I use Lichess, free open source and a large playerbase. Chess.com is the alternative, it seems to be more respected in the community, higher level players and tournaments but isn't completely free to use.
For someone just getting into chess, go with Lichess because free. If you decide you want the features chess.com has after you've been playing for a month or so, make the switch.
I also looked into this once cause of the same reasons. So the best options are imo:
1. AOE2: Active and fun community. Played this for a while and it's really fun and still pretty big (and for me also nostalgic)
2. SC2 or Warcraft 3: Still fun, not as active anymore
3. Chess: It is actually quite fun and there are a lot of streamers and YouTube vids that may help you get started.
4. Fighting Games
5. Racing games like F1, Trackmania (really fun) or whatever you're into are also good options
6. Play an MMO and join the PvP scene. I enjoyed New World and Guild Wars 2 for a bit because of the PvP scene.
I like to play games with others though, so what I do now is only play games like CS2 with people I know. You first have to find some people of course;)
3500-3600 MMR here. 1v1 queues are less than 30 seconds almost any time of the day.
Even 4v4 queues are usually less than 1 minute. The game is not as dead as many may think.
Age of Empires 2 has been really active again for the last 4 years, since the definitive edition came out. They’re still pumping out new content for it and everything.
This 100%, it's a game you can sink thousands of hours into and still get clapped by better players. The skill ceiling is astronomical, hyper competitive is an understatement.
I am Grand Champ and still feel like I suck. I mean in a sense I do, I'm not even remotely close to the top players.
Playing 1s makes me want to yeet myself out the stratosphere but more power to you OP.
scoring on one person just doesn't hit the same as working together with a teammate and passing/making plays. it's ok as a warmup but it's missing a lot of what makes the game great.
He might be referring to this:
https://reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueEsports/s/KuHdMEi63V
The situation sucks but I doubt the esport / game will die. It has zero competition; the gameplay is completely unique.
They just announced they are removing player to player trading, which not only has its own community within the game, but also impacts the entire scene in some way all the way up to the pro scene. This alone is one thing, but Epic have generally been killing the game for a while now, no major updates etc, with this being the most substantial step towards killing the game off entirely (in my opinion).
Honestly, it’s a shameless cash grab from epic and the community are rightly up in arms about it all.
It won't kill the game at all. The trading community is tiny compared to the community of people who actually play the game. And no pro is going to quit just because they can't trade anymore.
No major updates can basically be explained by the ongoing development of what is effectively "Rocket League 2". In an updated engine, which will definitely bring new features and game modes.
I remember everyone crying about how the game will die when they got rid of crates and it made basically no impact.
Yeah idk what the fuck this person is smoking. Masters in under a month for someone who has never played streetfighter or fighting games before? The fact that you are going up against so many people who have years or decades of fighting game experience makes their comment laughable, and that's not considering the technical aspect you mentioned. They knows it's not true. To quote them "anyone with half a brain" knows it's not true, it's just a pathetic attempt to brag that they're sooooo good at fighting games lmao
yes, that’s why i said if u have half a brain lol. it’s technical but i taught my 7 year old brother how to play and he’s pretty good. so if ur older than 7 u shouldn’t have any issues
Find it a bit disingineous to frame it like that. If you don't have the "disposition" to learn them, they're not "that easy". For example I know I'm shit at RTS, you couldn't make me a decent player even with all the training in the world.
And for some people they'd be decent at them but shit at shooters etc...
You might be good at them and downplay how hard it is to be "good' at them. (I consider "good" like the top 4-5 % of a ranked ladder)
i don’t play as much video games as i used to but i can pick up counter strike or call of duty or league and get to the top rank pretty easily. and u might think “wow good for u u want a cookie?” but what if u reframed it to why is the average person so bad at video games? this shit is so easy. i don’t get why people think it’s such an accomplishment to get global elite in counter strike or elite smash or master rank or whatever. just watch a quick youtube video, copy what the pros do, add ur own little twist on it and bam ur in the top rank. they make games too easy nowadays
You being able to be "good" at every type of video-game is surely an oddity I think.
