History Main / HubCity

-->-- ''VideoGame/Splatoon2''

Has an obscene amount of {{NPC}}s, sidequests, shops, vendors, and usually {{Minigame Zone}}s as well. Generally appears in the first half of the game, but players will probably have to return here often. This is the one place most likely to get upgrades and evolving content as the plot progresses.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'' muddles this trope. Whiterun ultimately fits the description best as it is the HubCity of Skyrim due to its central location. However, due to the Civil War, the political hub cities of Skyrim are Solitude (for Imperial-aligned) and Windhelm (for Stormcloak-aligned) and both are large cities with port access to the other side of the country. Add into this the fact that all the Hold Capitals are Hub Cities for their holds, which add extra layers of complexity.

** Lion's Arch in Tyria, Kaineng Centre in Cantha (Which is only the administrative centre of Kaineng City, which covers roughly half of Cantha, making Kaineng the best example of this trope in Guild Wars), and Kamadan, Jewel of Istan in Elona. these three places are the centres of player trading and chat in their respective campaigns, and are distinguished by being the places you have to go to have access to travel to the other continents.
** Lion's Arch continued to enjoy its HubCity status in ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'', now as a neutral city populated by all races rather than a human capital. (It's a long story.) It contained portals to all racial cities, as well as [=PvP=] and high-end [=PvE=] content, dungeon gear vendors, and crafting stations. Then, in a subversion of StatusQuoIsGod, [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore it was destroyed at the end of the Living Story season one]] and left a depopulated ruin. The player hub and all services were temporarily moved to Vigil Keep until the city was deemed safe enough for them to return.

** ''Classic'' had the six capitals of the playable races (trolls and gnomes didn't have any): Stormwind, Ironforge, and Darnassus for the Alliance and Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, and Undercity for the Horde. By its end, they all had the same amenities, and the same is true in modern ''World of Warcraft Classic'', but early in the game, only two capitals (Ironforge and Orgrimmar) had auction houses, meaning that most players congregated there. Once auction houses were added elsewhere, the playerbase became more evenly spread across all capitals, with Orgrimmar (once again) and Stormwind being the most popular as world buffs from killing raid bosses could be received there.
** ''Burning Crusade'' had Shattrath, a temple city in the middle of Outland. It also introduced two more racial capitals, Exodar for the draenei and Silvermoon for the blood elves, but as the game progressed beyond old Azeroth now, these cities were only relevant for low-level players.
** ''Wrath of the Lich King'' had the wizard city of Dalaran, which was previously a ruin not far away from Undercity but was now repaired, [[OminousFloatingCastle raised to the sky]], and moved to Northrend.

** ''Legion'' saw the return of Dalaran, which was moved to the expansion's new high-level zone of the Broken Isles (we even see how it teleports in-game). Due to the expansion's focuses on playable classes, every individual class also got its own "Order Hall"[[note]]Acherus for the death knights, the Fel Hammer for demon hunters, the Dreamgrove for druids, the Trueshot Lodge for hunters, the Hall of the Guardian for mages, the Temple of Five Dawns for monks, the Hall of Shadows for rogues, the Heart of Azeroth for shamans, the Dreadscar Rift for warlocks and the Skyhold for warriors[[/note]], which functions similarly to the ''Warlords'' garrisons but is shared.

** ''Shadowlands'' has Oribos, the AfterlifeAntechamber from which you can access the different parts of the eponymous spirit world. Much like in ''Warlords'' and ''Legion'', there are also secondary player hubs: the sanctums of the four Covenants which the playable characters can join. The [[OurAngelsAreDifferent kyr]][[FluffyCloudHeaven ian]] have the Elysian Hold, the [[WarriorHeaven Necro]][[DemBones lords]] have the Seat of the Primus, the [[TheLifestream Night]] [[OurFairiesAreDifferent Fae]] have the Heart of the Forest and the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent ven]][[PurgatoryAndLimbo thyr]] have the castle of Sinfall.

* Each game in the ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' series has one, and it's from there where the player's party can access the inn to rest and save the progress, the shop to buy and sell goods, the bar to accept sidequests and talk to non-playable characters, the office of the city's political ruler to accept story missions, the explorer guilds' gathering hall to recruit and manage party members, and the exit that leads to the Yggdrasil Tree (or the overworld leading to it, in the case of ''Legends of the Titan'' and ''Nexus'') where most of the adventure takes place. The names of the cities are: Etria (first game and its remake ''Millenium Girl''), High Lagaard (''Heroes of Lagaard'' and its remake ''The Fafnir Knight''), Armoroad (''The Drowned City''), Tharsis (''Legends of the Titan''), Iorys (''Beyond the Myth''), and Maginia (''Nexus'').

** Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Ul'Dah of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', which are also the starting points of the game depending on your starting class. Each expansion adds additional hubs, including Ishgard in ''Heavensward'', Kugane in ''Stormblood'', the Crystarium in ''Shadowbringers'', and Old Sharlayan in ''Endbringer''.

** Gridania, Limsa Lominsa, and Ul'Dah of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', which are also the starting points of the game depending on your starting class. Each expansion adds additional hubs, including Ishgard in ''Heavensward'', Kugane in ''Stormblood'', and the Crystarium in ''Shadowbringers''.

** ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' has "Town Stages" situated in each of the game's major countries from which the action stages are accessed (in the [=PS360=] versions, anyway). These include The Town Stages are inspired by different real-world regions, including Apotos (Greece), Spagonia (London), Mazuri (southern Africa), Holoska (the Arctic), Chun-nan (rural China), Shamar (the Middle East), Empire City ([[TheBigApplesauce New York City]]), and Adabat (southeast Asia). [[spoiler:There is also a hub for the final area, Eggmanland.]]

*** Player with with Mournhold, the actual capital of Morrowind which you visit in the ''Tribunal'' expansion. You're unfortunately limited to only a small part of the stated-to-be massive city, where the King of Morrowind (Helseth) and [[PhysicalGod Almalexia]] take up residence. For the purposes of ''Tribunal'' specifically, however, Mournhold does play this part -- if only because nearly the entire expansion takes place ''in'' Mournhold (the only ''Tribunal'' quest that isn't received in Mournhold is the one to get you ''to'' Mournhold).

** Minea in ''[[YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen I]]'' and ''IV'' (''[[VideoGame/YsIVMaskOfTheSun Mask]]'' & ''[[VideoGame/YsIVTheDawnOfYs Dawn]]'')''

** Yukumo Village (''Monster Hunter Portable 3rd'', single-player; multiplayer in PSP and online in [=PS3=])

* ''TabletopGame/{{Everway}}'': There are lots of cities scattered through this game's [[TheMultiverse multiverse]], but as the title may hint, the game pays special attention to the city of Everway in the realm of Roundwander, "the Crossroads of the Spheres," which has an extremely exceptional 71 gates or more. Everway is accordingly a bustling trade city where scholars know a great deal about other spheres and are always interested to learn more. However, it can't exert much direct power over other spheres (i.e. alternate worlds), because only a few people can traverse the PortalNetwork that links them, and they tend to have minds of their own.

** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'': Hollow Bastion, which was the penultimate level in the first game, now serves as a headquarters of sorts for Sora and his allies. Many crucial plot points take place here. However, in terms of gameplay, it's not quite as vital as Traverse Town, as shopping and synthesizing can now be done in every other world.

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[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/LegoLegacyHeroesUnboxed https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/ll_piptown_screen.PNG]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Wecome to Pip Town.]]

*** Subverted with Mournhold, the actual capital of Morrowind which you visit in the ''Tribunal'' expansion. You're unfortunately limited to only a small part of the stated-to-be massive city, where the King of Morrowind (Helseth) and [[PhysicalGod Almalexia]] take up residence.

** Kokoto Village (all first-generation entries, single-player; multiplayer in ''Freedom'')

** Jumbo Village (''Monster Hunter 2'', offline)

** Pokke Village (''Monster Hunter Freedom 2'' and ''Freedom Unite'', single- and multiplayer)
** Moga Village (''Monster Hunter 3'' and ''3 Ultimate'', single player)

* In the ''VideoGame/{{Shantae}}'' games following the first one, Scuttle Town is the place where Shantae can spend her gems to purchase items and spells.

** ''Classic'' had the six capitals of the playable races (trolls and gnomes didn't have any): Stormwind, Ironforge, and Darnassus for the Alliance and Orgrimmar, Thunder Bluff, and Undercity. By its end, they all had the same amenities, and the same is true in modern ''World of Warcraft Classic'', but early in the game, only two capitals (Ironforge and Orgrimmar) had auction houses, meaning that most players congregated there. Once auction houses were added elsewhere, the playerbase became more evenly spread across all capitals, with Orgrimmar (once again) and Stormwind being the most popular as world buffs from killing raid bosses could be received there.

** Seliana (''Monster Hunter Wolrd: Iceborne'', same as Astera)

** In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', the eponymous city is in almost all ways. While it's only the center of political power for Mr. House and the Families, all the major factions have an interest in it.

** Averted in ''VideoGame/Fallout76'': because there is no one left alive in Appalachia due to the Scorched plague, there are no real hub cities. Charleston was the biggest city in the region, but it is little more than ruins long taken over by mutants and irradiated fauna.

* Ponyville in ''VideoGame/MyLittlePonyRiseOfVicis'', which is somewhat justified by its presence as the home of the mane 6.

* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' has a few for most of the games:
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' has Traverse Town.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' has The Castle That Never Was and Twilight Town.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'' has Hollow Bastion.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' has Traverse Town again.

* Not even an RPG, ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' has Station Square. This is where you start out (with most characters), and it has three full Action Stages in it (the first of which is quite large) -- Speed Highway, Emerald Coast, and Casinopolis.
* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' has Soleanna, an Italy-inspired city-state from which nearly every stage is accessed (the few that aren't are from a BadFuture).
* ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' has "Town Stages" situated in each of the game's major countries from which the action stages are accessed (in the [=PS360=] versions, anyway). These include The Town Stages are inspired by different real-world regions, including Apotos (Greece), Spagonia (London), Mazuri (southern Africa), Holoska (the Arctic), Chun-nan (rural China), Shamar (the Middle East), Empire City ([[TheBigApplesauce New York City]]), and Adabat (southeast Asia). [[spoiler:There is also a hub for the final area, Eggmanland.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series: Multiple:
** Minea in ''I'' and ''IV''
** Rance in ''II''
** Redmont in ''III''
** Xandria and Kefin in ''V''
** Port Rimorge in ''VI''
** Altago City in ''Seven''
* Tairon in ''VideoGame/NinjaGaiden''(Xbox).
* New Los Angeles from ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX''. It's the last bastion of humanity and home to the headquarter of BLADE, the military organization that employs the many characters.