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What game intended for multiplayer did you enjoy playing solo?
As is the case with a lot of my questions, "intended for multiplayer" is as open as you want it to be.
It could be that it's a game primarily known for its multiplayer that also happens to have a campaign (e.g. one of the Call of Duty games) or it could be you playing Mario Party against yourself by trading off between your own controllers (we've all done something like this, right?).
Entirely up to you how you interpret the question.
Let us know what the game was, why you played it solo, and, most importantly, how that went for you. Did you like it? Did it give you a novel gaming experience? Were you able to work around any of its limitations? Would you recommend other people try it?
Titanfall 2! I'm not particularly competitive when it comes to online FPS games- I played an amount of Team Fortress 2 & CS:GO when I was younger, and Titanfall was, at least for a brief period, praised for it's online PvP gameplay. I never tried it! It has an amazing, if short, storyline which I've played through about three times at this point.
Protocol 3: Protect the Pilot.
I came here to say this. It is worth buying titanfall 2 (on sale) just for the single player campaign. Even if you will never touch the multiplayer, buy it. It goes on Steam sales for around $2-5 if I remember correctly, but I would say it’s still possibly worth the $30 full price just for single player. It’s a short campaign, but it is oh so good.
Actually it’s on a Steam sale right now for 3€, so go out and buy it now!
I need to play the campaign again. I remember having such a good time with it, especially that one level with the
cool mechanic
the time switching level
I have >800 hours in Deep Rock Galactic, and ~790 of them are solo. It’s firmly in the realm of “podcast game” for me at this point, though I’ll admit it’s because I almost exclusively play on Hazard 3 or 4. I’m sure I’d have to focus up a lot more if I spent a significant amount of time in Haz 5.
We have a special needs dog who needs to be let out frequently, so I find it really hard to ever try multiplayer in a fast-paced real-time game, especially one where going AFK would hurt other’s chances (as opposed to just myself). Plus, when playing single player DRG, it actually pauses the game itself when pausing, which is a great QoL feature for solo players.
And plus, I main Engineer, so my “multiplayer” experience comes from hanging out with Bosco, my turrets, and my swarm grenades. :’)
Halo 2, if only because I was the only person in my house that played videogames and I didn't have an Internet connection fast enough for online play.
I spent a lot of time just exploring the various multiplayer maps by myself.
I did the same in Halo 1, for similar core reasons, plus - exploring the nooks and crannies is how you find neat edge cases and such.
I find this a lot with co-op games. Valheim, Enshrouded, and V Rising all fit into this category where they are clearly designed for multiple players, but can be very fun solo. The last one, V Rising, is particularly antagonistic to playing solo IMO, but it can still be fun.
V Rising is very grindy solo, but I found the gameplay loop fantastic. Especially the bosses; I loved having to figure out how to approach some almost like I was playing Diablo 3 early on. I also dig the vampire aesthetic so that definitely pushed me towards liking it, but the bosses were a lot of fun to figure out. Especially the winery one!
I did enjoy it solo which is why I mentioned it, but as the developers have primarily focused on multiplayer, especially PVP, the balancing changes made in updates have been noticeably rough and make it feel like playing solo is an after thought.
Star Wars: The Old Republic is an MMORPG, so definitely intended to be multiplayer, but by the time it came out I was done with MMOs. However, I eventually realized that it had really good singleplayer stories and the MMO stuff didn't get in the way too much. KOTOR is one of my favourite RPGs of all time and this was the closest I was ever going to get to another KOTOR.
I played through basically every class solo once it went free to play and it was good enough. Great cinematics at least.
I've only done Sith Inquisitor (my fave) and Imperial Agent, but agreed. They've really made it be a serviceable single-player RPG; it won't hold up in depth compared to a proper ground-up solo experience, but that's just mechanics. The story's there and I personally enjoy the fact that if I do want to hook up with other players, I don't have to play another game for that. In a sense, that to me is what an MMO is all about--a game that offers a world you can engage with in the company of other players if you so choose, but even if you go solo, they're still around.
Same for me, but I started with LOTRO. I'd meet folks, play a little and the guild would help out, then everyone quit playing. One lingering friend moved over to SWTOR and I followed her... it was similar, just eventually burnt out with dailies/weeklies at top levels without end game gear.
Super Smash Bros Melee is known for having a super dedicated competitive fan base, and a lot of people consider it the best one to play against other people, but I also think it has the most fun single player experience. It's technically less content than Subspace Emissary or World of Light, but I think making challenges for specific characters was a lot more interesting.
Grand Theft Auto 5. I was mislead into thinking it was a single player game with an optional online mode.
I was told there would be expansions and DLC like the ballad of gay tony or liberty city stories etc, and by buying by preorder I'd be getting access to those installments. Instead single player has had zero expansions while GTAO is flying around in jet powered flying motorcycles shooting lasers at each other.
I did enjoy the story mode campaign, and I do still enjoy fucking around in single player, stealing jets from the base and just causing random mayhem, GTAO might as well be a completely different game with hundreds of hours more content, and that seems like what Rockstar feels like the main focus of the game should be.
Yeah I sunk so many hours in the game before I realized there was a multiplayer option. I tried it and it was a huge nope.