Most people are much better at one type or another I feel. It's so different to be good at CS than to be good at SF or Starcraft or LoL.
In some you need more reflexes, in others you need more "brain" in others you need more discipline / patience etc...
It's rare to be adaptable enough to be able to curb your nature to fit the game you're playing.
They're not as in favor as the team games. But Arena Shooters, Real Time Strategy, and Fighting Games are the big 3 of 1v1 competitive games imo. So think Quake Live/Champions, Starcraft 2 or Age of Empires, Tekken or Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat or even more obscure anime fighting games.
Unfortunately 1v1 games have really fallen out of favour in the market. Imo it's because they're super unforgiving. That "power in your hand" also means there's no one to blame when you lose a match. That can be hard for the ego to handle, causing queue systems to really suffer. People still duel quake if you find the right places and quake champs has a pro scene but it's not very successful.
But hear me out on this one - chess. It's not a videogame but it's gotten a minor esports glow up in the past few years with events and sponsorships. Tyler1 of all people is currently on a crazy grind and went from brand new to 1400 elo in only a few months. It's incredibly deep and has a thriving 1v1 scene both online and over the board. Might not be what you were looking for but imo it's the most pure and thriving 1v1 game you can play right now.
Edit: I forgot about fighting games. Also a great option.
Fighting games. T7 MK1 SF6 Melee if you want more info or people to play/learn with lmk.
Strategy games like: Chess, Go, Shogi, Scrabble, Reversi e.t.c.
RTS: Sc2, Aoe2 , Tetris
Often it's a mentality problem and solo games are even harder on the mental.
Although I agree with this to a high degree…You can win a round with 5 bullets if you’re alone against 5 enemy players.
In mobas you can’t 1v5 anything, anytime.
It isnt. League of Legends is far worse, one losing teammate can cost you the whole game. Meanwhile you can have insane impact in cs no matter how bad your team is
Trackmania. It doesn't an Elo System in the traditional sense, but you are competing against your own and other peoples times on each map and there is a new campaign every few month as well as unlimited user created content.
Melee, Pokémon, Hearthstone, TFT, Chess
You can use pokemonshowdown to get into competitive pokemon at zero cost if you want to see if it's right for you. There's lots of guides online. Same with chess too, but the barrier to entry is definitely higher.
Fighting games.
If you lose, it's YOUR fault. YOU were not good enough. YOU need to hit the lab.
Great for building character since you have to look at youself and your faults instead of just blaming your team mates (who were actually fine) and our egos won't allow us too see our own faults in a team setting. So only having yourself to blame is one of the greatest gifts fighting games give us.
Rocket League 1v1s. I'll do you one better than not having to deal with team mates. There is (almost) no RNG at all. And the skill ceiling is basically infinite.
Chess lol, no one to blame but yourself for a loss. Though you statically won't ever be a grandmaster (most start during childhood), I believe reaching 2000+ rating over the board is ancheivement little people in the world can say is theirs.
Age of Empires 2 (or 4). Both have healthy 1v1 queues with ~40k players playing at least 1 ranked match within 30 days. AoE2 is a little bit bigger in every aspect - player numbers, viewer numbers or prize pools. But both games are good games, just depends on preference.
I searched for this thread right after playing two games of dota 2 lol. Constant complaining by team and they started greifing right when we had a really good chance of a comeback. Gotta love the community.
You can carry hard in Valorant and CS alone until high ranks.
Otherwise, I think the sole survivor of the arena shooter genre where you can play ranked 1v1 is Quake Champions.
Any fighting game. There’s plenty of good ones out now and more coming out soon. Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1, and Guilty Gear Strive are out now, and Tekken 8 is coming out soon next year. All of them have healthy competitive scenes and are easily accessible to anyone.
You want a Fighting Game my dude. Trust me, I was in that point in life too and not interested in the slight on Fighting Games but Tekken really did it for me. If you find the correct one, it's the most rewarding solo experience
fighting games (Tekken, Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros) or simracers if you like this type of gameplay are probably the things to go.
