History Main / WhereItAllBegan

* In ''Manga/OnePiece'', Pirate King Gold Roger was finally brought to execution at his home town, Logue Town. For this reason Logue Town is known as "The Town of the Beginning and the End." It's even a themed name, as it refers to ''pro''logue and ''epi''logue.
** Twenty-two years later, the protagonist Luffy arrives at Logue Town. He is captured and placed in a stockade, ironically on the very execution stand upon which the Pirate King died. There, he proclaims that he ''will'' be the Pirate King, and as Buggy's sword came down to end his life, he apologizes to his crew...and smiles, echoing the death of the previous Pirate King. At this point, Luffy is saved by dumb luck (lightning strikes Buggy), and his act of defiance spurs Smoker, a marine captain, who witnessed the Pirate King's execution decades before, to chase after him. Thus, WhereItAllBegan is where the adventure begins again, but this time, with a new Pirate King.

* Marty's destination in ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' is to get back to where the movie started. We even get to see a scene from the beginning of the movie again at the end.

* Subverted in ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic'' when, just as Mithril is making its final preparations to recapture Merida Island, Amalgam seizes a Soviet nuclear missile base in Badakhsha, Afghanistan, and threatens to launch its arsenal. Having basically grown up in the middle of the UsefulNotes/SovietInvasionOfAfghanistan, Sousuke considers the location to be utterly life-defining...which leads him to realize that Amalgam chose the location specifically to lead Sousuke ''away'' from the actual battle he's needed for so that Leonard can enact his plan without Mithril's trump card, the Laevatein, around to counter him. Thus, Sousuke decides to let the rest of Mithril's SRT handle Afghanistan while he and Tessa themselves confront Leonard at Merida.

* In ''Anime/DigimonFrontier'', the episode "Bad To The Bones" had the DigiDestined return to the Village of Flames, which was the first location in the Digital World that they set foot in, and where Takuya first became Agunimon. This time, the village is under attack by Lucemon's forces.

* ''[[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist Fullmetal Alchemist (2003)]]'' had Liore, also lampshaded in Episode 41 with a bar in Liore called Motherland.

* A character arc went like this in OpeningAtlantis by Creator/HarryTurtledove. Francois Kersauzon's story starts in the fortress of Noveau Redon. One long military campaign against the English later, and he is waiting out a siege. The siege ends with the English destroying the source of the fort's spring. This forces Kersauzon to move against them. He dies.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, "where it all began" is [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts]]. For both Harry and Voldemort it's the place where they first felt at home and free from their confining upbringings. Of course, Hogwarts is where 90% of the series takes place, but Harry spends the last book, ''[[Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows Deathly Hallows]]'', away from school on a MacGuffin hunt, only to eventually realize he must return there for the last one. Voldemort figures out what he's up to at the same time, and events snowball into a GrandFinale BattleRoyale.

** Twenty-two years later, the protagonist Luffy arrives at Logue Town. He is captured and placed in a stockade, ironically on the very execution stand upon which the Pirate King died. There, he proclaims that he ''will'' be the Pirate King, and as Buggy's sword came down to end his life, he apologizes to his crew...and smiles, echoing the death of the previous Pirate King. At this point, Luffy is saved by dumb luck (lighting strikes Buggy), and his act of defiance spurs Smoker, a marine captain, who witnessed the Pirate King's execution decades before, to chase after him. Thus, WhereItAllBegan is where the adventure begins again, but this time, with a new Pirate King.

* The film version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' has its climax and ending in Arthur's home.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'':

* ''Series/SquidGame: The area where the first game took place in "[[Recap/SquidGameS1E1RedLightGreenLight Red Light, Green Light]]" is the location of the last one in "[[Recap/SquidGameS1E9OneLuckyDay One Lucky Day]]".

** In the third series' last book, ''The Sister of the South'', Lief and co. came back to Del once they figured out the [[KillEmAll last deadly Sister]] was inside the capital.

-->'''Uhtred''': You [[PrematurelyMarkedGrave dug your own grave?

-->'''Uhtred''': You dug your own grave?

* Dynamite's ''Radio/TheShadow'' Girasol arc started in New York City, and after traveling the world, returns to NYC for the finale.

* Ichiro Suzuki was the first Japanese fielder to make it big in Major League Baseball, signing with the Seattle Mariners in 2001 following nine seasons with NPB's Orix [=BlueWave=]. After twelve seasons with the Mariners he was traded to the New York Yankees, with whom he played for two and a half seasons before signing with the Miami Marlins for three more. He re-signed with the Mariners in 2018, and finally announced his retirement from professional baseball after a two-game series between the Mariners and Oakland A's on March 21, 2019... in Tokyo, where the teams were playing those games.

[[folder:Tabletop Game]]

* Ichiro Suzuki was the first Japanese fielder to make it big in Major League Baseball, signing with the Seattle Mariners in 2001 following nine seasons with NPB's Orix [=BlueWave=]. After twelve seasons with the Mariners he was traded to the New York Yankees, with whom he played for two and a half seasons before signing with the Miami Marlins for three more. He re-signed with the Mariners in 2018, and finally announced his retirement from professional baseball after a two-game series between the Mariners and Oakland A's on March 21, 2019...in Tokyo, where the teams were playing those games.

!!Examples:

