OFF Review
It’s always a treat to go back and play foundational video games: the ones you've heard discussed for years, the ones that influenced future creators to make art that genuinely speaks to you. I am often fascinated by connecting the creative dots from one game to another, making a map of inspirations. The 2008 French indie darling OFF was one of those RPG Maker classics that skipped me by at the time. It hasn’t made as much of a splash as indie RPGs like Undertale, but I still remember hearing about this online when it finally got a translation.
The new 2025 version of OFF is essentially an expanded remaster of the original RPG Maker game. There’s a new soundtrack, cleaned-up visuals & sounds, rebalanced gameplay, and new bosses. However, what is new and what is not new in this version didn’t actually mean much to me, given that I had never played the original game before now. I purposely placed myself in the shoes of a new player by not playing the original first, since this modern release will easily be the most accessible version of OFF once it comes out. I looked into what was changed, read a walkthrough of the original game alongside my playthrough, and watched some videos to compare UI. It was important (to me, at least) to have my experience match the perspective of a total newcomer who would be playing this version on release.
OFF takes place in a mysterious world split up by multiple Zones, where rampant industrialism has replaced the seas with liquid plastic. This abstract world is filled with “impurities” and specters, which is where you and the protagonist known only as The Batter come into play. His holy mission is to purify the world. From here, you need to take him around the Zones, as you beat everything to death that gets in the way of your mission.
Every Zone of OFF is a distinct level, where you’ll solve puzzles and encounter turn-based battles. Given that the average playthrough will only take you about 5-7 hours (10 for me, as a completionist), I think the simplicity of the gameplay is enough to let the aesthetics and story do some serious heavy lifting. If you play RPGs purely for gameplay & mechanics, OFF probably won't be for you. I enjoyed the problem-solving, and I thought the battles were fun, but most of my enjoyment during my time playing OFF was found touring the weird world and taking in the oppressive atmosphere.
The pixel art in the overworld is simplistic, but the stark coloring and hard shading keep the game a visual treat even to this day. The sprites, character art, and hand-drawn combat art are all stylistically distinct from one another in a way that builds towards the uncomfortable mood prevailing from start to finish. You never really know what to expect from OFF in the moment, and I especially appreciate how they use this unpredictability to escalate in ways similar to a surrealist horror game. I don’t think anything in OFF is necessarily scary, besides some enemy art if you’re squeamish, but it achieves a deeply unsettling mood throughout.
Battles in OFF are about as straightforward as you can expect in an indie turn-based RPG, but I don’t think this is a bad thing. Both you and the enemies have your own ATB-like bars, and when it’s your turn, you can attack, defend, use skills, or use items (stylized as Attack, Defend, Competence, and Objects). You’ll be spending a lot of your time in OFF fighting battles, and I unfortunately find the battle mechanics to be one of the weaker aspects of the game. By the end, I was often using all four of these options in battle, so I don’t think battles ever got boring, but with even a little experimentation, you can solve encounters pretty easily. I would often just go between healing, poisoning enemies, and then having my batter deliver heavy attacks until enemies died. While there was some rebalancing that happened, I wasn’t able to perceive that since this was my first time playing. I think the gameplay is serviceable in OFF, with the important part being that it effectively adds to the game’s themes in clever ways only possible for this particular medium. OFF was one of the first indie games to dive deep into the relationship between the player and game violence, and it does a good job of enforcing that.
Where I think OFF's gameplay shines most is in the handful of new bosses that original creator Mortis Ghost designed for this version. In this playthrough, not only did I beat the original game’s secret boss, but I was also able to find and defeat all the newly added bosses. I wouldn’t say OFF is a necessarily difficult video game after the first Zone, but it’s definitely one that is designed around its limitations. These new bosses add more mechanics, far more than other bosses in the game, and thus these are the best fights in my opinion. I had fun tracking them down, and I’ll save the details for you all to find out.
In OFF, the puzzle solving and exploration were much more my cup of tea. Talking with the strange and anguished residents of this bleak world and solving number puzzles is what kept me going from battle to battle. The puzzles and progression seem obtuse at first, but as long as you’re taking notes and talking to as many NPCs as possible, you’ll likely be fine. The puzzles aren’t too complex once you adjust your logic to fit the setting, and most of them have to do with numbers in some way. New to this version is a hint system, but I didn’t need it that often. Don't worry, it’s pretty out of the way on your control layout for those who enjoy obtuse progression and don't want the extra help.