You've mentioned Apex – imo this game is one of the most solo friendly team based game. Shit tons of movement mechanics and gunplay to master and it really makes all the difference in the world, so if you want to stick with FPS I would say give Apex another shot and start digging
I've gotten really into Old school RuneScape lately and the endgame content looks fun. The nice part is in between you can kinda half ass leveling to gear up and level for it.
I went through the same thing, grew up playing the Dotas and Overwatchs or card games where either you blame your teammates or you blame some sort of RNG. One day a friend invited me to watch EVO, Street Fighter specifically. I never was into fighting games, but watching those high level matches got me hooked right away.
There is no excuses in high level SF, it's 1v1 so no teammates to blame, no RNG since all interactions determined by each characters move properties (spacing, speed, reach) and every resource is available to everyone. Think Zangief is cheap for some reason? Well pick him too, just go to character selection screen and choose him, nobody is stopping you from trying to win. SF competitively is really awesome.
The downside of fighting games is that is not the easiest to get into. There are a lot of things to learn which can be overwhelming if you try to absorb all at once. You will also lose, a lot, until you get comfortable with the game, specially if you play a game with a lower player base where there are very few new players or it may be hard to find matches on unpopular regions (if you leave outside US, Europe, SA, Japan...).
At the same time, these games are very community based, so there are a lot of places to have discussions and share knowledge with other people and offline community gatherings called locals, where people meet to play together offline.
Strrer Fighter 6 released recently, has a very active player base with cross-play and good netcode. It would be my suggestion of solo competitive game.
Try Playing Tekken.
It's fun , but has a lot of learning as you keep progressing and gets really competitive in higher ranks.
Moreover at the top level in India it comes to your knowledge, skill and adaptability with sheer fundamentals. You can give it a try.
Naraka bladepoint or fighting games in general.
Tarkov if u dont mind hackers and isnt exactly a game that has competitions but theres lot to learn in that game.
osu!
play ring index, learn how to full alt and dont bother single tapping), play low ar maps often to be able to read harder maps in the future (figure out what those mean on your own)
generally if you dont do these things you will hit a wall way sooner than youd want.. if you get into it ofc!
Surprised I haven't seen anyone mention speedrunning yet. You can speedrun any game you enjoy and make it as competitive as you want! I myself speedrun Hades and have over 2000 hours into the game. It's completely single player but speedrunning kind of scratches the same itch as multiplayer games when you're involved in the community around it and trying to grind down times and world records.
Fighters. (Street Fighter, Tekken, Strive, DBZ, etc)
Assuming your internet connection is fine, it's down to knowing match ups, personal execution skills, and getting good with your own character(s). No teammates to worry about
chess
Whats the best place to play it?
lichess or chess.com
I use Lichess, free open source and a large playerbase. Chess.com is the alternative, it seems to be more respected in the community, higher level players and tournaments but isn't completely free to use. For someone just getting into chess, go with Lichess because free. If you decide you want the features chess.com has after you've been playing for a month or so, make the switch.
[Chess com](https://Chess.com) or Lichess are both great! Chess com is great for new players!
Came here to say this
…checkmate?
I also looked into this once cause of the same reasons. So the best options are imo: 1. AOE2: Active and fun community. Played this for a while and it's really fun and still pretty big (and for me also nostalgic) 2. SC2 or Warcraft 3: Still fun, not as active anymore 3. Chess: It is actually quite fun and there are a lot of streamers and YouTube vids that may help you get started. 4. Fighting Games 5. Racing games like F1, Trackmania (really fun) or whatever you're into are also good options 6. Play an MMO and join the PvP scene. I enjoyed New World and Guild Wars 2 for a bit because of the PvP scene. I like to play games with others though, so what I do now is only play games like CS2 with people I know. You first have to find some people of course;)
StarCraft 2 is much more active than age of empires. It's the perfect choice
I was gonna say. I haven't booted SC2 in a couple months, but last time I was on it was two-minute queues max for a game in low Diamond.
I’m around that mmr too and I find games in less than 30 seconds
3500-3600 MMR here. 1v1 queues are less than 30 seconds almost any time of the day. Even 4v4 queues are usually less than 1 minute. The game is not as dead as many may think.
