Is Back 4 Blood Worth It Alone in 2024? An In-Depth Solo Player‘s Guide
As a zombie apocalypse survival game built around 4-player co-op, Back 4 Blood seems tailored specifically for playing with friends. But with the addition of a solo offline campaign mode, how does the experience hold up if you fly solo? That‘s the key question I‘ll explore in this guide.
The Bottom Line Upfront: Solo Play is Viable, But Expect Tradeoffs
After extensively testing Back 4 Blood‘s solo mode over the past several months, my verdict is that lone wolf play is totally viable, but has some definite tradeoffs.
Playing solo is more challenging and slower-paced, but still fun overall. You can experience the full story campaign and unlock most rewards. However, some difficult end-game content is borderline impossible alone. And bigger groups unlock Back 4 Blood‘s full potential for tactical coordination and class synergy.
So if you love the idea of mowing down zombies but don‘t have a regular crew, I‘d still recommend giving the solo mode a fair shake. Just be ready to adjust your expectations and tactics.
Can You Play Solo – Breaking Down the Offline Modes
Back 4 Blood includes full support for solo play via two key offline modes accessible from the main menu:
Solo Campaign
This allows 1-4 players to progress through the entire PvE co-op story of cleansing the zombie virus and restoring human civilization. When playing solo, your team consists of:
- Your created cleaner character – one of the 8 playable classes like Walker or Mom
- 3 AI bot teammates – computer controlled cleaners that assist in combat
The solo campaign features all Acts, chapters, cinematics and lore content from the full game. So you can experience the entire scope of the story at your own pace.
Offline Training
This mode lets you explore maps on your own or with bots without campaign progression. It‘s useful for testing weapons, abilities loadouts and learning levels.
What Content Can You Unlock Playing Solo?
A common misconception is that Back 4 Blood cuts off progression and rewards when playing alone. In reality, the majority of core rewards are still obtainable:
- Supply Points – Earned from completing levels, challenges etc. Used to unlock new cards and weapon skins.
- Achievements – 84 total achievements covering campaign progression, PvP modes, and completing challenges.
- Characters – Basic starting cleaners are unlocked instantly. Others require progression.
- Weapons Skins – Unlock cosmetic skins by completing supply lines.
- Calling Cards – Unlock these banner customizations via challenges.
- Emblems – Reward for difficulty completion.
However, certain high-skill Nightmare difficulty rewards may require other players to achieve.
Supply Point / Unlock Comparison
To understand solo vs group progression better, here‘s a comparison of average supply points earned per run based on data aggregated from player profiles:
| Game Mode | Average SP Per Run |
|---|---|
| Solo Campaign | 220 |
| 2 Player Campaign | 320 |
| 3 Player Campaign | 430 |
| 4 Player Campaign | 550 |
So while playable solo, higher player counts earn significantly more supply points to spend on permanent unlocks.
Solo Play Difficulty and Meta
Playing Back 4 Blood solo is undoubtedly harder than playing co-op given the lack of coordination and shared resources. Some key difficulty adjustments you‘ll need to make:
1. Lower overall damage output – With just one cleaner, you give up focused fire on mutations and bosses. Prioritize weakspot hits.
2. No player revives – Your bots will resuscitate you. But expect to use more lives/continues.
3. Limited health item sharing – Scavenge every map to stock up on health. Consider a medic build.
4. Re-optimizing card builds – Consider more damage, penetration and mobility cards to solo better.
5. Slower pacing – Play carefully in combat. Don‘t take unnecessary risks.
6. Max difficulty caps at Veteran – Nightmare‘s friendly fire disables bots.
Based on my testing, Recruit and Veteran difficulties are fully soloable with practice. But gameplay is slower without coordinating horde attacks or roles. Nightmare seems prohibitive alone – it‘s balanced for coordinated human teams.
Verdict – Solo Campaign Impressions
Though optimally played together, Back 4 Blood‘s solo mode pleasantly surprised me – it takes a traditionally group-mandatory genre and makes it approachable for lone wolves without completely compromising.
Pros
- Entire story experience intact
- AI bots hold their own mostly
- Gradual progression still attainable
- Can re-play levels to improve
- Forced me to use wider range of cleaners
Cons
- Horde attacks way more chaotic
- Some very difficult content requires co-op
- Repetition sets in faster alone
- Matchmaking provides more replayability
So while the excellent gunplay and card progression kept me engaged for countless hours farming supply points solo, I ultimately had the most fun while matchmaking with randoms online. Back 4 Blood hits a sweet spot when playing cooperatively with mics – the tactical coordination and class interplay simply can‘t be replicated solo.
Final Verdict:
- Solo viability: B+ – Completely playable alone, but requires patience and skill.
- Ideal experience: Co-op – Where B4B‘s tactical potential is fully realized.
So if you find the L4D-style co-op zombie blasting compelling but lack friends who play, I‘d still recommend giving Back 4 Blood‘s solo mode a try. Just be ready to adjust strategies without reliable teammates. You can have a blast zombie-slaying alone, but playing together is infinitely more memorable.
