im looking for a game where literally the only friendly character is you, the closest thing to this i can think of is battle royale games, extraction games, or for single player, long dark is the only game that comes to mind as roughly fitting the criteria, if anyone can help id greatly appreciate it
Are there any games where you are the only person in the game?
I have never felt the dread of isolation as I did playing Subnautica. Phenomenal game.
I can't play it. Lol. Too much.
MASSIVE LIFEFORM D-°
alt+f4
"Detecting multiple leviathan class lifeforms in the region. Are you certain whatever you are doing is worth it?"
NOPE NOPE NOPE NOPE
“I wonder what could be waiting at the edges of the map! 😄”
Literally one of the most terryifying things that's ever happened to me in a game. The horrific realisation that I was going to suffocate before I hit the bottom filled me with dread and made me never want to go anywhere near the edge of the map ever again
Same, being disoriented as well. I avoided swimming more than once IRL because of subnautica
I just hope you're sure whatever you're doing is worth it.
Dude yeah, it’s legit the scariest game I’ve ever played. Lol
And it's not even a horror game...
its not a "horror" game but it is a "terror" inducing anxiety simulator
I never knew I was afraid of deep water, until I played that game. Now going out on a boat in a lake creeps me out.
I'm a scuba diver and I absolutely have no interest in playing this game, sounds terrifying.
It is an amazing game. Would highly recommend.
It's scary until you push the enemy limits.
You're extremely well designed to be intimidating but if you're in a vehicle there's nothing in the game that can kill you unless you just sit there and let them do it.
Considering that you get a vehicle fairly early and most of your exploration will be done in one it kind that kills the scary if you push the enemies.
You should do it anyway. It's a masterpiece. Legendary and innovative.
Planet Crafter has much of the same feel, but on a Mars-like planet
I've seen that one as well but haven't played it myself, it looks pretty cool though
Vibe wise, it's the opposite of Subnautica, in that there's no danger and the game gets less creepy as it progresses. It's very fun and really neat and satisfying when you hit some notable milestones. Definitely recommend.
This was the first game that came to my mind. Yea there's voice logs but you know all of them are dead so it never removes the feeling of being isolated and compleatly alone on a hostile alien world.
Came here to say this and it's the top answer! I've finished the game twice.
It's not really even clear that the main character is human
it is fairly clear
Evidently clear, imo.
Maybe I missed that part
yeah, you are working for a human company, need to eat food and drink water, and can indeed not breath underwater lol
it's not explicitly stated but it's very clear
Mutiple database entry make it clear you're human and they make mention tk earth
Alien Carving
"This carving is hundreds of thousands of years old, and made from an unrecognized natural fiber, grown on an unknown planet. It bears striking resemblance to the old earth yin-yang symbol. Two competing theories may explain this similarity:
Aliens visited earth prior to the 4th century BC and influenced the development of ancient Chinese philosophy.
The concept of yin and yang is universal. Since yin and yang describes the fundamental interdependency of seemingly opposite forces, it may be a necessary existential understanding, in some form, in all sufficiently developed civilizations. The tapering of two circles (union) into opposed and infinitesimally small points (the finite) is one logical way to represent this understanding, and may have been developed independently by species other than humans.
"
But yeah if you just play the game without reading evrey single entry there isn't much mention kf earth or humans But they absolutely do exist
If you’re into puzzles, The Witness I believe fits this
This. The Witness is this brilliant first person puzzle game that is very good at incorporating the environment and perspective into it's puzzles without requiring good reflexes or coordination. The lore is optional, but if you follow it there are just so many interesting viewpoints to ponder.
Would also recommend Obduction, you're not the only person in the game (kinda) but the puzzles are good.
Isn’t it Obduction?
Tell me if I'm wrong but pretty much all puzzle games are like that
It's a first person game though it's more like most then anything imo
Tetris?
Or Legends of Grimrock 2 maybe
I hated The Witness personally, but it was the absolute first game that came to mind for this topic nonetheless.
If you like The Witness you should check out The Looker. It's a fantastic parody of it, and it's free.
Shadow of The Colossus.
Journey. (although it has coop)
Valheim, (there is a single friendly trader)
Shadow of the Colossus is the first one I thought of.
Definitely gets my vote, game of the century. Waiting for Fromsoft to let me use an empty hand to grab and climb bosses any second now
Play Dragons Dogma Dark Arisen (or 2 but it has shit performance still afaik)
I'm playing through DD2 but I'm kinda disappointed. It feels like a downgrade from the first one.
This, plus ICO as well.
Ico has the lady
Dang. I forgot. Been a long time since I played it. I just remember *feeling* super alone in that castle.