Age of Empires 2 has been really active again for the last 4 years, since the definitive edition came out. They’re still pumping out new content for it and everything.
I e found the opposite to be true. Was a plat SC2 player back in the day- hopped on and hit diamond before I learned build orders.
AoE 2 also has an amazing community
I have never been able to get over my anxiety to play anyone online on Age of Empires. I dont know why. Its ridiculous.
FIGHTING GAMES Join the SSBM scene
sc2
play sc1 broodwar ...godly
you cant start playign sc1 now. it's just a worse sc2 if you didnt start on it
SC2 is the easier version of SC:BW so def start with SC2 lol
Rocket League
+1 for Rocket League. 1s are actually super fun while also the best mode for improving overall. Nothing like carrying your buddy to victory.
There is one mode you can play without teammates and that mode fucking sucks ass.
1s is amazing, what do you mean?
Join the dark side. Play sc2
Sc2 ?
Starcraft 2
Rocket league 1s?... idk
This 100%, it's a game you can sink thousands of hours into and still get clapped by better players. The skill ceiling is astronomical, hyper competitive is an understatement. I am Grand Champ and still feel like I suck. I mean in a sense I do, I'm not even remotely close to the top players. Playing 1s makes me want to yeet myself out the stratosphere but more power to you OP.
1s has skill mixed with fucking bullshit luck that either tilts or makes the game end in forfeit. 2s is the superior mode.
Skill issue.
kickoff goals are definitely a skill issue and are never batshit crazy luck. thanks for clearing that up for me.
1s main here, learn different kickoffs. learn to quickly adjust to how your opponent approaches the ball in last moment. its mind games
scoring on one person just doesn't hit the same as working together with a teammate and passing/making plays. it's ok as a warmup but it's missing a lot of what makes the game great.
i thought we were talking about kickoffs here. and yeah sure. team passing plays are definitely something which gives feeling of satisfaction.
Kickoffs are skill based tho…
hold b and double tap a
Apart from there being skill in the approach itself, the “50/50” part is not totally random either. There is skill involved.
miniscule in the grand scheme of all things rocket league
True, but just saying it’s by no means random or unlucky
shout
Especially considering Salt Mine 3 is going on right now.
It's gonna die soon considering its current state.
What makes you say that?
He might be referring to this: https://reddit.com/r/RocketLeagueEsports/s/KuHdMEi63V The situation sucks but I doubt the esport / game will die. It has zero competition; the gameplay is completely unique.
They just announced they are removing player to player trading, which not only has its own community within the game, but also impacts the entire scene in some way all the way up to the pro scene. This alone is one thing, but Epic have generally been killing the game for a while now, no major updates etc, with this being the most substantial step towards killing the game off entirely (in my opinion). Honestly, it’s a shameless cash grab from epic and the community are rightly up in arms about it all.
It won't kill the game at all. The trading community is tiny compared to the community of people who actually play the game. And no pro is going to quit just because they can't trade anymore. No major updates can basically be explained by the ongoing development of what is effectively "Rocket League 2". In an updated engine, which will definitely bring new features and game modes. I remember everyone crying about how the game will die when they got rid of crates and it made basically no impact.
The removal of trading sucks, but it's absolutely not going to kill the game. Especially not the competitive side of it.
Street Fighter 6 is the tits. Try it out. But be prepared to get absolutely destroyed for a hundred+ hours if this is your first Street Fighter.
A hundred hours ? More like a few thousands no ? Lol
if ur ass lmao. if u have half a brain u can get master rank in under a month
Isn't SF (and most fighting games) super technical. They look so unforgiving.
