History Main / LayeredWorld

* The [[RealLife Material World]] (usually on top of the stack)

* ''VideoGame/MightyFlipChamps'' for UsefulNotes/DSiWare (and [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] minis) is all about solving puzzles by flipping from one reality to the next.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': The Nevernever is a reality layer underlying our common reality. Although the laws of common physics don't apply to it, the geography of Faerie (the closest part of Nevernever to real world) is such that you can, for instance, enter it in one place, then exit it in another, [[DungeonBypass bypassing any defenses or traps set in real world]]. You can also directly affect the real world from the Nevernever (although the other way around requires a lot of magical power), as an angry ghost in the beginning of ''Grave Peril'' demonstrates. It's not that people in the real world can't affect the Nevernever, rather that most denizens of reality lack the juice.

* ''Literature/{{Insomnia}}'': Ralph Roberts is afflicted with the eponymous disorder, and as time goes by, he becomes able to use a wide variety of abilities. He is able to see the [[AuraVision life auras]] of the people in his town, as well as differentiate sick and well people. He is also able to absorb these auras from people to replenish his own. He also becomes able to see [[GrimReaper little bald doctors]] who represent the [[OrderVsChaos Purpose(ful) and Random]] deaths of people. In time, he and his companion are able to rise high into the layers of the world, becoming invisible to people in the process. The downsides are that the higher they go, the faster time passes, and that there are things of a malevolent nature in the layers. [[spoiler: [[Franchise/TheDarkTower Like the Crimson King, for example.]]]]

* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'': According to Tsuchimikado Motoharu, {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}} both exist in the exact same location as the physical plane, only at "different wavelengths", with Heaven being a higher frequency, and Hell a lower frequency. Humans of the world can detect neither, just as the otherworldly denizens cannot detect the opposite realm and its inhabitants. Only when angels and demons go into the realm in between, the physical world of the living, that the denizens can detect each other.

* ''Literature/FromBeyond'' by Creator/HPLovecraft. The main character's acquaintance invents a machine that makes it possible to see the creatures that live in the different layers, but unfortunately, it works both ways. And given this is a CosmicHorror universe, this is a very bad thing.

%%** Far, far more apparent in the ''Anime/BlackRockShooter'' TV series.

* ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'': According to Tsuchimikado Motoharu, {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}} both exist in the exact same location as the physical plane, only at "different wavelengths", with Heaven being a higher frequency, and Hell a lower frequency. Humans of the world can detect neither, just as the otherworldly denizens cannot detect the opposite realm and its inhabitants. Only when angels and demons go into the realm in between, the physical world of the living, that the denizens can detect each other.
** The [[PocketDimension Imaginary Number District]] functions in a similar manner: AnotherDimension formed from the combined AIM of every esper in Academy City, it exists in the same location as the city, can be trasversed, and even brought forth into the real world.
** Later, it is revealed that [[spoiler:the series' world/universe/reality itself as it is normally perceived has various layers, known as Phases, over it acting like "filters" and affecting how it appears. The origin of this phenomenon is the various mythologies and religions throughout human history, through an unknown process, having had the effect of creating layers over the world: {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}}, TheUnderworld, the LandOfFaerie, Mount Olympus, Asgard, etc. And ''beneath'' them all is apparently a "Pure World", called such because it is a world of science untouched and unaffected by religion. And Aleister is trying to reach it...]]

* ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'': The Magic World is like this. [[spoiler: The Magic World is in AnotherDimension that is layered on top of Mars]].
* ''Literature/{{Slayers}}'': The universe has an astral plane, in which the spiritual projections of mortals exist. Contrariwise, the (already very powerful) physical manifestations of supernatural creatures like demons can best be described as a mere projection of their ''astral'' body. Bundled together, said universe is but one of four parallel “worlds” separated by the golden sea of chaos, A.K.A. [[spoiler: The Lord of Nightmares]].
* ''Anime/DayBreakIllusion'': Fights take place in a weird approximation of what's going on in the real world. For the most part, this means that the Daemonia take the form of whatever they're manipulating, so the heroes can prevent more damage by blocking it's strikes, binding it, etc.

%%* ''Literature/{{Deverry}}'': There's an ethereal plane (or astral plane, can't recall the terminology) that works like the D&D one.%%One world isn't enough for the trope, straighten out the terminology.

* ''TabletopGame/DeadInside'': The "real world" is just the outer shell of reality, wrapped around the Spirit World, which is itself wrapped around [[TheLifestream the Source]]. These layers of reality act as buffers protecting the Source from the Void outside reality. It's possible for characters to become living (or technically, undying) cracks in the shell of reality by losing every last scrap of their souls and becoming a channel for the Void.

* ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo'': The world is like this, with the material world, along with multiple dark worlds (including one that acts as a TailorMadePrison for the emperor's brother, and a BizarroUniverse with an evil Bo-bobo and Beauty) and lots of [[CloudCuckooLand bizarre]], [[WidgetSeries nonsensical]] mental worlds.

In a LayeredWorld, several [[AnotherDimension dimensions]] coexist in space and time. When you move onto deeper layers, you are usually capable of limited perception and interaction with the normal world but never vice versa, though [[MagicalEyes magical sight]] may allow you to look down a layer or two. Also, each new layer often features slightly different laws of physics: you can gain the ability to walk through material walls, a [[SuperSpeed speed boost]], and even new powers, though these usually come [[CastFromHitPoints at a price]]. Also, events in one world have an effect on attuned events in the other a la {{Synchronization}} or FisherKingdom.

The rule of thumb to recognize a LayeredWorld is to look for characters saying things like "This place corresponds to some other place on another layer".

See also RecursiveReality and WorldTree. For the physical, non-dimension-spanning variant, see HollowEarth. For the video game gameplay subtrope see DualWorldGameplay. SuperTrope of CirclesOfHell and HeavenlyConcentricCircles, when {{heaven}}ly planes or beings are depicted as concentric circles in the sky.

See also RecursiveReality and WorldTree. For the physical, non-dimension-spanning variant, see HollowEarth. For the video game gameplay subtrope see DualWorldGameplay. SuperTrope of RingsOfHell and HeavenlyConcentricCircles, when {{heaven}}ly planes or beings are depicted as concentric circles in the sky.

See also RecursiveReality and WorldTree. For the physical, non-dimension spanning variant, see HollowEarth. For the video game gameplay subtrope see DualWorldGameplay.

* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'': According to Tsuchimikado Motoharu, {{Heaven}} and {{Hell}} both exist in the exact same location as the physical plane, only at "different wavelengths", with Heaven being a higher frequency, and Hell a lower frequency. Humans of the world can detect neither, just as the otherworldly denizens cannot detect the opposite realm and its inhabitants. Only when angels and demons go into the realm in between, the physical world of the living, that the denizens can detect each other.

* ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'': The universe has an astral plane, in which the spiritual projections of mortals exist. Contrariwise, the (already very powerful) physical manifestations of supernatural creatures like demons can best be described as a mere projection of their ''astral'' body. Bundled together, said universe is but one of four parallel “worlds” separated by the golden sea of chaos, A.K.A. [[spoiler: The Lord of Nightmares]].

* ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'': This is more or less the nature of the zones. Rather than traveling to an AlternateUniverse in TheMultiverse, zone travel consists of branching out and perceiving different aspects of existence, all of which are capable of impacting one another. For example, the Hospital zone is basically the personification of medicine. What humans perceive as hospitals on Earth are basically the Hospital zone's concept leaking into their home zone.

* '''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''': There exist several dimensions in addition to the main one. The most well known of these is the [[SpiritWorld Emerald Dream]] which is the spiritual blueprint to how Azeroth would have looked like without mortal interference and is where druids go to train their abilities. The next four planes of existence are the [[ElementalPlane Elemental Planes]] which were created to imprison Azeroth's powerful [[ElementalEmbodiment elementals]] from wreaking havoc on the planet's surface. Azeroth seems to have several versions of the afterlife; there is the normal afterlife which known simply as the [[AfterlifeAntechamber Shadowlands]] where souls can be easily ressurected, the [[WarriorHeaven Halls of Valor]] where vykrul warriors go after they die in battle, its polar opposite the Maw of Souls, and a [[TheNothingAfterDeath black void]] where the most damned spirits go after they die.

* ''Literature/GhostRoads'' has a layered afterlife. There's the twilight, midnight and the starlight, the first is the afterlife but you tend to get more abstract and mythological as you go deeper. Human ghosts don't tend to stray from the twilight, and for good reason. Some among the living, like routewitches and Bobby Cross, can travel through the twilight without dying.

* ''TabletopGame/ProseDescriptiveQualities'': In ''Dead Inside'', the "real world" is just the outer shell of reality, wrapped around the Spirit World, which is itself wrapped around [[TheLifestream the Source]]. These layers of reality act as buffers protecting the Source from the Void outside reality. It's possible for characters to become living (or technically, undying) cracks in the shell of reality by losing every last scrap of their souls and becoming a channel for the Void.

* ''Anime/IlSolePenetraLeIllusioni'': Fights take place in a weird approximation of what's going on in the real world. For the most part, this means that the Daemonia take the form of whatever they're manipulating, so the heroes can prevent more damage by blocking it's strikes, binding it, etc.

