Line #42 Main/SortingAlgorithmOfThreateningGeography


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5	[[quoteright:320:[[VideoGame/MarioPartyStarRush https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mario_party_star_rush_toad_scramble.png]]]]
6
7	->''"Every other [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] game has used pretty much the same roadmap: grasslands, desert, forest, jungle, ice world, fire world, boss."''
8	-->-- '''Yahtzee''', ''WebAnimation/ZeroPunctuation'' review of ''VideoGame/PaperMarioStickerStar''
9
10	Mainly a video game trope, this describes the odd phenomenon in which the landscape the characters travel through gets steadily scarier and more esoteric as they get closer to the end of their quest.
11
12	The adventure almost always starts off in a [[{{Arcadia}} sleepy village]] nestled within a landscape of [[GreenHillZone green meadows and idyllic woodland]]. After thoroughly exploring an [[UndergroundLevel underground crypt or dungeon]], the adventurers break out into the wilderness: passing through a [[TheLostWoods huge forest]], they cross a [[ShiftingSandLand searing desert]] for brief [[BreatherLevel R&R]] at a [[PalmtreePanic sunny beach]] and a [[UnderTheSea diving detour]]. Upon wading through a [[BubblegloopSwamp foul-smelling swamp]], they arrive in a [[JungleJapes humid jungle]], beyond which lie the [[BigBoosHaunt lands of the dead]], [[SlippySlideyIceWorld icy glaciers]], and [[LethalLavaLand fiery lava landscapes]]. A [[DeathMountain mighty mountain]], an [[TempleOfDoom ominous temple]], or an outright {{gimmick level}} may be wedged in-between stages at any point before the climax, which usually takes place in a [[{{Mordor}} burning wasteland]], [[PlanetHeck literal Hell]], an intimidating [[EternalEngine giant machine]], or an outright EldritchLocation. The very final level, boss fight or post-game content may leave the wold entirely, usually for a SpaceZone or [[FinalBossNewDimension an entirely new]] ([[AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield and often psychedelically colored]]) dimension entirely.
13
14	This can be justified if the lands they visit are steadily more influenced by the BigBad. Often, however, this isn't the case, and the landscape just happens to look more threatening as the story goes on, [[PatchworkMap even if it means]] placing the treacherous ice level next to the slightly-more-treacherous volcano level. Another possible reason is that the land's steadily rising [[{{Pun}} outlandishness]] is to signify that the characters are getting farther and farther away from familiar territory: things like [[GreenHillZone their hometown and other villages or landmarks they visit regularly]] in their daily life, creating an environmentally told version of TheHerosJourney. Any place tends to feel a little bit scarier during the first visit, and having the environment get more and more imposing as the journey continues helps convey the feeling that the heroes are in uncharted waters, at least for them.
15
16	Remember, this is about the appearance of the area, not its actual threat level. Characters might travel through the creepy LostWoods completely unscathed, whereas the pleasant-looking plains could be the site of a climactic battle in which hundreds die. If the plains come after the lost woods, it is not this trope.
17
18	This often overlaps with VillainousBadlandHeroicArcadia. In this case, the progression of increasingly ominous and hostile landscapes matches the journey from the heroes' home to the villains' -- the game will begin in the lush fields and picturesque woods of Arcadia, progress through increasingly harsh wilderness areas such as deeper forests, mountains or sun-scorched deserts, and end among the rocky wastes, lava fields, refuse heaps and pounding factories of the Wasteland.
19
20	The popularity of the GreenHillZone trope is based off this, as game creators prefer ease players into the game by having a level that is less inherently threatening.
21
22	See also VideoGameSettings and FantasyWorldMap.
23	----
24	!!Examples:
25
26	[[foldercontrol]]
27
28	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
29	* Played straight in ''Anime/DigimonAdventure''. Throughout the series, the locations each arc focuses on are: A tropical island, a mysterious continent, a city under siege, and a version of the world that has been remade in the image of the primary antagonist faction and [[spoiler:their EldritchAbomination master]]. In a clearer cut sense, the areas of this remade digital world are, in order: An ocean with a tropical beach, a forest with a spooky house in it, a mostly uninhabited city ruled by evil robots, a gloomy and desolate wasteland, and a void of nonexistance.
30	* ZigZagged with in Season 2 of ''Anime/DigimonFusion''. The first land they visit is Dragon Land, which is a combination of jagged rocky terrain and flowery fields inhabited by dragon monsters. The second land is the far more threatening Vampire Land, [[{{Mordor}} a dark and spooky wasteland]] where all the digimon live in fear. However, the third land is Honey Land, [[CrapsaccharineWorld a happy friendly place of fields and forests]]. Then we're back to the uncanny with Cyber Land, an uncanny metropolis barren of life after its leader [[spoiler:commited genocide on the residents via subterfuge.]] Then, its back to the nonthreatening geography with Gold Land, a beautiful and shiny ocean of golden ooze. Canyon Land, on its own, seems more threatening than Gold Land but less threatening than the likes of Vampire Land and Cyber Land(although the lighting makes it look quite sinister at times). The last major land is [[LightIsNotGood Bright Land]], which wouldn't be that threatening if it weren't attatched to [[spoiler:[[PlanetHeck the Digital Underworld]], a realm filled with spikes, lava, and other vicious hazards where evil is more powerful and good is weaker.]] Finally, there is the main antagonist's [[OminousFloatingCastle grim fortress dimension]] known as the [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Bagra Pandaemonium]].
31	[[/folder]]
32
33	[[folder:Literature]]
34	* ''Literature/TheCityInTheMiddleOfTheNight'' starts out in the temperate zone of a TidallyLockedPlanet, in a city that's relatively protected from the elements, but traveling between the cities on the planet is hazardous to say the least. Alien creatures with too many teeth, freezing or scalding temperatures, and the cheerfully named Sea of Murder make up the terrain.
35	* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
36	** In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', Frodo and Sam travel from the peaceful Shire, to harsh wilderness, to {{Mordor}}. Justified with the homework Tolkien had done creating his universe. Frodo and Sam's path got progressively worse because they came at Mordor from the northwest, which was the path that Sauron fled Mirkwood between The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings and his influence was persisting. The rest of the group only really had Moria, which was also a direct result of Sauron's actions.
37	** This also happens in ''Literature/TheHobbit''. The adventure starts out in Hobbiton and proceeds through hobbit lands, then into the semi-wilderness Lone-lands where they meet the trolls. The party enters the Misty Mountains, passes through the darkness of Mirkwood and eventually reaches the Desolation of the Dragon - the "bleak and barren" land around the Lonely Mountain.
38	** ''Literature/BerenAndLuthien'': The Quest for the Silmaril always begins in a beautiful, ancient wood. Then it proceeds through the Pass of Sirion, a valley controlled by Sauron and his wolves, right next to the Mountains of Terror. As Beren and Luthien continue northward, the haunted lands of Dorthonion give way to the scorched and barren Thirsty Plains. As they progress, the badlands get progressively worse and steeper until the heroic duo reach the towering Iron Mountains and the fortress of the first Dark Lord.
