How 2017 Revived the Market for Single Player Games

2017 reminded me of my PlayStation 2 days when I used to sit on the couch and play SSX 3, Bully, and Kingdom Hearts until I fell over from exhaustion. While Bully is clearly the pinnacle of video games (insert sarcasm here), those titles, and others like them, left me with great memories for the same reason: they were experiences I was able to enjoy by myself, without all the online features that completely dominate and shape the culture of games today. It was definitely a simpler time, and you can’t argue with those phenomenal graphics, either…

In much of the same way, 2017 has been one of the best years, in recent memory, for single-player games. Just one year earlier, we saw the release of multiplayer, heavy-hitting titles like Overwatch, The Division, Battlefield 1, and Gears of War 4, among others. While all of those were well-received by players and critics and are still going strong today, 2017 was a welcomed breath of fresh air and offered slower narrative experiences in juxtaposition to the barrage of shooters.

In an industry that focuses a lot of its attention on online, multiplayer, and eSports titles, 2017 saw the rise of quality AAA and indie titles that players could enjoy by themselves. Not only was it refreshing, but because of the sheer number of single-player games that released last year, along with their commercial success, 2017 proved the market for single player games is stronger than ever and that the demand for them is only growing.

Last year started off strong with the January release of Resident Evil 7 Biohazard. Set in the fictional, swampy town of Dulvey, Lousiana, RE7 took this long-running series back to its horror roots in unexpected and refreshing ways. The first being the noticeable shift to first-person. We play as Ethan Winters, who finds himself trapped in the dilapidated Baker home while searching for his wife, Mia. Every creaky floorboard, ringing phone, and moving shadow effectively set me on edge. Couple that with an intriguing narrative that ties into the overarching lore of the Resident Evil franchise, and you have a game that set a high bar for the other single-player titles that would follow throughout the year.

Then, one month (give or take a few days) after the release of Resident Evil 7, Guerilla Games drops Horizon Zero Dawn, the new IP developed exclusively for PlayStation 4. Despite its lack of online or multiplayer options, the game’s main story pushes the thirty hour mark, plus the additional thirty or so hours that are spent leveling up Aloy and completing the side quests. Horizon is one of the best looking games on the PlayStation 4 to date, and its hours of content plus the quality narrative make the $60 price tag worth it.

To date its sold 3.80 million copies, with more than 2 million copies releasing in just the first two weeks of release alone. Those are more than just impressive numbers. They serve as a reminder that players are receptive to single-player titles games that are both memorable and immersive. It also encourages the developer to invest more in a project that’s working well. Just nine months after the release of Horizon, its first DLC, The Frozen Wilds was released to equally favorable reviews. The Frozen Wilds opened up the map while simultaneously expanding Aloy’s character, leaving players to believe this franchise is just getting started.

Not even two weeks later Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and NieR: Automata release for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4, respectively. These titles offered exclusive, single-player experiences, the latter of which gave us a refreshing take on the RPG genre with a fierce battle between androids and machines; and the former, which was strong enough to take home the award for Game of the Year, largely due to the novelty of freely exploring Hyrule and the immense detail Nintendo inserted into the game to craft a memorable single-player experience worthy of Legend of Zelda’s deep history. We haven’t even reached the middle of the year, and already single-player titles are killing it in 2017.

The single-player releases of 2017 only grew stronger as the year progressed. Before the release of Wolfenstein II: The New Colossus, MachineGames’ Tommy Björk explained the game wouldn’t have a multiplayer component, because it would “dilute” the storytelling experience of The New Colossus. Without it, the game’s single-player mode would be allowed to push the boundaries of the game and offer an explicit commentary on the Nazi regime that has taken over America in the game.

This same idea, though, can be applied to releases such as Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, which creatively used sound/audio to highlight mental illness; to Life is Strange: Before the Storm, which used teenage angst and raw grief to highlight the complexity of relationships, both romantic and familial; and even to The Evil Within 2, in which we saw a grieving father return to unimaginable horrors (seriously, the game is messed up) in order to save his young daughter.

These games and the strong themes that set their foundation would have suffered, their message “diluted” under a multiplayer component. Instead of the focus being on playing with others, these games gave us quality narratives and characters that we could root for and invest our time (and let’s be real, our money) in. Even with a title like Uncharted: The Lost Legacy, while there’s a co-op mode similar to the other Uncharted games, its narrative remained the primary focus of the game.

Though shorter than the main four Uncharted games, it gave players a deeper, more satisfying look into the adventures of Chloe Frazer, a fan-favorite from the series. It’s a spin-off title that sold more than a half million copies in its first week, highlighting the fact that players are still craving more story and adventure from the Uncharted universe and its many characters.

The success of these games and stories proved the need and the desire for more single-player experiences is strong. While playing multiplayer titles online with friends or strangers offers us an exciting and fast-paced experience, the games mentioned in the article, and plenty of others that came out last year, showed players it’s okay to slow down and appreciate what this medium is capable of on a deeper level.

Let me know in the comments about some of your favorite single-player games from 2017!