* It doesn't get touched upon much at all in the anime, but the world and general cosmology of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' is [[http://skullknight.net/encyclopedia/universe/ made of several layers]]. Most humans live in the Mortal World, and most demons and other supernatural beings live in the Astral World, with Guts and Casca existing in the Interstice between the worlds because of the [[MagneticPlotDevice Brands of Sacrifice they bear]]. The God Hand and other sufficiently powerful supernatural beings reside in the Vortex of Souls, which is halfway between the Astral World and the Ideal World, where all souls eventually go and where [[spoiler:The Idea of Evil]] resides. At some point, certain events result in [[spoiler:the supernatural worlds being [[MergedReality fused with the normal world]], which is seriously bad news for everyone in an already CrapsackWorld...]]
* One interpretation of the ''Anime/BlackRockShooter'' OAV is that both "normal" story and the Otherworld plot are the same event at the same time. Two friends dealing with loneliness and jealousy in one world are a MagicalGirl fighting a possessed DarkMagicalGirl in the Other at the same time.
** Far, far more apparent in the ''Anime/BlackRockShooter'' TV series.
* The world of ''Manga/BoboboboBobobo'' is like this, with the material world, along with multiple dark worlds (including one that acts as a TailorMadePrison for the emperor's brother, and a BizarroUniverse with an evil Bo-bobo and Beauty) and lots of [[CloudCuckooLand bizarre]], [[WidgetSeries nonsensical]] mental worlds.

* The various works in the ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' franchise have at minimum the mundane world and cyberspace in the form of the Digital World. ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' and ''Anime/DigimonUniverseAppMonsters'' both have the Internet as a separate cyberspace dimension in itself. Many ''Digimon'' settings also have various other dimensions and in-between worlds with varying degrees of association with the local cyberspace such as [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 the Dark Ocean]], [[Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersWhoLeaptThroughTime the DigiQuartz]], and [[Anime/DigimonUniverseAppMonsters the AR-Fields]]. WhenDimensionsCollide is one of many consequences of these wildly different places coexisting.
* In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', the Magic World is like this. [[spoiler: The Magic World is in AnotherDimension that is layered on top of Mars]].
* The universe of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' has an astral plane, in which the spiritual projections of mortals exist. Contrariwise, the (already very powerful) physical manifestations of supernatural creatures like demons can best be described as a mere projection of their ''astral'' body. Bundled together, said universe is but one of four parallel “worlds” separated by the golden sea of chaos, A.K.A. [[spoiler: The Lord of Nightmares]].
* Fights in ''Anime/IlSolePenetraLeIllusioni'' take place in a weird approximation of what's going on in the real world. For the most part, this means that the Daemonia take the form of whatever they're manipulating, so the heroes can prevent more damage by blocking it's strikes, binding it, etc.

* In ''Film/{{Inception}}'', the protagonists use the concept of layers to plant an idea into someone's head. They kidnap him in a dream, rescue him in a DreamWithinADream, team up with him in a [[MindScrew dream within that dream...]] Which is necessary as for the inception to truly work it needs to be planted very deeply in the target's subconscious so that they will believe that it's their own idea.

* ''Literature/TheBartimaeusTrilogy''. The rules are never fully laid out and are sometimes inconsistent (one description in Amulet of Samarkand suggests physical objects are present on all layers, but in The Golem’s Eye a skeleton is explicitly not visible on any layer other than the 1st; Bartimaeus cannot change his true form on the 7th layer yet shrinks himself to avoid being crushed by a magical cage present on all layers). There are 7 layers of reality (though a theoretical 8th one is mentioned). Every spirit and spell is truly “on” one of the layers, and in case of spirits extends down to the first, although they can change their form on the lower layers; they can also perceive the layers they are on, with the exception of observer imps, who are on the 2nd layer yet see all of them. Humans and other living creatures are visible on all layers but can perceive only the first, although magical lenses show up to the 3rd layer clearly and 4th vaguely, and cats can perceive the 2nd. Ability to see higher layers seems affected by distance as in Bartimaeus comments at one point his disguise should hold up on all layers from far enough away.
* The [[Literature/{{Deverry}} Deverry Cycle]] has an ethereal plane (or astral plane, can't recall the terminology) that works like the D&D one.
* The Nevernever in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is a reality layer underlying our common reality. Although the laws of common physics don't apply to it, the geography of Faerie (the closest part of Nevernever to real world) is such that you can, for instance, enter it in one place, then exit it in another, [[DungeonBypass bypassing any defenses or traps set in real world]]. You can also directly affect the real world from the Nevernever (though not the other way around), as an angry ghost in the beginning of ''Grave Peril'' demonstrates.
** It's not that people in the real world can't affect the Nevernever, rather that most denizens of reality lack the juice. It takes Faerie Queens, über-ghosts, or a seriously pissed-off wizard to send something through.

