10 Games That Totally Didn’t Need Multiplayer

There are a lot of predominantly single player experiences that feature an online multiplayer mode. Here are 10 games that totally didn't need one.

[skcej]

I still often find myself wondering why Arkham Origins included that multiplayer mode...

[watchem]

Yeah, impossible to platinum now :/

[_-EDMIX-_]

Agreed. I can't stand games with tacked on MP.

Multiplayer is something that is already hard even for the best teams to get really right and balanced, yet stand back....tacked on MP lolz.

[Relientk77]

Assassin's Creed series, and BioShock 2

[Zotaku87]

Full honesty: I actually really enjoyed the BioShock 2 multiplayer, much to my surprise. Did it feel tacked on and unnecessary? Of course it did. But it still managed to be a surprising amount of fun.

[DarkOcelet]

I think i am one of the very few that actually enjoyed the MP in Bioshock 2. Its one of my fav MP games last gen.

Always went with Telekinesis and Revolver 1/2 punch.

[DanielEndurance]

Assassin's Creed? No way, Jose! Brotherhood's multiplayer was the biggest breath of fresh air when it released. It was super innovative and much appreciated in a world where shooters were dominant.

It needs to make a comeback in the next entry!

[-Foxtrot]

No. I think we'd rather see them spend their time breathing life into the series since it's became so fatigued lately. Not waste their creative time on a silly multiplayer mode

[UnHoly_One]

Agreed. It wasn't as good in later installments but in Brotherhood it was probably my favorite Multiplayer of the 360 gen.

Best "unnecessary" multiplayer ever.

[antz1104]

Loved the AC multiplayer. It had a new formula that worked well. Bioshock 2 was utter garbage, such a tacked on waste of time.

[sullynathan]

Ass Creed had good multiplayer. Definitely something different.

[thisgamer503]

I'm usually all for the shortening of names, but(t) Ass Creed? lol

[Silvreck]

Yeah, Batman Arkham: Origins' Multiplayer wasn't great, lol.

[FallenAngel1984]

I actually loved the multiplayer modes in Batman: Arkham Origins and God of War: Ascension. They really added to the replay value and I'm glad the mode was included.

Also it would felt out of place for MGSV to skip out on having MGO when various previous installments such as MGS3, MPO, MGS4, and MPW included multiplayer modes.

I really don't get the complaint of adding more features to a game. Either be glad if it's there or ignore if if you're not a fan.

[Get_A_Job_Foxtrot]

Mgsv DOES have an MGO mode. Where have you been, under a rock? The MGO was matched into MGSV seven weeks later after release.

[s45gr32]

MGS V barely got the beta to MGO guess that what it means.

[FallenAngel1984]

I already know that, I play MGO3 all the time. I said it would weird if MGSV DIDNT have multiplayer

[Get_A_Job_Foxtrot]

The word "felt" in your statement is past tense. But "would" is future tense so I didn't know which one you meant. I assumed you didn't know.

[JamesBroski]

I personally think that MGSV needed multiplayer, but not the one it got. I miss MGS4's so much.

[Der_Kommandant]

Metal Gear Online (MGS4) was one of the most unique and fun experiences I've had with gaming.

[_-EDMIX-_]

I actually feel it didn't. I mean...you could like MGO, nothing against you, but I would still buy MGS with or without a MP mode.

I have for years before they first made one, nothing really changes that to be honest.

Though I guess its a good value for those that love playing it, for me personally, it never changed me getting it day 1.

[Player3Podcast]

I enjoyed the Assassin's Creed multiplayer. It was pretty unique.

[Bathyj]

Id chuck Call of Duty on that list. Its used to be a great series I really enjoyed.

[Khaotic]

Ummm cod would be nothing without Mp. This is saying games that were good and multiplayer was a waste of dev time. Not liking cod multiplayer now verses older cod titles is not what this is about.

[Bathyj]

Well Im saying CoD 1 & 2 were great games and nobody bought them for MP, they bought them for the campaigns. Now thank to CoD 4 the series has been hijacked for MP and is worthless to me, so I stand by my statement.

[sullynathan]

Call of Duty as a franchise has always been equal parts single player and multiplayer and people did buy them for both because COD had an experience that you couldn't always find in other series. It's the reason why when COD 4 changed the formula for both parts, it was incredibly popular.

[WellyUK]

Um CoD has had very good MP since the first ones... What are you on?

[thisgamer503]

I think he's talking more where the developer focuses their emphasis. In this case ever since COD4 the emphasis has been focused clearly on the multiplayer, whereas more effort went into the campaigns on the earlier installments.

[Der_Kommandant]

I really don't get why so many games lately will shove MP in our SP experiences.

[Zero109]

None of it is "shoved". It's completely "optional". You're not forced to play any of it.

[-Foxtrot]

It wastes a shit load of development time and resources which could be spent on better things

Do you think half the stuff found in Fallout 4 or the Witcher 3 would be their if they focused on something like co-op.....nope.

They'd have to structure the world for multiplayer

Make sure co-op bugs are worked out

Not to mention spend time developing missions which work for more then one player.

[yeahright2]

poor choice of words. Pretty sure he meant it being shoved into the game, not the SP experience.
Honestly, for me, as long as they don't attach the platinum trophy, or make it mandatory, it doesn't bother me. Don't ask me why the platinum bothers me, I don't really know myself. I would say it's the completionist in me, but then I'd be hunting MP trophies as well.

[Zero109]

@-Foxtrot

How are you to know what/where/how their resources are used? You've been around N4G for a long time and any article that has SP including ANY type of MP (co-op, TDM etc), you immediately shoot the idea down as if it's the worse thing ever to happen.

It's funny because TLOU does the same thing the rest of these games did yet there's nothing but praise for that. There's a couple modes you get the play with randoms/friends and you do the same thing over and over.

You don't realize devs are trying to cater to more than just SP gamers. Just as much as you hate added MP in SP games, other gamers love that aspect. I would've killed to have co-op in TW3 (and would've gladly waited another year if necessary). The game was already a blast by myself, imagine playing that "same" experience with a friend the entire time.

Though following your comment history, you'd just say it's "pointless", "wasted resources/dev time" etc. There are millions of gamers on this planet. We all play/enjoy games a different way. There a many SP/MP only games too go around for all. So why hate on either or?

[WellyUK]

Just like how crappy SP's are shoved onto MP games to cater to the "I won't buy it unless it has a SP even if that SP is complete trash." (Battlefield for example)

[_-EDMIX-_]

lol agreed.

As a long time BF fan, I can tell you...... I don't play those SP modes, not even a little.

If they skipped a single player mode, I would be 100% fine with that as I wouldn't even be playing it anyway.

That isn't to say I don't like single player games, merely that I don't like bad ones.

Its not Half Life, its not Bioshock, its not Metro etc

The single players in BF are just awful and such a waste of time for me, I legit just jump right into MP now with that series lolz.

[WellyUK]

BF has never been a SP game and SP before Bad company was just vs bots on a MP map. Sorry but SP is not needed in the Battlefield series people who think it is are clearly new to the series or only started playing from the Bad company games.

Plus DICE cannot do SP campaigns well, bad company 2 is their best effort and even that was terrible.

[nitus10]

The major issue with Multi-player only games is if the connection to the internet is dropped such as servers going down or even your network connection having poor performance, you have effectively a dead game.

[WellyUK]

well then you go play a game that works fine offline... Theres plenty of them, it's not like they are non existent. The problem is that the consoles have a small library of games that you cant just jump on an old game like you can with steam.

[_-EDMIX-_]

or shoving SP in MP focused games.

I don't care for either or.

If it was made to be a SP...fine, let it be that.

If it was made to be a MP....let it continue to merely be that.

I hate tacked on anything.

[Zero109]

"10 Games That Totally Didn’t Need Multiplayer"

Games don't "need" a lot of features but I enjoyed playing most of the MP aspects of these games. They were completely "optional", added "replay value" and could be "ignored" for SP gamers. I don't see what the problem is?

[Ozmoses]

God of War definitely didn't need one...

[IAmLee]

GoW MP was one of my fave MP experiences last gen. I clocked 1100+ matches on it with a 2.4 K/D. I'd happily welcome GoW4 PS4 Mp :')

[Vegamyster]

I really liked the core gameplay in Far Cry 3's, reminded me of CoD 4. Problem was the framerate was crap on consoles, match making didn't really work on the PC version and unlock progression felt clumsy.

[PhoenixUp]

Goldeneye 64 originally was going to be a single player only experience. They only added multiplayer in at the last minute, yet you don't hear people whining about it's implementation.

