History Main / NewWorldTease

** In ''Wanderers from Ys'', the first dungeon, Tigre Quarry, contains the door to the Cursed Mine, which is not accessible until after completing Ilvern Ruins.

->[[caption-width-right:256:You'll [[LiteralMetaphor cross that bridge]] when the time comes.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smw.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:You'll [[LiteralMetaphor cross that bridge]] when the time comes.]]

* In ''VideoGame/LaMulana'', you can enter a side area of the Twin Labyrinths (where an important item can be bought) fairly early in the game, but the passages to the main area are blocked off. The entrance to the main area is gained slightly later, but you are instantly confronted with a DeadlyGas trap that can only be disabled by activating two switches in thirty seconds. You can do this only much later, once you've found the Twin Statue.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'':

** In the Sky Runner, Jeff gets a brief look at parts of Fourside and Desert before crash-landing in Threed.

** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'':

** In ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheOrigamiKing'', when the path is blocked by boulder, Bobby decides the only way to help her is to go back to a cruise ship named The Princess Peach and get a fuse. To do this, Mario and him find a boat and go out to the ship. The sea they're on will constitute the majority of the Purple Streamer, but Mario can't reach that streamer yet due to a fog, and he only gains the ability to clear the fog after he breaks the yellow streamer.

* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIVRogerWilcoAndTheTimeRippers', after stowing away on the transport at the start, to the right of the docking bay is the door to TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Problem is, it's closely guarded by Sequel Police at this time, and you don't have the items necessary to traverse the LaserHallway yet.

* ''VideoGame/AnUntitledStory'' has a teleporter before you've beaten [[WakeUpCallBoss Shakespeare]], which takes you to a sealed room in the [=SkyLands=]. The room contains one [[HeartContainer heart container]] and a teleporter back.

* In ''VideoGame/SpaceQuestIV'', after stowing away on the transport at the start, to the right of the docking bay is the door to TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. Problem is, it's closely guarded by Sequel Police at this time, and you don't have the items necessary to traverse the LaserHallway yet.

** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow'':
*** In ''Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow'', Soma can enter the bottom-most room of the Top Floor from the Living Quarters. As you don't have the Giant Bat soul to fly yet, you can't progress any higher. You'll have to come back at the end of the game after defeating Balore in the Arena.
*** In ''Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow'', Soma can enter the first room of the Silenced Ruins, a level that's a [[ContinuityNod call-back]] to the first level of the very first game in the series, from the Subterranean Hell while exploring. However, as Soma enters, a cannon fires at the pillars in the way and time freezes. The second pillar contains an image of a rabbit, recognizable to those who played ''Aria'' as the Chronomage. You won't get any further than this (or even see the title card) until you find a soul with powers over time itself.

-->-- ''[[VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver Pokémon Gold/Silver/Crystal]]''

[[folder:Action Adventure]]
* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': The room used to unlock Click Clock Wood can be accessed as soon as the player collects 50 Notes from the first level, and shares the area's music and forest theme. However, the platform used to insert Jiggies is missing until the player activates a switch at Click Clock Wood's actual entrance, towards the end of the game.
* ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'' has almost every world linked to another via some sort of secret tunnel, which are necessary to get certain Jiggies. You can use some of these to get a sneak peak at worlds you haven't unlocked yet, but you can never get far before you've unlocked the world proper; in many cases, these are just {{Disconnected Side Area}}s, though. Also, to get into the main area of Grunty Industries, you first have to depress the train switch, then get in there by way of Chuffy (which means a BossBattle if you haven't already beaten it).
* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}''

** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow]]'', Soma can enter the bottom-most room of the Top Floor from the Living Quarters. As you don't have the Giant Bat soul to fly yet, you can't progress any higher. You'll have to come back at the end of the game after defeating Balore in the Arena.
** In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'', Soma can enter the first room of the Silenced Ruins, a level that's a [[ContinuityNod call-back]] to the first level of the very first game in the series, from the Subterranean Hell while exploring. However, as Soma enters, a cannon fires at the pillars in the way...and time freezes. The second pillar contains an image of a rabbit, recognizable to those who played ''Aria'' as the Chronomage. You won't get any further than this (or even see the title card) until you find a soul with powers over time itself.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'': A foreboding music not heard anywhere else plays. You can't go more than 2 rooms in without the full Triforce of Wisdom.