* In Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/{{Insomnia}}'', Ralph Roberts is afflicted with the eponymous disorder, and as time goes by, he becomes able to use a wide variety of abilities. He is able to see the [[AuraVision life auras]] of the people in his town, as well as differentiate sick and well people. He is also able to absorb these auras from people to replenish his own. He also becomes able to see [[GrimReaper little bald doctors]] who represent the [[OrderVsChaos Purpose(ful) and Random]] deaths of people. In time, he and his companion are able to rise high into the layers of the world, becoming invisible to people in the process. The downsides are that the higher they go, the faster time passes, and that there are things of a malevolent nature in the layers. [[spoiler: [[Franchise/TheDarkTower Like the Crimson King, for example.]]]]

* [[Literature/{{Ambergris}} Shriek: An Afterword]] features [[OrganicTechnology fungoid spectacles]] that at low settings let the wearer see the marks of the Grey Caps' influence, but at higher settings are [[MindScrew implied to peel back everything insufficiently real]]. Wearing them on such a high setting can make you catatonic for notable periods of time.

* The ''Literature/WorldOfTiers'' takes the form of a world-sized tower of Babel, just that the continent-sized layers (tiers) are way wider than they are tall. The top layer has the palace of the world's [[GodEmperor Lord of Creation]] on it.

** In the magical theory of the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', the Demiplane of Shadows has Shadow Fringe and Deep much like the Ethereal Plane has Border and Deep Ethereal. I.e. the Fringe is linked to every shadow in the given world, but being made of shadows, it's severely distorted. It's used almost exclusively for shadow-walking.
** The ''TabletopGame/{{Birthright}}'' setting had the Shadow World. Halflings originally came from there and could return if necessary.
** The ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' setting's Border Ethereal is more tangible than most, as a phenomenon called "ethereal resonance" allows ambient emotion in the Material plane to impose mood-appropriate motifs upon the Ether. Places where the Ethereal has been permeated by darker emotions can become sinkholes of evil, where malign forces fester and grow even nastier than is usual for the Land of Mists.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{JAGS Wonderland}}'' setting uses this. Our reality is just the top level of a set of 8 "chessboards", which get weirder and more dangerous the deeper you go. While "down the rabbit hole," you could meet the Red Queen, the Mad Hatter, and other beings from the Creator/LewisCarroll story.
* The ''TabletopGame/NightBane'' setting has multiple layers to it. One in the form of the [[DarkWorld Nightlands]]. The Nightlands are a ''[[MirrorWorld reflection]]'' of the real world, and is overall ruled over by the [[EvilOverlord Night Lords]]. There is also the [[SpiritWorld Astral Plane]], which itself has three levels. The first is endless mists that is considered the ''surface'', the second level where one can find the denizens, [[PocketDimension various realms]], and cities made of spirit energy, and the last level known as the [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds the Void]] which is home to [[BigCreepyCrawlies Demon Locusts]] that want to consume...''everything'', as well as various mysteries such as [[EldritchStarship Void Ships]] and powerful [[AncientArtifact artifacts]]. Then you have the [[DreamLand Dream Stream]], which is...''[[WorldOfWeirdness strange]]'' to put it mildly. Being the realm of dreams and nightmares, one can run into [[DreamWeaver all]] [[DreamStealer kinds]] of [[EldritchAbomination things]] in it. In addition, because of the way the realm works, what happens in it can/will [[YourMindMakesItReal affect]] [[DreamWalker you]] and people in the real world who are asleep.
* The ''TabletopGame/OldWorldOfDarkness'' has the Shadowlands and the Umbra (which also just means "shadow"), each of which is AnotherDimension that overlaps with the "real world", representing the dead and living spirit of the world respectively. The Shadowlands is where Wraiths typically reside; it looks like the real world, only aging, decayed, and destroyed. Later, after a cataclysmic soul storm, the Shadowlands look more like the real world AfterTheEnd (and is correspondingly now called "The Wasteland"). The Umbra is the world of living spirits, where metaphysics sets the rules and the inner nature of things from the physical plane is reflected. The Umbra itself contains multiple layers and even [[PocketDimension sub-realms]], but the further one goes from the Penumbra (the first layer which reflects the physical world most closely) the harder it is to get back, the more dangerous the residents become, and the weirder things get.
** Of the various dimensions that converge on the ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'', the Shadow, the SpiritWorld, is the one that best fits this trope, being the spiritual reflection of the material world.
** And now, we have the Underworld, which works a hell of a lot like this. When you first enter, you're in the Autochthonous Depths, the area of the Underworld closest to the surface. After that lie the various Rivers, which take either power or sacrifice to cross, and after each one lie several Dead Dominions which go deeper and deeper into the Underworld.
* In ''[[TabletopGame/ProseDescriptiveQualities Dead Inside]]'', the "real world" is just the outer shell of reality, wrapped around the Spirit World, which is itself wrapped around [[TheLifestream the Source]]. These layers of reality act as buffers protecting the Source from the Void outside reality. It's possible for characters to become living (or technically, undying) cracks in the shell of reality by losing every last scrap of their souls and becoming a channel for the Void.

