HomeTheXboxHub FeaturesOpinionsGamers still crave single player campaigns

Gamers still crave single player campaigns

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OMG have you been on the internet recently? No!? Are you some kind of hermit? Well for those that haven’t realised it yet, Rockstar games have finally pulled back the curtain on Red Dead Redemption 2. And the internet has lost its s**t! Seriously, in the space of two days Rockstar became the most tweeted about phenomenon since Donald Trump announced he was going to run for president (probably). Everybody is hailing the move to make Red Dead 2 as a masterstroke by the company, given the success and unbridled brilliance of the first game (yeeees I know about Red Dead Revolver, but I’m just counting Redemption here). All the hype and noise points to one revelatory discovery: it doesn’t matter how good your multiplayer might be, gamers still crave a good single player campaign!

Ok, so maybe it’s not all that revelatory, but it does go to show that all these companies who believe that single player games are dead, are wrong. Once upon a time, games only ever had single player mode and you considered yourself lucky if you got a splitscreen co-op mode. Games had to sell themselves on the quality of their story alone, and weren’t afforded the luxury of modern day AAA titles which often fall back on their multiplayer modes to keep players interested. This was when some of the most revolutionary titles of our time came to be. This was where Red Dead Redemption actually came from. Games such as Assassin’s Creed and the Elder Scrolls took time to craft stories which spanned multiple games and kept players guessing right until the very end. I mean, even Crash Bandicoot had a better storyline than the latest couple of Call of Duty stories for Christ’s sake. At a time when all of the big developers seem to be pouring millions into their online modes (usually at the expense of the single player), it’s refreshing to see developers like Rockstar kicking the trend and ‘hopefully’ taking things back to the good old days of intricate and engaging story telling.

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FYI: I’m not saying RDR2 isn’t going to have a multiplayer mode, in fact, judging by the second piece of teaser art that was released, I’d say some form of cooperative multiplayer might be highly likely. What I’m saying is that by creating Read Dead Redemption 2, Rockstar will hopefully be creating a game which is in a very similar vein of brilliance as the first Red Dead Redemption with a deep and creative single player storyline.

If you’re observant enough to notice, I did a piece a couple of weeks back which talked about the increase of ‘remasters’ and what this means for the games industry, well looking back to that, remasters are also a pretty big signal of just how much gamers miss a decent single player game, especially on next-gen consoles. Bioshock, Skyrim, Batman and the Ezio Collection are all monster remastered games which are all completely single player and gamers are champing at the bit to sink their teeth into them. While I admit, I feel remastering a previous hit is a little bit like cheating when you could’ve put the effort into creating something new, however I’m not about to turn my nose up at such a delicious offering either. I fully expect to allow Skyrim to take my life over completely when it comes out next week.

Single player campaigns are one of the things which made the games industry what it is today. Games like The Last of Us and the Witcher 3 have even won critical awards merited on the quality of its storytelling, and I definitely hope that in the coming months/years there are even more titles released which focus more on the quality of the single player campaign, rather than putting all their eggs in the basket titled “multiplayer dominance”.

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I only really have two franchises which spring to mind, which buck the trend of “Single player or multiplayer” and those are Halo and Gears of War. These are a prime example of gaming hybrids, where the single player is just as good as the multiplayer, and both are equally as engaging for an extended period of time. While yes, Halo is famous for the way it revolutionised multiplayer gaming, it also had one hell of a story (yes I’m including Halo 5 in that bracket as well) to back it up and you were always just as intrigued to see the Master Chief’s story progressing, as well as wondering what you could get up to in the multiplayer. The same can be said of Gears of War. Marcus Fenix and co. could be one endorsement away from straight up advertising drinkable testosterone, however the depth and quality of the story throughout the Gears franchise never faltered even when it progressed on the Xbox One. Seriously, if you haven’t played Gears of War 4 yet, go outside right now and get it. The story in Gears 4 is perfect for a multitude of reasons, but primarily because it masterfully allows the old guard to hand off to a new generation, seamlessly introducing a new Gears of War franchise to a new audience. There’s no dodgy rejigs or anything like that, it’s simply old Gears introducing new Gears and new Gears introducing itself with style. It’s brilliant.

What do you think? We want hear what your favourite single player campaign is (especially if it’s a little more out of the box) and what franchises you think need to return back to their epic single player story roots. Be sure to let us know in the comments below or on the usual social channels. I reckon gamers still crave single player campaigns. History proves it.

Danny Taylor (Timelord18)
Danny Taylor (Timelord18)
I've been gaming since before I could stick my fingers together in Art class. When I'm not hunting for gamerscore on my Xbox, I'm likely buried in comics or books! Everyone's got a hobby, mine just consume my entire life...

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Neil Watton
7 years ago

It’a all about a good single player campaign for me. I’ve been slightly moved towards the co-op aspect recently too but if I game doesn’t allow me to spend good quality time alone, then I’m not interested.

Hxy3000
Hxy3000
7 years ago

GTA Online has made so much money RDR2 will most likely have tons of microtransactions. The useless AI squadmates in Halo 5 pissed me off too much to even finish the campaign. Supersoldiers my ass.

Rafoca
Rafoca
7 years ago

Coop campaign yes, single player campaign not so much.

Jared
Jared
7 years ago

I would say 90% of my gaming is solo/co-op campaign. Great stories are a must for me! Half Life 2, Life is Strange, Halo (of course), Game of Thrones, RDR is definitely one of my all time favorites, Gears, Child of Light, and Quantum Break was pretty good if a little short.

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