I’m embarrassed to say that I have encountered this, this particular type of story on multiple occasions… So I got curious, is there a name to this trope?

  • Hobo@lemmy.world
    33·
    9 hours ago

    I have no idea the answer to your question, but I now know like 99% of people on lemmy have shitty reading comprehension.

    • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
      9·
      4 hours ago

      Seriously. There’s a dozen links to TvTropes and almost none of them match OP’s description, but they’re all upvoted to high heaven. Not to mention the unrelated replies talking about their favorite stories which don’t actually match the trope either.

      • KombatWombat@lemmy.world
        1·
        2 hours ago

        The TvTropes links are mostly right though? It matches the third variation of Earth All Along. The linked examples match what OP is describing except not being restricted to Fantasy.

        • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
          1·
          8 minutes ago

          Well OP didn’t specify Earth. I can think of some stories where it transitions from high fantasy into sci-fi but is not set on Earth, which is definitely not under the ‘Earth All Along’ trope.

    • naught101@lemmy.world
      4·
      3 hours ago

      Pity, 'cause it’s a great question, and a great trope. I can think of a few good examples. Maybe it’s time to start a TVTropes account and get editing.

  • Ogmios@sh.itjust.works
    293·
    11 hours ago

    The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr. is my personal favourite of Bruce Campbell’s work. Starts off as any ordinary western, before getting very, very weird.

    https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105932/

    Come to think of it, Firefly might count, after watching Serenity at the end of the series.

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
    9·
    14 hours ago

    To clarify, are you asking if there’s a specific genre to Planet of the Apes where there’s a big reveal that this is actually just earth after some society ending disaster? (And similar stuff but that’s the first that came to mind).

  • OpenStars@discuss.onlineEnglish
    6·
    13 hours ago

    Star Trek comes to mind unless you disallow scifi (as high fantasy usually would iirc, though notably “space operas” really do seem to blur the line).

    LOTR could be argued as such - there was an earlier age of beings from which only remnants survived, and then we also watch live as a second epochal transition takes place, where the likes of elves disappear. I mean, either way it’s not “our reality” type of age - but then again you couldn’t ask for that from “high fantasy” by definition :-).

    And it’s a very common trope in video games - e.g. Chrono Trigger that is arguably the best RPG of all time (shitty graphics, even for its time, but hands-down the best story I’ve ever seen, made btw by the creators of Final Fantasy who were given the freedom to do whatever they wanted for it). Edit: another one like that is Lufia - not a ground-breaking game but highly regarded for doing what it did so very well, at its time mind you.

    And I’ve seen some others where like basically Earth is implied to have been destroyed (or at least it is unclear whether it survived a world-ending event), but the singular human remaining lives on, in space, but in something like a series of interconnected “worlds”, some having higher levels of technology than Earth ever managed to reach while others are set in earlier timeframes. And dealing with noncorporeal beings from like higher dimensions, and entities like a god inside the machine - so definitely once again mixing up heavy elements of “high fantasy” (with the likes of swords and magic) and sci-fi.

    If you can dream it, someone has likely written it. Books are freaking awesome! 😎 So too are other mediums, when profits are not the exclusive focus.

    • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
      4·
      9 hours ago

      I loved Chrono Trigger! The very first example of this that I ran into as a kid was Crystalis. You are told at the beginning that it’s Earth after an end of the world event, but it’s a sword and sorcery overhead action RPG (think original Legend of Zelda with slightly more RPG, slightly more action, and slightly more varied combat) and ends with you shooting advanced technology with your magic sword.

      • OpenStars@discuss.onlineEnglish
        2·
        9 hours ago

        Yes I played Crystalis! Not like, whenever it was when it first came out, but I like to study the evolution of gaming so I went back and played a bunch like Dragon Warrior/Quest, even the Japanese versions of Final Fantasy, Phantasy Star, etc.

        I definitely enjoyed Chrono Trigger more:-). But I was glad to have played Crystalis too, especially with it having been so unique (or at least like rare I guess).

        And while I never played it, isn’t Baldur’s Gate also post-apocalyptic, with a high fantasy theme? There are indeed so many that use that trope.:-)

        • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
          1·
          58 minutes ago

          Chrono Trigger (and Chrono Cross for that matter) is a better game for sure but I played Crystalis as a kid when it first came out so it’ll always hold a special place in my heart. Chrono Trigger came out when I was about to become a teen so I had other things on my mind at the time.

          As for Baldur’s Gate…kind of? Without going too far into it, most of the D&D worlds had some sort of apocalypse in their past. Faerûn’s apocalypse was so far back that they’ve completely rebuilt, and they were already fantasy so there was no serious genre shift (it’s high fantasy) and it doesn’t fall under the Earth All Along trope. The floating city that crashed when shit went wrong was held up by magic.

          Ok, I went further into that than I meant to. I’m an old nerd.

    • yamanii@lemmy.world
      2·
      2 hours ago

      Saying Chrono Trigger had shitty graphics for it’s time is the hottest take I’ve ever seen lol.

  • FeelzGoodMan420@eviltoast.orgEnglish
    3·
    11 hours ago

    Hmm not sure. I guess I’d call it post-apocoliptic fantasy lol. But I know exaxctly what you mean and I love that genre. The Horizon games and even the Witcher books/games fit into this genre.

  • Nikls94@lemmy.world
    22·
    8 hours ago

    I don’t quite think that there’s a name for this genre (yet?) but I’ll take this opportunity to blast out my favorite story-focused game serieses

    Xenoblade is a nice fantasy RPG if you really like Storytelling! And all 3 core games are available on Switch!

