Off (video Game)

''Off'' (stylized in all caps) is a 2008 role-playing video game developed and published by Belgian team Unproductive Fun Time, consisting of Martin Georis ("Mortis Ghost") and Alias Conrad Coldwood. It is about an enigmatic humanoid entity known as the Batter, who is described as being on a "sacred mission" to " purify" the world of ''Off''. The Batter travels through four bizarre Zones in the world, revealing more about the world as the game goes on.

It has garnered a cult following for its story, characters and atmosphere, particularly after its officially sanctioned fan translation into English in 2011. A remaster with new content developed by Fangamer is in development for Windows and Nintendo Switch, scheduled to be released on August 15, 2025.

Gameplay

The gameplay of ''Off'' is similar to that of classic RPGs. The Batter advances by leveling up, acquiring new party members, and upgrading his statistics, such as attack and defense, as well as gaining special abilities termed "competences". Unlike similar games that function in a turn based system, OFF uses a system in which a character is able to attack once a cooldown has passed, meaning enemies and players are able to attack each other at the same time. This system serves to encourage players to make fast decisions in combat. The player can allow combat to take place automatically by selecting the "Auto" option during encounters, which will make the Batter and his Add-Ons act without player input. The battle system also features an unorthodox element system, where rather than "classic" elements often found in RPGs, such as fire or ice, ''Off'' uses bizarre elements more commonly thought of as materials: smoke, metal, plastic, meat, and sugar.

There are four numbered Zones, labeled 0–3, along with a fifth zone, The Room, in which the final act of the game takes place. The Zones are only accessible once the player obtains their associated "Zodiac-Cards", which are acquired from the previous Zone's Guardian upon death, and the player traverses between them via a map termed the "nothingness".

One notable feature of ''Off'' is its unusual number of puzzles, which include finding a multi-digit password and entering it into a giant keypad, locating missing book pages, or "repeating room" puzzles where players walk through multiple instances of the same room in the right order to escape.

Plot

The player (who is referred to directly) controls The Batter, a man in a baseball uniform on a mission to "purify the world". After receiving guidance from a talking cat called The Judge, The Batter makes his way through four Zones, killing malevolent spectres in order to purify the Zone. Each Zone is under the administration of a Zone Guardian. To purify the Zone, The Batter kills the Guardians as he progresses. After each Zone is purified, scenes of a sick boy named Hugo are shown, implying a connection to the Zone.

The first Zone consists of towns ruled by a vulgar, imposing creature named Dedan. The Batter is informed that there are spectres within the smoke mines, and rushes through them to purify the area. Once the mines are purified, The Batter proceeds to the metal farms in the second town. As The Batter exterminates spectres within a barn, Dedan, the Zone Guardian, berates one of the workers for their incompetence. The Batter resolves to defeat Dedan. He advances to the next town, containing a post office. At the highest floor, The Batter encounters Dedan, who escapes to his office in the final town in the zone. The Batter advances through the Zone and confronts Dedan, defeating him and claiming that the Zone is purified.

The second Zone centers around a towering library. The Batter is informed that there are spectres within the library and advances through the building, encountering the Zone Guardian: Japhet, who appears to be a cat which flees. The Batter is informed that there are spectres within the shopping district, and fights through the town's shopping mall. He proceeds to an amusement park, then to the residential area, where Japhet is terrorizing citizens with spectres. The Batter dispatches them. The Judge informs The Batter that his brother, Valerie, has been "calling himself Japhet", implying that he has been possessed by the Zone Guardian. The Batter returns to the library's roof and fights Japhet, who reveals his true form—a hulking phoenix with Valerie's corpse attached. The Batter dispatches Japhet, purifying the Zone.

The third Zone contains a gigantic factory. The Zone's residents(called Elsen) seem ambivalent to danger, with one being murdered by spectres after claiming they were his "friends". The Zone Guardian has been feeding misinformation to the Elsen. The Batter continues through the Zone, discovering a sugar refinery. The Elsen are addicted to the sugar, entering a rage when deprived of it. The Batter proceeds to the Zone's sugar factory, discovering that the sugar is made of dead Elsen. In the director's office, The Batter meets the Zone Guardian: a giant man named Enoch. The Batter flees the battle with Enoch and maneuvers through the office building to exhaust him before defeating him, successfully purifying the three Zones.