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'', the final mission takes place in the Graybox, Alpha Protocol's headquarters and the site of the game's tutorial mission. This is heavily [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]]: the final section of the game is entitled "Operation Full Circle" and the BigBad muses on how appropriate it is that the story's ending in the same place it began in the cutscenes preceding the mission.
* ''VideoGame/AroundTheWorldIn80Days'': Days 1 to 7 take place in England, where Fogg has to get items necessary for travel. Much later, day 81 takes places back in England, where Fogg has to get golden rings for his wedding with Aouda, beginning the last level of the game.
* The last ruin you explore in ''VideoGame/AtelierRyza2LostLegendsAndTheSecretFairy'', the Ethereal Dragon's Coffin, is located in the depths of the Mausoleum of Eternity, which is the first ruin you explore. There's a wall which blocks you from advancing past the first room until near the end of the game.
* ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamSeries''
** ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamCity'' does this in a way. The final boss battle takes place at the theater Bruce Wayne attended on the night of his parents' murder, bringing it back to where it began not for the events of the game, but for Batman himself.
** Just before that, you enter the very same chamber Bruce Wayne was imprisoned in in the beginning of the game en route to [[VeryDefiniteFinalDungeon Wonder Tower.]] After the scene in wonder tower, you head to the theater, which, of course, is near the spot where Bruce's parents were killed, which is supposed to be one of the first easter eggs the player finds as Hugo Strange leaves a tape there for you in the beginning of the game. "''It will end where it began''" indeed.
** ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamAsylum'' also does this in a way with the Joker's makeshift lair, which is hidden in the extremely creepy Visitor's Center. The first time the player visits it, a cutscene plays where [[IShallTauntYou Joker taunts Batman]] and [[ItHasOnlyJustBegun foreshadows dangers to come]], and the player can continue to visit it throughout the game to hear him comment on events if they choose. The penultimate message the player can get is the Joker laughing at them on loop as a lead-up to the Joker boss battle. Additionally, the large Joker gateway over its entrance continues to be built throughout the game, only being fully completed by the end of the night, [[PointOfNoReturn and once the player enters the visitor's center at that point, the doors lock behind them]], a cutscene ensues, [[BookEnds and the game finally comes full circle]].
** Apparently, the Arkham series loves this trope, because in ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'' the final confrontation with Bane and Joker takes place at Blackgate Prison, where the game began.
** And ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight'' does it twice during the endgame -- first off, the final confrontation with Scarecrow takes place in the ruins of Arkham Asylum, and then a hallucination takes Batman to Crime Alley. Furthermore, the game's opening cutscene takes place in Pauli's Diner, which can be seen during the opening cutscene of ''Arkham Asylum'' -- where the series itself began.
* ''VideoGame/BattleForWesnoth'': The first scenario of ''Dead Water'' takes place in Jotha where Krellis must defend the city from the undead. The final one takes place in the same city when Krellis returns to liberate it from the undead.
* Very popular in Creator/{{Bioware}}/Creator/ObsidianEntertainment games:
** ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'': Irenicus returns to the place he first turned to evil, in order to finish what he started.
** ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights'': You begin in the city of Neverwinter. The final areas take you back to the city with the {{Plot Coupon}}s you've collected to open up the caverns below the castle of the city's ruler. In the ''Hordes of the Underdark'' expansion, the final battle takes place outside the Inn you woke up in at the start of the game.
** ''VideoGame/NeverwinterNights2'': Zhjaeve takes the player to reforge the Silver Sword of the Githyanki where it was originally broken long before the game started: in West Harbor. Which ''also'' happens to be the place where the game started, and the player's DoomedHometown. And again in ''Mask of the Betrayer'', where the final level is in a dreamscape version of West Harbor.
** ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'': The player's LastStand is held at the temple of Dirge, where the Spirit monks were all killed before the beginning of the game. It's also straight up invoked by [[BigBad Master Li]], who sends you to a dream-version of [[DoomedHometown Two Rivers]] and forces you to fight your fellow students as the school burns around you.
** But subverted in ''VideoGame/BaldursGate'': Your hero returns from Baldur's Gate to the hometown of Candlekeep in what appears [[DiscOneFinalDungeon to be the last chapter]], only to be sent to Baldur's Gate again for the final showdown.
** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' you face the BigBad and Dragon on the Citadel, the space station what was where you were at the end of the tutorial-linear opening of the game.
*** In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', [[OpeningTheSandbox the sandbox opens]] in the same system as the Omega-4 Relay, which is the only way to access the [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Collector Base]].
*** For Legion, who is strongly implied to be the first geth to take up arms against their creators (when the latter decided to begin genocide of the former), their story begins and ends on Rannoch, the quarian homeworld.
*** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' starts on Earth and ends on Earth. Not only that, the first game also began in Earth orbit.
*** DLC for ''Mass Effect 3'', "From Ashes", includes a mission on Eden Prime, where the very first mission in the very first game took place.
** In ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'': the gateway to TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon turns out to be in the Mortuary where the game started, just a few feet from where the main character woke up at the beginning of the whole thing. Turns out that the crazy guy outside the mortuary at the beginning of the game was foreshadowing something different when he told you that you'd been in, and out, of there before. It can even get lampshaded as an option, as one of the keys to enter is to write down a regret on a scrap of skin, and "I regret that [[RantInducingSlight I wandered all over the Planes when the damn portal was right here when I FIRST woke up]]" is perfectly valid.
** In ''VideoGame/IcewindDale'' the heroes [[YouAllMeetInAnInn All Meet In An Inn]] in a little town. They leave on their quest, then return in the final chapter to discover the main villain has been making himself at home while they were gone.
** Players with the City Elf background in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' will revisit the Alienage as part of the final battle. (The Dwarf origins and the Mage origin both return to where it began, and players with the Return to Ostagar DLC can, of course, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin return to Ostagar]], but none of these take place at the end of the game.)
** In the series' lore, when King Calenhad Theirin waged his war of unification in the land that became Ferelden, his first campaign led him back to the city of Highever, his home and birthplace, and he defeated the Couslands, making them the first to bend the knee to him.
** In the Witch Hunt DLC, the Dalish Warden returns to the broken mirror that tainted him/her. You can literally reply to Ariane that it's the place where everything began.
** In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' the FinalBattle takes place in the Gallows, the first part of Kirkwall Hawke sees when the family fled Lothering years ago.
** In ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'', the entire quest consists of Revan retracing his/her steps, only to end up back on the Starforge. In the sequel, ''The Sith Lords'', the Exile also has to retrace his/her steps, returning to many of the key locations of the Mandalorian War, and ending on the ruins of Malachor V, the world the Exile destroyed to stop the Mandalorians and save the galaxy, the act which transformed the Exile into a hole in the Force.
** The final story mission in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' take place on the floating remains of the Temple of Sacred Ashes, where the PC awakened in the prologue.
* In the expansion to ''[[VideoGame/BlackAndWhite Black and White II]]'', the last island is the ruins of the Greek homeland, which you were forced to evacuate at the beginning of the main game. It still has the volcanoes that were summoned to destroy your first city.
* The final level of ''VideoGame/BlenderBros'' is your PlayerHeadquarters, the base of the Cosmo Keepers. The bad guys invade your base, and it's up to Blender to rescue his friends.
* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'': Remember the locked gate in Hunter's Dream? This is the place where you put [[DeathSeeker Gehrman]] out of his misery.
* ''VideoGame/{{Borderlands}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Borderlands1'' DLC ''Claptrap's New Robot Revolution'' ends in Fyrestone, the place where the Vault Hunters met the Claptrap that would be the Interplanetary Ninja Assassin Claptrap and the place where they started the game.
** ''Videogame/Borderlands2'' brings you back to Fyrestone, the first area of the first game, in the penultimate mission of the main campaign.
* ''VideoGame/BravelyDefault'' has its final dungeon located inside the Great Chasm, former sight of Tiz's hometown and directly next to the starting town.
* ''VideoGame/BravelySecond'' does it three times over:
** The first run of the game ends with a DownerEnding that prompts Yew to break the fourth wall and beg you to invoke this trope by name, as he never even got a chance to fight the BigBad outside of the opening cutscene. Using NewGamePlus, you can oblige him and bring the full-strength party back to the opening cutscene to have your showdown there.
** The true final dungeon is accessed via the Great Chasm again, taking things back to the start of the first game.
** Inside the Great Chasm is the Celestial Realm, also known as our world, with you visible through the 3DS camera, meaning it goes back to where you first turned on the game console.
* In ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireII'', the cave at the back of the hero's childhood hometown is the entrance to the final dungeon. Anything more would be spoilery.
* At the very start of ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaCircleOfTheMoon'', your character is dropped into the Abyss while standing in front of the door to Dracula's inner sanctum. The ''entire rest of the game'' is a quest to get the key to that same door, behind which is the final encounter with Dracula.
* After completing TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon in ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'', the portal to the final boss opens up on Opassa Beach, which is just off the silent protagonist's hometown, and where he attempted to meet his girlfriend at the very beginning of the game.
* In ''VideoGame/ContraShatteredSoldier'' one of the final stages is located Galuga Archipelago. The Stage Select screen even says, "This is where it all began before, and where we can put a close to this war."
* ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}}'': The first game starts you landing on Lingshan, and the final cutscene other than TheStinger has you return to Lingshan.
* Firelink Shrine serves as this to the entire ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' trilogy as this is the beginning hub where the Chosen Undead begins their quest in earnest in Lordran. Then, in ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', the Ashen One must return to Firelink Shrine in order to reach the final battle. In another twist, the final battle is with the Soul of Cinder, who contains the soul of the Chosen Undead themselves, making it come full-circle in more ways than one.
* ''VideoGame/DawnOfMana'' begins and ends with a chase through TheLostWoods...but the second time around, you're going after the evil Sorceress after she's pulled a GrandTheftMe on Ritzia and the monsters have all been corrupted by Echoes.
* ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry4'': In a way. The whole game started at the church to when Nero was heading. By the end, Nero and Dante fight [[BigBad Sanctus]] and "[[AttackOfTheFiftyFootWhatever The Savior]]" near the very same church.
* The final battle of ''VideoGame/DeusExInvisibleWar'' takes place on Liberty Island, the exact same place the first level of the original ''VideoGame/DeusEx'' took place. The map design is even incredibly similar, although alterations were made due to the limits of the console-based engine of ''Deus Ex 2''.
* ''VideoGame/DigimonWorld'': You start the game in File City, and it reamins your main base of operations throughout the game. There's an easily visible entrance to ''somewhere'' across an impassable river, and none of the city improvements made by recruited Digimon ever seems to include a bridge. Once you reach 50 population, regardless of exactly which Digimon you have, you finally get access to this area... and it turns out to be the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.
* ''VideoGame/DigimonWorld3'': The final battle takes place in an almost identical equivalent of the building where the player first arrived in the Digital World.