* In ''VideoGame/RogueLegacy'' it's entirely possible to stumble into the hardest section of the game with a low-level character. Enjoy the new tile set and music while you can because, oops, you're already dead. There are also teleporters that dump you into a random section of the game with no way back that can function as this.

* At the beginnings of some of ''VideoGame/Halo2's'' levels, such as Delta Halo and Uprising, you can see the structures that are part of the next level.

* The {{Metroidvania}} entries in the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series sometimes do this:
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' teases you with the Clock Tower, Colosseum and Olrox's Quarters should you choose to enter them, but you need abilities to get through them fully.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' does this with the Underground Reservoir - you can enter it very early on, but you'll get about two rooms in, and you can't explore the whole thing until much later (good thing too - it's huge!). The same happens with the Top Floor in the same game.
** You're not getting all the way through the Tower of Death as soon as you can reach it in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'' has the Top Floor, and part of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' exists solely to taunt the player about how they don't have access.

* ''VideoGame/LyleInCubeSector'' has a few of these parts early-game.
* In ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest''

* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}} 1'' had a particularly evil one. After fighting through a particularly frustrating world made of musical instruments, you open up a new level in a new area of the game, the Blue Mountains. This level has a stormy background, and a very dark and tense atmosphere, complete with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqDuhaXfWxI an awesome, pulse-pounding rock theme]], a type of music you haven't heard yet for the whole game... But you can't get past the initial cliff until you go back and complete the Dream Forest to get the ability to grab the purple rings. What a tease!
* ''Manga/{{Strider}}'' (NES): The first level has an impassable red wall, for which you need the Magnetic Boots from China, and doors marked S2 and S3, which require keys from later still levels. Better yet, one of the first data files you acquire grants access to Australia, but the way forward is blocked by an insurmountable spike pit until your jumping ability is upgraded much later in the game, along with a LockedDoor requiring the S5 key from Los Angeles, unless you [[SequenceBreaking clip through the door]] by taking a hit from a nearby enemy. In turn, there's a whole DisconnectedSideArea of Africa that can only reached through a tube found in Australia.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', a hidden doorway in the second fortress of World 4 leads to a secret area that looks like it could be part of one of the pipe levels in World 7, with [[WrapAround wrap-around screen edges]], curved pipes, and arrow lifts. The music even switches to the Underground theme, and the ''[[UpdatedReRelease All Stars]]'' version takes it even further with the same pipe-maze background the actual World 7 levels have.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'':
** In [[NoobCave Yoshi's Island]], there's a mountain containing the very first Switch Palace. Climbing it will lead into an overlook of the second world, Donut Plains, complete with its music.
** The "Chocolate Secret" and "Donut Secret 2" levels take place on plateaus overlooking the Valley of Bowser. While "Chocolate Secret" is already pretty close to the end of the game, It's possible to get to "Donut Secret 2," thereby [[FinalDungeonPreview getting a glimpse at the game's final area]], fairly early on.
** There is also one within the title screen. The demo level that plays on the title screen is an actual level within the game, but all you can do is stare at it. The level itself is in the Special world, which you can't get to until a lot later.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine'' you can see many other locations in Delfino Island (like [[GreenHillZone Bianco Hills]], Ricco Harbor or [[AmusementParkOfDoom Pina Park]]) well before visiting them; in fact you could very well ''reach'' them if not because the invisible walls confining each area. The only exception is Noki Bay, which seems to be completely hidden from the rest of the island up to that point--small portions of Noki Bay are visible from Pianta Village, but that's the last standard stage in the game.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'', many kingdoms are linked together via warp paintings. In some instances, a painting can lead you to a kingdom that you otherwise wouldn't yet have access to. However, visits to future kingdoms are typically restricted to a [[DisconnectedSideArea remote section of the level]] containing only a single Power Moon, meaning that you'll have no choice but to go back from where you came. That said, these paintings allow you to get an early glimpse of the Metro, Luncheon and Mushroom Kingdoms.