39	* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': ''The Eye of the World'' also does this. It starts off in the sleepy farming country of the Two Rivers, progressing through the WildWilderness to various grand cities, then we go to the harsh, icy pine forests of Shienar and then to the plagued jungle that is The Blight. (The pattern is broken up somewhat by detours through [[EvilTaintedThePlace Shadar Logoth]] and [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace The Ways]], but these are relatively short and serve as set-pieces to mark the transitions between the story's three acts.)
40	* In Pat O'Shea's fantasy novel ''Literature/TheHoundsOfTheMorrigan'', two children living in modern Galway are drawn into the other Ireland of myth and legend. As their quest progresses, the mythological landscape is at first funny, absurd, [[{{Oireland}} Disney-Oirish]], even, with hints of something deeper beneath. It gradually becomes darker, bleaker, more sinister, as the life-or-death nature of their quest asserts itself, and the final showdown with the forces of Not-Good takes place in a Mordor-like bleak and barren place. It's like going from a leprachaun Hobbiton to a Mordor ruled by the Morrigan.
41	* ''Literature/{{Murderess}}'': Played with. The notorious Myles Mountains are about halfway through Lu’s journey, followed by the pleasant Myles forest; [[DoubleSubversion Doubly Subverted]], as it turns out [[spoiler:Lu’s prolonged stay in the forest could make her stay a Moondaughter permanently and unable to finish her quest]]. The road from the forest to the Refugee Camp is fairly calm and beautiful (and brief), while the Refugee Camp itself is where Lu has to get a TrainingFromHell.
42	* ''Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz'': The journey through Oz begins in idyllic, rural Munchkin Country, and there are pleasant-looking spots along the way ... but the journey also progresses through (in this order) a deep forest, a field of poisonous plants, a country controlled by a wicked witch, a bizarre wilderness populated by fighting trees and creatures with heads on springs, and then, to top it all off, ''a city full of unfriendly people who are made of porcelain''. Steadily more esoteric indeed.
43	* ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' starts in what was then the center of the known world, through {{youkai}}-haunted no man's lands, and end up somewhere beyond this world. It's a good thing that the majority of the travelers possess magic.
44	[[/folder]]
45
46	[[folder:Video Games]]
47	* The ''Franchise/SonicTheHedgehog'' series, having codified the GreenHillZone, frequently follows this trope, beginning with the aforementioned environment and ending with Dr. Eggman's latest base. This even carries over to ''VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles'', [[OneGameForThePriceOfTwo a game built in two halves]]: the ''Sonic 3'' half begins in the jungles of Angel Island and proceeds through moderately threatening levels, whereas the ''Sonic & Knuckles'' half is mostly comprised of levels building up to the climax.
48	* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' plays with this with each expansion. Classic [=WoW=] generally plays this straight: Virtually all the starting zones are very friendly looking, whilst the high level plaguelands most certainly aren't.
49	** ''The Burning Crusade'' plays with this. The demon-infested Hellfire Peninsula fits this trope as it continues on from the classic zones, however after that are the pleasant looking zones of Zangarmarsh, [[SceneryPorn Nagrand]] and Terrokar Forest. However the highest level zones, Shadowmoon Valley and Netherstorm fit this trope to a T.
50	** ''Wrath of the Lich King'' plays this straight and subverts it, going from harshly beautiful fjords and tundra, to the zombified Icecrown Glacier and spectacular Storm Peaks.
51	** ''Cataclysm'' averts it. The high level zones are all very esoteric and threatening, except for the highest level zone Twilight Highlands, which is mostly verdant hills and woodland.
52	** ''Mists of Pandaria'' plays it entirely straight. The starting couple of zones are all friendly looking forests and plains... then they progress to more depressing looking forests, mountaintops, then sha-infested zones.
53	** ''Warlords of Draenor'' play with it, much like with ''Burning Crusade''. Players start off in either the non-tainted Shadowmoon Valley or the snow-covered Frostwolf mountains. The zones gradually get more and more threatening, but the highest level zones are the Savannahs of Nagrand and the Tanaan jungle.
54	** ''Legion'' lets you play with it, since its zones can be completed in any order. Thus the player is allowed to start or end with the demon-overrun Azsuna, the mountainous Highmountain, the peaceful woodland Val'sharah, or the nordic Stormheim. However, once the player reaches the max level, it plays this entirely straight with the [[CrapsaccharineWorld peaceful looking Suramar]] then the [[{{Mordor}} ruined world of Argus]].
55	* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot1996'': You start off on a calm beach, before venturing into jungle levels and river levels, followed by ancient ruins. The final island involves industrial levels, and well as a few completely dark levels. The sequels do this as well, but not to the same degree as the original.
56	* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'': Typically, the games start off with the main character wandering around an idyllic countryside and running into mostly cute critters: slimes, feral cats, crows, bat,s worms...as the game progresses, the Hero is forced to traverse large woods, pass through high mountains and explore labyrinthine caves, running into increasingly powerful monsters. By the endgame, the party characters are usually fighting their way through the game's version of Hell.
57	* ''VideoGame/DungeonSiege'':
58	** Chapter 1: The game opens with a GreenHillZone set in Ehb's farmlands. After the last farmhouse, it transitions into TheLostWoods, and then a crypt full of animated undead. A few green hills later, the player reaches Stonebridge, their first town. The chapter is populated by the Krug, the first of the game's four monstrous races.
59	** Chapter 2: From Stonebridge, the players progress to a dungeon infested with giant spiders and undead before reaching a DoorToBefore, opening a path back to Stonebridge, but then having to travel to Glitterdelve, a dwarven mining town, and deep into its AbandonedMine, the last place in the game that one encounters Krug.
60	** Chapter 3: The mine exits into a SlippySlideyIceWorld; after passing through the town of Glacern, the party must then traverse a series of ice caves which follow the IcePalace trope.
61	** Chapter 4: After a bit more snow, you enter an odd cavern system full of [[CrystalLandscape crystals]], underground rivers, and some of the most alien monsters in the game. This lets out into the Dark Forest, the only portion of the game where the main enemies are human brigands, and the site of the only town in the chapter, which is more of a Gypsy encampment. This forest takes you to the truly terrifying Eastern Swamp, a BubblegloopSwamp area full of witches and huge monsters. Finally, the swamp leads you to the Goblin Warrens, where the second monstrous race, the Goblins, have set up a wholly unique SteamPunk dungeon full of high technology not seen anywhere else in the game.
62	** Chapter 5: This chapter gives you a BreatherLevel, taking place in a Redwood Forest not unlike some of TheLostWoods seen in earlier portions of the game, bordered by a sandy beach and an optional aquatic-themed MiniDungeon. Afterwards, however, there's a very harrowing dungeon crawl through some old temple ruins and then a war-torn wasteland inhabited by armies of skeleton warriors, before reaching the refuge of Fortress Kroth.