Was gonna suggest valheim. I love to play solo. Bit it is more enjoyable with other players
+1 for valheim, game’s absolutely incredible and the new biome is releasing soon and it’s a real slapper (emotionally, too)
2, now.
And actually, once you get later into the game, there are many more other nonhostile NPCs.
And I don't know if OP would count Hugin/Munin.
But I think in general it fits the bill. Allfather, I love Valheim.
But doesn't Shadow of The Colossus have the dead girl that the guy wants to resurrect? And what about those people who appear towards the end of the game?
Valheim is a great recommendation. If you play solo, it is probably one of the most beautiful and oppressive worlds to endure.
Ugh I LOVED journey. Such a beautiful game. Was super high when I first played it so the graphics and music were on another level for me lol
Project zomboid. At least for now
The way sandbox mode works it'll probably be forever even when they add friendlies.
That’s true. Be able to set it however you want, I can imagine if the ai is a janky as that survivor mod it’s probably be preferred until they sort it out
I adjust a bunch of settings from zombie counts to resource availability to find a place where it's the challenge I am looking for. I expect we will have a ton of control over survivor too.
Zombies are people too. #zombielivesmatter
Fireman’s axe goes brrrrrr
If you like loneliness, get Firewatch.
kinda similar vibes, Pacific Drive. it has voiced characters that speak to you, just like in Firewatch, but it's pretty limited. for most of the gameplay they're silent and they only speak on story missions. on your drives it definitely have that lonely feeling with a lot of the spookyness of the zone
hey thanks for that recommend, will try Pacific Drive
Thank you! I knew I had been playing a game that fit this recently, but I could not think of what game it was
I went into Firewatch almost blindly after it went kinda viral. I’ve never played a game that made me go through so many different moods and emotions. Feeling abandoned, loved, spooked, excited, thrilled, entertained… and it’s close to not even being a real game, imo. More like a walking sim or an interactive radio drama.
It’s one of those games that I wish I could play for the first time again.
The Talos Principle
This. Very eerie philosophical puzzle game.
One of my favourite games ever, it’s even in my name
First thing I thought of
User deleted comment
26d
In a similar vein, Satisfactory
In a similar vein, Dyson Sphere Program.
I had to uninstall Dyson because it was too addicting 😆
Well maybe not depending on your lore take.
Lifeless planet
The longing
Lifeless planet felt really empty in a good way.
Just be prepared if you boot up the longing
Myst?
Don’t know why this isn’t top comment
Myst is a classic, massively influential game. I played the original (plus Riven and later inspired games like Uru and Obduction). It's been remade a few times, so I'm not quite sure what the best current version is. Any ideas Myst fans?
I'm partial on the remaster from 2014 because of the art direction "Real Myst Masterpiece Edition" you can use the old node-by-node movement with smooth transitions if you are feeling nostalgic or free fps movement. It tries to replicate all of the originals assets from scratch.
The new one Myst (2021) looks pretty good if you like Unreal. It has a different art direction and everything looks different from the originals that's not a bad thing, it tries to be fresh. Give it a try!
I immediately thought of this and the old 7th Guest. God those were fun.
Yassss. And Riven.
They are remaking riven, trailer just dropped
Planet Crafter. You're all alone terraforming a Mars-like planet. There's evidence of other entities having been there but the only other life forms you encounter are animals that you created in the process of terraforming the planet. Very cool transition from the dusty hostile planet you start on to a blue-sky planet with water and butterflies.
Came here to suggest this. It's a fantastic game.
It's also amazing because it starts out very survival and as you progress the game seamlessly transitions into something more akin to satisfactory. Fucking brilliant
Minecraft
Escape the Backrooms
The Stanley Parable
I liked the mystery of the original Minecraft and the myth of Herobrine. I felt like villages changed that.
Idk villages themselves made Minecraft slightly more mysterious to me. They are clearly something entirely different than the player character, they clearly live here but show no signs of long range travel (despite ruins of ships being findable), and show no ability to build despite their homes, and the many clearly man-made structures around the world.
So what are we? Why are we entirely different to the local humanoid life? Was there more of us at some point? Why are we the only ones around now? Did our ancestors build all the structures and leave or die? Did the villagers somehow lose the ability to build?
Idk. Have not played Minecraft in a long time but to me it opened up a lot of possibilities for world building if they ever decide to go that route.
You should play story mode. Is very silly and tongue in cheek but I feel like it has a lot of really good stuff in there.
Maybe the black death will be added and you can smash the plague ball to unleash hellish wonders and kill all the villagers
Villagers probably wouldn't do well with buboes slitting open spraying puss and enzymes everywhere.