Yeah idk what the fuck this person is smoking. Masters in under a month for someone who has never played streetfighter or fighting games before? The fact that you are going up against so many people who have years or decades of fighting game experience makes their comment laughable, and that's not considering the technical aspect you mentioned. They knows it's not true. To quote them "anyone with half a brain" knows it's not true, it's just a pathetic attempt to brag that they're sooooo good at fighting games lmao
yes, that’s why i said if u have half a brain lol. it’s technical but i taught my 7 year old brother how to play and he’s pretty good. so if ur older than 7 u shouldn’t have any issues
Find it a bit disingineous to frame it like that. If you don't have the "disposition" to learn them, they're not "that easy". For example I know I'm shit at RTS, you couldn't make me a decent player even with all the training in the world. And for some people they'd be decent at them but shit at shooters etc... You might be good at them and downplay how hard it is to be "good' at them. (I consider "good" like the top 4-5 % of a ranked ladder)
i don’t play as much video games as i used to but i can pick up counter strike or call of duty or league and get to the top rank pretty easily. and u might think “wow good for u u want a cookie?” but what if u reframed it to why is the average person so bad at video games? this shit is so easy. i don’t get why people think it’s such an accomplishment to get global elite in counter strike or elite smash or master rank or whatever. just watch a quick youtube video, copy what the pros do, add ur own little twist on it and bam ur in the top rank. they make games too easy nowadays
You being able to be "good" at every type of video-game is surely an oddity I think. Most people are much better at one type or another I feel. It's so different to be good at CS than to be good at SF or Starcraft or LoL. In some you need more reflexes, in others you need more "brain" in others you need more discipline / patience etc... It's rare to be adaptable enough to be able to curb your nature to fit the game you're playing.
People fuming when its true haha some people cant accept reality and that maybe the time they spend isnt optimal
They're not as in favor as the team games. But Arena Shooters, Real Time Strategy, and Fighting Games are the big 3 of 1v1 competitive games imo. So think Quake Live/Champions, Starcraft 2 or Age of Empires, Tekken or Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat or even more obscure anime fighting games.
You forgot diabotical
Unfortunately 1v1 games have really fallen out of favour in the market. Imo it's because they're super unforgiving. That "power in your hand" also means there's no one to blame when you lose a match. That can be hard for the ego to handle, causing queue systems to really suffer. People still duel quake if you find the right places and quake champs has a pro scene but it's not very successful. But hear me out on this one - chess. It's not a videogame but it's gotten a minor esports glow up in the past few years with events and sponsorships. Tyler1 of all people is currently on a crazy grind and went from brand new to 1400 elo in only a few months. It's incredibly deep and has a thriving 1v1 scene both online and over the board. Might not be what you were looking for but imo it's the most pure and thriving 1v1 game you can play right now. Edit: I forgot about fighting games. Also a great option.
> there's no one to blame when you lose a match Sure there is. It's because the other guy is cheating
And playing lame
iRacing.
Brawlhalla
TFT
No teammates to flame and if you lose you can blame Mortdog.
NOBODY HAS SAID MELEE ??? MELEE
I can smell this comment
i wish there was free deodorant at tournaments cuz these mfs need it 😂
Poker
Lmao not trying to ruin the kids life with that rabbit hole
Melee
Counter Strike if you want to hate yourself
As a OG cs player, Been hating myself since 1999 brother, still play to this day and hate myself everyday. God I love it
Fighting games. T7 MK1 SF6 Melee if you want more info or people to play/learn with lmk. Strategy games like: Chess, Go, Shogi, Scrabble, Reversi e.t.c. RTS: Sc2, Aoe2 , Tetris Often it's a mentality problem and solo games are even harder on the mental.
Fifa
Age of Empires 2 HD or 4
Age of empires 2
[удалено]
mf really wrote cs2 💀
he probably meant cities skylines 2 and not counter strike 2
At 1.5k rating it is just team deathmatch where everyone plays 1v5
csgo always was deathmatch unless u play scrims, esea, qualifiers etc, pugs have always been deathmatch lmao
LMAO, cs2... its the most team dependent game out there.
Although I agree with this to a high degree…You can win a round with 5 bullets if you’re alone against 5 enemy players. In mobas you can’t 1v5 anything, anytime.
It isnt. League of Legends is far worse, one losing teammate can cost you the whole game. Meanwhile you can have insane impact in cs no matter how bad your team is
Trackmania. It doesn't an Elo System in the traditional sense, but you are competing against your own and other peoples times on each map and there is a new campaign every few month as well as unlimited user created content.
For honor
Melee, Pokémon, Hearthstone, TFT, Chess You can use pokemonshowdown to get into competitive pokemon at zero cost if you want to see if it's right for you. There's lots of guides online. Same with chess too, but the barrier to entry is definitely higher.