* The final episode of ''VideoGame/Disgaea3AbsenceOfJustice'' takes place in the same location as the first episode (Though it's been remodeled from a fairly typical castle into a futuristic looking palace). The final battle of the Raspberyl story takes place in the same location.
* ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 8 XL'' makes reference to this during the final stage of Lu Bu's Hypothetical route, Recapture of Chang'an, when Zhang Liao comments that Chang'an was where all of Lu Bu's troubles began, having been forced out of the city earlier in the story. Lu Bu replies that this is different; this time, he is free to do as he wishes on the battlefield.
* In order to access TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon in ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', Ness and his friends not only have to return to Ness' hometown, but have to return to the crash site of the meteorite which set the entire plot in motion. The dungeon isn't there, though: the party needs a piece of the meteorite, which contains a rare mineral, to power the TimeTravel machine that will deliver them to the main antagonist's lair. It isn't easy though, as Ness' hometown has become over run with aliens in the meantime.
* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'' sets out on a quest to find out what happened to his pod after it is abducted from his home bay. When he discovers they were abducted by aliens, his only decent way of chasing them is to use time travel to return to his home bay at the time of the incident and get abducted with them.
* The very last scenario of the Russian campaign of ''Videogame/EmpireEarth'' is not only at the exact same place as the first, but at the exact same ''time'', as you have betrayed Grigor II and used TimeTravel to get there and stop him at the very beginning. Unfortunately for you, Grigor II has done the same to protect the original Grigor and his rise to power, and he's brought much more to bear than you. A Bad Case of Deja Vu indeed.
* The final chapter of ''VideoGame/TheEvilWithin'' takes place at Beacon Mental Hospital, where the first chapter was. You even pass through part of the sewer system you did back then, access a door you couldn't and even find a note in the same place you found one back then.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fable}}'', the final boss fight occurs in the Chamber of Fate. Although not technically where the game began, it is where your character is officially made a Hero, so it counts.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' the main character is born at the Jefferson Memorial, but is led to believe he/she was born in Vault 101. [[WideOpenSandbox Sooner or later]], the player storms that same place twice in the main storyline.
** It goes a lot further than that. If you pay close attention and find all the right logs, you'll realize that the player character (assuming you disregard the expansion) dies on the ''exact spot where he was conceived'' - in the reactor room, fixing the problem his parents missed because they were too busy having sex.
** In addition, one sidequest tasks the player with returning to their old home, Vault 101, to quell a dispute between the residents within concerning opening the vault and venturing out. At the quest's conclusion, the player leaves the vault again, [[YouCantGoHomeAgain for the last time.]]
* The final mission of ''VideoGame/FarCry5'' is outright called "Where It All Began", as Joseph is waiting to offer his final deal at the church where you first tried to arrest him. Unfortunatly, neither option really goes your way...
* Very subtly done in ''VideoGame/{{FEAR}}''. The game's first level is a non-combat tutorial where you search an abandoned building in a run-down neighborhood for the game's TheDragon. At the very end of the game, you emerge from an ElaborateUndergroundBase into a run down warehouse. If you look out the window, you'll see that you're in the very same neighborhood that the game's first level took place in.
** Also, the final "confrontation" with Alma takes place in a hallucination of the same building from the game's first level, which is revealed to be the labratory where Alma gave birth to your character.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' brings many, many examples:
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'', the final task of the Light Warriors, after killing the four elemental Fiends and [[CosmicKeystone reviving the power of the Crystals]], is to go back to the ruined Temple of Fiends, site of their first quest. Using the power of the Crystals, they travel two thousand years into the past, to the true Temple of Fiends, in order to battle the four Fiends and their master Chaos on their own home turf. And to take it even farther, the FinalBoss Chaos and the first boss Garland are the same person. The remakes call the temple the "Chaos Shrine". That's right; Garland's hideout at the beginning of the game is a shrine to himself.
** For ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'', the game begins with Cecil and the Red Wings flying back to Baron, and on the way is a flashback that explains they're returning from Mysidia after stealing their Crystal. Later in the game [[LaserGuidedKarma Cecil returns to the city]] and becomes a Paladin, shortly after which he returns to Baron. Then later still, he returns to the tower just behind the Crystal's resting chamber to witness the arrival of the airship that will fly them to the moon, where the BigBad awaits.
** In the sequel ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyIVTheAfterYears The After Years]]'', the Mysterious Girl descends to Earth at Baron, and the party gathers their numbers and heads to Baron in the penultimate tale to confront her.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyV'', the first scenario is in Castle Tycoon and the journey starts in the kingdom of Tycoon. When the two worlds merge, the Void will absorb Castle Tycoon and leave a dark portal in it's place. This dark portal is the entrance to the Interdimentional Rift, the game's Final Dungeon.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'', the final dungeon in the World of Ruin is directly north of the first town you visit, but you have to find your friends and dig up an airship to get in. Said final dungeon is built out of the ruins of Vector. Earlier in the game, the player escapes from Narshe, and after joining the Returners they elect to return to the city, at which point a battle takes place to close the first story arc of the game and begin the next one.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' pulls off a similar feat. You spend at least a good 7-10 hours in Midgar at the start of the game and then can't get back in after you leave the city completely (unless you find the key to the gate in a mini game much later on and even then, it only lets you back into Sector 5 and 6). Towards the very end of disc 2 after beating Diamond WEAPON, your party parachutes into Midgar to stop Hojo and the music for the chapter is the same one you heard in the beginning of the game when you first started out. On top of that, Barret comments that he kind of misses Midgar after having come back, but then gets angry at himself for longing for a dump run by Shin-Ra.
** In the spin-off ''VideoGame/CrisisCore'', Zack finds out Genesis's base is under the ruins of Banora, which was bombed in Chapter 2 after the initial confrontation with Genesis.
** In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'', it is revealed that the main characters all grew up together at Edea's Orphanage. As part of Odine's gambit to find Ultimecia, far into the future, they allow the Time Compression to occur and then concentrate on returning to the Orphanage in order to emerge from the timestream...only to reveal that Ultimecia's Castle is ''anchored'' to it.
** Thematic parallel: in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Tidus' journey begins in Dream Zanarkand, which is then destroyed by Sin. At the end of the game, when the party has gone inside Sin to destroy Braska's Final Aeon, only to find its deepest layers a ruined recreation of Zanarkand. Also, before the fight with Sin, the entire game has been a pilgrimage to the real Zanarkand. Not only that, but when you are traveling to Spira at the beginning of the game, you pass through the same ruined Zanarkand recreation...
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' starts in Rabanastre, a desert city struggling under the rule of [[TheEmpire the Archadian Empire]], which is also home to half of the characters in the main party. The end of the game has the team facing off against the final boss at the top of a giant sky fortress that just so happens to be hovering directly above Rabanastre.
** ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'', the prequel ''Dissidia 012'' begins Bartz's storyline in the Land of Discord after he's been captured. Once he escapes Zidane is captured, and Bartz has to head back to the Land of Discord to find him and fight his FinalBoss. The Warriors of Cosmos also return to Order's Sanctuary near the end of the 13th cycle once they have their Crystals, the first time all the heroes have been gathered together since the start of the 12th cycle, when Cosmos imbued them with her power so they could manifest said Crystals.
*** The game's backstory reveals Chaos was created in the Cardian Islands laboratories at the behest of Onrac, his lair and the site of the final battle in the Land of Discord is on a floating island off the shore of Onrac, and the Cardian Islands link the Land of Discord to the mainland. The title of a Report, "Hill with View of the Water Temple" (the Water Shrine's approximate location underwater would be beneath Chaos's island) also implies that this is where Cid, Garland, Chaos and Cosmos arrived in World B and the cycles of war began.
*** And as a meta-example for the entire series, in the ending sequence the Warriors of Cosmos appear outside Cornelia in World A, and the Warrior of Light begins walking towards the castle, revealing the ''Dissidia'' games to be a prequel to the original ''Final Fantasy'' which started out the same way.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'': Serah's journey starts when a meteorite (actually a Time Gate) crashes just outside New Bodhum, her home since Cocoon's fall, and Noel appears. The pair end up in a ruined version of New Bodhum ([[AfterTheEnd in 700 -AF-]]), just before TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. The game also ends in Valhalla, where the tutorial and prologue took place (on the same beach where Caius was shown laying Yeul to rest).
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXV'' continues the trend by ending in Insomnia, the protagonists' DoomedHometown AfterTheEnd. Unlike most examples however, it was not accessible as a playable area in the beginning of the game, only appearing in cutscenes, the tie-in movie ''Anime/KingsglaiveFinalFantasyXV'', and a short demo that was released before the game.
** Somewhat Zigzagged in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics''. The tutorial level starts at Orbonne Monestary, but this is revealed to be simply where Ramza ended up due to the events of the first chapter. The game's entire story does start properly as Chapter 2 begins where the tutorial level left off as Ramza had been explaining the events up to that point to his companions and the plot is kicked off. Later, at the end of Chapter 4, Ramza must return to Orbonne as it is the site of the portal that would lead to the very final levels.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', the prologue begins in Chalphy with Sigurd setting out to save Edain. In the final chapter, the last stretch of the war begins in Chalphy with Seliph setting out to end a 20-year Holy War and save Julia in the process.
** A rather meta example in the Tellius duology: the very first thing you see when booting up ''VideoGame/FireEmblemPathOfRadiance'' (after the Nintendo and Intelligent Systems logos) is [[http://serenesforest.net/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/fe9cg01.png an ominous-looking still image of the Tower of Guidance.]] Guess where the last few battles of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemRadiantDawn'' are fought.
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', the first battle in the war between TheEmpire and the Church of Seiros is the Battle of Garreg Mach, which is fought within the borders of the eponymous monastery. In the Silver Snow route, the same map serves as the final stage when Lady Rhea loses control of her powers and goes on a rampage.
* ''VideoGame/FullThrottle'' begins with Ben and his gang riding motorcycles. During the ending sequence, Ben is stuck on a wrecked plane at the edge of a bridge, and needs to get off the plane before it falls, a feat that's impossible to do on foot. However, a conveniently placed bike sits BehindTheBlack.
* The first ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'' game started and ended with the Angels launching from the White Moon and battling around it.
* ''VideoGame/Geneforge5Overthrow'' has one if you join Ghaldring's faction. One of the final quests but not the last one is to kill Shaper Rawal, who just happens to have his base in [[FirstTown Isenwood Spire.]] Even better is the fact that you can bypass most of his defenses by coming in through the [[NoobCave Foundry Core]].
* ''VideoGame/GhostHunter'' begins with two cops talking about the abandoned high-school they're checking out. It ends with them in the same place, talking about how they're going to report what happened.
* A ''when'' variation occurs in ''Videogame/GhostTrickPhantomDetective''. Not returning to the start of the night at the junkyard, oh no, but to the event ''ten years prior'' that set everything into motion that culminated on the night in question.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'':
