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No Sidepaths, No Exploration, No Freedom: Difference between revisions
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Just as a gamemaster in a [[Tabletop Games|tabletop game]] may create [[Broken Bridge|artificial rules, boundaries and obstacles]] to keep his players on the game track that he has designated (a procedure known as [[Railroading]]), so too a video game may employ such tactics in order to force the player down a [[The One True Sequence|specific path or method]] toward the goal. And one of the easiest ways to keep a player from wandering off is, quite simply, to give the player nowhere to wander to.
Technically, [[No Sidepaths No Exploration No Freedom]] is the polar opposite of the [[Quicksand Box]]; it describes level architecture which forces the player down a singular path. This trope is most common in [[First
The most common incarnation is to simply have several rooms chained, each with a single entrance and a single exit, or to have long corridors with no side branches and few if any side rooms. The only options for progress are "forward" or "backward." This applies even when the rooms are tightly packed together and should have (you'd think) some degree of interconnectivity; imagine living in a New Orleans [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shotgun_house shotgun house], where you have to travel from the front porch into the living room, then through the kitchen, to the dining room, through the spare bedroom, and finally into the den, just to get to the bathroom. ''Every'' time you wanted to go to the bathroom. No shortcuts.
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See also [[Broken Bridge]], [[The Law of Conservation of Detail]], [[Space Filling Path]], [[The One True Sequence]], [[Rail Shooter]], [[Master of Unlocking]], and [[Quicksand Box]] for when developers go too far in the other direction.
{{examples
* Most of ''Makeruna! Makendou Z'', with the exception of the jungle towards the end (where you could end up going in circles). Only one item pickup in the game, and you can't even revisit old areas. It's even mentioned in [http://www.pcenginefx.com/PC-FX/html/pc-fx_world_-_game_reviews_-_m.html the review]
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** ''[[The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Phantom Hourglass]]'' has mostly extremely linear dungeons that fit to a T, although the world is a little less linear.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks]]'' literally railroaded you through the overworld, giving you almost no ability to explore anything. Even the sidequests that unlock parts of the map are themselves linear, and the only thing that they allow you to explore are a handful of bonus dungeons (which are again very linear). It's kind of hard to avoid restriction when you're driving a train, but it's still one of the biggest complaints about the game.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (Video Game)|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'' ditches the vast overworlds of other games, instead making them feel more like [[Dungeon Town|dungeons]]. While there's definitely sidepaths, minigames and sidequests, the world is overall a lot more linear.
* Most games made by Treasure, to name one entire company, follow the trope.
* The demo game that used to come with the [[Game Maker|RPG Toolkit]] [[Lampshaded]] this; doors were noted to be locked, and then commented that it was probably because the programmer was too lazy to make another room.
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** ''[[Kingdom Hearts II (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts II]]'' has more than a few levels like this or close to it (i.e. not a lot of exploration). The most [[Egregious]] examples would probably be {{spoiler|The World That Never Was}} and Disney Castle.
** Allegedly done because [[Kingdom Hearts (Video Game)|the original]] was more in the opposite direction, to the consternation of many players. Arrgh, [[Quicksand Box|Deep Jungle]]!
** ''[[Kingdom Hearts: 358 Days Over 2 (Video Game)|Kingdom Hearts 358 Days Over 2]]'' is even moreso of this trope. Since you play as Roxas going on specific missions assigned to you by Saix, it is largely linear and one-goal based. Because of this, in almost all missions, they even ''block off'' some of the paths of a world that "are not necessary for the mission." The only extras you really get are going around to find extra Heartless to fill up your Bonus Gauge.
* In an extreme case of [[Tropes Are Not Bad]], ''[[Painkiller]]: [[Obvious Beta|Resurrection]]'' attempted to avert this by giving a more open-ended level design compared to previous installments. This being ''[[Sequelitis|Resurrection]]'', it didn't work out that well.
* The linearity of ''[[Tomb Raider]]: Legend'' was a frequent complaint amongst both reviewers and fans. While frequently linear the earlier games tended to at least provide a couple of choices of where to go at a given point, whereas all but a couple of Legend's levels were almost a straight line, which drew several complaints and some attempt at averting it in Anniversary and Underworld.
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** Averted in ''[[Conduit 2]]''; most of the levels are set in exotic outdoor environments such as the Himalayas and the Atlantic Ocean, and multiple paths are provided to reach the end of each stage.
* The Xbox game ''Breakdown'' had one single path and instead focuses on immersing you into its [[Mind Screw]] storyline rather than exploration. You get a few dialogue choices from time to time, and get to make a big decision to determine which of the two ending sequences you get to see, but that's the extent of it.
* [[Electronic Arts]]' [[PS 2]] [[Third
* Most of ''Winback'', which often combines this with [[Space Filling Path|space filling paths]] for [[Fake Longevity]].
* In the [[Blades Of Avernum]] community, anything designed by Terror's Martyr. The [[Avernum]] series is known for its huge outdoors and nonlinear approach to play... meanwhile, Terror's Martyr designs tiny, tiny outdoor sections, and scripted blocks to your path everywhere, so that you don't wander off the correct order of completing his scenarios.
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