Is Back 4 Blood Worth It To Play Solo?

I‘ve seen this question asked a lot since Back 4 Blood released: is it worth buying if you plan to play solo alone without friends?

After extensive time battling through the campaign solo, I can say with confidence: Playing entirely solo is possible, but significantly less fun and engaging compared to playing co-op.

While still enjoyable, the lack of teamwork and progression make for a limited experience. Back 4 Blood shines when played online with friends.

Below I‘ll explain in detail my insights on playing solo, so you can decide if it‘s right for you. I‘ve also included tips to make singleplayer more enjoyable if you do go it alone!

Overview of Back 4 Blood

For anyone unfamiliar, Back 4 Blood is a 4-player co-op zombie FPS game from the creators of Left 4 Dead. You and up to 3 friends battle through swarms of zombie-like "Ridden" across a series of linear levels using guns, melee weapons, and teamwork.

It takes heavy inspiration from Left 4 Dead‘s gameplay, featuring things like:

• Horde events where waves of Ridden attack
• Special Ridden with deadly abilities
• Safe rooms between levels to resupply
• Messy gory combat

There is a full campaign mode with progression, side missions, and an unlockable deckbuilding card system. The cards allow you to customize your character‘s strengths and abilities.

Can You Play Solo? How Does It Work?

Yes, you can play the full Back 4 Blood campaign solo without any human teammates. When you play alone, your team of 4 cleaners is filled out with AI bot companions.

The bots will follow you around levels, attacking enemies and helping in combat. You can also ping locations and give basic commands to direct them.

Pretty much all activities are available solo, including:

• All campaign levels & difficulties
• Achievements & accomplishments
• Weapons, attachments, and skins

However, there is one major exception – playing solo does NOT earn supply points for unlocking new cards. Cards are only awarded for completing levels with human teammates.

This cuts you off from half the progression system and customization when playing alone.

Solo Play Pros – The Good Stuff

Though limited, there are some fun benefits to flying solo in Back 4 Blood‘s campaign:

Freedom & Control

Without needing to accommodate teammates, you can play at your own pace and make all the decisions. Explore levels more thoroughly, determine when to push forward or fall back, and lead the bots where you please.

Lone Wolf Gameplay

Solo forces you to rely on your own aim, awareness, and maneuverability. Test your skills and reaction time dodging special Ridden attacks and handling crowds alone.

AI Support

The bots provide elementary support like:

• Dealing damage to enemies
• Using their abilities like healing
• Reviving you if downed

Having them contributie firepower and revives helps compensate for no human allies.

All the Action

With bots drawing some aggro, most of the Ridden hordes will still be gunning for you. Enjoy nonstop action with waves focused on attacking you from all sides.

Stealth Is More Viable

Coordinating stealth with teammates is difficult, but playing carefully and strategically alone is completely viable. Pick off Ridden silently from the shadows.

No Arguments!

Without a human team, you don‘t have to debate where to go or what cards/guns to use. Equip your favorite loadout and build without discussion or compromise.

Solo Play Cons – The Not So Good

However, there are also very clear disadvantages to playing Back 4 Blood solo:

Extremely Challenging

The difficulty scales steeply when playing alone, especially on Veteran or Nightmare. Lack of coordination and revives from allies makes it punishing.

Here‘s a look at the solo difficulty across settings:

Difficulty	Solo Difficulty
Recruit	Easy
Veteran	Hard
Nightmare	Extremely Hard
No Hope	Near Impossible

As you can see, No Hope difficulty is essentially not feasible solo. Nightmare is doable but will test your limits.

No Matchmaking Benefits

When matchmaking with randoms, you benefit from:

• Shared health items and support accessories
• Chance of getting good helpful teammates
• Revives from human players

These advantages are lost when teammates are bots.

No Card Progression

With no supply points from playing solo, you cannot unlock new cards and create better decks. This significantly reduces long term enjoyment and customization.

No Pings or Strategizing

The clever ping system is useless without real teammates who can see pings to highlight priority targets or dangers. Complex strategy is also lost.