** In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoSanAndreas'', the last few missions take place in the city where the first few did. The final mission ends on Grove Street.
** In ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', choosing the "Revenge" option takes you back to the ship you came in on.
* ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' plays this trope for all it's worth. Near the end, Manny returns to the city where he began the game working as a travel agent, now a [[FilmNoir corrupted cesspool of sin and debauchery]]. He infiltrates the heart of the criminal conspiracy, where the BigBad unwittingly ''offers Manny his old job. In his old office''.
* In ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'', Gordon Freeman arrives at the Combine-ruled City 17, passing through a block of flats and a trainstation, before reaching a friend's lab and then heading off to the coast, where he is later teleported back to the lab, except that resistence uprising has resulted in riots. This is most striking when the player escapes from some ruined apartments, to discover he is in the same courtyard has passed through earlier, and then goes on to find the train station exterior, now covered with Combine devices and walls. It's not nearly the end of the game, though.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved'' is fond of this trope; about halfway through the game, you end up backtracking through the levels you've previous been through, until the very last level which takes place on the very starship you began the game on in the first level. The first chapter title of the final level is even "...And The Horse You Rode In On."
** Likewise, in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 3}}'', the final battle takes place in the Halo Control Room, identical to the Halo Control Room in ''Halo CE''. You even face off against the same enemy.
** In addition, the entire final level in ''3'' is on a recreation of the first Halo. Clever gamers will note that the final Warthog-run course is designed to be a near-exact silhouette of the island from popular ''Halo CE'' level "The Silent Cartographer".
** Bungie's final game in the series, ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', ends with the first scene of ''VideoGame/HaloCombatEvolved''. Even more so, ''Reach's'' last level and the ''Halo's'' first level are both called "The Pillar of Autumn. This trope was even said word for word as part of the tagline:
--->"Remember where it all began. [[RememberTheAlamo Remember Reach]]."
* ''Franchise/{{Hitman}}'':
** ''VideoGame/HitmanCodename47'' opens with the titular character breaking out of the lab where he was created, and finishes in the same building, when he kills his creator.
** ''VideoGame/Hitman2SilentAssassin'' begins with 47 working in a church in Sicily, and features the final showdown in the same church, after which he leaves.
** ''VideoGame/HitmanContracts'' technically begins and ends in the same hotel room, but that's because he's been tripping the entire game on his near-deathbed.
* In ''VideoGame/{{Ico}}'', after Yorda is taken by the Queen, and you maneuver your way through the castle's underground waterway, you come upon the very dock that you were taken to in the game's opening scene. And it turns out the Queen's throne room was right next to the room you were first imprisoned in.
* In ''VideoGame/InFamous'', the final boss battle is fought at the site of the explosion that began the game.
* Averted in ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy''. Despite seeing Gol and Mia and Daxter undergoing his transformation on Misty Island, the FinalBattle takes place at Gol and Mia's citadel far away from Jak and Daxter's village.
* The finale of ''VideoGame/JediKnightIIJediOutcast'' takes you back to the Jedi Temple on Yavin, where you [[JustifiedTutorial retrained in the ways of the Force]] near the start of the game. This time around, however, [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs the Temple is under siege by Desann and the Empire Reborn]], and you get to go through all the areas you held back from earlier as you lead the defense and [[FinalBoss face off with Desann one last time]].
* ''VideoGame/JetSetWilly'' ends with the scene depicted on the game's cover art; Willy's head down the toilet in "The Bathroom", the game's starting room. ''Jet Set Willy 2'' has the same ending sequence, only on reaching the toilet Willy is transported to "Oh [[SymbolSwearing $#!+!]] The Central Cavern!", the first room of the ''previous'' game in the series, ''VideoGame/ManicMiner''.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'':
** The final battle with [[BigBad Ansem]] in the first ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'' begins on (what's left of) [[DoomedHometown Destiny Islands]], the first stage, before switching to the standard AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield.
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'', Ven's story ends at The Awakening. Not only is that where we first see Ven, but it's also a tutorial level that appeared at the beginning of near every game in the series. Later, the final battle between Aqua and the possessed Terra occurs at Radiant Garden, where Terra had his true StartOfDarkness. Vanitas was created from Ven at the Keyblade Graveyard, bringing their battle full-circle as well.
** Inverted in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', where Hollow Bastion/Radiant Garden, the penultimate stage of the first game, is the new hub world since Leon and Sora's other allies took it back between games. Played straight with Twilight Town, the world the game begins in and that Sora returns to at the end of the game to find the portal to The World That Never Was, the lair of the Organization.
** ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'' takes this to a logical extreme. The almost final area is Twilight Town, which is where Roxas gets his name from Xemnas, where he met Axel, where his first mission with Xion was, and where he, Axel, and Xion meet up to hang out. Not only is it the final area, but the clock tower is the setting for the final part of the fight with Xion, which also drags you to three other worlds you visited throughout the game. Then, you're taken to The World That Never Was, which is where your main hub has been for most of the game. You then reenact the secret ending to Kingdom Hearts, which means it loops all the way back to the ending of the ''first game''.
** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsCoded'', this occurs across games -- the goal of the heroes is to find out the source and meaning of a mysterious message that's appeared in Jiminy's journal, and the final world ends up being Castle Oblivion, the very place Sora lost his memories and the journal was originally left blank back in ''Chain of Memories''.
** And once again occurring across games in ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'' -- the final boss takes place in The Awakening once again, after which the environment shifts to Destiny Islands, and the player must answer questions mirroring the ones asked at The Awakening in the first game.
** A series-wide example in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''. The final battle takes place in Scala ad Caelum, which is heavily implied to be the ruins of Daybreak Town, the hub world for ''Kingdom Hearts χ'' and implied to be the very first world in the realm of light.
* The last stage of ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'' is a black-and-white homage to its UsefulNotes/GameBoy predecessor, ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'', with two rooms for each of that game's four stages.
* In ''VideoGame/TheLastStory'', The Reptid's Cave in Chapter 1. You return to this location again in Chapter 39, but named as The Reptid's Cave Revisited. Chapter 40 is the final chapter in the main game.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead2'' does this for the Hard Rain campaign where the finale takes place in the Burger Tank, which is where you started in the first map, except it is more wrecked and now flooded from the hurricane.
** And The Passing as well; the whole objective of that campaign is to get to the other side of a bridge and lower it so you can drive the escape vehicle from the first campaign over it.
* In ''VideoGame/BloodOmenLegacyOfKain'', Kain receives his quest at the Pillars of Nosgoth, which is also where the final boss is fought. In ''[[VideoGame/LegacyOfKainSoulReaver2 Soul Reaver 2]]'', Raziel begins the same fighting his way out of the Sarafan keep, and the game ends with him fighting his way back in.
* The final dungeon in ''VideoGame/LegendOfLegaia'' takes place in the Heroic Mute's hometown...at least, where it USED to be before a giant monster consumed and assimilated it.
* Examples in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** In the UsefulNotes/{{Satellaview}} remake of [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI the original game]], the final fight with Ganon takes place in the first cave where you got the wooden sword.
** Twice in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast A Link to the Past]]'' -- first, you rescue Zelda from the Hyrule Castle dungeons, then return to the castle after obtaining the Master Sword to climb its [[DiscOneFinalDungeon central tower]]. In the Dark World, after completing the final dungeon the final boss crashes through the top of the Dark Pyramid you entered the world on to reveal a chamber inside where the final battle is held. Just to top it all off too, the Dark Pyramid and Hyrule Castle are in the same place between the two works. There are two other instances, as this game is the TropeNamer for DarkWorld -- the first dungeon for each of the two worlds is in the same place, and the final dungeon of the Dark World is in the same place as the final dungeon of the Light World.
** The eighth dungeon in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages]]'' is in the same location as the first dungeon, merely in the past rather than the present. It's not as simple as just warping to the past once you've got the Song of Ages, however.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'', Link begins the second part of the game in the ruins of Hyrule Castle Town, and later returns to the town to infiltrate Ganon's Castle floating where Hyrule Castle once stood.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'' the player starts off in Clock Town and has to wait until the end of the 3rd Day to climb up the clock tower and get their ocarina back from the Skull Kid to begin the game proper. Once the dungeons are complete you have to do the same and this time use the song you've learned to call the dungeon guardians to your aid.
** For ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess Twilight Princess]]'', the game proper begins in Hyrule Castle's dungeons where you meet Midna, and the final dungeon takes you through the rest of the castle.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheMinishCap The Minish Cap]]'', the final dungeon is once again Hyrule Castle.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]]'', it is noted that the entrance to the Dark World is located not far at all from Link's hometown.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkBetweenWorlds A Link Between Worlds]]'', the two of the first rooms of Lorule Castle you see are the final rooms of the game. You can even use the first portal located between the two princess's studies to use Princess Zelda's study as a makeshift Fairy Fountain before the final battle.
** In ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword Skyward Sword]]'', the entrance to the final dungeon is about ten steps away from the cave where Link rescues his bird at the beginning of the game. And then the final battle takes place in the same place Link first descended to the surface.
** The Shrine of Resurrection where Link wakes up in the beginning of ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild Breath of the Wild]]'' is revealed in the Champions' Ballad DLC to be the entrance to the final bonus dungeon.
** ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors'': After your journey across boundaries of time and space, you end up back in Hyrule Field to take on Ganon.
* The final boss battle of ''VideoGame/LittleTownHero'' goes all around the town, but the final phase is set in the neighborhood where protagonist Axe lives.
* ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' directly invokes this trope in the opening narration. "This story, like all good stories, begins where it ends: in a tower, in a realm that is no more..."
* ''VideoGame/{{Loom}}'' has the big showdown on the very island you grew up on and left at the start of the game. It also takes place in the cathedral where the events setting off the plot took place, and the draft that caused it (still echoing in the Loom) is used to save the day.
* ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'':
** In ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiBowsersInsideStory'', even though it's not really the last battle, you fight the BigBad in the meeting room of Peach's Castle, where Mario first battled Bowser at the beginning of the game. Adding to this, you play as Bowser in the same position but with a different perspective.
** And in ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime'', after defeating the elder Princess Shroob and returning to Peach's castle yet again, her essence revives Bowser and you have to battle him one last time in the throne room, where baby Mario fought Baby Bowser before the Shroobs first appeared at the beginning.
** Both games use Princess Peach's Castle, the starting point of the adventure as the final dungeon albeit with some modifications made by the BigBad.
* ''Franchise/MegaMan''