63	** Chapter 6: Leaving Fortress Kroth takes you through the Hall of Skulls, a spooky skull-themed dungeon, and then out into the ShiftingSandLand of the Cliffs of Fire, inhabited by a lot of heavy-hitting monsters including the fanatical Droog.
64	** Chapter 7: The leader of the Droog village sends you on the path to Castle Ehb, a fairly nondescript route where the desert gives way to more green hills. Along the way is an optional location, Dragon's Rathe, a frightening bone-filled cavern wherein dwells the toughest boss in the game, the Dragon Queen. The outskirts of Castle Ehb are downright serene, and the castle itself is very beautiful, apart from being eerily empty, inhabited only by the final race, the mystical Seck, besieging the castle from below. The chapter ends when you find the king in the castle dungeon.
65	** Chapter 8: Descending further into the castle dungeon brings you into contact with more Seck and other demonic entities.
66	** Chapter 9: Below the dungeons are a LethalLavaLand and the Vault of Eternity, TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon which goes full-on PlanetHeck.
67	* ''VideoGame/EverQuestII'''s original expansion. Depending on whether they were good or evil, the first large outdoor zone players (in their 10s, level wise) explored was either Antonica (a GreenHillZone) or The Commonlands (a savannah). In their 20s, players moved on to The Thundering Steppes (plains beat to hell by a catacylsm) or Nektulos Forest (TheLostWoods). In their 30s, it was on to Zek, the Orcish Wastes (a barren wasteland) and The Enchanted Lands (a beautiful but eerie cursed island). And then in the 40s, it was on to Everfrost (SlippySlideyIceWorld mixed with GrimUpNorth) and Lavastorm (DeathMountain and LethalLavaLand in one).
68	* ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' has the Overworld, then the Underground caves, then the Nether, and finally the aptly titled End.
69	* ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' also falls into this, with you starting in the clean, pristine test labs, progressing to more and more damaged/deadly labs and finally into the off-limits zones and [=GLaDOS's=] chamber.
70	* ''VideoGame/Portal2'' initially looks like an inversion, where you start in the broken labs and move up into nicer and nicer ones. [[spoiler:[[ZigZaggedTrope Then you end up in even more broken labs.]]]]
71	* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
72	** Starting with ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'', most 2D games in the ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series start in GreenHillZone and end in LethalLavaLand or OminousFloatingCastle. or both.[[note]]While ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'' was the first to introduce most of the classical settings, it ends with a [[LevelInTheClouds sky world]] instead[[/note]] ShiftingSandLand is usually world 2, UnderTheSea or another aquatic level is typically World 3. An [[SlippySlideyIceWorld ice world]] and a [[JungleJapes jungle world]] are also common somewhere in the middle. A notable exception is ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', which starts with ''two'' grassland worlds and continue with different settings (a whole world of {{Underground Level}}s, LevelInTheClouds, TheLostWoods, DeathMountain and another underground world). This pattern is almost always also the standard for fan games and ROM hacks based on the series.
73	** The 3D games are no slouch in this department either. ''VideoGame/SuperMario64'', for example, features a GreenHillZone with shades of a RemilitarizedZone as its first level, whereas the final ones include examples of DeathMountain, EternalEngine and LevelInTheClouds that are filled with BottomlessPits.
74	** ''VideoGame/{{Paper Mario\|64}}'' played it straight for the most part (GreenHillZone, DeathMountain + ShiftingSandLand, TheLostWoods + BigBoosHaunt, ToyTime, JungleJapes + LethalLavaLand, GreenHillZone again, SlippySlideyIceWorld, OminousFloatingCastle). The only notable twist was the presence of another, harder GreenHillZone in-between the JungleJapes and the SlippySlideyIceWorld.
75	* ''Franchise/DonkeyKong''
76	** The first ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1'' game follows a very similar logic to the ''Super Mario Bros.'' series, starting with JungleJapes, then it's the UndergroundLevel world, followed by TheLostWoods, SlippySlideyIceWorld, EternalEngine, a '''second''' UndergroundLevel world and finishing on ([[TropeNamers the literal]]) GangplankGalleon.
77	** The [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry2DiddysKongQuest second game]] ups the danger level a bit by having the following sequence: GangplankGalleon, LethalLavaLand, BubblegloopSwamp, AmusementParkOfDoom, BigBoosHaunt mixed with TheLostWoods, BigFancyCastle and finishing on the TheHedgeOfThorns (and a secret JungleJapes world. Unlike the one from the first game, this one is more HungryJungle-flavored, with traps and skulls everywhere). This particularly aggressive lineup is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] as it happens on the homeland of the BigBad and its followers.
78	** The [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry3DixieKongsDoubleTrouble third game]] dials down to a more conventional lineup, but still features an escalatingly dangerous geography, featuring PortTown, TheLostWoods, UnderTheSea + PalmtreePanic, EternalEngine, SlippySlideyIceWorld, DeathMountain and, ironically enough, JungleJapes (with an ominous BigFancyCastle).
79	** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong64'' does it again, having JungleJapes and ShiftingSandLand as the first levels, with UndergroundLevel + SlippySlideyIceWorld and BigBoosHaunt + BigFancyCastle as the last ones before the location of K. Rool, Hideout Helm.
80	** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' has JungleJapes and PalmtreePanic at the start, with EternalEngine and LethalLavaLand at the end.
81	** In the case of ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryTropicalFreeze'', it's done in a different way: The first five main islands all start peacefully, but their following levels move onto the more dangerous areas or sections (for example, Autumn Heights start with ground-based levels, continues with cavern and mining levels at the middle of the mountain, and culminates with threatening levels at the top in the sky; once the boss is defeated, the Kongs arrive to Bright Savannah, whose first level is a lively carnival with few hazards, but once again is followed up by progressively harsher locations). The sixth island, due to being the last without counting the bonus world, is threatening from the get-go.
82	** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKong94'' starts out by remaking the ConstructionZoneCalamity from the original game for its "World 0," and stays nearby in the MetropolisLevel for World 1. It then proceeds to TheLostWoods, a ShipLevel, JungleJapes, ShiftingSandLand, an [[EternalEngine Airplane,]] SlippySlideyIceWorld, and DeathMountain, concluding with the final showdown with DK at [[ItsAllUpstairsFromHere his tower.]]
83	* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}''
84	** There's no Kirby game that doesn't start in a grassy hill, followed by an assortment of more dangerous settings, and then ends in some sort of [[AmazingTechnicolorBattlefield colorful, alien battlefield of evil]] in outer space or another dimension (the first game may be the only exception). The ''Milky Way Wishes'' mode from ''VideoGame/KirbySuperstar'' is the most blatant example of this, although it at least has the decency of making the initial GreenHillZone part of a FourSeasonsLevel.
