History Main / PointOfNoReturn

*** A Polite version happens once you unlock the seventh Palace. Morgana tells you to take your time with preparing for the heist, since it will be your last chance to raise your social stats or hang out with your Confidants, with the final day being December 22nd). If you've unlocked the Third Semester in ''Royal'', however, then your final opportunity is February 1st[[note]]Technically, there is free time during the day on February 2nd, but there is a unique event that can only happen at this point ([[spoiler:Sumire's third Awakening]]) and the evening will be reserved by storyline events.[[/note]].

* Once you reach [[FinalBoss Wilfre]] in the DS version of ''[[VideoGame/DrawnToLife Drawn to Life: The Next Chapter]]'', you're unable to quit the level or do anything else on the pause menu (not even edit your hero or their weapons or forms) except resume the game.

* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** Every game, except for Sword/Shield, has this when going into the Pokémon League. Once you enter, the doors shut behind you and the only way out is to defeat the Elite Four and Champion or be defeated. Hopefully you were sufficiently prepared. Fortunately, the game warns you, and if you lose you get put back at the Pokémon Center outside the challenge area.

*** A Polite version happens once you unlock the seventh Palace. Morgana tells you to take your time with preparing for the heist, since it will be your last chance to raise your social stats or hang out with your Confidants, with the final day being December 22nd). If you've unlocked the Third Semester in ''Royal'', however, then your final opportunity is February 1st[[note]]Technically, there is free time during the day on February 2nd, but there is a unique event that can only happen at this point ([[spoiler:Sumire's third Awakening]]) and the evening will be reserved by storyline events.

*** When you confront and defeat the culprit in the original game, you lift the fog that's been plaguing Inaba. Once that happens, you lose the ability to hang out with your Social Links, since the game will immediately force you forward to Christmas and March afterwards, only stopping on 23rd December for the Christmas Eve date if you finish the dungeon early enough. It's less strict in ''Golden'' if you've completed the Aeon Social Link.
*** On the very last day, you can choose to chase the True Ending by entering TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon [[spoiler: instead of going home. If you do so, once you enter the TV world, you won't be able to explore Inaba anymore;]] if you try to leave, you'll only have the choice to go to the weapon shop Daidara or the item shop Shiroku.

*** Once the game catches up with the "present day" of the prologue, you are unable to return to school [[spoiler:due to the protagonist faking his death.]] You lose access to most services there like the library and the school's vending machines, but not your Confidants situated there. However, Kawakami's Confidant-based Request unlocks during an event situated at school; you will thus lose the ability to progress her Confidant if you ignore it for long enough. Similar to the previous game, it's less strict in ''Royal'' if you maxed out the new Social Links.
*** There is a very strict case in ''Royal'' concerning three confidants. You need to have [[spoiler: Maruki]] at Rank 9 and [[spoiler: Akechi]] at Rank 8 by November 18th, as well as have [[spoiler: Kasumi]] at Max Rank by December 24th as all confidants will be unavailable after these dates for various reasons. You especially need to max [[spoiler: Maruki]] out because if you fail to do so, you're locked out of the third semester. [[spoiler: Yoshida]] will also be unavailable come November 13th, but the player would have had adequate time to Max Rank him beforehand.
*** A Polite version happens once you unlock the seventh Palace. Morgana tells you to take your time with preparing for the heist, since it will be your last chance to raise your social stats or hang out with your Confidants.

** ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVII'':
*** Once Rosella leaves the Vulcanix Underground at the end of chapter two (or the beginning of chapter four), it remains out of bounds for the rest of the game... until the very end, when she finds a secret passage there (but she still can't access any of the areas she visited in chapter 2). Once she leaves Ooga Booga Land and traverses the Were Woods, she also cannot go back. Finally, once she enters the room with the secret passage back to the Vulcanix Underground, she finds herself locked in and the only way out is to find it.
*** Mostly averted with Valanice, who can backtrack to anywhere she's previously been throughout the game, although she is temporarily unable to do so once she has traversed the Were Woods to get to Ooga Booga Land. [[spoiler: once she gets the flute from Count Tsepish she is able to travel anywhere in the world.]]

** Averted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', where you can turn back at any point prior to activating the cutscene leading into the final boss battle, although considering that this is at the end of TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon it's a bit of a trek to get back.

** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' has a Tough example (since there is absolutely no forewarning) in an InsurmountableWaistHeightFence on Route 4, on the road to Cerulean City. One you jump down over it, you can't return to any of the earlier areas (Pallet Town, Viridian City and Forest, Pewter City, and Mt. Moon) until you acquire the Cut HM from the S.S. Anne, allowing you to backtrack through Diglett's Cave.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonReborn'' includes a Polite one as you head to Agate City—you won't be able to return until you get Fly, several Badges later.
** ''Pokémon Ranger: Guardian Signs'' features a sudden but ultimately “mercifil” point of no return after Mission 12: Protect Zapdos! when the sky fortress takes to the air. Societea, just revealed to be the real baddies, use their newly aquired toy to blow the tiny Dolce Island off the map (Cue that clip from Anchorman). Luckily the island’s native Pokémon escaped the blast with nary a scratch and were rescued by boats to the main island. But Dolce Island (the island you first landed on when you started the game) is gone now, you can’t go back there… except via a computer simulation in the post-game, courtesy of science girl Nema, which lets you relive past boss battles as well.

*** Even that one is a subversion; once you proceed, you get locked in the penultimate dungeon, and as soon as you leave that, you're locked in the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon...sort of. You can't go anywhere else in the real world, but you regain the ability to shop and revisit previous dungeons at your leisure. The ''real'' point of no return comes after you've sent the last calling card; you're locked into the final boss battle as soon as you choose to take the elevator to the arena.