** In ''VideoGame/MegaManX2'', the last level is the same as Magna Centipede's stage, even with all the secrets, but stops in the middle. If you select Magna Centipede instead, you still stop for the final battle.
** The final battle in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero3'' takes place in the ruins of the underground laboratory where Ciel found Zero resting in ''VideoGame/MegaManZero1''.
** The final battle in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'' takes place in the Slither Inc. building, the very same building outside of which Vent/Aile [[FightingYourFriend fought a brainwashed Giro]], watched him die from his injuries inflicted by them and [[BigBad Serpent]], and where the first [[TransformationSequence transformation into Mega Man Model ZX]] occurred.
** The final battle in ''VideoGame/MegaManZX Advent'' takes place in the collection Model W fusion of [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Ouroboros]], which heavily resembles the space station Ragnarok, the final stage of ''Zero 4'' and the original structure whose wreckage the Model Ws were created from.
** ''VideoGame/Rockman4MinusInfinity'' has the fight with Pharaoh Man, which starts out in the very first room of his stage.
* The penultimate act of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' is set in the ruins of the Shadow Moses Island Nuclear Disposal Facility, where the entirety of the original ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' took place.
* ''Franchise/{{Metroid}}'':
** The original ''VideoGame/Metroid1'' requires you to return to the first vertical shaft near the beginning in order to access Tourian. In a more literal sense, the final hallway with Mother Brain is just 2 screens above the start area. Also, if you beat Ridley before Kraid, you'll again be going through the area from the very beginning of the game to fight Kraid before heading up to Tourian. Less so in the [[VideoGame/MetroidZeroMission remake]], as there's more game to go after Tourian.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' gets partial credit for the fact that the pathway to the final area is fairly close to your ship and the first places you visit on Zebes (Ceres Station, the very first area of the game, is destroyed) and there's even a secret path near your ship that's effectively a second pathway to the final area, meaning you're very likely to be passing by your ship (possibly grabbing a save and fill-up while there) when doing a 100% items run (depending on your route).
** ''VideoGame/MetroidFusion'' begins and ends in the shuttle landing dock of BSL.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime'' has the final area be accessed from the first area of Tallon IV you land on. Quite close to your ship, too.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidPrime2Echoes'' has the final boss battle take place in the DarkWorld version of the area you first learn of the game's true objectives in.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidOtherM'' follows this, but only in the PlayableEpilogue -- the BonusBoss is in the very first area of the game, in a part you've been unable to access until now. The path eventually loops round to the other side of the control room where the first boss was, before the inevitable escape sequence back to your ship.
** ''VideoGame/MetroidIIReturnOfSamus'' ended with Samus taking the baby Metroid back to her ship. In the [[VideoGame/MetroidSamusReturns remake]], Ridley appears out of nowhere right in front of Samus's ship for the final boss battle, playing the trope much straighter.
* ''VideoGame/MidnightClub II'': the last two races in Career mode take place in the first city. In a further example, the final race's finish line is the gas station where the entire game began.
* ''VideoGame/MightAndMagic'':
** ''VI'': The Hive, the heart of the Kreegan infestation of Enroth during and before the game and one of the landing points during the Night of Shooting Stars is located in the region of Sweet Water...[[DoomedHometown which is also your characters' home village, from which they fled during the intro of the game]], saved from death by a benign mage. (Of course, this only counts if the cinematic opening sequence at the start of the game is considered the beginning.)
** ''VIII'': The [[OpeningTheSandbox sandbox opens up]] when you get to the city of Ravenshore, which is also where the entrance to the final area is (a good chunk of the game is creating a key to get in). You ''do'' have to return to the starting area for one of the last quests in the game, though due to the nature of that arc how close to the end it is is up to the player[[note]]creating the key requires going to each of the Elemental Planes, the portal to one being on an island in the starting area map, and they can be tackled in any order.[[/note]].
* In the endgame of ''VideoGame/MonkeyIsland2LeChucksRevenge'', you can emerge from a door on Melee Island, last seen locked in the original game.
* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterStories2WingsOfRuin'' begins on Hakolo Island, where the player character lives. Hakolo Island is also where Oltura, an EldritchAbomination and a monster with the power to destroy the world, is fought as the game's final battle. The battle site is also just a bit further up the path from where the player character fights a Rage-Rayed Anjanath, the game's first major boss battle.
* Most of the VideoGame/{{Myst}} games do this for individual ages; the last puzzle to solve is usually in the first thing you saw when you came in.
** In ''VideoGame/{{Riven}}'', the player's final action in the game is to activate a device that is right near the starting location. Especially effective because the device in question has been accessible since the beginning, but the player doesn't understand what it's for until after the story is nearly over; successfully beating the game relies on opening what doesn't look like a safe with what doesn't originally seem to be a combination lock, that has been sitting right in front of you from the moment you arrived.
** Also, the last area unlocked in ''VideoGame/{{Uru}}'' is Myst Island. Note, however, that Uru was intended to be -- essentially -- a ''Myst'' MMORPG, so it's not really the end of the Uru storyline. It's kinda complicated...
** Subverted, however, in ''VideoGame/MystVEndOfAges''. Even though you have the option to, you don't WANT to return to Myst Island. [[DownerEnding Trust me on this one]].
* In ''VideoGame/NieR'', the gateway to the Shadowlord's castle lies just past the altar where Grimoire Weiss and Nier first met. When Emil comments on this, Weiss agrees that it feels strangely nostalgic.
* In ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroes'', if you upgrade Travis's sword to its fullest, you end up fighting the TrueFinalBoss, Henry, in the parking lot right outside Travis' own home where he'd be after every Ranked Fight.
* ''VideoGame/ObsCure II'' does this twice. The fight against the DiscOneFinalBoss takes place at the abandoned ruins of the High School where the first game was set, and where Herbert Friedman conducted his experiments on the [[TheCorruption mortifilia plant]] that led to the events of the series. Then comes TheStinger after the end credits, and TheReveal of the GreaterScopeVillain who financed Friedman's experiments. What comes next is a NoGearLevel set in their headquarters where you learn about all of their machinations and their role in the story, just before the real FinalBoss.
* In ''VideoGame/OctopathTraveler'', the entrance to TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon is located at the ruins of Hornburg, Olberic's DoomedHometown.
* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'' begins in [[WhiteVoidRoom White Space]], the place Omori calls home. Sunny and Omori's BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, to determine whether Sunny either [[EpiphanyTherapy faces the future]] or [[DrivenToSuicide takes his own life]] occurs in the exact same spot.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/OracleOfTao''. WhereItAllBegan is some generic large town, that practically nothing happens (ever), much less an epic battle. However, in the PlayableEpilogue it does return to an origin place, the [[CosmicEgg Universe Egg]] where the world was created at the end of the first game.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMario64'''s first battle is against Bowser at Peach's castle. Upon making it back, Bowser is fought in the same room where the first battle was. As if that wasn't enough, the post-game scenes almost directly mirror the opening sequence, including why Mario is going to Peach's castle.
* A fan sequel to ''VideoGame/{{Penumbra}}'', known as ''Necrologue'', has a level that bounces between all three games in one place, starting with the second level of Requiem, leading into a fan-made set of rooms that bridges between the end of ''Overture'' and the start of ''Black Plague''. Clarence and Philip lampshade all of this, saying that they've gone in a complete circle. You even get to relive how Overture ended if you go far enough.
* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
** ''VideoGame/Persona2: Innocent Sin'' begins at Seven Sisters High School. While the final dungeon - a massive, shrine-like spaceship called Xibalba - isn't there per se, the Narurato Stone, a small monolith that sits behind it, serves as the entrance to said dungeon.
** The entrance to the final dungeon of the normal ending of ''VideoGame/Persona4'' is in one of the first places you see in the TV world. The final dungeon of the true ending is the same place that the protagonist dreamt of at the beginning of the game and where the first fight took place.
** ''VideoGame/Persona5'' has a variation: the last dungeon of the game is the lowermost depths of Mementos, the same underground maze that you have access to right after the first major [[EldritchLocation Palace]] is destroyed. The variation comes in that Mementos is completely optional, as its main purposes are serving as a hub for all of the game's sidequests and for extra grinding. However, it is ''not'' recommended that Mementos be skipped, because if you did not delve into it throughout the game, you will have to do so during the Endgame, and once December 24th comes and you go in, [[PointOfNoReturn you cannot come back out]].
** Furthermore, the stairway and entrance to TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon is in a hellscape version of Shibuya Station Square, where the protagonist first gets off his train in Tokyo, and one of the first areas the player character is given the ability to move around before entering any dungeon.
* In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarIV'', the gate to the final dungeon is on the same planet you started on, not too far away from the town you started in.
* ''VideoGame/PlantsVsZombies2ItsAboutTime'': After lots of time-travelling shenanigans in the previous worlds, the final world, Modern Day, takes place just before the start of the game when Crazy Dave was about to eat his Taco.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue''/''Yellow'' comes close -- nothing much happens in Pallet Town after the beginning of the game, but Viridian City, the first stop immediately thereafter, turns out to be the home of the last Gym Leader, who also happens to be [[BigBad Giovanni]], the leader of Team Rocket. The dwelling place of Mewtwo, the BonusDungeon, is behind Cerulean City, the town of the second Gym.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver''/''Crystal'': The path to Indigo Plateau from Johto? Surf east from New Bark Town. ''GSC'' also lets you go to Kanto after beating the Elite Four, where you can collect the badges there and gain access to Mt. Silver; waiting at the end is Red, the original protagonist and the strongest opponent in the game.
** And in [[Anime/PokemonTheSeries the anime]], Ash tends to end up back in Pallet Town between tournaments. Gotta visit Mom after all.
** After beating the Elite Four and the Champion in most games, next time you load your save you'll be in your bedroom, where you also started the game, except for RSE as you started those games in the back of a moving van.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'', your first battle with [[TheRival May/Brendan]] takes place at Route 103. In the remakes, after you become champion, you meet said rival at Route 103 for one more battle.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'', Wes meets the TrueFinalBoss of the game at the Outskirt Stand, the first location he went to at the beginning after destroying the Team Snagem Hideout.
** TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''VideoGame/PokemonXDGaleOfDarkness'' is located right off the coast of Gateon Port, the FirstTown.
** Indigo Plateau and Victory Road (the place you battle the Elite Four and champion and hence FinalBoss) of the original games is just a bit left from Viridian City and hence right near the start of the game. ''VideoGame/PokemonXAndY'' also do this, with Victory Road being just off the first Gym town, and you can even access the entrance to it before getting a single badge!
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', a significant chunk of the postgame is actually where the previous games started (the first two gyms and the Skyarrow Bridge, which were earlygame in Black and White but are locked off until the postgame in [=BW2=]), and you can even speak to the prequel player character's mother.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', you receive your Z-Ring as a stone from [[OlympusMons Tapu Koko]] just outside the Ruins of Conflict, which is also where you meet Lillie and Nebby. After capturing Nebby yourself and becoming the Champion, Lillie takes you back to the Ruins, where you finally face off against Tapu Koko and prove that it was right to choose you. Tapu Koko itself even says "IT IS TIME" before the fight, which is extremely noticeable because Pokémon speaking human language is ''very very rare''.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'', you first enter the Slumbering Weald in the beginning of the game. Once encountered, you face a ??? Pokémon, which becomes a HopelessBossFight. The gates are locked and you cannot enter until nearly the end of the game.