* ''Trilby's Notes'' from the ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' does this; it waits for map transition before randomly shifting you to the bad world.

* In the world of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} in general, there exists the Reverse Side of The World, a realm that exists above and below the physical world and the home of Phantasmal Beasts after the decline of Age of Gods. It is devoid of humans although one can reach it after death with very small odds. It is also where the realm of Avalon is located. It is separated from the physical world by the pillar of light which is the true nature of the Holy Spear Rhongomyniad. Several lines indicate there are other layers of existence beneath even the Reverse Side. The crux of ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder's'' second storyline is that [[spoiler:an extraterrestrial God is attempting to "stitch" a new realm of reality over the current world using a similar process in order to be able to exist on it without issue, with the cost being humanity itself as we know it]].

* The Spectral Realm in the ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' games is a good example of a two-layered world.

* The ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' series has the EM world, which consists of the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin EM waves]] of the normal universe. Geo Stelar can see it from the normal world with his [[SeeThruSpecs special goggles]]. To get in, he has to find a portal and become Mega Man.

* In the ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'' series, most demons and other such beings are located within the Collective Unconscious and the Sea of Souls, which are visited by the protagonists of the games in various forms.
* ''Franchise/SilentHill'' is a many-layered world, which TheMovie is most explicit in showing.
** In ''Film/SilentHill'' the film, there's the real world, where the husband and detective are; there's "ashy" Silent Hill, where Rose and Sybill end up, which is populated by monsters and trapped [[spoiler:ghosts of]] cultists. Then there's the "air raid siren" DarkWorld, which has more and tougher monsters and is generally nightmarish and near impossible to survive in for long.
* ''VideoGame/StarControl'' has Realspace as where we live. "Above" Realspace is Hyperspace, used for interstellar travel, and Quasispace, used for really fast interstellar travel and the place where the human friendly Arilou live. "Below" are... well you don't want to go *below*. The Androsynth appearently looked *below*, and now there are no Androsynth. Only Orz.
** Even the Orz, who are implied to be native to *below*, say that it's a terrible place where they were in constant ''pain''. Hence why they like Realspace so much.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Submachine}}'' series, especially ''The Plan'' and to a lesser extent ''The Temple'' (other games ''mention'' the layers, but these two are the only ones where the player travels between them -- unless that's what's happening in ''The Loop''.) ''The Exit'' reveals that [[spoiler: there are an infinite number of sublayers, which is why you can see evidence of other explorers, but never actually meet them]].
* In ''VideoGame/TimeFcuk'', the majority of levels have 2 layers although many user-made levels can have up to 3 which the player interacts with.
* The PC adventure game ''VideoGame/TorinsPassage'' takes place on a layered planet. The protagonist starts out on the surface but must journey through the "lands below", different worlds on different levels below the surface, in order to save his parents from an evil sorceress.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein|2009}}'' game introduces ''The Veil'' an intermediate realm between this world and that of the Black Sun. Viewing objects through the Veil may be different than viewing it normally, such as brand new fighter planes appearing derelict to the point of crumbling.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'''s cosmology involves multiple "frequencies." The game takes place in the Underground, which is a slightly higher frequency than the Realground (the frequency everyday life takes place in), and as a result the Realground can be seen (and to some extent interacted with) from the Underground, but the Underground isn't visible from the Realground. Reapers are able to change their frequency to move between the Realground and Underground at will, but cannot use their powers in the Realground. [[spoiler:Angels and the Composer naturally live on higher frequencies; coming down appears to limit their powers somewhat.]] The Noise are a rather strange case; they exist on their own frequency that's both on and in between the Underground and Realground, which also exists in two separate spaces. And then there's also the imaginary number plane you come across in Pork City, which is described as "a parallel plane a fraction away from the world Noise inhabit" and has no further explanation.
* Within the '''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''' universe, there exist several dimensions in addition to the main one. The most well known of these is the [[SpiritWorld Emerald Dream]] which is the spiritual blueprint to how Azeroth would have looked like without mortal interference and is where druids go to train their abilities. The next four planes of existence are the [[ElementalPlane Elemental Planes]] which were created to imprison Azeroth's powerful [[ElementalEmbodiment elementals]] from wreaking havoc on the planet's surface. Azeroth seems to have several versions of the afterlife; there is the normal afterlife which known simply as the [[AfterlifeAntechamber Shadowlands]] where souls can be easily ressurected, the [[WarriorHeaven Halls of Valor]] where vykrul warriors go after they die in battle, its polar opposite the Maw of Souls, and a [[TheNothingAfterDeath black void]] where the most damned spirits go after they die.