* ''VideoGame/EarthBound'':

* In ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', the Brotherhood of Steel's Citadel is just halfway between Megaton and Rivet City, and you may pass by it while exploring, but you can't enter until after the Waters of Life quest, two thirds of the way through the story. In the ''Point Lookout'' expansion pack, the Lighthouse is accessible from the beginning, but the Underground Laboratory beneath it only unlocks once the DLC's last main quest is initiated, although the entrance can be seen on the map beforehand.
* In ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'', [[FinalDungeon Hoover Dam]], which has epic OrchestralBombing music, is a short walk from Boulder City, where the game's first act concludes, and can be partially explored, but many areas are locked until the final battle. Also, the passage to the Divide is visible northwest of Primm in the vanilla game, but is blocked until the ''Lonesome Road'' expansion pack is downloaded.
* In ''VideoGame/Fallout4'':
** At Fort Hagen, the elevator to the Command Center is boarded up and inaccessible [[YouShouldntKnowThisAlready until the "Reunions" story quest directs you there.]] A rooftop DoorToBefore is visible on the local map, but mag-locked from the inside. Similarly, the nearby Satellite Array can only be entered after a certain point in the ''Automatron'' DLC quest line.
** The basement of Slocum's Joe near the Corvega Assembly Plant teases you with new music and an elevator behind a bookcase... which isn't functioning. This is actually the exit from the Switchboard, the Railroad's old base, which you enter through a different route during their first quest, "Tradecraft".
** The Greenetech Genetics building is sealed off prior to the quest "Hunter/Hunted".
** You can enter the Mass Fusion Building at any time to retrieve the Strength bobblehead, but you can't reach the basement or the Executive Suites section until you are teleported or airlifted to the rooftop during the Institute or Brotherhood of Steel endgame quests, after which you get a keycard to [[DoorToBefore take the elevator down to ground level]] as well as access the basement.
** In the ''Vault-Tec Workshop'' DLC, there are two DoorToBefore exits from Vault 88 that one may accidentally discover before reaching the main entrance.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''
** You get a brief glimpse of the setting for the final battle when Tidus gets eaten by Sin at the very beginning of the game. [[spoiler: And Jecht is waiting for Tidus in both cases.]]
** The very first area Tidus will explore once he wakes up on Spira is a sunk and derelict temple, which the player can only return to much, much later in the game, and optionally even.
* Obtaining one of the spells in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest'' requires you to take a passage into an otherwise inaccessible section of Doom Castle. Long before you get to go there for real.

* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheWizard'', most of the time, upon discovering a new area, you'd be unable to progress very far because you have the wrong character.
* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'':
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'' has the [[BleakLevel devastated Toad Town]]. You can acess it midway through the game, but the area you end up with is blocked off by a metal gate you can only acess from outside. You only get to explore it properly around the mid-late game.
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'' also has the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Airway and the Chest Station]]. They are unlocked very, very early in the game, but are [[BookEnds only actually acessed at the very, very end-game]].
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' allows you to enter the Wakeport as soon as you exit Pi'illo Castle, the first dungeon of the game. However, only the very entrance of the area is explorable (which is still worthy to do, as it contains a bunch of Hermite Crabs [[DiscOneNuke that you can use to level grind exceptionally fast]]) since a log is blocking the rest of the Wakeport, and it only disappears after you complete Mushrise Park, Dozing Sands, and their respective dreamy versions.

** The first set of remakes, ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'', which are remakes of [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the games Kanto originally came from]], have a sidequest in three of the new Sevii Islands areas after the next-to-last badge is obtained. There are actually seven islands in total (or nine when counting the two event-only islands that aren't displayed without the items needed to go there), and the others can't be visited until the Elite Four are defeated.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', there is a warp pipe that connects Land's End to Kero Sewers. You are meant to travel through this pipe from the Land's End side, as it is too high to jump up to in Kero Sewers. However, by engaging in a battle with a nearby Boo, then running away, it is possible to stand on the Boo during its MercyInvincibility, allowing you to use it as a makeshift platform, from which you can jump up to the pipe. Upon warping to Land's End, you will not get very far, as the section only functions as an exit, and a Shy Away will tell you to turn back. There is another Shy Away here you can actually fight, although his party will likely be able to make short work of yours if you came here early and unprepared. The intended use of this pipe is to reach a block in Kero Sewers that contains Cricket Jam (a {{sidequest}} item). However, [[DevelopersForesight the block will only contain a Frog Coin if accessed via the Boo method]]; the Cricket Jam will only appear in the block if you came through the sewers via Land's End, regardless of whether or not you already got the Frog Coin earlier on.

