Video Games
In the 1999 role-playing game Outcast a probe is sent to a parallel universe and is attacked by an "entity". Cutter Slade must escort a team of scientists across to the other world in order to retrieve and repair the damaged probe before the earth is consumed by a black hole.
In Half Life 2, Wallace Breen, the main antagonist of the game, tries to open a portal to another universe. There is another planet in another dimension called Xen. There is also a Multiverse Empire called The Combine.
In the survival horror video game series Silent Hill, the town of Silent Hill fluctuates between the real world (which is covered in fog) and a dark and dilapidated version of the town called the "Other World".
In the 1993 adventure PC game Myst, the unnamed protagonist travels to multiple alternate worlds through the use of special books, which describe a world within and transport the user to that world when a window on the front page is touched.
In the 1996 adventure PC game 9: The Last Resort, after resolving several mind-blowing and unique puzzles, the player gets past "The Tiki Guards"; and a door opens up to "The Void" - actually a room to another universe, which houses the entirety of space.
Both titles of the When They Cry visual novel series (Higurashi and Umineko for short) contain the concept of parallel worlds. These series both involve some kind of murder mystery. As soon as the main character has 'lost', another parallel world, called a Fragment, is chosen to be observed. This continues until the entire mystery is solved.
EarthBound features many areas of the game that can be considered alternate dimensions. The first is an illusion created by the Mani Mani Statue that transforms the metropolis of Fourside into a bizarre neon metropolis called Moonside, filled with unusual characters and enemies. The second is Magicant, the world of Ness's subconscious that is accessed after obtaining the Eight Melodies. Finally, toward the end of the game, the protagonists arrive at the Cave to the Past, where they travel back in time to the haunting past dimension of the cave to face Giygas.
The unassuming Tanehineri Island in Mother 3 is transformed after the protagonists consume psychedelic mushrooms. The characters hallucinate, the island appears bright pink, and enemies they encounter appear to them as people they know.
In Yume Nikki (or "Dream Diary" in English), the protagonist Madotsuki explores the bizarre worlds of her subconscious mind when she goes to sleep. Only two areas of the world are accessible both while awake and asleep: Madotsuki's bedroom and balcony.
Super Mario Bros. 2 features a "Magic Potion" item that when used, creates a doorway allowing the player to temporarily access "Subspace"; a mirrored silhouette version of the world where items can be found.
After the completion of the Special World in Super Mario World, the overworld transforms from a green-colored springtime to an orange-colored autumnal setting. Many enemies encountered in the game are transformed into bizarre counterparts.
Super Mario 64 features a world called "Tiny Huge Island" which has two variants: one scaled up, the other scaled down. The player can only access certain parts of the level to obtain certain stars depending on which variant they are in. The two variants can be switched between via portals in the world.
Banjo-Kazooie features a world called "Click Clock Wood", which has spring, summer, autumn and winter variants. The environment develops between the seasons making some areas accessible or inaccessible, and actions taken in one season affect the outcome in others.
The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past features a dark and twisted parallel version of Hyrule called the "Dark World".
The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages use a similar concept to that which is used in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. In those games, the player must switch between the parallel past and present worlds (Ages) and between spring, summer, autumn and winter (Seasons) to progress through the game.
In the first half of The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, areas of Hyrule are veiled by the Twilight Realm. These areas are dusky and brooding in appearance, Link cannot transform out of wolf form, characters only appear as spirits that cannot be communicated with, and enemies are twilight variations of their regular forms. Otherwise, the Twilight Realm is identical to regular Hyrule.
Each Zone in Sonic CD has four variations: Past, Present, Bad Future and Good Future, each displaying some subtle and not-so subtle alterations.
The story of Chrono Cross centers around travel between two alternate timelines, the original or "Home" universe and "Another World" which is a branch created by the actions of the heroes of the game's predecessor, Chrono Trigger.
Chrono Trigger has time travel as a central aspect of its game-play. Many areas of the game are accessible in more than one time period, and actions taken in one time period change the outcome in others.
In Super Paper Mario, the town "Flipside" (which acts as the game's central hub) has an alternate mirrored version called "Flopside". While Flipside appears pristine and the residents there are typically cheerful, Flopside appears somewhat dilapidated and is populated by surly characters.
The series Legacy of Kain is played through several realms and timelines.
Sudeki is set in a realm of light and a parallel realm of darkness.
The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion features an alternative hellish world called "Oblivion", as well as a painting you can climb into and a quest where you enter a dream world.
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask takes place in Termina, a parallel world to Hyrule. Almost all of the characters from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time reappear in the game.
The Darkness pivots around a world of darkness you travel to when you die, which is occupied by World War 1 soldiers.
Metroid Prime 2: Echoes involves a world, "Aether", having an alternate self in the, "Dark" realm, universe, or dimension. The protagonist, Samus, finds out that she just dropped in to a hopeless war for the Luminoth, the dominant species of Light Aether against the Ing, the dominant species of Dark Aether. She also finds her counterpart, Dark Samus or Metroid Prime's essence inside Samus's Phazon Suit.
Crash Twinsanity features Crash, Cortex, and Nina traveling to the "10th dimension," which could also be a parallel universe (suggested by the theme and how everything seems to be opposite).
Minecraft features an alternate dimension called "The Nether", that includes a 'hell' like theme. It also contains a second alternate dimension called "The End," home world of the Endermen, a type of monster that spawns rarely in the main world.
Persona 2: Eternal Punishment takes place in an alternate universe called "This Side" where in the events of Innocent Sin did not take place and the characters have never met in the past.
The Fallout series takes place in a subtly different universe. For example, the ship that landed the first men on the moon in 1969 is called Valiant 11, rather than Apollo 11. This universe diverged from ours after World War II, which resulted in a lack of advanced computers, the Cold War, VHS, etc.
The MMORPG City of Heroes features a Player vs Player (PvP) zone called Recluse's Victory. It is an alternate future in a constant state of flux, as heroes and villains battle for the future of Earth.
In the text-based science fiction MMORPG OtherSpace, refugees from Earth's universe were forced to migrate to a parallel universe called Hiverspace, whose quantum divergence occurred billions of years in the past, after damage to the time/space continuum began to tear their own universe apart. Eventually, they were able to find a means back to a past universe whose quantum divergence from their original one was relatively minor.
2011 action-adventure video game Portal 2 features a game-mode entitled "Perpetual Testing Initiative", where a plot item features protagonist "Bendy" through thousands of different worlds of which character Cave Johnson exist in different roles entitled "The Multiverse".
Read more about this topic: Parallel Universe (fiction)
Famous quotes related to video games:
“I recently learned something quite interesting about video games. Many young people have developed incredible hand, eye, and brain coordination in playing these games. The air force believes these kids will be our outstanding pilots should they fly our jets.”
—Ronald Reagan (b. 1911)
“It is among the ranks of school-age children, those six- to twelve-year-olds who once avidly filled their free moments with childhood play, that the greatest change is evident. In the place of traditional, sometimes ancient childhood games that were still popular a generation ago, in the place of fantasy and make- believe play . . . today’s children have substituted television viewing and, most recently, video games.”
—Marie Winn (20th century)