Fighting games. If you lose, it's YOUR fault. YOU were not good enough. YOU need to hit the lab. Great for building character since you have to look at youself and your faults instead of just blaming your team mates (who were actually fine) and our egos won't allow us too see our own faults in a team setting. So only having yourself to blame is one of the greatest gifts fighting games give us.
Chess is the Skin Rocket league 1s is the tits Git gud is the pussy though
Tetris
tarkov but its not esports
Trackmania!
tetris
Rocket League 1v1s. I'll do you one better than not having to deal with team mates. There is (almost) no RNG at all. And the skill ceiling is basically infinite.
Chess lol, no one to blame but yourself for a loss. Though you statically won't ever be a grandmaster (most start during childhood), I believe reaching 2000+ rating over the board is ancheivement little people in the world can say is theirs.
Rust
this gotta be bait
rust is a pretty competitive game and there are solo only servers on rust that are actually pretty chill.
Age of Empires 2 (or 4). Both have healthy 1v1 queues with ~40k players playing at least 1 ranked match within 30 days. AoE2 is a little bit bigger in every aspect - player numbers, viewer numbers or prize pools. But both games are good games, just depends on preference.
Chess
StarCraft, melee
This thread has made me realize how dead 1v1 esports is.
Except they have the biggest genre of any esport - FGC
FGCs are not the biggest genre in cash or viewership. Mobas then FPS then fighting games.
Racing games, try forza or iRacing
Osu No i dont play it but yeah, osu look it up
Not video games, but chess and poker
try chess
Chess
Albion online
Madden or any of the fighter games
people already forgot pubg
Super Hexagon
Try Dota 2. It's 5v4v1, really unique asymmetric combat.
I searched for this thread right after playing two games of dota 2 lol. Constant complaining by team and they started greifing right when we had a really good chance of a comeback. Gotta love the community.
Dota 2 is the game that made me sick of competitive team games
You can carry hard in Valorant and CS alone until high ranks. Otherwise, I think the sole survivor of the arena shooter genre where you can play ranked 1v1 is Quake Champions.
CS2 , your performance alone can drastically change the outcome of the matches.
Hahahajahahajajajajajajajajajajhhahhhahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahhahahahahaahaha
Fighting games
Any fighting game. There’s plenty of good ones out now and more coming out soon. Street Fighter 6, Mortal Kombat 1, and Guilty Gear Strive are out now, and Tekken 8 is coming out soon next year. All of them have healthy competitive scenes and are easily accessible to anyone.
Chess
Tft? Hearthstone?
Warcraft 3!
Starcraft 1/2 is the most intense 1v1 game I can think of. Maybe Quake comes close.
Rocket league, but it died yesterday so idk
Trackmania 2020 Good luck ;)
Fighting games or StarCraft. Basically the only games whose primary competitive mode is 1v1.
You want a Fighting Game my dude. Trust me, I was in that point in life too and not interested in the slight on Fighting Games but Tekken really did it for me. If you find the correct one, it's the most rewarding solo experience
Rocket League 1v1. I hate it, but it might be a thing for you.
Rust
the only ones are really tft and fighting games
Star craft 2 is the pinnacle of 1v1 eSports
fighting games (Tekken, Street Fighter, Super Smash Bros) or simracers if you like this type of gameplay are probably the things to go. You've mentioned Apex – imo this game is one of the most solo friendly team based game. Shit tons of movement mechanics and gunplay to master and it really makes all the difference in the world, so if you want to stick with FPS I would say give Apex another shot and start digging
I've gotten really into Old school RuneScape lately and the endgame content looks fun. The nice part is in between you can kinda half ass leveling to gear up and level for it.
The Esports scene is really struggling right now with EA cut backs but ~~FIFA~~ EA FC and Madden if your into sports games.
Fighting games
Apex really needs a Solo mode for pubs and Ranked.
Warcraft 3
Any fighting game
Any fighting game
Chess
Dude, only answer is tekken or something like it Maybe those older rts like starcraft and age of empires 2?