The music is bound to be a contentious aspect of this re-release, since the original soundtrack was unable to be brought back for this new version, due to copyright reasons. An entirely new soundtrack was created for this version, and that’s the only option players have. In my endeavor to keep an open mind during this first playthrough, I did not listen to any of the original OST besides the original battle theme until I finished. I firmly believe the soundtrack is one of the most important aspects of a video game. It is crucial for hitting the right emotional beats that developers are striving for. It is crucial for establishing tone and mood in any scene.
Having said all this, I really loved the new soundtrack in OFF. I didn’t have the original to compare it with, and I ended up entranced by each and every song I came across. They’re largely mood pieces, and very unconventional. Some areas will have ambient noise, voices, or distant bangings. Every single Zone has its own spin on the same core battle theme, which adds a touch of variety (originally there was only one main battle theme), making you feel the progression as you descend further into the depths of the world. Toby Fox, creator of Undertale and Deltarune, also helped compose most of the battle themes for this release, and the new boss themes are especially fantastic. Before writing this review, I went back to listen to the original soundtrack by Alias Conrad Coldwood. It’s also brilliant, and I see why it was so important to so many OFF fans. However, I find there to be futility in comparing apples and oranges. Nothing in the new soundtrack was worse to me, just different.
I’m fascinated by the ways stories can be re-interpreted based on who tells them, and it’s why I’m always interested when a game re-release makes any substantial changes. I'm thorough in my research, and I try to play a game in its original format no matter what, so I tend to be interested in how generational differences between development teams can offer new perspectives. I love how the original OST feels like it is paying a more direct homage to Silent Hill, a big inspiration to OFF. The new OST to me fits the game’s tone, but with all the different composers at the helm, there’s an extra layer of disconnect that adds to how disjointed this world is. I don’t have a preference between the two OSTs, and want to play through the game again with the original OST just to see how some of my favorite scenes come off.
With the rest of OFF breaking conventions at every turn, the story also feels as if it rejects most interpretations of itself. Dialogue is intentionally confusing, with the events of the story presented in ways to mislead you. Even after the bigger picture comes into focus by the end, there’s a lot left for you to piece together yourself. If you’re not willing to truly meet a game on its own level, I don’t think OFF is for you. I don’t think you even have to like OFF or what it says, but there’s a certain wavelength you need to be on to play and enjoy this game.
A lot of OFF’s narrative appears to function in a metaphorical sense, even if extra care and love were put into how the world functions. Those details are important to the more satirical elements, mirroring our own dying world, where industrialism has run rampant in poisoning the souls of the people under capitalism. The game is about more than this, of course, with its meta elements trying to talk about the nature of violence. OFF makes itself aware of its status as a video game very early on, and it toys with that to great effect. I do think that the full scope of the story, and what exactly it is trying to say with its themes, isn’t made explicitly clear right away.
I’ve seen all the endings in OFF, and I’m really happy with how none of them feel fully satisfying. You’re left empty, complicit, and contemplative by the end of this game. I completely understand how OFF shaped the minds of so many young people when it gained popularity in the 2010s. The artistry on display every second an absolute labor of love, and there was really nothing like it in this space at the time. I think I might have come to it a bit too late in my life for it to truly change me, personally, but what it manages to accomplish with itself is deeply respectable. There's a sadness in this respect, a feeling that I missed the boat. I genuinely hope, though, that the new wide availability on Steam and consoles allows a whole new generation of people to experience OFF for the first time.
Indie games can be some of the purest distillations of artistic intent in the entire medium. In the particular era in which OFF originally came out, indies represented unfiltered artistic expression outside of publisher interference. That comes through with this version of OFF, and that’s what matters most to me. This is the kind of game you play on a rainy Sunday and just try and experience in one sitting. Not everything comes together cleanly, and the gameplay isn't the most refined, but that in itself is crucial to the identity. Its uneven edges are sharp, and will cut anyone not willing to meaningfully engage with it. The absolute best thing I can say about OFF is that it makes me want to learn how to make my own game.
OFF to me is like dumping a box of puzzle pieces on the table. You comb through them to try and piece the puzzle together, but you notice over time that it seems like some pieces were never meant to fully click into one another. You make it far in the puzzle, and take a step back. You can’t fully piece the puzzle together, but the process of trying is rewarding. I have seen and done everything in this game, and I still feel like I don’t fully understand it. The lack of closure and lingering thoughts that I have are so much more poignant than any explicit explanation.