* In ''Webcomic/AwfulHospital'', this is more or less the nature of the zones. Rather than traveling to an AlternateUniverse in TheMultiverse, zone travel consists of branching out and perceiving different aspects of existence, all of which are capable of impacting one another. For example, the Hospital zone is basically the personification of medicine. What humans perceive as hospitals on Earth are basically the Hospital zone's concept leaking into their home zone.

* In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', the Magic World is like this. [[spoiler: The Magic World is in AnotherDimension that is layered on top of Mars]].

* The universe of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'' has an astral plane, in which the spiritual projections of mortals exist. Contrariwise, the (already very powerful) physical manifestations of supernatural creatures like demons can best be described as a mere projection of their ''astral'' body. Bundled together, said universe is but one of four parallel “worlds” separated by the golden sea of chaos, A.K.A. [[spoiler: The Lord of Nightmares]].

* Fights in ''Anime/IlSolePenetraLeIllusioni'' take place in a weird approximation of what's going on in the real world. For the most part, this means that the Daemonia take the form of whatever they're manipulating, so the heroes can prevent more damage by blocking it's strikes, binding it, etc.

* ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'' features the Twilight, a [[spoiler:seven-]]layered reality accessible to sorcerers. Each level makes you incorporeal at higher levels (though you can still see and interact with objects and people in them) and gives you a speed boost, but also continuously absorbs your life energy until you either leave or are dead.
* The [[Literature/{{Deverry}} Deverry Cycle]] has an ethereal plane (or astral plane, can't recall the terminology) that works like the D&D one.

* [[Literature/{{Ambergris}} Shriek: An Afterword]] features [[OrganicTechnology fungoid spectacles]] that at low settings let the wearer see the marks of the Grey Caps' influence, but at higher settings are [[MindScrew implied to peel back everything insufficiently real]]. Wearing them on such a high setting can make you catatonic for notable periods of time.

* ''TabletopGame/{{GURPS}} Cabal'' features a world divided into four layers, based on kabbalistic cosmology: Assiah is the material world, Yetzirah the world of spirits, Briah the world of deities and archetypal entities, and Atziluth is the home of capital-G God.
* The ''TabletopGame/{{JAGS Wonderland}}'' setting uses this. Our reality is just the top level of a set of 8 "chessboards", which get weirder and more dangerous the deeper you go. While "down the rabbit hole," you could meet the Red Queen, the Mad Hatter, and other beings from the Creator/LewisCarroll story.
* ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'' has Regio, which are localized versions of this -- alternative layered realities that only exist in one limited area.

* The ''TabletopGame/NightBane'' setting has multiple layers to it. One in the form of the [[DarkWorld Nightlands]]. The Nightlands are a ''[[MirrorWorld reflection]]'' of the real world, and is overall ruled over by the [[EvilOverlord Night Lords]]. There is also the [[SpiritWorld Astral Plane]], which itself has three levels. The first is endless mists that is considered the ''surface'', the second level where one can find the denizens, [[PocketDimension various realms]], and cities made of spirit energy, and the last level known as the [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds the Void]] which is home to [[BigCreepyCrawlies Demon Locusts]] that want to consume...''everything'', as well as various mysteries such as [[EldritchStarship Void Ships]] and powerful [[AncientArtifact artifacts]]. Then you have the [[DreamLand Dream Stream]], which is...''[[WorldOfWeirdness strange]]'' to put it mildly. Being the realm of dreams and nightmares, one can run into [[DreamWeaver all]] [[DreamStealer kinds]] of [[EldritchAbomination things]] in it. In addition, because of the way the realm works, what happens in it can/will [[YourMindMakesItReal affect]] [[DreamWalker you]] and people in the real world who are asleep.

* Within the '''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft''' universe, there exist several dimensions in addition to the main one. The most well known of these is the [[SpiritWorld Emerald Dream]] which is the spiritual blueprint to how Azeroth would have looked like without mortal interference and is where druids go to train their abilities. The next four planes of existence are the [[ElementalPlane Elemental Planes]] which were created to imprison Azeroth's powerful [[ElementalEmbodiment elementals]] from wreaking havoc on the planet's surface. Azeroth seems to have several versions of the afterlife; there is the normal afterlife which known simply as the [[AfterlifeAntechamber Shadowlands]] where souls can be easily ressurected, the [[WarriorHeaven Halls of Valor]] where vykrul warriors go after they die in battle, its polar opposite the Maw of Souls, and a [[TheNothingAfterDeath black void]] where the most damned spirits go after they die.
* The ''VideoGame/MegaManStarForce'' series has the EM world, which consists of the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin EM waves]] of the normal universe. Geo Stelar can see it from the normal world with his [[SeeThruSpecs special goggles]]. To get in, he has to find a portal and become Mega Man.
* ''Franchise/SilentHill'' is a many-layered world, which TheMovie is most explicit in showing.
** In ''Film/SilentHill'' the film, there's the real world, where the husband and detective are; there's "ashy" Silent Hill, where Rose and Sybill end up, which is populated by monsters and trapped [[spoiler:ghosts of]] cultists. Then there's the "air raid siren" DarkWorld, which has more and tougher monsters and is generally nightmarish and near impossible to survive in for long.