[[folder: Survival Horror]]

* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter4 Ultimate'': The city of Dundorma can be visited as you reach Val Habar for the first time in Low Rank. You can fish in the pier and listen to a song in the Assembly, but that's it. None of the Caravan's characters will appear here until after you've completed the Low Rank's StoryArc, since the quests you accept here are exclusive to High Rank. Also, the Elder Hall is off-limits until you've completed all key and urgent quests from Val Habar's Gathering Hall, as the quests accepted in the Elder Hall itself are exclusive to G Rank.

* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'': The room used to unlock Click Clock Wood can be accessed as soon as the player collects 50 Notes from the first level, and shares the area's music and forest theme. However, the platform used to insert Jiggies is missing until the player activates a switch at Click Clock Woods' actual entrance, towards the end of the game.

** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'': Level 9. NightmareFuel music. Can't go more than 2 rooms in without the full triforce.
** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'': The Great Temple with its golden tiles and music (gawd, what good music that was) if you were unfortunate enough to have marched all the way up there without having placed all the crystals. Not all of us discovered [[GuideDangIt Level 6]]...

*** The Bottom of the Well, which you can first access after learning the Song of Storms in the windmill as an adult early on and going back in time to play the song as child, is a preview of sorts of the Shadow Temple, the second-to-last Adult Link temple.

** Norfair from ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' and Magmoor Caverns from ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' do this, complete with the tense, brooding music. But as soon as you step outside of the elevator rooms, you'll be greeted by a blast of heat that drains your health quickly as you stand in it. You have to go back and get the Varia Suit (unless you don't mind some risky SequenceBreaking). Later, after getting the Ice Beam, the nearby [[DoorToBefore elevator]] deposits you in the Overworld near the crashed Frigate Orpheon, which you can enter with said Beam. But once you try to traverse the flooded reactor core, you'll hit a dead end and be instructed to find the Gravity Suit back in Phendrana Drifts. Likewise, the Chozo Ruins South elevator near the aforementioned Ice Beam and East elevator leads to the [[DisconnectedSideArea Great Tree Hall]] on the other side of the Frigate, but the gate to the lower half of the hall is [[TheKeyIsBehindTheLock locked from the other side]], the blue door is only reachable via [[FloatingPlatforms platforms]] [[InvisibleBlock that you need the X-Ray Visor to see]], and the tunnel behind the upper white door, which leads to said Visor and an [[MacGuffin Artifact]], is blocked by a [[{{Unobtanium}} Bendezium]] barrier, for which you need the Power Bombs from the Phazon Mines.

[[quoteright:250:[[VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/smw1.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:250:You'll [[LiteralMetaphor cross that bridge]] when the time comes.]]

* In ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'', the room used to unlock Click Clock Woods can be accessed as soon as the player collects 50 Notes from the first level, and shares the area's music and forest theme. However, the platform used to insert Jiggies is missing until the player activates a switch at Click Clock Woods' actual entrance, towards the end of the game.
** The sequel, ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'', has almost every world linked to another via some sort of secret tunnel, which are necessary to get certain Jiggies. You can use some of these to get a sneak peak at worlds you haven't unlocked yet, but you can never get far before you've unlocked the world proper; in many cases, these are just {{Disconnected Side Area}}s, though. Also, to get into the main area of Grunty Industries, you first have to depress the train switch, then get in there by way of Chuffy (which means a BossBattle if you haven't already beaten it).

* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'', you very briefly pass through the [[WombLevel Bionis' Interior]] early in the game, and it's just a narrow corridor leading to the next area with absolutely nothing in it but a single NPC. You can tell that there's far more to this area by the fact that it has a page in the Collectopedia despite there being no items there, and your map being nowhere near finished. Only at the very end of this long game are you finally able to explore this area in its entirety.

* ''Manga/{{Strider}}'' (NES): The first level has an impassable red wall, for which you need the Magnetic Boots from China, and doors marked S2 and S3, which require keys from later still levels. Better yet, one of the first data files you acquire grants access to Australia, but the way forward is blocked by an insurmountable spike pit until your jumping ability is upgraded much later in the game. In turn, there's a whole DisconnectedSideArea of Africa that can only reached through a tube found in Australia.

** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' has Alucard come to the Castle Keep from the Cathedral towers. You can only explore the lower area of it to get the Leap Stone. Later, you'll enter from the Clock Tower higher up and should have the ability to explore the higher areas due to either having the bat form, a longer lasting mist form, or the high jump.

