Summary
In manyRPGs, you embark onan adventure with a full party of typically three or four people. Together, you can combine your individual talents and abilities to overcome any enemy you face. You see this in games like Final Fantasy, Mass Effect, and Persona 5.
Yet, it isn’t a requirement for a role-playing game. In fact, many of the biggest titles in the genre only provide you with a single hero without a team backing them up. While they may occasionally receive some help, these protagonists usually have to go it alone. Here are some of the most notable examples.
Updated on July 24, 2025 by Dennis Moiseyev:While traveling and getting to know your party in games such as Baldur’s Gate 3, Final Fantasy, and Mass Effect can be fun and even helpful when combat situations arise, sometimes you might desire an RPG where it’s a solo outing with no one else tagging along for the ride. That’s perfectly reasonable, and it can even sometimes prove more immersive. Thankfully, there are lots of RPGs that don’t rely on parties, and here are some more wonderful options!
The Thaumaturge is one of the most noteworthy RPGs of 2024 from studio Fool’s Theory, a Polish developer that was a support studio for Larian on BG3 and Divinity: Original Sin 2. The Thaumaturge really highlights and showcases the team’s Polish roots and is set before the October Revolution in 1905 Warsaw, when the nation was still under the control of the Russian Empire.
This isometric turn-based RPGfollows Wiktor Szulski, a detective, thaumaturge, and friend of Rasputin’s at odds with Russian imperial soldiers while hunting for clues to various mysteries, and who can tame demons called Salutors. While you’ll unlock these different beasts and upgrade their abilities for combat, they’re not so much party members as they are creatures you collect.
In this RPG, you’re a lone hermit crab named Krilwho must traverse the ocean on a journeyto reclaim his stolen shell. Your only companion here is quite literally the pollution and trash at the bottom of the ocean that you may use as a substitute for your missing shell to make yourself better prepared for battles.
Part Soulslike, part underwater exploration, and part powerful message about pollution and the harmful effects it’s having on our oceans, Another Crab’s Treasure is indeed a treasure. Going with the seafood theme, the abilities Kril can learn here are also called Umami Techniques.
Vampyr is an excellent and underrated Gothic RPG taking place during the Flu Pandemic of 1918 in London, England.It’s a vampire game like no other, where you are a doctor named Jonathan Reid bound by the Hippocratic Oath to treat your patients, but, at the same time, newly turned and thirsting for blood.
It’s as intimate and non-party-focused as an RPG can get because this choice-filled narrative from Don’t Nod (the developer behind Life is Strange) is entirely focused on the personal and conflicting decisions Reid must make.You’ll have some epic vampire abilitiesto use in Soulslike-style combat with guards and tougher bosses, and the atmosphere and voice acting are amazing.
If you’re a fan of Greek mythology, you should look to Immortals Fenyx Rising for an excellent RPG brimming with it. In this story, you are Fenyx, a special warrior who can fly using wings, chosen by the Gods to help defeat the monster known as Typhon and save civilization from a terrible curse. It’s also all playing outas Zeus and Prometheus are narrating events in real time.
It’s probablyone of Ubisoft’s most overlooked gamesand is very similar to Assassin’s Creed Odyssey, but with a more cartoonish art style and Zelda-like qualities for the puzzles and open-world combat experience. You’ll be entranced by the gorgeous design of the world of Fenyx Rising, and there are plenty of challenging elements in store.
As the name might suggest, this is a dungeon crawler action-adventure RPG, and it’sone of the best Zelda-likes you can play! This game invites you to join protagonist Luisa, an ordinary cog in the corporate machine, to master the magical dungeons tucked away in a fictional village in the Austrian Alps called Hinterberg.
Dungeons of Hinterberg uses a stunning Cel-shading art style that does wonders for its already unique world and gameplay setup. You’ll have the entire landscape to take on enemies, solve platforming puzzles, and traverse by way of ziplines, your hoverboard, and grind rails. Part of the game also has you form connections with townsfolk, but they won’t be as brave as you to take on dungeons.
9Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy Of Goku 2
Legacy of Goku 2 is a 2D RPG title set in theDragon Ball Zuniverse. In fact, it re-tells the anime’s Android and Cell sagas. Much of this consists of you going around and fighting people while controlling different DBZ heroes.
you’re able to freely switch between playable characters at various places in the open world. Yet, only one travels around at a time, so the others aren’t really party members in the traditional sense. They’re just other options for you to control.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance isan action RPG set in medieval times. You play as a man named Henry. He is a young blacksmith apprentice who works with his father. His world gets turned upside down when his village is raided, and his parents are killed. He then goes on a mission to avenge his family.
Along the way, you will visit plenty of places and meet a bunch of people. But you mostly adventure alone. It would be nice to have some teammates at times because the combat isn’t incredibly easy. This is because the first-person swordplay has a realistic feel, so you can’t be taking down groups of people at once.
At the start of Cyberpunk 2077, you get to create and customize the protagonist before selecting their life path. Whatever options you choose, you end up as a mercenary named V, who’s operating in the technologically advanced Night City. And several hours into the game, another personality gets lodged into your head.
He is with you the entire adventure, but doesn’t count as a party member. After all, he’s just a construct. He may be able to give you advice, but he can’t fight alongside you. So, you must complete most of the missions in the game on your own.
While the early Assassin’s Creed games were all action-adventure titles, some of the recent ones have been RPGs. For instance, Assassin’s Creed Valhalla is an open-world RPG set in the Viking age. You play as a Norwegian Viking named Eivor. Along with some of their closest clan members,they travel to England to create a new settlement. While there, they must make alliances with nearby regions to help them settle in this new world.
You’re the main person involved in making these connections, but you don’t do everything alone. There are many raids and big battles in the adventure where you fight alongside your allies. Yet, they aren’t party members. They’re just NPCs that occasionally fight by your side. Plus, they aren’t around often, as you spend most of the game alone.
Deus Ex: Human Revolution isset in a futuristic worldwhere humans can alter their bodies with all sorts of technological augmentations. The protagonist Adam Jenson certainly gets some, but he doesn’t have a choice.
A ruthless attack leaves him clinging for life, and replacing much of his body with cybernetics is the only way to keep him alive. After getting back on his feet, he sets out to figure out who was behind the attack. While his reasons for needing augmentations aren’t happy ones, they do give him a much better chance of completing his objectives. After all, they can give him all sorts of combat and stealth boosts. This is why he has no need for teammates.