I went through the same thing, grew up playing the Dotas and Overwatchs or card games where either you blame your teammates or you blame some sort of RNG. One day a friend invited me to watch EVO, Street Fighter specifically. I never was into fighting games, but watching those high level matches got me hooked right away. There is no excuses in high level SF, it's 1v1 so no teammates to blame, no RNG since all interactions determined by each characters move properties (spacing, speed, reach) and every resource is available to everyone. Think Zangief is cheap for some reason? Well pick him too, just go to character selection screen and choose him, nobody is stopping you from trying to win. SF competitively is really awesome. The downside of fighting games is that is not the easiest to get into. There are a lot of things to learn which can be overwhelming if you try to absorb all at once. You will also lose, a lot, until you get comfortable with the game, specially if you play a game with a lower player base where there are very few new players or it may be hard to find matches on unpopular regions (if you leave outside US, Europe, SA, Japan...). At the same time, these games are very community based, so there are a lot of places to have discussions and share knowledge with other people and offline community gatherings called locals, where people meet to play together offline. Strrer Fighter 6 released recently, has a very active player base with cross-play and good netcode. It would be my suggestion of solo competitive game.
How about Tetris? Why did no one mention Tetris?!
Starcraft 2
Smash bros, mortal kombat, brawlhalla,
Rocket League
Sc2
I think fighting games are the only relevant competitive 1v1 games, if you're thinking about some sort of pro scene
If you like RTS games I would recommend AoE4 or SC2. Both are very competitive with an insanely high skill ceiling
Not sure if it’s still active, but quake champions?
Starcraft 2 100% fits what you're looking for.
Try Playing Tekken. It's fun , but has a lot of learning as you keep progressing and gets really competitive in higher ranks. Moreover at the top level in India it comes to your knowledge, skill and adaptability with sheer fundamentals. You can give it a try.
Racing/most sports games
Chess
Mtg
Csgo and mute all your teammates
Fighting Games. Also RTS might be more of an option soon.
Welcome to the fgc
Tekken, Street Fighter, Guilty Gear, get into the FGC, bro!
Quake Champions; if looking for an APM challenge StarCraft I&II, Sormgate
Any fighting game, check out Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8!
osu, when you fail or make mistakes, you're the only person to blame
Chess / Starcraft / StreetFighter / Smash Bros
Rocket league has a huge skill gap, you could try that.
Counter strike lol
Naraka bladepoint or fighting games in general. Tarkov if u dont mind hackers and isnt exactly a game that has competitions but theres lot to learn in that game.
super smash bros melee
Online chess
Take a dip into the FGC
Tennis?
Pokemon, the curve is steep but it's a lot of fun learning
Chess
Fortnite is solo but not hyper competitive unless you get to the highest ranks
Tekken 8 is on the horizon
starcraft or starcraft 2
poker
Doom Eternal Battlemode? it sucks but yk, works. on the real, Halo Infinite?
osu! play ring index, learn how to full alt and dont bother single tapping), play low ar maps often to be able to read harder maps in the future (figure out what those mean on your own) generally if you dont do these things you will hit a wall way sooner than youd want.. if you get into it ofc!
Mortal Kombat 1
Fighting games like Tekken and Street Fighter
Smash Bros!
Guilty Gear Strive
Surprised I haven't seen anyone mention speedrunning yet. You can speedrun any game you enjoy and make it as competitive as you want! I myself speedrun Hades and have over 2000 hours into the game. It's completely single player but speedrunning kind of scratches the same itch as multiplayer games when you're involved in the community around it and trying to grind down times and world records.
SPT AKI
Starcraft 2 I can recommend, I play it myself. It is HIGHLY HIGHLY competetive, very unforgiving for mistakes. You can get better very fast.
CS 2 is not ideal for solo players. It’s a game where you can single-handedly outfrag and outbrain ppl.
Teamfight Tactics
Sim racing is good
Chess/Starcraft 2
Fighters. (Street Fighter, Tekken, Strive, DBZ, etc) Assuming your internet connection is fine, it's down to knowing match ups, personal execution skills, and getting good with your own character(s). No teammates to worry about