    Generally speaking, Xenogears and Xenosaga have amazing stories too, but Xenoblade got translated and dubbed waaaay better

    Edit: just thought of this the last couple of minutes, and, if there was a name for this genre, it would spoil the whole game/movie/book for you! Imagine watching Planet of the Apes for the first time (it’s old by now and I hope there’s no one here who didn’t watch it already) and exactly knowing what planet it is

    • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
      3·
      4 hours ago

      if there was a name for this genre, it would spoil the whole game/movie/book for you

      Not really. A work doesn’t have to be marketed as a specific trope, that doesn’t mean it isn’t categorised as such. There are entire categories on TvTropes that carry mass spoilers - looking at any of the examples will spoil that work for you. This is just one more such category.

  • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)@pawb.social
    42·
    12 hours ago

    The Elder Scrolls. It’s not explicitly stated, but iirc it’s highly suggested it’s post-apocalyptic. That said, it’s still fantasy, there’s still magic, spellcasting and so forth (there’s no indication that the magic is the result of lost tech becoming indistinguishable from magic); it’s just that the lore highly suggests it may be post-apocalyptic.

      • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)@pawb.social
        31·
        4 hours ago

        It’s been a long-ass time and some of the lore may have been retconned/clarified since then, however it was a conclusion I came to on my own. Basically, iirc, the Towers are hybrid physical/metaphysical structures which essentially keep Mundus (Nirn + other planes) stable and allow for things like magic to occur. When a tower is destroyed, Mundus becomes less stable and magical ability declines. Let’s hope we don’t destroy any towers then!

        Oh wait. A bunch of the towers (are speculated to be) destroyed. Red Mountain (vvardenfell) was destroyed after the false-god Vivec lost his powers and could no longer keep the Ministry of Truth from smashing into the mountain, Walk-Brass zero-summed itself and the race that created it, the White-Gold tower was destroyed during the Oblivion Crisis, I don’t remember what happened to Crystal-Like-Law but I’m pretty sure that’s gone too.

        If you wanted to get fancy with it, you could even point to the magic system getting less complex with each mainline game (yes, I know it’s probably just laziness, but I like my explanation more). Hell, it seems like all the crazy, cool stuff happened long before the events of any of the games; it seems like all the races peaked before we ever got a glimpse into that universe.

        So while I guess it’s a bit premature to call TES post-apocalyptic, it’s definitely headed in that direction. It seems to be a series about a world that’s slowly collapsing and falling apart.

        Edit: I spent some time trying to brush up on my TES lore (fuck, I’m starting to hear the games’ siren song; it’s been years), and came across this wonderful paragraph:

        Using his dentition as tonal instruments, Anumaril dismantled his bones and built of them a Mundus-machine that mirrored Nirn and its planets. And when he had used all his substance in fangling this orrery, the Orrery of Elden Root, he placed the segment-sceptre within, hiding it between the Moons.

        You… you did what?

        I wish the games were half as interesting as the lore.

        Edit 2: I remember why I thought it was post-apocalyptic! Space! Iirc all the races have been to space and had spaceships and space battles, except it seems like everyone has forgotten about it by the time the games take place. Combined with the gradual destruction of the Towers, it seems possible that the games could be post-apocalyptic but are being filtered through a lens of ignorance, making the residual advanced tech appear as though it’s magic.

      • Death_Equity@lemmy.world
        9·
        11 hours ago

        There is a fan theory that Fallout lead to TES because of radiation. It holds about as much water as a sieve, but its fun.

        • Mossy Feathers (They/Them)@pawb.social
          2·
          4 hours ago

          It actually doesn’t have anything to do with that theory, but I won’t lie, I do like that one.

          I wrote a bit about it in response to their question, and I think I misspoke (miswrote?) and kinda jumped the gun. It’s not really post- apocalyptic, however the series does seem to document a world in decline.

          I’m not sure if you’d consider that apocalyptic (a slow apocalypse), heading towards the apocalypse (what happens if all the Towers are destroyed?), or post-apocalyptic (it seems like the races peaked before any of the games) though.

          Edit: I remember why I thought it was post-apocalyptic! Space! Iirc all the races have been to space and had spaceships and space battles, except it seems like everyone has forgotten about it by the time the games take place. Combine that with the destruction of the Towers, and yeah. Seems possible that the Elder Scrolls could be post-apocalypse and is being interpreted as fantasy because the characters of the series don’t know how any of the tech works anymore.

    • Lupec@lemm.ee
      16·
      13 hours ago

      I knew a tvtropes link was going to be here as soon as I saw the question lol, here goes my next three hours I guess

  • Archer@lemmy.world
    221·
    4 hours ago

    Aladdin (1992). The Genie is the last survivor of the AI wars and has mental damage. The Cave of Wonders is another remnant. “Magic” is low level AI responding to human intent. Iago is an uplift. Agrabah is literally a generic Middle Eastern county because it was assembled from the fragmented records of what remained of the Middle East.

    • LainTrain@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      6·
      4 hours ago

      Do you think the genie got it from twitter war brainrot or just did too much of the sensory content back in his skibidi days?

    • Etterra@lemmy.world
      1·
      3 hours ago

      You know, the modern remake of The Time Machine shares some of these elements. Orlando Jones was the broken AI lol

  • Boozilla@lemmy.worldEnglish
    232·
    13 hours ago

    Not 100% sure, but these come to mind.

    • Science Fantasy
    • Dying Earth
    • Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy