Many games use solitude in gameplay to evoke different feelings based on the game genre. Some use solitude to create fear and unease, while other games can use it for a sense of peace and relaxation. Solitude can also be used as a key narrative device to encourage players to question why they are alone in the game and what they seek to learn as a result.
It can also be used as a way to avoid distraction and give the player a chance to explore and take risks at their own leisure, without needing to worry about protecting another NPC. Solitude in games can be used for a variety of play-style tactics to encourage engagement and immersion.
8 Journey
Journey is a stunning and relaxing game that features a mysteriously cloaked figure as they elegantly explore through a sandy ruin. The game has the player wandering around the landscape alone, with no dialogue, which adds to the feeling of solitude.
However, the solitary nature of Journey is not always used negatively; as the beautiful scenery and wonderful secrets the player can uncover adds to a sense of peace alongside the masterfully composed score. The mysterious and beautiful nature of this game allows the player to have fun exploring the world alone.
7 Subnautica
Subnautica features deep-sea exploration and survival games. As the only survivor from a spaceship crash on another planet, the player must then construct essential exploration systems, survive the deep-sea creatures and flora, and eventually escape. The player navigates the sea planet in Subnautica alone while finding vestiges of potential survivors and the alien lifeforms that threaten the player’s life and all other ocean creatures.
The deep ocean exploration is both beautiful and creepy as the player must face the depths alone to find a way off the planet. The ocean’s mysteries are not only limited to the strange callings the player hears but also the leviathans that wait in the depths below.
6 Limbo
Players will be faced with a puzzle-platformer game in Limbo, an eerie grayscale 2-D scroller landscape. This game features the player as a young boy who navigates the terrain by climbing, utilizing environmental aspects, and running through the world.
Even though the player is alone for most of the game, there are still enemies to avoid that add to the mystery of why the boy is alone and where his sister went. The player can speculate the meaning behind the boy’s lonesome search in this ambient and eerie game.
5 Somerville
An eerie adventure game, Somerville focuses on searching for the main character’s family. After an alien attack and an odd encounter with alien technology, the player searches for the rest of the family that disappeared in the alien assault, alone with only the trusty family dog.
The player uses their newfound alien powers to interact with the apocalyptic environment and alien technology so that they can make their way towards finding the rest of their family.
4 What Remains of Edith Finch
What Remains Of Edith Finch is a unique first-person exploration game that follows a young girl as she returns to her ancestral home as the last surviving member of her family. What Remains of Edith Finch sends players out to find the answer to the very title of the game.
This game tackles the mystery following the Finch family, where members meet an untimely demise and which of them is left behind as a result. The player explores this narrative-driven story through the rooms of the ancestral home and what Edith hopes to learn by uncovering her family’s past as the last one left.
3 Firewatch
Firewatch is an adventure game that follows the fire lookout, Henry, as he works for the Shoshone National Forest, a year after devastating fires in the Yellowstone Forest. During the player’s tenure in Firewatch, mysterious occurrences appear that seem to threaten the safety of both the player and the forest.
The player is alone in the tower and on patrols, using nothing but a walkie-talkie to talk to the supervisor about the strange happenings. This game tackles the eeriness of being alone in a big forest and not knowing what will be encountered or who is watching.
2 Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture
Everybody’s Gone To The Rapture, a unique walking-sim in which the player explores a small town where all the inhabitants have strangely disappeared, leaving nothing but fleeting memories in their wake.
The player’s goal is to explore the village and find the vestiges of the villagers that once filled the town and piece together the mystery of why no one is left. Through floating lights around the village, the player will reveal parts of this supernatural story that seem to hold glimpses of past events, all by one’s lonesome.
1 The Witness
The Witness is a solo puzzle game that combines the player’s love for solving intriguing puzzles with open-world exploration. The player emerges from an underground bunker to an unknown island that seems to have been abandoned, save for the many puzzles and systems that have come to life in The Witness.
Alongside the numerous puzzles, there are also various audio clips featuring insightful quotes for the player to gain inspiration from around the island. The solitary feature of this game rewards the player for relying on their wit and intellect when encountering the many puzzles to be solved.