85	** Played with in ''VideoGame/Kirby64TheCrystalShards''. The stages go, grassland, desert, ocean, jungle/volcano, ice world, but then Ripple Star, the final (regular) level, ''was'' a scenic, calm, peaceful place. The first level in that world is actually a palette swap of the game's first level. However, the furthur you go in the world, the more dangerous things become, as Dark Matter consumes more and more of the stage.
86	** ''VideoGame/KirbyMassAttack'' starts in [[GreenHillZone Green Grounds]], then down to [[ShiftingSandLand Sandy Canyon]], [[PalmtreePanic Dedede Resort]], [[LethalLavaLand Volcano Valley]], and finally, the Necro Nebula.
87	** ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' starts of in [[{{Arcadia}} Quilty Square]], then goes down to [[GreenHillZone Grass Land]], [[LethalLavaLand Hot Land]] ([[ShiftingSandLand which has a few desserts]] [[{{Prehistoria}} and a dinosaur level]]), [[LevelAte Treat Land]], [[PalmtreePanic Water Land]], [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Snow Land]], [[SpaceZone Space Land]], and finally back to Dreamland.
88	* ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'':
89	** The original is pretty standard about it. Everything starts in Spiral Mountain and Mumbo's Mountain (which, despite the name, are both {{Green Hill Zone}}s), then it moves to PalmtreePanic, then DownTheDrain, BubblegloopSwamp ([[TropeNamers the one and only]]), SlippySlideyIceWorld, ShiftingSandLand, BigBoosHaunt, a ShipLevel with EternalEngine features and then a FourSeasonsLevel set in TheLostWoods.
90	** ''VideoGame/BanjoTooie'' has more unique settings, but still count. JungleJapes + TempleOfDoom is the first, followed by UndergroundLevel, AmusementParkOfDoom, UnderTheSea + GangplankGalleon, {{Prehistoria}} (which has an actual DeathMountain), EternalEngine set in a BubblegloopSwamp, '''the''' HailfirePeaks and then a {{Wackyland}} set in the skies.
91	* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', you start in the eerily beautiful Dive to the Heart, a seemingly intimidating and foreboding place where only your inner darkness can harm you and a guiding voice reassures you that everything is alright. You then go to the Destiny Islands, a quasi-utopic world where you play with your friends and dream of visiting other worlds with them. When the island gets destroyed, you must go through worlds based off Disney movies. The first worlds you visit are mostly non-threatening, like Wonderland and Deep Jungle (based on ''Tarzan''), but the more you progress through the game the darker and more dangerous the worlds get, culminating in [[DiscOneFinalDungeon Hollow Bastion]], a labyrinthine, sprawling deserted castle full of powerful enemies, and [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon End of the World]], a vacant and somber EldritchLocation made of destroyed worlds.
92	* In ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', as you progress through the main quest, you start on an ordinary-looking seashore, and travel to your first city through unthreatening countryside. During the course of your adventure, you visit deserts of volcanic ash, jagged rocky shores, labyrinthine lava scathes and reach the climax of the story in flat out [[{{Mordor}} a sprawling ruin built over an open volcanic crater]]. The ''Bloodmoon'' expansion works similarly, starting you off in a chilly-looking but generally green pine forest, passing through harsher and harsher arctic-looking climes, and culminating in and under a giant snowstorm-lashed castle atop a massive glacier.
93	* In ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'', you're first given free reign in the warm, wooded areas of the game, as opposed to the completely frozen parts you'll run into later.
94	* Most games in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' start with a forest-themed dungeon as it's traditionally the least hazardous, and continue with fire, water and (in fewer games) ice dungeons which are more devious (a notable exception is ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', which starts with the dungeon of the BigBad and continues with a fire-themed dungeon. The forest one is the ''third''). Special mention goes to the games with [[DarkWorld multiple worlds]] or [[TimeTravel eras]].
95	* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' games typically start somewhere comparatively hospitable to humans, ending up somewhere else that is not. ''VideoGame/TouhouYouyoumuPerfectCherryBlossom'' starts on a snowy village, going up through storm clouds and end up in an Elysian afterlife. ''VideoGame/TouhouChireidenSubterraneanAnimism'' starts in a cave and end up in Hell.
96	* ''VideoGame/DustAnElysianTail'' starts in a glade where ''deer run by you peacefully'' and stays in forests, hills and plains at first. The middle part of the game is spent in a cave, cemetery and snowy mountain (complete with ice spikes and avalanches), and it finally ends in a volcanic area.
97	* This trope is inverted in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII''; the game starts in a ruined city and the party travels through many industrialized areas, but most of the endgame takes place in GreenHillZone.
98	* ''VideoGame/GuildWars'' plays this straight in Nightfall (Start in the settled mixed terrain of Istan, than the deserts of Kourna and Vabbi, than the poisonous and empty Desolation, finally the dark hell like Realm of Torment), and somewhat straight in Prophecies (Pre-searing is Green Hills, and the game ends in the volcanic Ring of Fire), but with some mix-ups on the journey. Factions and Eye of the North largely avoid this.
99	* ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy'' series: The games typically start in a forest and end somewhere dark and ominous.
100	** ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy3'' plays this pretty straight, going from GreenHillZone to PalmtreePanic to SlippySlideyIceWorld to ShiftingSandLand with RuinsForRuinsSake to LethalLavaLand in {{Mordor}} to SpaceZone.
101	** ''VideoGame/BulletHeaven'' does the same, going from GreenHillZone to PalmtreePanic to ShiftingSandLand to LethalLavaLand.
102	** As does ''VideoGame/AdventureStory'', going from GreenHillZone to ShiftingSandLand to SlippySlideyIceWorld to LethalLavaLand.
103	** ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy4'', on the other hand, subverts it pretty much all the way. The FirstTown is in the same setting as the previous games' opening stage, and the rest of the forest, the actual first level in this game, is full of fire and brimstone. The crystal caves are beautiful, but deadly. Then you find another town in this game, this one taking up the ice world. West is a really small, optional BigBoosHaunt leading back home, but east is a great big EternalEngine with a toxic sewer midway through and an ice bit right near the end. After beating that level, you can go to the JungleJapes fourth level and find old friends from early in the last game ([[KillerRabbit that are no easier than the guys from last level]]). After that's taken care of come the third and last town (in ShiftingSandLand with a bit of PalmtreePanic) and the last dungeon, a much more involved TempleOfDoom leading up into a LevelInTheClouds.
104	** ''VideoGame/BulletHeaven2'' starts with tame environments like a forest and a beach. The entire later half in the game is made of more dangerous settings, in order: A volcano, an EternalEngine, a haunted graveyard, the sky, and deep space, with the sky zone being the only outlier. The final specific level is an EldritchLocation inside of a black hole, with a background made of eyes and teeth.
105	** ''VideoGame/EpicBattleFantasy5'' progresses from some tropical wilds, to an oppressive fortress, a haunted forest, a freezing coast, ending in an apocalyptic wasteland and a dimensional rift in space.