This is why I have zero hope for GTA VI. I loved the original trilogy of 3, VC, and SA. IV fell flat for me. V seemed to have some interesting ideas and maybe go back to its roots but after playing it for a while I fell off. It didn't have the same magic those 3 did.
And I don't think VI is going to try to recapture it, it's going to chase that online craze so it'll have no interest to me.
It's really sad that the genre is basically dead now. There's not really any good crime games in the old GTA style.
Maybe someone will do a nostalgic re imagining at some point like what Stardew did for the cozy farming genre.
I adore driving and don't really care about racing, so I just load highways in Assetto Corsa and bomb around them in JDM stuff and Corvettes.
The Left 4 Dead mode where you ran through the levels alone and the special infected were modified to that was a lot of fun to me.
I feel you on this. Even though I really enjoy racing other people I usually prefer to drive solo as well. Of my 2000 something hours in rFactor 2 I'd guess that at least half of that is hotlapping alone and working on my setups while trying to improve my personal best times around the Nürburgring.
Going back 20+ years, I had a lot of fun playing the multiplayer mode in Medal of Honor: Rising Sun. The welrod was a one-hit kill, so I'd go against the expert AI and I'd snipe them with the welrod from across the map. It had a slower bullet speed and I got pretty good at anticipating and hitting them.
I had some fun games playing PUBG queuing solo. I once got second place in a round, which was fun.
Oh that takes me back. Rising Sun was possibly the only console shooter I was ever good at. I never owned it, but played with friends a lot in the multiplayer.
I just spent some time cruising videos for the nostalgia, and found one showing off the map Calumpit Chaos, which I probably played the most of. I still have those sightlines and weapon drops ingrained in my memory.
Thanks for the unexpected trip down memory lane!
Wow, I must have not played that map much because I remember it, but only the big details, not anything too small, whereas I remember a lot of details about other maps.
Mass Effect 3's multiplayer is this to a tee for me. To clarify: I think it's even better with multiple players, but the playerbase has (mostly) dried up. A lot of the time I just wanted to play, so I eased in on the easiest difficulty and took it slow.
ME3MP is essentially a squad-based horde mode, with ten total waves and one 'extraction' wave. Solo turns it into a survival mode, and with the games' offering of classes you have a lot of different approaches. An invisibility cloak sniper who runs across the map to keep herding enemies into kill zones? A powerful biotic (wizard) who can take on entire groups with the right ambush, but if done wrong is one of the squishest classes? Or my favorite, a nigh-unstoppable juggernaut who kills slowly, but can walk through hellfire and keep standing (as long as you keep your shields and buffs up.)
I still fire it up from time to time. I wish the remaster EA put out had MP; that game mode deserves a bigger resurgence than it got. I genuinely think if it was standalone it'd have an evergreen playerbase, but a Geth Spitfire toting Geth Juggernaut never gets old solo.
I've got an absurd number of hours into Elder Scrolls Online, which is an MMO but I play 100% solo.
Mostly because I really like the lore of the Elder Scrolls games, and ESO is brimming with it across all the main story and side missions, all of which are very solo-friendly. The only stuff you really miss out on playing alone is the PvP content and the group dungeons, but even a lot of that could theoretically be done solo if you're into min-maxing your build. Other group content like public dungeons and world events can be enjoyed solo by just waiting for crowds of people to form and throwing in at the same time. Personally I just like feeling like I'm in that universe, exploring the map, reading lore books, and finding interesting quest lines to follow.
Man I've really wanted to get into Elder Scrolls Online, but something about the MMO-ness of it doesn't click for me. I'm a huge Elder Scrolls fan, but have never been into MMOs. I tried it twice during free weekends, doing pretty much what you described (just going around discovering stuff and doing some quests) but it felt a bit immersion-breaking seeing other people just running around doing random stuff while I'm trying to explore. Something about the way player-controlled characters move around (lots of random directions, running, and jumping) just kept distracting me.
But your comment has inspired me to try again! So next time there's a free weekend I'll make my third attempt at the game, lol.
This would be my answer, but I struggle to get into all the MMO elements (think crafting, housing, etc.) and the movement/combat. Got any tips for either playstyle or mindset changes that make the game more fun solo?
I have a couple houses that I got for free from the daily rewards, but I mainly just use them as a place to stash any random furniture items I come across--they might be fun as a place to hang out or role play with friends, but I can't think of any use for them as a solo player. As for crafting, the only way I really interact with it is I'll research items instead of selling them whenever a slot opens up and I've got something with a trait I haven't learned yet. I've never actually crafted anything that I used for very long, so it's another system that I don't find very interesting for my solo/casual play style.
Maybe I'm kinda weird, but the mindset that gives me the most enjoyment out of ESO (and other MMOs that I've played) is an archaeological one. I like exploring the world, stumbling across little nuggets of environmental storytelling that the map designers put off the beaten path, finding hidden areas that a typical player wouldn't normally reach or see, stuff like that. If that idea doesn't appeal, and if the quest stories and combat aren't fun to you, then I don't think there's much else there to appeal to a solo player.
I really enjoyed my time playing League of Legends with a group sitting around the same table. Now that I don't have that I only want to play with all bots. That's not possible though. You can play against a team of bots but even then many people flame, troll, and leave sadly.