungleJapes 1-1]] (for obvious reasons) and [[DeathMountain 6-1]] (which, for whatever reason, doesn't really start out in anything forest-like).

* Aside from one point where you're [[spoiler: captured by goblins]], ''VideoGame/{{Rune}}'' sees you go every inch from [[UpToEleven under the underworld]] to mountaintop fortresses and back again, the hard way.

** Mostly averted with ''Armagedd

* ''VideoGame/{{Xenoblade}}'' works this way as well.

* The ''VideoGame/HalfLife'' series is an example of this. While chapter titles briefly flash onscreen at times, the game continually progresses forward from one area to the next. There are still loading times inbetween areas, but no loading ''screens'', and they're placed in locations such as hallways or tunnels to try to give the impression that you're still roaming through a continuous world.

* ''VideoGame/{{Uncharted}}'' does this to maintain its movie-like feel. Chapter numbers and titles sometimes appear onscreen, but while you're still moving your character and in full control. No loading screens show up inbetween areas, and the game flows continuously. On the rare times that Nate ends up somewhere completely unexpected (usually as a result of loss of consciousness), it tends to be as jarring for the player as it is for him.

* ''VideoGame/Oni'' has a few pairs of contiguous levels. Tiger By The Tail->Hot Pursuit, A Friend In Need->An Innocent Life, Truth And Consequences->Cat And Mouse.

* ''VideoGame/{{Unreal}}'' did this too, seldom allowing you to go back to a previous level but always maintaining a certain direct progression from one area to the next and {{Foreshadowing}} later levels or parts of levels in the level you're in.

** The older ''MOH'' games also did this, eg "Battle in the Bocage" in ''Allied Assault'' directly continues to "The Nebelwerfer Hunt", "Diverting the Enemy" ends with you crashing the gates to "The Command Post", "Sniper's Last Stand" is made up of two contiguous levels which in turn segue to "Hunt for the King Tiger", and "Return to Schmerzen" has a logical progression all the way through. Same for most of the levels in ''Frontline''.

* Each act of ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'' is contiguous, and extremely large. Several even invoke [[TakeYourTime something of a hot pursuit]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Quake}} II'' and ''IV''. The units or missions in the former each have a logical connection to the next, and you can (and usually need to) backtrack to areas within a unit, ala {{Metroidvania}}; also, some missions in ''IV'' backtrack through previous levels.

* ''VideoGame/RedFaction'' is continuous most if not all the way, with only loading screens and sometimes cutscenes marking the end of each section. The second game also does this, with the exception of the break between the prologue and the main story.

* The 2010 ''VideoGame/MedalOfHonor'' game does this to great affect. With a few exceptions, there aren't even anything like mission briefings before each mission, instead you get your instructions as the action unfolds, or as part of a discussion between characters as you get to the first objective. Each mission is separated by a (typically short) transition cutscene, in the later missions, typically only long enough to make it clear you are playing a different character. As an example, one mission ends with a pair of helicopters arriving. The cutscene shows them leaving, and the next level puts you in the gunner's seat of one of the choppers. At the end of that level, you have a cutscene of your choppers flying over the character you play for the next level. Probably half or more of the levels transition this way in the game.

** As well as Atari's StarWars and Film/TheEmpireStrikesBack arcade games[[note]]which are also rail-shooters.[[/note]] (but not Film/ReturnOfTheJedi).

* The ''Franchise/MetalGear'' series have cut-scenes, limiting the player's control of his character, but they never flat out sent the player to a new location. In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', the player can hold down the R1 button in certain instances to view the scene from his character's perspective.

* ''Franchise/JakAndDaxter'', at least the first game, has no seams between zones and no obvious loading. A player can walk from one end of the land to the other without ever seeing a load screen.

* ''FarCry'' follows this format, with the only separations being the mission debriefing screens.

* ''VideoGame/{{Scramble}}'' (and its semi-sequel Super Cobra) are probably the TropeMakers for continous-scrolling shooters. The end of each level opens up onto a piece of flat terrain, a short message is displayed with an accompanying jingle, and then the next level scrolls into view.
* RefleX does this with stages 1 to 6.

** Ditto the Toaplan-inspired ''{{Raiden}}'' series.

* Most if not all of ''{{Vanquish}}'''s levels have seamless transitions in between.

* JakAndDaxter, at least the first game, has no seams between zones and no obvious loading. A player can walk from one end of the land to the other without ever seeing a load screen.

* ''{{Quake}} II'' and ''IV''. The units or missions in the former each have a logical connection to the next, and you can (and usually need to) backtrack to areas within a unit, ala {{Metroidvania}}; also, some missions in ''IV'' backtrack through previous levels.

* ''RedFaction'' is continuous most if not all the way, with only loading screens and sometimes cutscenes marking the end of each section. The second game also does this, with the exception of the break between the prologue and the main story.

* Aside from one point where you're [[spoiler: captured by goblins]], ''{{Rune}}'' sees you go every inch from [[UpToEleven under the underworld]] to mountaintop fortresses and back again, the hard way.