Superluminal is kind of similar to Stanley Parable, with the MC wandering through a dream state and solving trippy optical illusion/forced perspective puzzles. There's no other animate characters, although there's recorded voices.
I loved superluminal.
But minecraft has villagers and witches no?
Aw man, I forgot about them, haha.
they're not very memorable tbf lol
beside the afforementioned subnautica there is also the somewhat newer planet crafter that goes down a similar route
i'd also recommend death stranding, it has humans and huamnoid enemies at some points but its very much about a journey you take alone.
I got all the stars in Death Stranding, it was soooo relaxing
Project Zomboid
Shadow of the Colossus comes to mind. The Last Guardian as well.
Metroid 1, 2, Super Metroid, Metroid Prime all qualify.
Arcade-style games also work this way like Vampire Survivors or even Pac-Man.
You a woodwind player? I just noticed your UN... I'm a professional sax player. Woodwinds unite!
Bassoon :D
✊🏻
Super Metroid has
I didn’t think animals counted, but sure.
It's been 30 years. I don't think you need to spoiler-proof the comment lol
Better wait a full 40 just to be sure.
Tacoma
Tacoma is an amazing short game, recommend it to anyone.
Super Meat Boy
Lifeless Planet
Portal
Myst
Journey to the savage planet is a fun one.
Fallout 76 at launch.
Fallout 76 at launch felt like when you have a private server for says rs or wow or lineage and you first log in and realize you are missing the whole MMO part of MMORPG. Even worse when the land is just the landscape with barely any mobs/shopkeepers/quests
Jusant
2nd this. Just finished it and it was an unreal experience.
AMAZING game. I just finished it.
Upvote for Jusant, and just 'up'!
Metroid Prime.
Came here to make sure someone said this, it's one of my favorite things about it, really helps Talon IV feel like an alien world
I hear Metroid Prime 3 kind of ruined that. Never played it though, so can't confirm.
The Talos Principle is quite uncrowded…
The stanley parable and portal. You're not the only character, but you're the only person.
Project Zomboid single player. NPCs are coming but I’m pretty sure they can be turned off in sandbox settings like pretty much everything else, including zombies, can be.
It would be game ruining for me if we couldn't turn them off. I'm positive we can. So excited for the update though I can't wait!
Abzu, Deliver Us The Moon, The Möbius Machine.
Gone Home
Doom
Literally, Everyone has gone to the rapture
The Witness. It’s an island filled with puzzles and you try to solve them and figure out the secrets of the island.
Superb ending too
Ark Survival. Unless you count the herbivores as friendly.
Factorio.
I could be wrong, but I think there's a few Silent Hill games that fit your criteria.
Wrong, lol. I've played them all, you always meet at least one person. Their experiences in silent hill are also vastly different from yours. Some don't see any monsters at all. They just think it's a creepy empty town.
The beginning of 4 (the room) maybe... My memory of that game is kinda fuzzy.
fire watch. trust me
Depends on the genre - A good first person puzzle game is "The Witness".
System Shock 2 plays with that a lot - spoilers - but the game very effectively has you searching for friendlies that seem alive and human only for them to creatively end up dead or secretly manipulatively hostile...
Snowrunner! Only ever human is you!
Lots of old school fps games (20th century releases) will fit this criteria because of technological limitations and very light story didn't make friendly AI viable. But I think there are some that have an atmosphere that turns that into a benefit.
Those are Unreal (the original first one) and Hexen games. Unreal is probably the more atmospheric one where I really found myself immersed into the world because while you find friendly corpses around, you're the only one alive, a silent protagonist at that, it really felt like a lonely but magical adventure, I really like it. It also looks surprisingly good despite its age on modern hardware.
Hexen games are unique in that the are fantasy fps games and they're both heavily puzzle focused. I think those ones are more for getting yourself immersed through the puzzle solving rather than the atmosphere itself, although I also think Hexen 1 can look very nice again despite its age. I do not advise playing Hexen 1 through GZDoom though, it's better to search for more Hexen-specific source ports for this game imo.
The Long Dark
Surprised this comment is so far down
Because if you read the post you'd know the op mentioned this game
Grounded?
TheHunter: Call of the Wild, if hunting simulators are your bag.
Hellblade. It's hard to tell if any of the other characters are real or just a construction of Senua's fragmented mental state.
I was scrolling and scrolling and was about to comment this cuz I hadn't seen it yet. Then stumbled on your comment. This game is under rated. I absolutely loved the principle and game play of it. The character being schizophrenic and hearing the voices. Which are very subtle. But paying attention to them make the game very unique. Not to mention the graphics l. They were phenomenal.
also, raft
Astroneer
Pacific Drive. Entirely alone other than the characters on the radio
"My Life"
real
NaissanceE
It's just you. Running. Running and Puzzles. No other humans in the game. Had a blast playing and the ending was wild.