106	* ''VideoGame/{{Diablo}}'':
107	** ''VideoGame/DiabloII'': The player starts with rainy grasslands for Act 1, moves onto desert for Act 2, jungle for Act 3 and then Hell itself for Act 4. The expansion moves into a frozen waste followed by a VolcanoLair afterwards.
108	** ''VideoGame/DiabloIII'':
109	*** The first Act is set in the same area as Act 1, to the point they share a level, the second Act is set closeby "Diablo 2"'s Act 2, in the same desert, then Act 3 moves to the frozen waste and volcano of "Diablo 2"'s expansion before descending into the heart of Hell. Then in Act 4, you go to the now corrupted High Heavens, which get more Hellish as you go deeper.
110	*** The expansion sends you back to an average, normal world, but with everyone being made into reapers, giving the areas a very ghost-like and deserted appearance. It begins in Westmarch, which is under siege by Malthael's forces before then moving on to the poisonous Blood Marsh and the nephalem ruins of Corvus, and then traveling to the very heart of Pandemonium and its title fortress, which has changed significantly since the last time we went through it 20 years ago.
111	* ''VideoGame/OriAndTheBlindForest'' begins its first act with the relatively easy [[GreenHillZone Sunken Glades and Hollow Grove]], progressing to [[BubblegloopSwamp Thornfelt Swamp]], [[UndergroundLevel the underground Moon Grotto]], and the [[JungleJapes jungle-like]] Ginso Tree, then the second act goes to the [[GustyGlade Valley of the Wind]], [[TheLostWoods Misty Woods]] and [[SlippySlideyIceWorld the icy Forlorn Ruins]], then the final act ascends to [[IDontLikeTheSoundOfThatPlace Sorrow Pass]], a GustyGlade on DeathMountain in {{Mordor}}, and the LethalLavaLand of [[TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon Mount Horu]].
112	** In the first act of ''VideoGame/OriAndTheWillOfTheWisps'', Ori lands in [[BubblegloopSwamp Inkwater Marsh]], ventures to TheLostWoods of Kwolok's Hollow, crosses [[GreenHillZone Wellspring Glades]] to restart the BambooTechnology EternalEngine that is the Wellspring, then to the [[LostWoods Silent Woods]] to find Ku. The second act's FetchQuest to reunite the titular Wisps and save Ku as well as Niwen as a whole takes Ori to a SlippySlideyIceWorld on DeathMountain (Baur's Reach), a [[SpidersAreScary spider-populated]] BlackoutBasement where [[DarknessEqualsDeath the darkness itself is lethal]] (Mouldwood Depths), UnderTheSea by way of PalmtreePanic (Luma Pools), and lastly, a TempleOfDoom in ShiftingSandLand (Windtorn Ruins). TheVeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon (Willow's End) is once again in Mordor with a side of LethalLavaLand.
113	* ''VideoGame/ValiantHearts'' does a variation on this, where the opening levels are non-threatening (A train station on the way to the front and a short boot camp sequence) and even the first real level starts with a rather pleseant countryside that quickly turns into a war torn battle field with corpses and shell craters everywhere. The final levels include a battlefield where you are forced to hide behind disturbingly large piles of corpses to avoid being cut down by machine-guns and [[spoiler:being led to your own execution for killing own of your own officers who was continually ordering your comrades to their deaths]].
114	* ''VideoGame/GatlingGears'' plays this straight. The prologue and [[{{Arcadia}} especially first chapter]] take place in GreenHillZone, the second chapter takes place on a DeathMountain, the third chapter in a stormy {{Remixed\|Level}} BleakLevel of the prologue, the fourth in a barren [[ShiftingSandLand desert]] (that was once an ocean), and the last one in Katharsis, a suffocating EternalEngine {{Mordor}}. [[spoiler:Interestingly, the final two stages in Katharsis is actually an artificial GreenHillZone]].
115	* ''VideoGame/MiniRobotWars'': The first chapter is GreenHillZone, the second chapter is ShiftingSandLand, the third is UnderTheSea, the fourth is SlippySlideyIceWorld, and the final level is an EternalEngine {{Mordor}}.
116	* The ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'' games do this to different degrees, but the main series games will always, ''always'', start out with a few very short, grassy field areas. Also without fail, a couple towns over there's always a forest that's darker, creepier and longer than the routes seen thus far. Additionally, every game has more areas unique to it that also fit this theme:
117	** ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and the remakes have the aforementioned settings as Route 1 and Viridian Forest, respectively. Then, in between the occasional road and field, the player encounters Mt. Moon (a cave), Rock Tunnel (a cave ''and'' a BlackoutBasement), [[BigBoosHaunt Pokemon Tower]] (starting a proud tradition of putting [[SurprisinglyCreepyMoment uncharacteristically scary]] areas in cute monster collection games to give kids nightmares), Rocket's Hideout (incidentally, every game also features at least one criminal hideout, which often overlaps with ContainerMaze and/or EternalEngine), Seafoam Islands (a cave in the sea that combines SlippySlideyIceWorld with treacherous currents that drag you around), and Pokemon Mansion (the derelict ruins of a house that used to double as a lab where some, er, less than ethical experiments were conducted.)
118	** ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' mostly averts this trope, unlike its predecessor, for several reasons. For one, this game introduced a Day/Night cycle, with the night versions of routes being automatically more threatening (Ghost types would appear at night in ''many'' routes and buildings, but as a result, no [[BigBoosHaunt area devoted to them was introduced in this game]]). Also, the forest appears much later in these games, and before it the player explores two tunnels (one of them a BlackoutBasement), a well (that's also crawling with Team Rocket grunts), and the Ruins of Alph, which appears very early on and has a very foreboding aura to it. Much later into the game, the region does feature an ice cave, ''Dragon's Den'', Victory Road, and in the postgame, Mt. Silver, but that's about the closest it gets to this trope (they're harsher than other areas, yes, but not much more than the previous ones. Ok, maybe save for [[ThatOneLevel Mt. Silver]]). And then, come the postgame, this is ''inverted'': The player starts out in Vermillion City (which in the original games was almost halfway through the game), and then the exploring order is all over the place, but mostly you'll go from hard and threatening to peaceful and breezy (also, most areas will have very weak Pokemon, which is only natural since the player of the last game beat most of them as a rookie).
119	** ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'' plays this straight again, with the field/creepy forest format being followed by increasingly more hazardous environments. This game is notable for introducing new settings that have been absent from previous games, which have been recurring ever since. Specifically, these games feature a [[ShiftingSandLand desert]], a [[ConvectionSchmonvection volcano]], and two [[JungleJapes overgrown routes showered in perpetual rain]], all appearing across the middle/later half of the game. And further east, you get a huge span of ocean (featuring a ton of aquatic GoddamnBats) that houses the undersea lair of Kyogre/maybe Groudon (depending on the version) and the ruins that house Rayquaza, as well as the Victory Road.
