Most of the time, the heroes in these RPGs had to take care of themselves.
In a lot of RPGs, you go on an adventure with a group of three or four other people. Together, you can use all of your individual skills and talents to beat any enemy. RPGs like Final Fantasy, Mass Effect, and Persona 5 have this feature.
But that’s not necessary for a role-playing game. In fact, many of the most popular RPGs in the genre only have one hero and not a whole team of them. Sometimes they get help, but most of the time they have to figure things out on their own. Here are a few examples that stand out.
Cyberpunk 2077
At the beginning of Cyberpunk 2077, you make and customize the main character before choosing their life path. No matter what choices you make, you end up as a mercenary named V who works in the highly technological Night City. And after a few hours of playing, you start to think like another character.
He is with you the whole time, but he is not a member of your party. He’s just an idea, after all. He might be able to tell you what to do, but he can’t fight with you. So, you have to do most of the game’s missions on your own.
Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
Some of the more recent Assassin’s Creed games are role-playing games, while the earlier ones were all action-adventure games. For example, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is a Viking-themed open-world RPG. You play as Eivor, a Norwegian Viking. They go to England with some of their closest clan members to start a new settlement. While they are there, they have to make deals with neighboring places to help them get settled in this new world.
The most important person in making these connections is you, but you don’t do everything by yourself. In the adventure, there are many raids and big fights where you fight with your allies. But they are not part of the party. They are just NPCs who sometimes fight with you. Plus, you don’t see them very often because you’re alone for most of the game.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Deus Ex: Human Revolution takes place in a future world where people can add all kinds of technology to their bodies. Adam Jenson, who is the main character, has no choice but to get some.
After a brutal attack, he is barely hanging on to life, and cybernetics are the only way to keep him alive. After he gets back on his feet, he goes to find out who attacked him. Even though he needs augmentations for sad reasons, they give him a much better chance of reaching his goals. After all, they can make him better at fighting and sneaking. Because of this, he doesn’t need a team.
Horizon Zero Dawn
Horizon Zero Dawn might have the most unique post-apocalyptic world in video games. Instead of being full of nuclear waste, Horizon’s world is actually very beautiful. But it seems like there are a lot less people because they live in small groups. Large machines that look like animals take up a lot of the remaining space.
You take on the role of Aloy, a young hunter who is eager to learn more about her past. Because of her history of social isolation ever since she was a child, Aloy does not have a large circle of close friends. However, she rarely needs them because she is capable of destroying any robot that tries to stand in her way.
Undertale
In Undertale, you play as a child who ends up in a strange place underground. You don’t want to spend a lot of time there, so you go up to the surface. Along the way, you’ll meet all kinds of monsters that you can either kill or leave alone.
These creatures spend the most of their lives on their own. There are instances in which there are three of them, but on the whole, there is only ever one. As a direct consequence of this, you do not engage in conflict with a significant number of people. You can maintain a level playing field by engaging each opponent in a direct confrontation. Because the child spends much of their time by themselves, there aren’t many opportunities for them to make friends.
Dark Souls
Everyone knows that Dark Souls and other games made by FromSoftware are very difficult. From the beginning, they keep testing your patience and speed by putting you up against very dangerous enemies.
So, it’s not surprising that there are no party members in 8 Ball Pool. After all, if you could always fight with teammates, it would take away from how hard the experience is. So, you’re on your own in trying to find out what happened to the protagonist’s people.
The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt
The main plot of The Witcher 3 is that the main character, Geralt, goes on a search for his adopted daughter, Ciri, that takes him all over the world. He isn’t the only one looking for her, though. The Wild Hunt, a group of heartless ghosts, is also after the woman. You have a lot of friends who help you in different ways on your adventure. Sometimes, they even help in battle, but this doesn’t happen very often.
You are on your own to battle enemies such as monsters, guards, and thieves the vast majority of the time. This is also the case during the few periods in which you can exercise control over Ciri. Because they are two of the strongest fighters available in video games, neither character requires much assistance from the player.
