In video games, the term destructible environment, or terrain deformation, refers to an environment within a game which can be wholly or partially destroyed by the player. It may refer to any part of the environment including terrain, buildings and other man-made structures.

Early examples include the Taito

Taito Corporation

The is a Japanese publisher of video game software and arcade hardware wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. Taito has their headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo, sharing the facility with its parent company....

 shooter game

Shooter game

Shooter games are a sub-genre of action game, which often test the player's speed and reaction time. It includes many subgenres that have the commonality of focusing "on the actions of the avatar using some sort of weapon. Usually this weapon is a gun, or some other long-range weapon". A common...

s Gun Fight

Gun Fight

Gun Fight, known as Western Gun in Japan and Europe, is a 1975 arcade shooter game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released by Taito in Japan and Europe and by Midway Games in the United States. It was a historically significant game, and a success in the arcades. It was later ported to the...

(1975) and Space Invaders

Space Invaders

is an arcade video game designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, and released in 1978. It was originally manufactured and sold by Taito in Japan, and was later licensed for production in the United States by the Midway division of Bally. Space Invaders is one of the earliest shooting games and the aim is to...

(1978), where the players could take cover

Cover system

A cover system is how a video game lets a virtual avatar avoid dangers usually in a three-dimensional world. This method is a digital adaptation of the real-life military tactic of taking cover to dodge enemy gunfire or explosives. Similar gameplay elements can be traced back to as early as 1986,...

 behind destructible objects. An early example of fully destructible environments can be found in Namco

Namco

is a Japanese corporation best known as a former video game developer and publisher. Following a merger with Bandai in September 2005, the two companies' game production assets were spun off into Namco Bandai Games on March 31, 2006. Namco Ltd. was re-established to continue domestic operation of...

's 1982 game Dig Dug

Dig Dug

is an arcade game developed and published by Namco in Japan in 1982 for Namco Galaga hardware. It was later published outside of Japan by Atari. A popular game based on a simple concept, it was also released as a video game on many consoles.-Objective:...

, in which the whole of each level is destructible, though enemies can usually only follow the player through a combination of pre-made tracks and paths made by the player. A similar game released that same year was Mr. Do!

Mr. Do!

Mr. Do! is an arcade game created by Universal in 1982.  Remotely similar in gameplay to Namco's popular Dig Dug title, Mr. Do! was also popular and saw release on a variety of home video game consoles and systems.  It is the first game in the Mr...

by Universal

Aruze

, is a Japanese manufacturer of pachinko, slot machines, arcade games and other gaming products, and a publisher of video games. Aruze possesses licenses to both manufacture and distribute casino machines in the American states of Nevada, Mississippi and New Jersey. The company's corporate...

. In most games that feature destructible terrain, it is more common for only part of the environment to be destructible to prevent players being able to cut their way directly to the goal.

An early example of a shooter game that featured fully destructible environments was Kagirinaki Tatakai, an early run & gun shooter developed by Hiroshi Ishikawa for the Sharp X1

Sharp X1

The X1 is a series of home computer released by Sharp Corporation from 1982 to 1988. It was based on a Z80 CPU.Despite the fact that the Computer Division of Sharp Corporation had released the MZ series, suddenly the Television Division released a new computer series called the X1...

 computer and released by Enix

Enix

The was a Japanese company that produced video games, anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...

 in 1983. The Worms series also features terrain which can be completely obliterated.

The earliest first-person shooter

First-person shooter

First-person shooter is a video game genre that centers the gameplay on gun and projectile weapon-based combat through first-person perspective; i.e., the player experiences the action through the eyes of a protagonist. Generally speaking, the first-person shooter shares common traits with other...

 example may be Ghen War

Ghen War

is a first-person shooter video game for the Sega Saturn console. It was developed by Jumpin' Jack Software and published by Sega in 1995. The game centers around a member of a mining crew, with an artificial powered exoskeleton resembling a power-loader...

, released in 1995 for the Sega Saturn

Sega Saturn

The is a 32-bit fifth-generation video game console that was first released by Sega on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America, and July 8, 1995 in Europe...

, which featured a 3D terrain map generator that allows fully destructible environments. However, the trend to make more and more items and environmental features destroyable by the player hearkens all the way back to the explosive barrels in Doom (1993). Games like Blood II: The Chosen

Blood II: The Chosen

Blood II: The Chosen is a first-person shooter computer game developed by Monolith Productions and distributed by GT Interactive, which was later purchased by Infogrames. Released on October 31, 1998, it featured Monolith's new fully 3D engine Lithtech, which was previously used in Shogo: Mobile...

(1998) also featured major amounts of destroyable objects, in that game a room filled with objects could be turned into an empty room filled only with debris.

Newer iterations of this feature can be observed in games such as Spring, Crysis

Crysis

Crysis is a science fiction first-person shooter video game developed by Crytek , published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, and released in November 2007. It is the first game of a trilogy. A separate game entitled Crysis Warhead was released on September 12, 2008, and follows similar...

(CryEngine 2), Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames

Mercenaries 2: World in Flames, often abbreviated as Mercs 2, is a video game developed by Pandemic Studios and published by Electronic Arts. It is the sequel to 2005's Mercenaries: Playground of Destruction, and it was released in the United States on August 31, 2008 and in Europe on September 5,...

, Battlefield: Bad Company

Battlefield: Bad Company

Battlefield: Bad Company is a first-person shooter developed by EA DICE for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It was released in North America on June 23 2008, followed by a European release on June 26. The game was hinted at just before the release of Battlefield 2, and then announced sixteen months later...

(Frostbite 1.0), Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield: Bad Company 2

Battlefield: Bad Company 2 is a first-person shooter video game developed by the Swedish firm EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, iOS and Mac OS X systems. It is a direct sequel to Battlefield: Bad Company and is part of the...

(Frostbite 1.5), Battlefield 1943

Battlefield 1943

Battlefield 1943 is an online multiplayer World War II first-person shooter video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network via digital download only. Unlike Battlefield 1942, this game takes place only in the Pacific...

(Frostbite 1.5), Red Faction: Guerilla (Geomod), Cortex Command

Cortex Command

Cortex Command is a 2-dimensional side-scrolling action game developed by Data Realms. In the game, the player takes the role of a disembodied brain, who controls various clones and robots to achieve his aims. There is no campaign as of yet, so there is no main objective the player works towards...

and Unreal Engine 3. Future implementations will be core facets of gameplay and will be found in Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3

Battlefield 3 is a first-person shooter video game developed by EA Digital Illusions CE and published by Electronic Arts. The game was released in North America on October 25, 2011 and in Europe on October 28, 2011 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and EA Mobile confirmed a port for...

(Frostbite 2), and Diablo 3.