* The PC adventure game ''VideoGame/TorinsPassage'' takes place on a layered planet. The protagonist starts out on the surface but must journey through the "lands below", different worlds on different levels below the surface, in order to save his parents from an evil sorceress.
* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'''s cosmology involves multiple "frequencies." The game takes place in the Underground, which is a slightly higher frequency than the Realground (the frequency everyday life takes place in), and as a result the Realground can be seen (and to some extent interacted with) from the Underground, but the Underground isn't visible from the Realground. Reapers are able to change their frequency to move between the Realground and Underground at will, but cannot use their powers in the Realground. [[spoiler:Angels and the Composer naturally live on higher frequencies; coming down appears to limit their powers somewhat.]] The Noise are a rather strange case; they exist on their own frequency that's both on and in between the Underground and Realground, which also exists in two separate spaces. And then there's also the imaginary number plane you come across in Pork City, which is described as "a parallel plane a fraction away from the world Noise inhabit" and has no further explanation.
* ''Trilby's Notes'' from the ''VideoGame/ChzoMythos'' does this; it waits for map transition before randomly shifting you to the bad world.
* ''VideoGame/MightyFlipChamps'' for UsefulNotes/DSiWare (and [[UsefulNotes/PlayStationPortable PSP]] minis) is all about solving puzzles by flipping from one reality to the next.
* ''VideoGame/{{Wolfenstein|2009}}'' game introduces ''The Veil'' an intermediate realm between this world and that of the Black Sun. Viewing objects through the Veil may be different than viewing it normally, such as brand new fighter planes appearing derelict to the point of crumbling.

* ''VideoGame/StarControl'' has Realspace as where we live. "Above" Realspace is Hyperspace, used for interstellar travel, and Quasispace, used for really fast interstellar travel and the place where the human friendly Arilou live. "Below" are... well you don't want to go *below*. The Androsynth appearently looked *below*, and now there are no Androsynth. Only Orz.
** Even the Orz, who are implied to be native to *below*, say that it's a terrible place where they were in constant *pain*. Hence why they like Realspace so much.
* In ''VideoGame/TimeFcuk'', the majority of levels have 2 layers although many user-made levels can have up to 3 which the player interacts with.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' does this, with the character herself in [[GratuitousItalian Purgatorio]], able to see the (semitransparent) humans in reality.
* In the world of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and Franchise/{{Nasuverse}} in general, there exists the Reverse Side of The World, a realm that exists above and below the physical world and the home of Phantasmal Beasts after the decline of Age of Gods. It is devoid of humans although one can reach it after death with very small odds. It is also where the realm of Avalon is located. It is separated from the physical world by the pillar of light which is the true nature of the Holy Spear Rhongomyniad. Several lines indicate there are other layers of existence beneath even the Reverse Side. The crux of ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder's'' second storyline is that [[spoiler:an extraterrestrial God is attempting to "stitch" a new realm of reality over the current world using a similar process in order to be able to exist on it without issue, with the cost being humanity itself as we know it]].

* ''VideoGame/GhostbustersTheVideoGame'' ''kind of'' touches upon this, especially in the Public Library section, whose second half takes place in the library's Gozerian configuration (one of millions of theoretical configurations). The game doesn't really go far enough, but then again, your job as the Recruit is to ''keep the dimensions separate''.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Submachine}}'' series, especially ''The Plan'' and to a lesser extent ''The Temple'' (other games ''mention'' the layers, but these two are the only ones where the player travels between them - unless that's what's happening in ''The Loop''.) ''The Exit'' reveals that [[spoiler: there are an infinite number of sublayers, which is why you can see evidence of other explorers, but never actually meet them]].
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII'': Once you are able to access the Great Pit of Giaga, you drop down to the World of Darkness below. However, conversations with characters in this world, and your journey into the cave to get the Hero's Shield, reveal that Zoma crawled out from somewhere BELOW that world. And this may have been doing occurring for several additional cycles ("This world, too, will be covered in darkness..").