*** Also just south of Postwick, where ''Pokémon Sword and Shield'' begins, is the Crown Tundra, home to a large number of Legendary Pokémon and Ultra Beasts and is the game's last area to visit assuming you have the DLC. The Crown Shrine is the point in the Crown Tundra closest to Postwick according to the in-game map, which is also where you fight Calyrex at his full power, the games' strongest BonusBoss.
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' briefly takes you back to the ninth test chamber (which is now a piece of cake, due to being able to fire two portals) before the final boss.
* ''VideoGame/ProjectXZone'' starts off at the Koryuujii estate. The party goes back there twice, and the second time, it is revealed that the base of the enemy is ''underneath the fountain''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'' [[SubvertedTrope sort of]] does it. The very first true level of the game takes place in the mind of Coach Oleander. The very last level of the game, after beating the [[DiscOneFinalBoss Brain Tank]], takes place in a nightmarish hybrid of Coach Oleander and [[KidHero Razputin's]] minds. It could be argued that this is actually a double-dose of the trope, since Raz also revisits the environment that he grew up in and escaped from immediately before the game started.
* The jail cell in ''VideoGame/{{Purple}}'''s intro is actually located within TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon. In fact, it's just steps away from final boss' chamber.
* TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon in ''VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVSTheSoullessArmy'' must be accessed from the same bridge where your fist case began.
* ''VideoGame/RandalsMonday'': The finale takes place in the same place the story started on: Clayton's Cave.
* ''Franchise/RatchetAndClank'':
** The final battle with Chairman Drek in ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClank2002'' takes place on the first stage, Ratchet's home planet of Veldin.
** The final battle with Emperor Tachyon in ''[[VideoGame/RatchetAndClankFutureToolsOfDestruction Tools of Destruction]]'' takes place on Planet Fastoon, which isn't the first stage, but Fastoon was where Tachyon destroyed the Lombaxes, marking the first conquest of his empire.
* In ''VideoGame/RavenswordShadowlands'', the titular Ravensword happens to be hidden in a tomb underneath the town's plaza, which is the first location you enter after the introductory sequence.
* ''Franchise/ResidentEvil'':
** ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilRevelations'' is an unusual example given that it has a somewhat non-linear storytelling. However, Episode 1-1 shows that the plot for the game essentially starts on the shore overlooking the ruins of Terragrigia. It is here that Jill and Parker find the sample of the T-Abyss virus and they are told that Chris and Jessica have disappeared, prompting the rest of the game where they go to the Queen Zenobia to search for them. At the end of the game, O'Brian reveals that the third and final ship, the Queen Dido, is where they'll find what they need in order to end everything. Where is the Queen Dido? Underwater at the ruins of Terragrigia, where the plot started.
** The final segments of ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7'' take place in the guest house where Ethan first found Mia to locate and destroy Eveline.
* ''VideoGame/ReturnToCastleWolfenstein'' is a SpoilerTitle by that sense.
* In the first two ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven'' games, the final remix ends with a Karate Man section. Karate Man was the very first mini-game in the first installment. (Which was [[NoExportForYou only available in Japan]])
* In ''VideoGame/{{Robopon}}'', Cody has to return directly to Baba Village at the end of the second game in order to confront the Zeros.
* Only if you play as Albert in ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa'' the first dungeon in his scenario is the gate to the final dungeon. Turns out the monsters are stronger also when you enter the very first cave again due to the game's Event Rank system.
* In ''VideoGame/SecretOfEvermore'', the game begins in Omnitopia before you get shuttled down to Evermore's surface. The rest of the game is largely spent trying to figure out how to go back home, which the protagonist believes can be done by returning to Omnitopia. And for the final areas of the game, he does.
* Having kicked off with a tutorial mission sent in a psychic dream of the Tokyo subways, ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld'' brings players back to Filth-infested Tokyo in Issues #9 through to #11 =- and though it's not the end of the game per se, it's meant to be the end of the first act. For good measure, the mission starts out in the Tokyo subways, and begins with the players meeting Sarah =- the character they were "playing" as in the dream.
* ''VideoGame/ShiningTheHolyArk'' sees the player heading into a dangerous mine at the start of the game to capture a criminal. Only it seems that the mine DugTooDeep and evil spirits have been released. So you're forced to go on a quest so you're powerful enough to go back into the mine to seal away the BigBad for good.
* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsHitAndRun'', the final level is the same part of town as the first level, only with zombies and other assorted chaos occurring.
* The climax and ending of ''VideoGame/SkiesOfArcadia'' is set in Mid-Ocean, the territory and home region of Vyse and his father's legion of Blue Rogue pirates and the starting point of the game. The finality is threefold: the climactic last stand against Galcian's world-dominating faction that splintered from [[TheEmpire Valua]] takes place in Mid-Ocean, the lost continent of [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Soltis]] turns out to be sitting below the ominous Vortex that lingers in Mid-Ocean's lower sky and is bought back, and it is revealed that [[NoobCave Shrine Island]], the game's first true dungeon, used to be a part of Soltis and serves as its entrance.
* ''VideoGame/Sly2BandOfThieves'': The final battle ends in Paris, the area where [[VideoGame/SlyCooperAndTheThieviusRaccoonus the first game]] begins Sly's quest to avenge his father and his family's name. Paris is also the first level of the second game as well. It comes full circle in ''VideoGame/SlyCooperThievesInTime'', where the final level (also the tutorial level) takes place in Paris.
* The second to last story stage of ''VideoGame/TimeSplittersFuturePerfect'' involves returning literally to the same location and time as your visit to the first story level of the game, so you can assist your past self.
* ''VideoGame/StarCraft'':
** ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'', the first and final missions of the Protoss campaign take place on Aiur.
** ''VideoGame/StarCraftIILegacyOfTheVoid'', the first and last mission chains both take place on Aiur. For bonus points, the penultimate mission takes place in the same location as the last Protoss mission of the first game.
* After the tutorial fights aboard General Scales' airship, ''VideoGame/StarFoxAdventures'' opens in the sprawling, epic Krazoa Palace. Guess which place serves as the final dungeon?
* In ''VideoGame/StarTropics II: Zoda's Revenge'', the very last chapter of the game takes place on C-island, the first island of the original ''[=StarTropics=]''. And the game's ultimate dungeon? [[NostalgiaLevel A remix of the first game's first stage]], complete with music.
* ''VideoGame/SuikodenI'' starts in what will become the final dungeon. Most of the endings of the second game involve the main character returning to WhereItAllBegan for a final confrontation with his NecessarilyEvil best friend.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' the first dungeon in the game is Bowser's castle. However, after you defeat Bowser, the true villains of the game appear and take over the place. You return to the castle near the end of the game, as you must defeat a boss there in order to teleport to TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.
* In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsDestiny'', The final battlefield is located in the South Pole; where you first get control of the Original Characters.
* ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'' does this in a bit of a roundabout way. While in the original, Citadel Station was destroyed, the very last section of the sequel dumps you into a still-forming recreation of Citadel's medical level, big blue tiles and all -- said medical level being the place where the Hacker first woke up in the original. It's still-forming because SHODAN is rebuilding it ''out of her own memory''.
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'', once the game's basic tutorial is over, Luke is teleported away from his manor to Tataroo Valley, where the game proper begins. At the end of the game, when you get to TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon, said final dungeon happens to be hovering right over Tataroo Valley.
* Near the beginning of ''VideoGame/{{Terranigma}}'', you are sent through a portal from your hometown at the inside of Earth to outside. Near the end, this same portal is opened again and you visit your hometown. However because of the changes you've made on the surface, it has subtle changes and right when you talk to anyone, they turn into spirits and attack you.
* ''VideoGame/TheThing2002'': Blake fights the FinalBoss Thing at the excavated site of the UFO crash where it arrived on Earth.
* In ''VideoGame/TimeShift'', the first level has the player being dropped into a dystopian alternate timeline where the Occupant resistance is being mercilessly crushed by the fascist Krone Magistrate, and the level ends in a HopelessBossFight against BigBad Krone's HumongousMecha. The game's last level takes place in the exact same neighbor and ''at the exact same time'' as the first level, except you've altered history so that the resistance is winning (i.e. in the original timeline a helicopter would mow down several resistance members on a rooftop, whereas in the altered timeline the resistance members have rocket launchers to shoot the copter down with). When you reach the final battle you end up in a better firing position than you were in the original timeline, such that you actually have a shot a the Humongous Mecha's weak spot, as well as a weapon capable of harming it.
* Lara Croft tends to end up doing this in the ''Franchise/TombRaider'' games, generally after spending most of the game searching for a MacGuffin needed to activate something in the first location she visited.
* After traveling all over the US and touring to Canada and Moscow, ''VideoGame/TonyHawksUnderGround'' ends with a skate showdown with Eric Sparrow across old neighborhood in New Jersey.
* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': In the Pacifist ending, after the final boss fight with Asriel, Frisk wakes up in the ruins, where the game begins. In the playable epilogue you can find Asriel in the flower bed from the very beginning of the game. In the Neutral and Pacifist endings Frisk ends up in the surface world where they come from, in the former the objective of the game is to go home in the latter the monsters get to go home with you.
* ''VideoGame/WarioLand3'': the final [[PlotCoupon music box]] is conveniently located at the first level, Out of the Woods. Then you can visit the FinalBoss at the Temple, as in the first place you ever visit.
* ''VideoGame/TheWitness'': The GoldenEnding is accessed by solving an environmental puzzle using the gate from the starting area. Of course, one of the first things the player does is turn the gate off, making solving it impossible; to turn it on again, they have to activate all of the lasers and complete most of the puzzles in the End to access the Caverns and find the gate's reactivation pattern. This journey clues the player in on the existence of environmental puzzles, which they'll need to find the ending, and, through audio logs, gives them backstory context they'll need to appreciate it.[[note]]Of course, if the player just so happens to have figured out environmental puzzles within the first few minutes of the game, they can [[SequenceBreaking access the Golden Ending right away]].[[/note]]
* ''VideoGame/WorldsEndClub'': Upon reaching the area where MAIK is presumably, the Go-Getters find out MAIK is not there. Using a variety of clues picked during the journey, Pochi [[AddressingThePlayer along with assistance from the player]], managed to discover MAIK is located beneath the underwater park in Kagoshima, where the Go-Getters began their trip.
* In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' Garrosh and Thrall agree to have their final battle to the death at the place where the two met and bonded over Thrall's memories of Grom.
** The first battle in ''Warlords of Draenor'' takes place at the Dark Portal, which is also where the final battle against Archimonde takes place.
** Another minor example in [=WoW=] occurs during the Siege of Orgrimmar, the final raid of ''Mists of Pandaria'', with portions of it occurring in Ragefire Chasm, the Horde's first dungeon.
** Specific to the story of the Draenei, the story of their struggle with the Legion begins and ends on Argus.
* At the end of ''Videogame/YakuzaLikeADragon'' after Governor Aoki is not only beaten in a fight but [[EngineeredPublicConfession publicly outed for corruption]] he ends up escaping and making his way to the coin lockers where he was found as an infant. Ichiban, who not only knows Aoki very well but was also a fellow "coin locker baby" easily tracks him down and takes this as Aoki wanting a fresh start deep down.