** In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'', Soma can enter the first room of the Silenced Ruins, a level that's a [[ContinuityNod call-back]] to the first level of the very first game in the series, from the Subterranean Hell while exploring. However, as Soma enters, a cannon fires at the pillars in the way...and time freezes. The second pillar contains an image of a rabbit, recognizable to those who played ''Aria'' as the Chronomage. You won't get any further than this until you find a soul with powers over time itself.

** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' allows you to enter the Wakeport as soon as you exit Pi'illo Castle, the first dungeon of the game. However, only the very entrance of the area is explorable (which is still worthy to do, as it contains a bunch of Hermite Crabs [[DiscOneNuke that you can use to level grind exceptionally fast]]) since a log is blocking the rest of the Wakeport and it only disappears after you complete Mushrise Park, Dozing Sands, and their respective dreamy versions.

** In the first game, the Abandoned Mine is directly north of the starting town, but [[BeefGate you don't stand a chance against the monsters at low levels]], and the treasure chests are locked until you obtain the key from the Shrine. The mine itself contains a preview of the second game's FinalDungeon.
** In ''V'', there's a BrokenBridge directly east of Xandria, which happens to be a DoorToBefore from a much later area. Near that is Masha's cabin, which you can't do anything at until you've done certain questwork in Xandria and Foresta.

[[folder:First Person Shooter]]
* At the beginnings of some of ''VideoGame/{{Halo 2}}'s'' levels, such as Delta Halo and Uprising, you can see the structures that are part of the next level.

[[folder:RPG]]

* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', the Brotherhood of Steel's Citadel is just halfway between Megaton and Rivet City, and you may pass by it while exploring, but you can't enter until after the Waters of Life quest, two thirds of the way through the story. In the ''Point Lookout'' expansion pack, the Lighthouse is accessible from the beginning, but the Underground Laboratory beneath it only unlocks once the DLC's last main quest is initiated, although the entrance can be seen on the map beforehand.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'':

** VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime has the [[BleakLevel devastated Toad Town]]. You can acess it midway through the game, but the area you end up with is blocked off by a metal gate you can only acess from outside. You only get to explore it properly around the mid-late game.
** VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory also has the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Airway and the Chest Station]]. They are unlocked very, very early in the game, but are [[BookEnds only actually acessed at the very, very end-game]].

** The sequel, ''VideoGame/Banjo-Tooie]]'', has almost every world linked to another via some sort of secret tunnel, which are necessary to get certain Jiggies. You can use some of these to get a sneak peak at worlds you haven't unlocked yet, but you can never get far before you've unlocked the world proper; in many cases, these are just {{Disconnected Side Area}}s, though. Also, to get into the main area of Grunty Industries, you first have to depress the train switch, then get in there by way of Chuffy (which means a BossBattle if you haven't already beaten it).

* ''[[VideoGame/BanjoKazooie Banjo-Tooie]]'' has almost every world linked to another via some sort of secret tunnel, which are necessary to get certain jiggies. You can use some of these to get a sneak peak at worlds you haven't unlocked yet, but you can never get far before you've unlocked the world proper; in many cases, these are just {{Disconnected Side Area}}s, though. Also, to get into the main area of Grunty Industries, you first have to depress the train switch, then get in there by way of Chuffy (which means a BossBattle if you haven't already beaten it).
* In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', it's possible to [[SequenceBreaking travel to San Fierro and Las Venturas before they've been officially unlocked]] (you just [[BrokenBridge can't get there by road]]). However, until you progress far enough in the storyline, there's nothing to do there except look at the scenery and run from the hordes of murderous cops -- did we not mention the [[BorderPatrol four-star wanted level you get the moment you skip town?]]
* In ''VideoGame/RogueLegacy'' it's entirely possible to stumble into the hardest section of the game with a low-level character. Enjoy the new tile set and music while you can because, oops, you're already dead. There are also teleporters that dump you into a random section of the game with no way back that can function as this.

* ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' pulls this many times:
** A path at the bottom of the Forgotten Crossroads leads to a locked elevator that is a DoorToBefore from the much later City of Tears.
** The upper-right exit from Greenpath leads to a preview of Howling Cliffs, but you can't go any further until you have the Mantis Claw.
** The main shaft of Fog Canyon may be passed through on the way to Fungal Wastes, but for the side areas, including the one where the map merchant is, and the path to the Queen's Gardens, you need Isma's Tear to protect yourself from the acid.
** Two entrances to Crystal Peak are found at the upper-right corner of the Crossroads. One requires the Desolate Dive earned from defeating Soul Master in the aforementioned City of Tears, while the other requires the Lumafly Lantern, which can be purchased early on if you grind out enough Geo. You still won't be able to access several areas without the Mantis Claw and Monarch Wings, though.
** The Moss Prophet's hideout, found from the lower-left exit of the Fungal Wastes after acquiring the Mantis Claw, provides a sneak peak of the aforementioned Queen's Gardens, but the barrier separating it from the rest of the dungeon is only breakable from the other side.

* ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}''
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' has Alucard come to the Castle Keep from the Cathedral towers. You can only explore the lower area of it to get the Leap Stone. Later, you'll enter from the Clock Tower higher up and should have the ability to explore the higher areas due to either having the bat form, a longer lasting mist form, or the high jump.
** In ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'', it's actually pretty likely for players to enter the sewers pretty early on. However, this entry is the exit, and a gigantic wall blocks them from making any progress beyond the door.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'' is a bit of an unusual example in that the player isn't exactly aware of entering anyplace significantly different. After acquiring the ability to slide in the Shrine of Apostates, Juste will return to the Corridor of Marble and find a teleport room. After using it, the player only gets a cryptic "This room looks the same, but its aura is different..." After exploring the Castle Treasury, the Skeleton Cave, and the Luminous Cavern, Juste will find another teleport room much like the first. When finding the REAL warp rooms that teleport you to other places in the castle, Juste will meet up with Death who explains that there's not just one, but TWO castles to explore. At this point, the maps for castle A and B become available and the player learns that the first transportation took them to Castle B, where they explored the Treasury, Cave, and Caverns before. The only clue of this being anyplace different from before is that it appears to be daytime in the background there as opposed to night and the fact that the difficulty seems to spike a bit.
** ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow]]'', Soma can enter the bottom-most room of the Top Floor from the Living Quarters. As you don't have the Giant Bat soul to fly yet, you can't progress any higher. You'll have to come back at the end of the game after defeating Balore in the Arena.
** In ''[[VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow]]'', Soma can enter the first room of the Silenced Ruins, a level that's a [[ContinuityNod call-back]] to the first level of the very first game in the series, from the Subterranean Hell while exploring. However, as Soma enters, a cannon fires at the pillars in the way...and time freezes. The second pillar contains an image of a rabbit, recognizable to those who played ''Aria'' as the Chronomage. You won't get any further than this until you find a soul with powers over time itself.

* In ''VideoGame/TheJourneymanProject'', NORAD VI is chronologically the first Temporal Rip zone, but you won't survive the DeadlyGas there unless you have the Oxygen Mask from the Mars Colony, and to get past the retinal scanner, you need the Retinal Biochip from the World Science Center, [[DoubleUnlock which itself requires an item from Mars to complete]].

* ''VideoGame/{{Rayman}} 1'' had a particularly evil one. After fighting through a particularly frustrating world made of musical instruments, you open up a new level in a new area of the game, the Blue Mountains. This level has a stormy background, and a very dark and tense atmosphere, complete with [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NqDuhaXfWxI an awesome, pulse-pounding rock theme]], a type of music you haven't heard yet for the whole game... But you can't get past the initial cliff until you go back and complete the Dream Forest to get the ability to grab the purple rings. What a tease!
* ''VideoGame/LyleInCubeSector'' has a few of these parts early-game.

* The {{Metroidvania}} entries in the ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' series sometimes do this:
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'' teases you with the Clock Tower, Colosseum and Olrox's Quarters should you choose to enter them, but you need abilities to get through them fully.
** ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrow'' does this with the Underground Reservoir - you can enter it very early on, but you'll get about two rooms in, and you can't explore the whole thing until much later (good thing too - it's huge!). The same happens with the Top Floor in the same game.
** You're not getting all the way through the Tower of Death as soon as you can reach it in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaPortraitOfRuin'', ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaHarmonyOfDissonance'' has the Top Floor, and part of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaOrderOfEcclesia'' exists solely to taunt the player about how they don't have access.