120	* ''VideoGame/DarkCloud'' and ''VideoGame/DarkChronicle'' both play it straight:
121	** ''Dark Cloud'' starts off with the first dungeon being a simple cave nearby the town. The next dungeon is a forest, followed by a sunken ship, a desert palace, the moon, and an EldritchLocation that gets older the further and further and further you go. The BonusLevel is an even further eldritch location called the "Demon Shaft".
122	** ''Dark Cloud 2'' starts out with the first level being the seemingly quiet [[SewerLevel sewers]], followed by a quiet forest. Then a canyon, an oceanside cave, a volcano, then culminating in a massive palace. The bonus level is a simple mineshaft.
123	* ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter'' games tend to follow a set pattern for in-game areas starting with a GreenHillZone and working up to more hostile locales.
124	** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunter2004'': First are the [[TheLostWoods Forest and Hills]], where the biggest danger are the cliffs that might make Egg Delivery hard but is otherwise harmless outside of monsters showing up. Next is the [[JungleJapes Jungle]], which while not capable of harming you with hazards or environment can still prove a nuisance with its intertwining palm tress and dense vegetation that may block your view in a hunt. It also has cold areas where your stamina will drain if you stay on them long enough or without a Hot Drink. Afterwards comes the [[ShiftingSandLand Desert]], with a large amount of hot areas that will drain your HP without Cold Drinks and to boot a cold underground cave area that will instead sap your stamina without Hot Drinks. Then comes the [[BubblegloopSwamp Swamp]], which has large foggy areas that will impede your view and 3 cold areas that will drain your stamina without Hot Drinks. The last regular unlocked area is the [[LethalLavaLand Volcano]], a harsh hot land where most of the area will be draining your HP unless you bring Cold Drinks there.
125	** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterWorld'' as an example: the first explorable area is the Ancient Forest, a coastal region replete with flora. Next is the Wildspire Waste, a [[ShiftingSandLand mountainous desert]] with [[BubblegloopSwamp some swampland]]. Third is the Coral Highlands, an UnderTheSea level, minus the actual sea, with picturesque coral growths and bizarre wildlife. Fourth is Rotten Vale, a BleakLevel filled with corpses and toxic gas. Finally, there is the Elder's Recess, a LethalLavaLand replete with quartz-like crystal growths. The ''Iceborne'' expansion adds the Hoarfrost Reach, a SlippySlideyIceWorld; and the Guiding Lands, an endgame sandbox that [[HailfirePeaks features all of the biomes from the game combined in one region]]. Certain bosses are fought in special arenas that grow increasingly hostile as their difficulty goes up, such as: the Everstream, one of the magmatic energy conduits of the New World where players fight Zorah Magdaros; the Confluence of Fates, a crystaline nest home to Xeno'jiiva; Origin Island, a desolate island where Ruiner Nergigante and Shara Ishvalda are fought; and Castle Schrade, a NostalgiaLevel from earlier ''Monster Hunter'' games that takes place in castle ruins that are home to Fatalis.
126	** ''VideoGame/MonsterHunterRise'': The regions in the game are unlocked in approximate order of their danger levels, including: The Shrine Ruins, a GreenHillZone with some RuinsForRuinsSake; The Flooded Forest, a [[JungleJapes watery jungle]] with a massive ziggurat; Frozen Islands, an [[SlippySlideyIceWorld icy wasteland]] with beached ships; The Sandy Plains, an [[ShiftingSandLand arid and mountainous desert]]; The Lava Caverns, a [[LethalLavaLand rocky hellscape at the base of an active volcano]]; The Coral Palace, the arena for the FinalBoss [[spoiler:Thunder Serpent Narwa (and later Wind Serpent Ibushi)]]: a desolate fortress ruin arena. The ''Sunbreak'' expansion continues from where the base game ended, bringing in the diverse Citadel (a HailfirePeaks biome featuring a forest area, castle ruins, a swamp and a snowy frontier), the Jungle from the second-generation games and finally an eerie, desolate hollow housing [[spoiler:the Elder Dragon Gaismagorm]].
127	* ''VideoGame/{{Outcast}}'' plays this trope mostly straight, with two notable exceptions: you start the game in the SlippySlideyIceWorld of Ranzaar[[note]]which contains little more than a TutorialLevel[[/note]] and the last region you normally gain access to (after five [[PortalNetwork daoka]] hops) are TheLostWoods of Okaar[[note]]which is technically the ''first'' level the PlayerCharacter arrives to, but he loses consciousness during dimensional transfer and is smuggled by his allies all the way to the safety of Ranzaar[[/note]]. From Ranzaar, you can only go to the rather literal GreenHillZone of Shamazaar[[note]]even though its climate is more humid and subtropical than temperate[[/note]], which leads to the ShiftingSandLand of Talanzaar[[note]]you don't traverse the desert much, however, mostly confined to one massive city of Okriana[[/note]], from where you have access to the LethalLavaLand of Motazaar and the BubblegloopSwamp of Okasankaar[[note]]technically, you can find daokas to both of these back in Shamazaar, but they are [[BeefGate heavily guarded]] ''and'' lead straight into large enemy camps, so you are discouraged from using them early on[[/note]]. Finally, Okaar is accessible only through a remote daoka in Okasankaar and is easily the most hazardous region of the game (except maybe the BigBad's palace in Talanzaar).
128	* ''VideoGame/{{Nox}}'' has a different sequence of levels for each of its three classes:
129	** Warrior!Jack actually starts out in the LethalLavaLand around the fortress of Dün Mir, then proceeds to the GreenHillZone around the Village of Ix and the UndergroundLevel of the Urchin Lair. He is then taken to the Field of Valor, an UndergroundLevel-slash-BigBoosHaunt, and emerges in TheLostWoods surrounding the town of Brin and the Ogre Village. After a brief return to Dün Mir, Jack fights his way through the MageTower of the Castle Galava and the TempleOfDoom back near Ix. He is then brought to the BubblegloopSwamp uncreatively called the "Dismal Swamp" from where he reaches the SlippySlideyIceWorld of the Land of the Dead and descends into the PlanetHeck of the Underworld to fight the FinalBoss.
130	** Conjurer!Jack begins the game near the [[GreenHillZone Village of Ix]], clears out the [[UndergroundLevel Urchin Lair]], then visits another UndergroundLevel, the Mana Mines. He then goes essentially through the same level sequence as the Warrior: [[UndergroundLevel Field]] [[BigBoosHaunt of Valor]], [[TheLostWoods Brin]], brief detours to Dün Mir and Galava[[note]]he doesn't have to fight the wizards, though[[/note]], [[TempleOfDoom Temple of Ix]], [[BubblegloopSwamp Dismal Swamp]], [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Land of the Dead]], and the [[PlanetHeck Underworld]].