* The ''TabletopGame/NightBane'' setting has multiple layers to it. One in the form of the [[DarkWorld Nightlands]]. The Nightlands are a ''[[MirrorWorld reflection]]'' of the real world, and is overall ruled over by the [[EvilOverlord Night Lords]]. There is also the [[SpiritWorld Astral Plane]], which itself has three levels. The first is endless mists that is considered the ''surface'', the second level where one can find the denizens, [[PocketDimension various realms]], and cities made of spirit energy, and the last level known as the [[VoidBetweenTheWorlds the Void]] which is home to [[BigCreepyCrawlies Demon Locusts]] that want to consume...''everything'', as well as various mysteries such as [[EldritchStarship Void Ships]] and powerful [[AncientArtifact artifacts]]. Then you have the [[DreamWorld Dream Stream]], which is...''[[WorldOfWeirdness strange]]'' to put it mildly. Being the realm of dreams and nightmares, one can run into [[DreamWeaver all]] [[DreamStealer kinds]] of [[EldritchAbomination things]] in it. In addition, because of the way the realm works, what happens in it can/will [[YourMindMakesItReal affect]] [[DreamWalker you]] and people in the real world who are asleep.

** There's the Astral, which is a SpiritWorld and a DreamWorld that have locations which basically correspond to locations in the Material World.

* The various works in the ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' franchise have at minimum the mundane world and cyberspace in the form of the Digital World. ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' and ''Anime/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters'' both have the Internet as a separate cyberspace dimension in itself. Many ''Digimon'' settings also have various other dimensions and in-between worlds with varying degrees of association with the local cyberspace such as [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 the Dark Ocean]], [[Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersWhoLeaptThroughTime the DigiQuartz]], and [[Anime/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters the AR-Fields]]. WhenDimensionsCollide is one of many consequences of these wildly different places coexisting.

* A DreamWorld

* It doesn't get touched upon much at all in the anime, but the world and general cosmology of ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' is [[http://skullknight.net/encyclopedia/universe/ something like this]]. Most humans live in the Mortal World, and most demons and other supernatural beings live in the Astral World, with Guts and Casca existing in the Interstice between the worlds because of the [[MagneticPlotDevice Brands of Sacrifice they bear]]. The God Hand and other sufficiently powerful supernatural beings reside in the Vortex of Souls, which is halfway between the Astral World and the Ideal World, where all souls eventually go and where [[spoiler:The Idea of Evil]] resides. At some point, certain events result in [[spoiler:the supernatural worlds being fused with the normal world, which is seriously bad news for everyone in an already CrapsackWorld...]]

* It doesn't get touched upon much at all in the anime, but the world and general cosmology of ''{{Manga/Berserk}}'' is [[http://skullknight.net/encyclopedia/universe/ something like this]]. Most humans live in the Mortal World, and most demons and other supernatural beings live in the Astral World, with Guts and Casca existing in the Interstice between the worlds because of the [[MagneticPlotDevice Brands of Sacrifice they bear]]. The God Hand and other sufficiently powerful supernatural beings reside in the Vortex of Souls, which is halfway between the Astral World and the Ideal World, where all souls eventually go and where [[spoiler:The Idea of Evil]] resides. At some point, certain events result in [[spoiler:the supernatural worlds being fused with the normal world, which is seriously bad news for everyone in an already CrapsackWorld...]]
* In ''Manga/MahouSenseiNegima'', the Magic World is like this. [[spoiler: The Magic World is in AnotherDimension that is layered on top of Mars]].

* In the world of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' and {{Franchise/Nasuverse}} in general, there exists the Reverse Side of The World, a realm that exists above and below the physical world and the home of Phantasmal Beasts after the decline of Age of Gods. It is devoid of humans although one can reach it after death with very small odds. It is also where the realm of Avalon is located. It is separated from the physical world by the pillar of light which is the true nature of the Holy Spear Rhongomyniad. Several lines indicate there are other layers of existence beneath even the Reverse Side. The crux of ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder's'' second storyline is that [[spoiler:an extraterrestrial God is attempting to "stitch" a new realm of reality over the current world using a similar process in order to be able to exist on it without issue, with the cost being humanity itself as we know it]].

* The various works in the ''Franchise/{{Digimon}}'' franchise have at minimum the mundane world and cyberspace in the form of the Digital World. ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'' and ''Anime/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters'' both have the Internet as a separate cyberspace dimension in itself. Many ''Digimon'' settings also have various other dimensions and in-between worlds with varying degrees of association with the local cyberspace such as [[Anime/DigimonAdventure02 the Dark Ocean]], [[Anime/DigimonXrosWarsTheYoungHuntersLeapingThroughTime the DigiQuartz]], and [[Anime/DigimonUniverseApplimonsters the AR-Fields]]. WhenDimensionsCollide is one of many consequences of these wildly different places coexisting.