Can you play Jump Space solo?

Jump Space is a newly released Space exploration game that puts a very heavy emphasis on maintaining your spaceship and your crew, engaging in ship-to-ship and ground combat, while exploring the great beyond with up to four of your friends. However, space is often lonely, and it raises the question of whether you can explore it solo in Jump Space. The short answer is yes, and it only gets better from there.

Jump Space is the maiden project from Keepsake Games, a relatively new studio made up of developers who have worked on Minecraft, It Takes Two, Mirror's Edge, Wolfenstein, and so on. However, Jump Space is drastically different from those games, as it aims to blend space exploration with space combat, incorporating a bit of resource management and roguelite systems. Think No Man's Sky, but with Sea of Thieves, all the while fighting off the hostile robots that resemble Automatons from Helldivers.

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Is it possible to play Jump Space completely solo?

Buddybot will help you set fire to enemies and put out one in your ship (Image via Keepsake Games//@ForceGamingYT)

To answer the pertinent question concisely: yes, you can absolutely play Jump Space solo. Better yet, the developers have included a bonus for those of us who enjoy exploring games independently. Right after you complete the prologue and arrive at your Hangar with Helmsman Iris in tow, you'll meet your Dock Master, Berit, who informs you about a helping hand. It comes in the form of BU-D3 Helper Bot, aka Buddy, an NPC robot that will follow you around and functions as a second player, and best of all, it's actually competent at its job.

Upon launching a mission in solo mode, the bot will do additional tasks in the ship that are usually reserved for teammates, such as manning the guns, dealing with invaders, and fixing the spaceship should it catch fire or encounter any other mechanical failure. Additionally, this bot will follow you down to the surface to aid you in combat and exploration.

Buddy will always have your back in space (Image via Keepsake Games//@ForceGamingYT)

Now this might sound good and all, but nothing's ever without its downside, which means that sometimes Buddy will shoot the wrong target under pressure. However, that's a trade-off I'm willing to make for having a free companion during exploration. And given how the game ramps up difficulty through additional ship hazards and so on in the latter levels, a helping hand while solo is greatly appreciated.

The developers at Keepsake Games are not treating this feature as a throwaway, as they plan to add extra functionalities to the bot later on. However, we might have to wait a bit until those are realized in the live game. Specifically, the offline mode and points related to a better single-player experience are being focused on much sooner, according to the latest update to the roadmap. As of now, Buddybot improvements are slated to arrive with Chapter 2.

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Jump Space is out on Early Access and available for purchase on Steam and Xbox Series X/S.