Multiplayer doesn't ruin games, it just adds on to it

[Kombatologist]

It all depends on how well that multiplayer mode is executed. Fortunately for GoldenEye, it was executed very well during a time when there was nothing else like it. Unlike today where there's so many games with multiplayer, it's hard to come up with anything original.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Not really, it depends on how well the mode even is. I just don't want to see resources spent on something I won't even be spending time on based on poor quality.

Goldeneye is an exception.

[PhoenixUp]

Many of the games on this list with multiplayer don't have resources bring taking away from the single player. In most cases the multiplayer is just an extra that gets added because the devs could afford to so.

So in actuality there's not much reason to complain about

[Germaximus]

Funny. The multiplayer in Batman Arkham Origins was actually really good and unique when playing the hero. Tomb Raider's multiplayer is just as good and fun as Uncharted's. The God of War multiplayer was surprisingly great as the gameplay felt no different than what is in the campaign.

[Roccetarius]

Judging by the comments, some people still don't understand, that adding a MP mode impacts the game as a whole. It's not just something seperate and optional, because it meant something significant didn't have enough dev time.

Look at the content in AC games beyond Assassin's Creed 2, and you'll see a drop in Single Player content.

[_-EDMIX-_]

Yes and no.

No based on the MP most times is done by another part of the team that is actually not making the SP content in the first place.

Yes based on clearly they budgeted for it in the first place, money that could have been used on dev time for the SP mode, more programmers etc.

The SP devs are not as impacted, but clearly they could have had more money for longer dev time, maybe more employees etc.

But we don't really know how or even if its taken out of a normal development budget or added to an existing one to really know.

How I see it, if a mode was spent money on, that didn't add much value to MOST gamers, it was a waste. I'd rather they spend money on something that will get gamers playing longer ie more programmers, designers, longer dev time etc

or merely use such funding for a free expansion or 2.

I feel those keep life to the game and get gamers buying a digital expansion which gets the publisher more money.

But I feel in many cases, most games can do without such modes

What is the value of a MP mode that is bad that no one plays? I'm not bias so I would add that to a SP mode added to a MP concept, what is the value of such a thing if its poorly made and bad?

[FN4GM]

Give people more and they bitch and moan, give them less and they do the same, there's no winning with some people.

[madmonkey01]

One for me that might be a little controversial is the Uncharted series,

[philm87]

Assassins Creed Black Flag Multiplayer sucked so bad.
Love the MGS V FOB missions though.

[Adexus]

I didn't think TLOU needed multiplayer before it came out, it looked really tacked on but I ended up loving it.

[yeahright2]

Good list. I'd also add the uncharted series, and the last of us.

[esmittystud101]

I couldn't agree more about Uncharted and The Last of Us, I never took to there mp either.

[esmittystud101]

I agree with the Assassin's Creed Series. They nailed it with Syndicate, its the best Assassin's Creed I have ever played and the deepest. The multi player would have been a waist and I'm glad they didn't take the time for it. Same with them not having a companion app this time around even though Black Flag's companion app was the best companion app I've ever seen on a game. I'm glad Ubisoft spent all there time making a great single player Assassin's Creed game.

I have to disagree with Bioshock 2 though. Its mp was very different to say the least, but it was fun once you got the hang of it. I had alot of hours in that mp once I finished the story in Bioshock 2, which if they had no mp, I would have selved that game way before I did.

[NickAwesome]

2015 was a good year to be a single player gamer! i have no complaints,i'm glad game publishers finally understood they can achieve to sell well and create quality games without having to add unnecessary multiplayer,intrusive always online and microtransactions, witcher 3,arkham knight,fallout 4,syndicate,mad max,rise of tombraider,the order 1886 and until dawn were among my favorite single player only experiences of the year

[XanderZane]

I didn't understand why they added it to Uncharted 2: Among Thieves either. They missed that game.

[Ninja_G_Aidan]

Uncharted 2 beta is the main reason I bought that game and became one of the greatest games I played in my life! Both single player and multiplayer was incredible!!!

[XanderZane]

Yes, the single player game was awesome. No question. But a lot of people didn't think the multiplayer really needed.

[TwilightSparkle]

Add me on ps4 Rikukey2. Ill be playing NSS4 when its out :)

[yeahright2]

While I'm firmly in the single player camp, I gotta admit when a game does multiplayer right. I can think of two titles, watch dogs (wasn't intrusive, blended perfectly with single player, and you can shut it off at anytime)and Dragon's Dogma, which wasn't even really multiplayer just online. borrowing/loaning out pawns and sending them back with gifts and quest knowledge was brilliant by my estimation.