The honest answer
Solo is supported and very hard. Steam lists Single-player as a mode. A player in the "This game need readjusted for solo and coop" thread put it bluntly:
"it's nearly impossible to do a floor without getting killed"
If a guide describes solo as approachable for newcomers, weigh it against that.
The rule that ends solo runs
This is the single most important mechanic, and it catches people who assume finding a new body means survival. From "Cant survive solo?", where a player died, jumped into a new body, and still got a "no survivors" screen:
"The body you start with is the one you need to keep alive. If that specific body breaks then it's an instant game over. However, you can use the small bodies and break them all you want without triggering a game over. You can also be out of your body as a spirit to check for danger but you HAVE to make sure you do not run out of energy or you won't be able to go back into your original body; triggering a game over."
So:
- Starting body breaks → instant game over, even if you are alive in another body
- Small bodies are disposable — break as many as you like
- Leaving your body to scout is fine, but running out of energy while out means you cannot get back in, which is also a game over
Solo, there is no teammate to guide your spark to a new vessel. That is the structural reason it is harder, not just tuning.
Spark mode: press R, and watch the timer
The defensive tool solo players lean on, described by a player in the hiding thread:
"I know I can press R to go into the spark/light mode to have enemies avoid my body that way, but it's timed, and if you hop back in to refresh the timer next to a bugged enemy that won't move, you're dead."
Press R to enter spark/light mode and enemies avoid your body. It runs on a timer, and the timer is refreshed by getting back into your body — which is the dangerous part, because you have to do it wherever your body happens to be.
The refresh tech (and the caveat)
Players have found a faster version:
"some players there use very quick way of entering their body with the spark and ejecting it instantly to refresh the timer on it, where they claim it allows to do it even when enemies looking right at your body while not aggroed, given you're quick enough."
Enter and eject immediately, resetting the timer without committing to being in the body.
⚠️ Two caveats, both from the player who reported it:
- It is second-hand — they saw it from a YouTube creator, not their own testing
- "I feel like devs may patch this" — treat it as a technique that may not survive an update
There is nothing to hide under
A repeated complaint, and it is tied to a specific in-game hint:
"There doesn't seem to be anything to hide under. As Biggie the little robot mentions, I'm a little too big."
Hiding is not really an option at your default size. Spark mode replaces it.
What players are actually asking for
Community requests centre on public lobby hosting, not on difficulty sliders:
"For coop, you need a lobby with public hosting, working with friends invites only work for a portion of your player base."
The networking is peer-to-peer; what is missing is public matchmaking and visibility.
What is not confirmed
- Exact spark timer duration
- Whether spark mode makes enemies ignore you completely or just reduces detection
- Whether progress is tied to save slots — a player raised this as an assumption, not a finding
- Whether any assist or difficulty options exist
If you have the option, don't
The game is built around a group splitting tasks and covering each other's sparks. Solo is a harder version of the same game, not a different one.