Repetitive BOTs

The bots have very repetitive dialog and behaviors. Their commentary quickly becomes tiresome and they fail to emulate human players.

No PvP Multiplayer

You cannot play the Swarm PvP mode solo against real opponents. This cuts out a major portion of the game.

Increased Pressure

With limited health items balanced for 4 players, staying supplied is tougher. you also cannot afford to lose health messing around. Everything is riskier.

Campaign Tips for Solo Players

If you do plan on playing Back 4 Blood solo despite the downsides, here are some tips to make the experience a bit smoother:

• Stick to Recruit difficulty until you master mechanics – combat is very unforgiving on higher settings alone.
• Use a ranged damage-focused deck – you can‘t rely on melee here. Kite and gun down enemies.
• Don‘t take unnecessary risks like wandering off alone – every bit of health matters more.
• Listen for audio cues indicating nearby special Ridden so you can target them quickly.
• Let the bots take aggro while you flank and deal damage from off angles.
• Bring support accessories like pipe bombs or razor wire to better manage horde attacks.
• Play cautiously – don‘t rush into uncertain situations without backup.
• Stick to tight areas where you can limit angles of attack.

Ideal Solo Card Builds

Unfortunately solo play locks you out of acquiring new cards through supply points. This makes your initial deck choices extremely important.

Here are the categories of cards I‘d recommend focusing on for solo:

Mobility:

• [[Run Like Hell]]
• [[Mad Dash]]
• [[Superior Cardio]]

Stamina:

• [[Cross Trainers]]
• [[Olympic Runner]]

Damage:

• [[Glass Cannon]]
• [[Hyper-Focused]]
• [[Patient Hunter]]
• [[Killer‘s Instinct]]

Survivability:

• [[Motorcycle Helmet]]
• [[Body Armor]]
• [[Fit As A Fiddle]]

Accessories:

• [[Utility Belt]]
• [[Tactical Vest]]

Weapons:

• [[Mag Coupler]]
• [[Large Caliber Rounds]]

Mobility and stamina are essential solo to keep distance from enemies. Damage cards allow you to drop Ridden quickly with limited help. And survivability and accessories provide some added utility since you lack teammates.

Is Solo Play Viable Overall?

So is playing Back 4 Blood‘s campaign alone a viable way to enjoy the game? It‘s certainly possible, but suboptimal compared to co-op.

The game can be completed solo, but the experience becomes more like a survival challenge than the intended bombastic teamwork-driven zombie shooter.

Based on my time with the game, I would say solo play is:

• Fun but challenging – you‘ll need skill and patience to progress
• More methodical & tactical – instead of run and gun chaos
• Repeitive – bots and limited cards make it stale over time
• Prevents card progression – big downgrade to customization
• Only recommended if you have no one else to play with

So while doable, I cannot recommend strictly solo play as the ideal way to experience Back 4 Blood. You‘ll get the most enjoyment playing online co-op.

Is Back 4 Blood Worth It To Play Solo?

So should you buy Back 4 Blood if you plan to play solo exclusively?

Worth buying at full price? In my opinion, no. Without the benefits of co-op, the campaign becomes a repetitive slog, and you miss out on key progression and multiplayer. I‘d wait for a sale.

Worth trying on a discount or subscription? Maybe. Just temper your expectations around progression and longevity. Look at it as a basic FPS challenge rather than a fleshed out co-op experience.

Worth buying if you plan on ANY co-op? Absolutely. Even just one consistent friend makes the game infinitely more entertaining through teamwork. The replayable co-op is what makes Back 4 Blood truly shine.

So in summary:

• Solo play is limited without progression and teamwork
• The experience becomes repetitive and challenging alone
• I don‘t recommend buying solely for solo play
• But it can be fun if you expect a basic FPS challenge
• Playing with even one friend co-op makes it extremely rewarding

Hope this overview helps set proper expectations if you plan on playing Back 4 Blood solo! Feel free to ask me any other questions.