131	** Wizard!Jack enters the world near Castle Galava (which is essentially a GreenHillZone for him), then goes to the [[UndergroundLevel Field]] [[BigBoosHaunt of Valor]] and [[TheLostWoods Brin]]. After fighting his way through [[LethalLavaLand Dün Mir]], he returns to Galava, only to be teleported to the [[PlanetHeck Underworld]]. Once he escapes from there, it's back to the [[TempleOfDoom Temple of Ix]], [[BubblegloopSwamp Dismal Swamp]], [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Land of the Dead]], and a return to the [[PlanetHeck Underworld]] for the FinalBattle.
132	* ''VideoGame/XenobladeChroniclesX'' is a WideOpenSandbox game that gives you free reign to travel where you want to from the get-go, but the game's story campaign explores each of the planet Mira's regions in order, starting with the [[GreenHillZone idyllic plains and lakes of Primordia]], followed by [[JungleJapes the thick and toxic rainforests of Noctulum]]. Next is [[ShiftingSandLand the desertous Oblivia]], then the [[AlienLandmass mysterious and alien Sylvalum]], and finally, the [[LethalLavaLand volcanic mountains of Cauldros]].
133	* The original ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' follows the formula pretty closely, except for starting out at the CityPlanet of Taris: the planet after that -- the first where you have Force powers -- is the GreenHillZone of Dantooine, and although you are free to tackle the next four worlds in any order, they are carefully balanced to encourage you to visit the iconic ShiftingSandLand of Tatooine first, then TheLostWoods of Kashyyk, the [[UnderTheSea ocean-covered]] Manaan, and finally Korriban, whose vistas invoke LethalLavaLand, even if there isn't much actual lava about. After collecting a MacGuffin from each of those four, you are allowed to go to the JungleJapes and beaches of Rakata Prime, and ultimately to duke it out with the BigBad inside the literal EternalEngine of the Star Forge space station.
134	* The original ''VideoGame/MassEffect1'' started off in the GreenHillZone of Eden Prime and a lengthy segment inside the EternalEngine of the Citadel space station. After gaining command of the CoolStarship ''Normandy'', you are free to explore the LethalLavaLand of Therum[[note]]in a subversion, Therum is not all ''that'' difficult, and the game strongly encourages you to go there first to recruit your final party member[[/note]], the {{Ghost\|Planet}} CityPlanet of Feros, and the SlippySlideyIceWorld of Noveria, with the PalmtreePanic of Virmire also getting unlocked along the way. After beating all four of those, you proceed to another GhostPlanet, Ilos, and to the FinalBattle back aboard the Citadel.
135	* ''VideoGame/PhantasyStar''
136	** The first planet in ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarI'' is Palma, which consists of [[GreenHillZone serene forests and gentle plains]]. The second planet is Motavia, [[ShiftingSandLand a hostile desert world]]. Third is Dezoris, [[SlippySlideyIceWorld a frozen planet]].
137	** In ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarII'', Palma is not explored at all. Instead, the game starts off on Motavia (renamed "Mota"), which has become a GreenHillZone thanks to a millennium of terraforming. Dezoris (or "Dezo") is explored later, and it's still an ice ball.
138	** ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline'' has the first explorable area as the Forest, a GreenHillZone. Next is the Caves, consisting of [[LethalLavaLand magma pools]] and [[UndergroundLevel dank caverns]]. Third is the Mines, a machine-filled EternalEngine area. Last is the Ruins, an EldritchLocation.
139	** ''VideoGame/PhantasyStarOnline2'' hops between and occasionally revisits planets, but still features the same general progression of regions. In order, through Episode 3: [[GreenHillZone Forest]], [[LethalLavaLand Volcanic Caves]], [[ShiftingSandLand Desert]], [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Tundra]], [[UndergroundLevel Subterranean Tunnels]], [[FloatingContinent Skyscape]], [[RuinsForRuinsSake Ruins]], [[TempleOfDoom Sanctum]], [[PalmtreePanic Coast]], [[ShiftingSandLand Quarry]], [[UnderTheSea Seabed]], [[{{Wutai}} Shironia]], and [[BlackSite Facility]].
140	* ''VideoGame/KingdomRush'' series:
141	** The original game plays this straight. The first area takes place in the verdant and green Linirea, the second area takes place in the cold icy mountains, and the third area takes place in the barren and hellish landscape of [[{{Mordor}} Valardul]], of which [[BigBad Vez'nan's]] tower resides.
142	** ''Kingdom Rush: Vengeance'' inverts and zig-zags this, since [[VillainProtagonist you play as Vez'nan's dark army]]. The tutorial level starts out at Vez'nan's Dark Tower in the above-mentioned Varladul. The second area of the game is the Dwarven underground caves filled with machinery, the third area of the game is the barren, barbarian-filled [[GrimUpNorth Frozen North]], and the final area of the game is the lush and verdant Linirea... which you're about to take over.
143	* ''VideoGame/{{Starbound}}'' classifies the natural biomes of planets you can land on and explore in six tiers from 1 to 6, ranked by general threat level: Low, Moderate, Risky, Dangerous, Extreme, and Inconceivable. Hostile creatures on these planets scale up and down in terms of their stats relative to the tier of the planet. The player character begins a new game on a Garden biome planet (level 1) and the {{Fetch Quest}}s for each race are ordered so that the biomes they are more likely to be found on go in progression of threat level (Floran villages and dungeons are weighted towards Moderate-level Forest biomes, Hylotls in Risky-level Ocean biomes, Avians in Dangerous-level Jungle biomes, Apex in Extreme-level Tundra biomes, and Glitch in Inconceivable-level Volcanic biomes). Higher tier biomes also require the player to don an [[ArtificialGill Environment Protection Pack]] upgraded to the appropriate level to explore safely. There's also a Tier 0 for moons and the final boss level, though those are more because of their unique circumstances which defy normal classification (moons are devoid of all threats save for meteor strikes and [[AdvancingBossOfDoom an unrelenting Erichus Ghost]]; [[spoiler:the Ruin is an entire ''planet'' infested with a hostile life form that the player must travel down to the heart of to slay once and for all]]).
144	* ''VideoGame/{{Fe}}'' begins with the eponymous protagonist awakening in a GreenHillZone adjacent the WorldTree HubLevel, from which they follow a [[UndergroundLevel cavern]] to DeathMountain, descend to a GustyGlade valley with hints of ShiftingSandLand, cross BubblegloopSwamp to a [[PalmtreePanic seaside zone]], navigate a BlackoutBasement followed by a SlippySlideyIceWorld, then hop and glide across a LevelInTheClouds to reach the EternalEngine FinalDungeon.
145	* ''VideoGame/VirtuaQuest'' plays around with this trope a bit. The first level in the game is Curio City, an abandoned -- yet intact -- modern city. Next is Wild Corridor, a JungleJapes level. Third is Twin Axis, a level that takes place entirely in a pair of buildings under construction. Fourth is Tsukiyoi Castle, an AlwaysNight level taking place in a feudal-style Japanese castle. Fifth is Darkness Harbor, another AlwaysNight level set in a NotSoSafeHarbor. Sixth is the Thai Phong Ruins, RuinsForRuinsSake. Seventh is Qian Dong Jie, another city level, but this time set in a FriendlyLocalChinatown. Last is the Main Server, a {{Cyberspace}} level that is dark and foreboding.
146	* ''Franchise/StarFox'' employs this rather regularly despite half of it taking place in [[SpaceZone outer space]]. The planetary levels tend to be organized in this pattern, with Corneria, the resident GreenHillZone usually being the first level and some sort of {{Mordor}} (often Venom) being last. In ''VideoGame/StarFox64'', it's pretty noticeable, as the planets closest to Corneria are somewhat more habitable than the later ones, like [[LethalLavaLand Solar]] or [[ShiftingSandLand Titania]].
147	* ''VideoGame/TheBindingOfIsaac'' is a case where the environments already start bleak but only get worse. The Basement at least still has a vaguely familiar "house-like" feeling to it. After that is the larger and eerier Caves. Then the Depths, an outright dungeon. Beyond that is the Womb, a literal WombLevel where Isaac goes through his Mom's insides. Each of those four levels also has two unlockable variations that are worse, such as the Basement having the spider-infested Cellar, or the on-fire Burning Basement. Between the two main choices after that, he could venture to Sheol itself, a bleak "afterlife," and after that is the Dark Room, an ambiguous location made of decayed islands floating on a purple and gray void. The other path after the Womb subverts this, as the Cathedral is ominous but generally feels more welcoming than the Womb or Sheol, while the Chest is just Isaac's toy chest filled with bosses. "Repentance" added alternate versions of the first four settings from a different path that are even more threatening than their Burning, Flooded, Dank, or Scarred versions: The Basement's counterpart is the haunted and flooded Downpour, the Caves has the magma-filled Mines, the Depths has the occult Mausoleum, and the Womb becomes the dead Corpse. All of them except the Corpse have an even harsher variation.
148	* ''VideoGame/Haven2020'' takes place in GreenHillZone for most of the first act, briefly detours to BubblegloopSwamp, then heads to ShiftingSandLand in the southern section of the map, followed by LethalLavaLand {{Mordor}} for the VeryDefinitelyFinalDungeon.
149	* ''VideoGame/WarioMasterOfDisguise'' plays this straight for most of the game, starting off in relatively mundane locations like a [[ShipLevel cruise ship]] and a museum before moving on to more threatening locales like an [[SlippySlideyIceWorld ice cave]] and two [[TempleOfDoom Temples of Doom]]. After that, the game ups the ante even further with a [[LethalLavaLand volcano]], a HauntedCastle, and a [[EternalEngine villainous laboratory]]. However, after the villain lab, the final level takes place in a pristine hanging garden. It's no less threatening than the preceding areas level design-wise, but setting-wise it is noticeably more serene than what came before it.
150	* ''{{VideoGame/Valheim}}'': While the biomes can be found and accessed in any order, defeating the boss of each one is necessary to fully exploit and use the resources of the next one.
151	** The Meadows are forests populated mostly by deer, boar, greylings and the occasional skeleton (who will gleefully ruin an unprepared player's day).
152	** The Black Forest is considerably more dangerous, hosting the greydwarves, skeletons, and trolls.
153	** The Swamp fully embraces the SwampsAreEvil trope, a dead marsh infested with undead, slimes, constant rain, small islets emerging from leech-infested waters, exploding fire spirits, and giant undead trees.
154	** The Mountains constantly drain health if precautions aren't taken against the cold, and contain flying dragons, RockMonters, LightningBruiser wolves and werewolves.
155	** The Plains look relatively harmless at first glance. Then you run into (or rather, they see and chase you) three of the most aggravating enemies in the game: The well-named Deathsquitoes, the BossInMookClothing Fulings, and Growths, whose attacks slow and poison you.
156	** The Mistlands require a special item to make any real progress in the, well, mist, but even that isn't enough to completely clear it away. Enemies include GiantCreepyCrawlies (one of which flies and drops dog-sized ticks on top of you) and trigger-happy dvergr who will turn on you if you hit their buildings even by accident.
157	** The Ocean is relatively peaceful by day (although the wind has a noted tendency to blow in your face), but at night and during storms is when the SeaSerpents emerge.
158	** The last two biomes are the Ashlands and Deep North, which are unfinished as of early 2023 but represent the mythical primordial realms of Myth/NorseMythology (one made of fire and the other of ice).
159	* ''VideoGame/The2020CelesteSpringCommunityCollab'': While the maps within the [[HubLevel lobbies]] are all over the place, the lobbies themselves follow this: the Beginner lobby is a GreenHillZone with a bit of water in it, the Intermediate lobby is themed around trees in autumn, the Advanced lobby is a colourful cave with some spikes in it, the Expert lobby is a LethalLavaLand, and the Grandmaster lobby is an ominous [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver red and black castle]]. The lobbies themselves also get harder to navigate: at Advanced you can die to it if you get careless, and Expert and Grandmaster require significant tech skills just to find the levels. This aspect was dropped in the subsequent large mod ''VideoGame/StrawberryJamCollab'', whose WarpWhistle mechanic would have rendered it largely pointless anyway.
160	[[/folder]]
161
162	[[folder:Webcomics]]
163	* The journey of our heroes in ''Webcomic/CucumberQuest'' has followed this pattern so far, starting in a quaint home village, then passing through a [[LevelAte cheerful candy castle]], a [[PalmtreePanic tropical ocean kingdom]], and a [[BigBoosHaunt spooky]] [[BandLand music-themed kingdom]], before plunging into increasingly threatening landscapes of [[TheHedgeOfThorns overgrown]] [[RuinsForRuinsSake ruined gardens]] and an [[SlippySlideyIceWorld ice]]/[[LethalLavaLand fire]] world [[CrystalLandscape made of crystals]]. It's been hinted that they may eventually travel into the [[LevelInTheClouds sky]], then [[SpaceZone outer space]]! Fitting, given that the entire comic is an affectionate tribute to (and riff on) the sort of video games that invented this trope.
164	[[/folder]]
165
166	[[folder:Real Life]]
167	* The Oregon Trail partially met this progression, especially for those who branched off onto the California Trail near the halfway point. The jumping-off point (commonly Independence, MO) would lead through relatively easy terrain of grasslands, springs, gentle rolling hills that weren't too difficult to cross, and an expanding set of bridges and ferries to allow those with money to cross rivers easily. The land would steadily get drier as the pioneers headed west and encountered treacherous mountains; while those going to Oregon would find green land and forests near their destination, travelers to California would finish their journey with long stretches of desert and more mountains. Many expeditions (most infamously the [[NoPartyLikeADonnerParty Donner Party]]) would have little or no trouble for the first half of the journey and then suddenly collapse and suffer casualties toward the end.
168	[[/folder]]

Context Main / SortingAlgorithmOfThreateningGeography