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Endstone}}'', [[http://endstone.net/2011/04/21/5-28/ Kyri returns not to her original home but where she lived with her husband and daughter.]]
* ''Webcomic/HomeStuck'': After The Scratch, the story is visibly shown rewinding, back to the first panel of John's introduction, and then a fade to white. No surprise, considering the nature of The Scratch. The beginning of the next Act is then very similar to Act 1, with the first panel extremely similar to John's introduction.
[[/folder]]

-->'''Luke''': I used to live here, you know.
-->'''Han''': You're going to die here, you know. Convenient.

This is an EndingTrope, so '''Unmarked Spoilers Ahoy'''.

* ''Franchise/{{Saw}}'': Happens a ridiculous amount of times throughout the franchise.
** ''Film/{{Saw|I}}'' features a duo of cops attempting to arrest the infamous Jigsaw Killer at his hideout, which is where the now solo cop, his partner died in the first attempt to apprehend him, officer pursues him to yet again near the end.
** ''Film/SawII'' drops the bombshell that the entire film took place in the same area as the first movie, and that the bathroom (the centerpiece of the original film) is merely one room in its catacombs.
** ''Film/Saw3D''. It is revealed that Dr. Gordon from the original films survived and was nursed back to health by the Jigsaw Killer to aid him as an apprentice. His final task was to lock another apprentice in the same bathroom he was chained to in the first film.