* ''Manga/{{Strider}}'' (NES): The first level has an impassable red wall, for which you need the Magnetic Boots from China, and doors marked S2 and S3, which require keys from later still levels. Better yet, one of the first data files you acquire grants access to Australia, but the way forward is blocked by an insurmountable spike pit until your jumping ability is upgraded much later in the game. In turn, there's a whole DisconnectedSideArea of Africa that can only reached through a tube found in Australia.
* The LicensedGame of ''VideoGame/TheAddamsFamily'' for the SNES, also a {{Metroidvania}}, teases you with the Music Room, which contains a locked door leading to the Basement that only opens after all of the family members are rescued.

* In ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest''
** You can open the passage to the Valley of the Wind as soon as you get the Charge Flame ability in Hollow Grove, but the GrimyWater, SpikesOfDoom, and in the UpdatedRerelease, a GroundPound-activated gate, preclude further progress at this point in the game.
** In the first half of Thornfelt Swamp, you can catch a brief glimpse of [[DisconnectedSideArea the second half]] that you can't access until after the Ginso Tree, along with an Energy Cell that can't be collected until much later still.
** The path to [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Mount Horu]] is accessible once you have the Bash and Stomp abilities from the Ginso Tree and Thornfelt Swamp respectively, but you can't enter the dungeon until you have the Sunstone from Sorrow Pass, which you get a sneak preview of when confronting Kuro at the Valley of the Wind.
** Sorrow Pass proper can only be accessed by gliding with Kuro's Feather once you have restored the Element of Winds in the Forlorn Ruins, for which you need the Gumon Seal and Climb ability from the Misty Woods. Unless you utilize a certain SequenceBreaking technique.
** The entrance to the UpdatedRerelease's BonusDungeon is right next to the first Spirit Well near the start of the game, and can be reached early on with the WallJump, but to access and explore the second half, you need the Stomp and other skills learned later. There's also a DoorToBefore leading to Gumo's Hideout that may be happened upon from the wrong direction.
* In ''VideoGame/BlasterMaster: Overdrive'', you can reach the entrance to Area 4 with the [[GrapplingHookPistol Anchor Kit]] you obtain from the first boss, but other than picking up an Energy upgrade, you can't do anything there until you have the [[ThisIsADrill Drill Kit]] to break the blocks.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fe}}'', the first map area that you traverse after the HubLevel, which includes the cave where you first meet the Silent Ones, has a large sub-region that is unreachable at this time, and is also [[DisconnectedSideArea visible from the Lizard/Snake zone]]. This is actually where the Owl drops Fe off for the PlayableEpilogue after the credits, but it can be reached from the exit of the aforementioned cave as soon as you learn the Snakes' song, [[AbilityRequiredToProceed which activates the]] [[SpringsSpringsEverywhere springboard plants]].
* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps'':
** The entrances to Baur's Reach and Mouldwood Depths can be found during Act I, but are closed off until Act II. Likewise, you can get a brief glimpse of Luma Pools after activating the Wellspring, as well as find the back side of a DoorToBefore from the former to Inkwater Marsh after learning Bash. There is [[SequenceBreaking an exploit to get into Luma Pools proper early]], but doing so can [[GameBreakingBug break the game]] and render it {{unwinnable}}.
** Upon completing Act I, you can visit the Windswept Wastes from Silent Woods, learn the Burrow ability, and acquire a few upgrades there, but can't enter the Windtorn Ruins until after clearing the other three middle-act dungeons.

* In ''VideoGame/LegacyOfTheWizard'', most of the time, upon discovering a new area, you'd be unable to progress very far because you have the wrong character.
* Obtaining one of the spells in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest'' requires you to take a passage into an otherwise inaccessible section of Doom Castle. Long before you get to go there for real.
* The first level in ''VideoGame/{{Zeliard}}'' requires you to pass through a portion of the second level (which is separated from the rest of that level), in a game where levels are defined by tileset and music.

* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'', there is a warp pipe that connects Land's End to Kero Sewers. You are meant to travel through this pipe from the Land's End side, as it is too high to jump up to in Kero Sewers. However, by engaging in a battle with a nearby Boo, then running away, it is possible to stand on the Boo during its MercyInvincibility, allowing you to use it as a makeshift platform, from which you can jump up to the pipe. Upon warping to Land's End, you will not get very far, as the section only functions as an exit, and a Shy Away will tell you to turn back. There is another Shy Away here you can actually fight, although his party will likely be able to make short work of yours if you came here early and unprepared. The intended use of this pipe is to reach a block in Kero Sewers that contains Cricket Jam (a {{sidequest}} item). However, [[DevelopersForesight the block will only contain a Frog Coin if accessed via the Boo method]]; the Cricket Jam will only appear in the block if you came through the sewers via Land's End, regardless of whether or not you already got the Frog Coin earlier on.
* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'':
** VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime has the [[BleakLevel devastated Toad Town]]. You can acess it midway through the game, but the area you end up with is blocked off by a metal gate you can only acess from outside. You only get to explore it properly around the mid-late game.
** VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory also has the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Airway and the Chest Station]]. They are unlocked very, very early in the game, but are [[BookEnds only actually acessed at the very, very end-game]].
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** The first time you see the map of Kanto in ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', which you can do early enough in the game, might qualify. Not only you can't explore this second region in its entirety yet, you can't even select much on your map, as the cursor only goes through routes 26, 27, and 28 (the last of which is actually at the very end of the game), the Victory Road and the League HQ (leading the gamer to think that the other areas are on the map just for the show). It's only after you beat the league that you can travel there. On the side note, the Silver Cave is visible on your map from the start, without any discernible paths leading to it, though this is simply because Mt. Silver is part of the game's main region of Johto despite being directly connected to Kanto. The remakes, which allow the map screen's cursor to be moved freely, mention Kanto before it's even visited if the cursor is moved to the eastern side of the map (such as the part of the map close to Mt. Silver, which the map still initially displays no path to) because the map screen displays the region the selected area is in. In addition, the first visit to Kanto only has the map display the pre-league part of Kanto and Route 28 (which, again, is at the end of the game, but at least shows how to get to Mt. Silver) until after the rest is unlocked, after which the whole region is displayed.
** The first set of remakes, ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]'', which are remakes of [[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue the games Kanto originally came from]], have a sidequest in three of the new Sevii Islands areas after the next-to-last badge is obtained. There are actually seven islands in total (or nine when counting the two event-only islands that aren't displayed without the items needed to go there), and the others can't be visited until the Elite Four are defeated.
* In ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'', the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon is right across the strait from the starting castle. In ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII'', the starting town has a locked gate connecting to a later area.

* ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'':
** In ''Wanderers from Ys'', the first dungeon, Tigre Quarry, contains the door to the Cursed Mine, which is not accessible until after completing Ilvern Ruins.
** In the first game, the Abandoned Mine is directly north of the starting town, but [[BeefGate you don't stand a chance against the monsters at low levels]], and the treasure chests are locked until you obtain the key from the Shrine. The mine itself contains a preview of the second game's FinalDungeon.
** In ''V'', there's a BrokenBridge directly east of Xandria, which happens to be a DoorToBefore from a much later area. Near that is Masha's cabin, which you can't do anything at until you've done certain questwork in Xandria and Foresta.
* ''VideoGame/{{Miitopia}}'':
** There's a path in the second world, Neksdor, which goes upwards/north on the world map and leads into the Powdered Peaks, but the path is a dead end - and the Powdered Peaks aren't even accessible until after defeating the DiscOneFinalBoss.
* In ''VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles'', you very briefly pass through the [[WombLevel Bionis' Interior]] early in the game, and it's just a narrow corridor leading to the next area with absolutely nothing in it but a single NPC. You can tell that there's far more to this area by the fact that it has a page in the Collectopedia despite there being no items there, and your map being nowhere near finished. Only at the very end of this long game are you finally able to explore this area in its entirety.
* The first ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'' is an interesting example as the prologue of the game starts in Candlekeep, the Ward's home. Most everywhere is available to the player to explore with exception of the castle in the center of the map. Later on, in Chapter 6, Gorion's Ward and their party will pursue after the leaders of the Iron Throne here and finally be able to explore the castle in full, as well as the catacombs beneath Candlekeep during their escape.
* At some point in ''VideoGame/MegamiTenseiII'', you can run around a statue to teleport to a small island in Makai where you can get a new sword and recruit Naga. It's only much later that you can access any other part of Makai.

** The entrances to Baur's Reach and Mouldwood Depths can be found during Act I, but are closed off until Act II. Likewise, you can get a brief glimpse of Luma Pools after activating the Wellspring, as well as find the back side of a DoorToBefore from the former to Inkwater Marsh after learning Bash. There is [[SequenceBreaking an exploit to get into Luma Pools proper early]], but doing so can [[GameBreakingBug]] break the game and render it {{unwinnable}}.