Project Zomboid is the first that comes to mind.
Firewatch. Amazing game
Portal 1
Serious Sam
Doom, Doom 2 and Doom 64
Wolf 3D
Lots of the original old school rogue likes.
Any suggestion made in this thread is a huge spoiler for some of these games.
🤓
I know right?? And it's not just this one. So many people post here and get answers with spoilers, sometimes even they exclusively ask for spoilers
"hey guys I'm looking for a game where there's a sudden big plot twist in the fourth quarter of the game do you have any suggestions?"
i dont feel like its particularly my fault there are spoilers here though, all i asked was "are there any games where youre the only character" which i though implied youre the only character from the jump, how people choose to interpret my post isnt up to me, im sorry if any game here has been spoiled for you, if you think i could word my post better to avoid this id be happy to change it
Manifold Garden
Satisfactory…unless you play multiplayer.
Portal 1
The stanley parable.
The descent games are super fun and unique
unepic
Check out the survival horror games from Frictional Games. Those typically isolate you as the character in interesting ways. Their most popular series is the Amnesia series, possibly followed by their earlier Penumbra series. Soma from them is also good. In these games, there is sometimes a single friendly individual, but they are usually dead or insane (or both?) by the end of the game. For the most part, you are on your own.
I have been playing and enjoying Iratus: Lord of the Dead lately. In that game, you play a Necromancer, fighting your way out of a tomb. Sure, you have minions, but they are mostly mindless drones at your command, so they don't really count as friendly.
Doom
Factorio.
Tbh minecraft without any structure enabled
Almost every walking simulator. Gone Home, Dear Esther, The Unfinished Swan, etc.
Portal and Subnautica are the best examples.
In Half Life 1 you aren't completely alone, but you are alone for a large majority of the game. And the people you meet are at best useless and at worst trying to kill you.
The Forest. The only other friendly characters would be friends you co-op with. Other than that, it's just you.
Definitely no friendly characters on that island 😂
It's been a while, but I think the original Far Cry was like this.
Returnal is a good example of this. Roguelike horror game where your character crash lands on an alien world and finds exactly zero friendlies.
Voices of the Void! It’s free!
Youre alone at an observatory searching for signals from space. Isolated and alone, you spend your time fixing the place up and analyzing signals. You have to maintain the satellite dish’s servers and do daily tasks. Removing trash, monitoring food and sleep stats, selling items for points to upgrade your workstation.
It’s boring at first but if you’re into subtle horror it’s really fun and mysterious and it gets better. Lots of exploration to do.
Dayz until you're suddenly not
Enshrouded, if you don’t count the five npcs you rescue and place in your base. Everyone else is either a zombie or a reaver from firefly.
In all fairness it doesn't match, but I'd say Outer Wilds gets that vibe really well. The sense of being alone is somehow amplified by the few lonely travelers at their campfires.
Dead Space, there might be some NPC in the beginning but you quickly get separated and you never get a since of security for the rest of the game oh and “The Long Dark” but that’s a survival wilderness game if your into that
Minecraft?
I feel like mobs and other NPC's would count, as they are non-playable characters
I guess that's true. But it's also infinitely modifiable so you could make it so nothing else spawns
Eh, but core parts of the game- like finding food, being able to use animals to get wool, leather, potions, etc- are reliant on mobs, and you'd probably just be reliant on apples and wheat seeds for all your food without them. I think OP was more going for a 'last man on Earth' vibe.
Metroid
The Long Dark
Story have a few npc. But survival is just you and the merciless wild.
7 days to die has 3 static npc traders but no one else and you can play in a custom world with zero traders if you want to. Very much I Am Legrnd
The Stanley Parable.
Space Engineers (star system survival mode)
Limbo
Sifu has 2 types of people. You, and people you hit until they fall down.
Abzu has you and a bunch of fish, their other game The Pathless is just you and the occasional giant demon thing who attacks you
Steep is just you and sometimes 3 NPC’s racing against you in an event. Riders republic shows a whole bunch of NPC’s all over the place and has 1 who’s always jabbering in your ear, sounding like the Otto Rocket having a midlife crisis, but you can play on zen mode where it’s just you and the landscape
Haunting Grounds
The Forest
Project Zomboid
Metal Hellsinger and Senuas Sacrifice are close to that. You have a skull that talks to you or a head. Lol.
In vivo
"Subnautica" It has voice logs and ruins of where people once were, but no actual humans that you will talk to