I am and always have been a primarily single-player gamer vs. multiplayer. I’ll hop online with my friends and run some matches with them. But, it’s not something I actively seek on my own. A big reason for that is that I look at gaming as my bubble. My safe space to get out of my head and away from my problems. I’m not really looking for people to encroach upon that all the time.
Obviously, for someone with a competitive streak as nasty as mine? This can be a bit difficult to reconcile. Which is why I’m grateful for multiplayer games that provide some bot competition I can get that out on. I admit I need that from time to time. I like winning things. Sometimes, though, I don’t like having to deal with what feels like a social obligation in the midst of doing so. Also, I can be a lot once I lock in. I have to actively tell myself to chill out once I’ve mentally established it’s time to get a W.
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IT’S STILL MULTIPLAYER
One of the games I leaned on for this was Unreal Tournament 2004. Hours upon hours were spent in back-and-forth contests with the AI bots. I enjoyed every minute. I could legitimately just zone out and get after it. Especially in Capture the Flag — I’d be scared to see how much time down to the minute I’ve put into that mode.
I would also look at it like practice for whenever I did get into some multiplayer games. I’d run all my bot matches on the highest difficulty and get run off the map for about a week. Then, the game slowed down, and there was the slow progress of getting better than the CPU until I could eventually blow it out. Afterward, I’d move on to the next game.
My favorite game over the years to do this with has always been Call of Duty. The bots were perfectly aggressive and gave me a lot to work with in terms of testing my skills. And when I’d get into a good rhythm? I’d take it to online multiplayer. And I’d do pretty well for myself.
BOTS ARE STILL ALIVE

I brought all of this up to say how much I’m enjoying playing practice against the AI in Marvel Rivals. Even with other people, it really just feels like a bunch of people practicing their characters. I do wish there was an option to solo it. But, the fact it’s there is good enough for me.
I’d personally love for this to be a staple feature of multiplayer games again. It feels like we’ve gone away from it as there’s been a significant pivot to live-service games and pushing people toward a constant stream of content.
Some of us wanna hop on the game, let off some competitive steam, and get better without communicating locations and enemy callouts every 2.5 seconds. When I want the full multiplayer experience, I’ll tackle it. But for the time being, let me enjoy the back and forth by myself and use it as a moment to meditate and relax.
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