* The final battle of ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam00'' does this not with a ''location'', but with its HumongousMecha. It is not between overpowered machines and a culmination of the LensmanArmsRace. No, it is Setsuna reclaiming his old Gundam Exia, his first machine he used, going up against Ribbons using a suspiciously-recolored 0 Gundam, the first ever made using the first GN Drive. Made doubly more interesting since Ribbons is [[FanNickname Evil Amuro]] due to his voice actor and the latter Gundam is a deliberate homage to the original [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam RX-78-2]].

* The [[BigBad obsessive collector]] in ''Anime/{{Pokemon 2000}}'' quotes this at the end, when he finds the first card he ever collected in the smashed ruins of everything ''else'' he collected.

** And in the anime, Ash tends to end up back in Pallet Town between tournaments. Gotta visit Mom after all.

** TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon of ''VideoGame/PokemonXD'' is located right off the coast of Gateon Port, the FirstTown.
** Indigo Plateau and Victory Road (the place you battle the Elite Four and champion and hence FinalBoss) of the original games is just a bit left from Viridian City and hence right near the start of the game. Pokemon and XY also do this, with Victory Road being just off the first Gym town, and you can even access the entrance to it before getting a single badge!
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'', Wes meets the TrueFinalBoss of the game at the Outskirt Stand, the first location he went to at the beginning after destroying the Team Snagem base.

** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSunAndMoon'', you receive your Z-Ring as a stone from [[OlympusMons Tapu Koko]] just outside the Ruins of Conflict, which is also where you meet Lillie and Nebby. After capturing Nebby yourself and becoming the Champion, Lillie takes you back to the Ruins, where you finally face off against Tapu Koko and prove that it was right to choose you. Tapu Koko itself even says "IT IS TIME" before the fight, which is extremely noticeable because Pokemon speaking human language is ''very very rare''.
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonSwordAndShield'', you first enter the Slumbering Weald in the beginning of the game. Once encountered, you will face a ??? Pokemon, which becomes a HopelessBossFight. The gates are locked and you cannot enter until nearly the end of the game.

** In "Consumed", Carol brings Daryl to a supportive housing complex, suggested to be the place she hid out in the first time she ran (with Sophia) away from her abusive husband Ed.