Before advancing to the final Zone, The Room, The Batter may explore the purified Zones. Each Zone is devoid of life, barring a singular Elsen in the second Zone. There is only one type of enemy in each Zone, large humanoid infants in wrestling attire.

The last Zone, The Room, begins with a long hallway. Each room has some form of symbolism that relates to Hugo, with references to his illness, ranging from the constant mention of pills to direct flashbacks. The Batter meets the Zone Guardians again, now referred to as the Tall Mister (Dedan), The Bird (Japhet), and the Big Mister (Enoch). The three lost their hostility and their role as Guardians, referring to The Batter as a mere boy. In more flashbacks, Hugo reveals that he hates his father. The Batter reaches a platform where he encounters The Queen, the Zone Guardians' commander. The two argue over their "son", implied to be Hugo. The Batter kills her and Hugo.

The Batter proceeds to a final purified room with a single switch. He and the player are berated by The Judge for deceiving him and destroying the Zones. The Judge requests the player's help in defeating The Batter.

In the Official Ending, the player sides with The Batter and kills the Judge, allowing him to flip the switch. Doing so displays the text, "The switch is now OFF", and the world fades to black.

In the Special Ending, the player sides with the Judge and defeats The Batter. The Judge states that "nothing remains now except for our regrets"; however, he prefers this outcome to The Batter completing his mission. During the credits, the Judge is seen walking alone through the purified zones.

A third joke ending revolves around "Space Apes" in a war against brain-like aliens. The Space Apes describe their plan to construct factories in the now-lifeless world of Off to produce robots capable of killing the aliens. This is a nod to Silent Hill's dog endings.

Development

''Off'' was developed using the RPG Maker 2003 engine by Mortis and a few of his friends while he was living in a flat. Georis went with RPG Maker 2003 as it was the only program in which he felt that he had the "mastery" of. Georis lists ''Killer7'', '' Silent Hill 2'', ''Final Fantasy'', Agatha Christie’s novel And Then There Were None, and ''Myst'' as inspirations for ''Off''. Georis describes the development of ''Off'' as being very spontaneous. Georis viewed ''Off'' as a small side project made to work on for fun after focusing on his main discipline of comic creation. There was only vague concepts for the overall plot of ''Off'' during the start of development. After publishing a demo on a small internet forum and getting approval from a lot of players, he decided to release a full game in 2008. English translations were later released by fans with the first (called v1.0 by fans) in September 8, 2011. For the remaster of ''Off'' announced in 2025, Alias Conrad Coldwood, the original composer of the 2008 release, revealed he will not be involved in the development of the remaster. Although the publisher, Fangamer, offered to reuse Coldwood's music for the new release, Coldwood refused due to being "nervous about signing".

Reception

''Off'' has been praised for its story, characters, and atmosphere. Heidi Kemps of ''PC Gamer'' described it as "a memorable and haunting RPG, filled with tricky puzzles, bizarre symbolism, and challenging thematic elements." Adam Smith of ''Rock, Paper, Shotgun'' compared it to '' Space Funeral''. ''Off'' has been compared to the ''Mother'' series, though Georis has stated that the resemblance is coincidental.

A large fanbase for the game developed on Tumblr; ''Off'' became the sixth most reblogged game of 2013, with the first five being AAA games.

References

External links

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Official website (Remaster)

RPG Maker website page

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2008 video games
Freeware games
Indie games
MacOS games
Metafictional video games
Role-playing video games
RPG Maker games
Single-player video games
Surrealist video games
Video games about ghosts
Video games developed in Belgium
Windows games
Linux games
Nintendo Switch games
Retro-style video games
Art games
Video games scored by Toby Fox
Video Games Scored by Nightmargin