OFF is a disturbingly strange roleplaying game created by the French group Unproductive Funtime. The two key players who developed this game are Alias Conrad Coldwood and Mortis Ghost. Conrad is the soundtrack composer, while Mortis Ghost is the illustrator for the game. You take control of a sentient vessel named the Batter and help him with his goal of purifying the lands from specters.
The world of OFF is different and unique compared to ours, especially in the foundation of the four elements which are earth, fire, air, and water in our world. The world of OFF is formed by smoke, metal, plastic, meat, and sugar. Each of these elements has a purpose because, without the other, nobody would be able to inhabit their respective lands. You start in Zone Zero, an empty quiet place that houses a single cat. That cat is known as the Judge; this cat spouts a toothy grin and has the capability of speech. After clearing the confusion and assumption that the Batter is a figment of his imagination, he helps us get an understanding of the game by both speaking towards the Batter and the player. There are three other zones outside of Zone Zero, Zones One, Two, and Three are restricted from you until you collect tickets from defeating each Guardian of their respective zone: Dedan, Japhet, and Enoch, who are all appointed by the lands Queen. You can collect these weird circular sphere rings called “Add-Ons” that help the Batter along his journey.
Zone One sends you to a train system that transports you to a nearby mine infested with poltergeists, otherwise known as specters. You talk with residents known by the community as “Elsen,” the town we are first introduced to. You go from traveling in the mines to a barn that houses cows, to a post office, riding on these birds called “Pedalos,” and then going to the post office and encountering Dedan, the Guardian of Zone One. You then track him to his office to defeat him, purifying the zone and gaining access to Zone Two which drops you off in the middle of a city.
You travel to a library and briefly encounter Zone Two’s Guardian, Japhet, a small cat similar to the Judge. You leave and travel from a theme park to a small sector of the city, then find the Judge who’s looking for his younger cat brother, Valerie, atop the highest point in the city. Confusion is cleared as Japhet claims and showcases that he’s using the carcass of Valerie as a vessel, presumably after Valerie tried to eat him. The Judge, being in a state of shock, doesn’t intervene in the fight between the Batter and Japhet, as you successfully purify the zone, causing Japhet to fall.
Zone Three starts in a factory where you can find a lot of Elsen working either happily or out of fear. You find Zacherie who is stepping in for the Judge, who since Zone Two is mourning the loss of his brother. Zacheire still sells and purchases items from you. There’s too much praise for the cafeteria food from the Elsen, specifically the sugar. It came to an extreme point where groups of Elsen had also begun to defend themselves against specters and the Batter due to their sugar addiction. There’s a train station underneath the factory that can take you around the area in mere seconds. One of these areas is a large chimney you jump down from and discover where the sugar is produced. The sugar ovens of the factory are where they burn the bodies of the deceased as their vapor transforms into sugar, which is refined from the bodies and used in meals. You leave through a tube looking for the third Guardian of the zone, Enoch, but encounter sugar-deprived Elsen who fight the Batter, slowing your progress down. You arrive in Enoch’s office and fight him, but he proves to be too strong. Retreating, he follows you, but halts in front of a door frame, for he cannot fit. If you explore beyond the boundaries of the door, the whole zone seems to be purified without the Guardian being slain. The whole land is shaped by the Guardians’ powers, and Enoch is tired. You defeat him and travel to a new zone called “The Room”, which houses the Queen.
You defeat her and travel around the empty lands until you find a red room housing a small boy by the name of Hugo. It is revealed that the boy is the creator of the zones and the land, and has created the Queen and Batter as his parents. To stick to the Batter’s mission and purify the lands, you must defeat and kill the helpless child. From here on out, you travel past the red room which then since lost its color to a room housing a switch. The Judge stops you in your tracks and from here you are prompted two endings: the normal one being you kill the Judge and purify the lands by flipping the switch off. The other ending is joining the Judge’s side and killing the Batter to stop him from destroying what’s left of the world.
OFF is a strangely disturbing RPG that begins to make the player face the dilemma and question whether the choices that they’re making are right or wrong. This old game has inspired many strange and unique RPGs since then and has become a staple in gaming.
