Solo Sequence

In a party-based game or even multi-unit strategy game, a level or mission in which the player controls only one character - often the main hero on a solo escapade. Many RPGs will start in this mode before the hero meets other party members, so starting sequences don't count - but all further "one person left alone" sequences do. Doesn't count if the rest of the team isn't player-controlled but is AI-controlled and helps the player automatically, the character has to be really alone. Single duel-type fights have their own tropes, this is about a whole longer level to be completed with a single character.

Might be because the hero performed a Sneaky Departure, maybe This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself or In the End You Are on Your Own, might be as a result of the whole team being scattered across the world or even dying as a scenario requirement, might be a side character completing a quest/mission of their own.

Might lead to a Duel Boss (though just a solo fight, without a solo lead-in, wouldn't qualify for this trope).

See Solo Character Run when it's the player that decides to play with only a single character, for the added challenge.

Examples:

• Command and Conquer Red Alert 3 Uprising expansion has a whole minicampaign tailored around Yuriko Omega, Japan's hero unit.
• Final Fantasy IV - When Cecil's ship is attacked, he ends up alone on a beach.
• Final Fantasy V - Early on in act 2, Galuf goes solo to rescue his imprisoned comrades.
• Final Fantasy VII - fighting boss Dyne with Barret
• Chrono Trigger - a few times with Crono
• Several sections in Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga take one brother out of picture and have you go solo for a while.
• Star Craft 2 - one mission has the player turn the tide of an AI-controlled battle using a single Ghost unit
• Mass Effect 2 has a few Shepard-only side missions available as DLC: "Normandy Crash Site", where Shepard has to wander the eponymous location alone, contemplating the deaths of the soldiers who died under his/her command; "Overlord", where Shepard has to fight the Final Boss alone after being thrown into Cyberspace while the rest of the squad are trapped; and "Arrival," where Shepard performs an espionage mission that ends in the destruction of a solar system. Also, a short genre-shift plot mission where you play as Joker.
• both Knights of the Old Republic games have plenty of moments where you control either one party member or the main character alone. This includes the final battle in each game.
• The Tihark Orchard and Augury rock missions in Guild Wars.
• A few missions in Warcraft 3, using an individual hero. Most notably, Defense of the Ancients.
• In Planescape: Torment on a couple occasions. In one instance, it's because navigation of the area involves being repeatedly struck dead by lightning traps. The Nameless One is immortal (or rather, can come back to life indefinitely), so he can get past this, but is kind enough to tell his less-than-immortal teammates to not follow him in.
• Dragon Age: Origins has the Scrappy Level Fade, which the Warden has to navigate on their own, optionally freeing the rest of the party for the Final Battle of the level.
• Ace Combat 5 The Unsung War has a single level that you have to complete without your three wingmen (and any weapons). Justified by the nature of the mission, namely, high-speed stealth recon.
  • Ace Combat Zero the Belkan War has two sequences where you have to fly without a wingman: after Pixy deserts you in mission 12 and after he kills PJ in mission 18 and you have to duke it out with him in the most epic Duel Boss battle of the series.
• Earthbound: Jeff's journey to Threed to break Ness and Paula out of prison, Poo completing his training, and Ness' trip to Magicant.
• Happens in Final Fantasy Tactics Advance, where Marche has to run away from Llendar until Cid rescues you.
• Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn has Ike fighting one on one against the Black Knight.
• This is what you are left with after Tales of Symphonia has presented you with a Face Heel Turn, a Distressed Damsel, and five successive Heroic Sacrifices in the span of one lengthy dungeon - and there's still a couple of floors for Lloyd to traverse solo. There's a Z-skit on those floors where he mentions that it's tougher being alone.
• Opoona has a segment right after the Disc One Final Dungeon, where you suddenly have to solo your way through a desert as Poleena. Thankfully, you are soon joined by a Guest Star Party Member, but you still spend a significant amount of time alone.
• Annoyingly for a game based on tactically positioning your squadmates, Rainbow Six Vegas 2 has a segment where your squad goes off to join the first game's protagonist, leaving your character to complete a level which has more in common with Splinter Cell then anything else, made more difficult by the game's (relative) lack of stealth mechanics. This is the Scrappy Level for a reason
  • Subverted by the ability to do this mission in co-op, making the level a lot easier.
• Breath of Fire III: Ryu's Journey to the Center of the Mind.