The Indie Game Boom was exactly what it sounds like. Around 2008-2010, due to services like Steam, games were becoming much easier to distribute, and because of technology improving over time, they were becoming easier to make. Some of the games credited as pushing indie games into the mainstream are Super Meat Boy, Braid, Minecraft, and Cave Story. Before all of those games came OFF. OFF released in 2008. It was made by a Belgian fellow named Mortis Ghost. It’s an unassuming game, and it looks like a pretty standard NES-inspired RPG. Ghost made it in his spare time, and didn’t expect it to become hugely successful. He was right, as the game would remain an enigmatic cult classic. Despite its small following, it would come to influence one of the biggest indie games of all time, Undertale. The creator of Undertale, Toby Fox, has stated his love for the game multiple times. It got to the point where Fangamer made a full remake of the game, including new content and multiple songs redone by Fox. What exactly is OFF? What made it so special? Story You inhabit the body of a man known only as The Batter. He makes it very distinct that you’re only controlling his movement and fighting, and that he is a separate entity from you. He has found himself in an area known as Zone 0. A cat with a toothy grin known as The Judge thinks first that The Batter is a figment of his imagination because he’s never seen someone in Zone 0 before. After verifying The Batter is indeed real, he asks Mr. Batter why he is here, for which he says he is on a quest to “purify” the land. After a short tutorial, The Judge sends you on your way, not before letting you know that he will also be roaming the various zones of this world at the same time as The Batter. The Batter arrives in Zone 1 of 3, and he makes it immediately clear to the locals (who are called Elsen) his goal; to rid the land of these ghostly spirits that are corrupting the people, and to take down the overseers of each area. A noble endeavor, right? The world of this game is very, very odd. It reminds me of a book I once read called The Giver, where the world is post-apocalyptic to the point where there’s one functional city, and there’s no such thing as different personalities, any form of color, weather, or different biomes in nature. I would call OFF’s world a beyond-post-apocalyptic one, because it’s so unclear what happened to this world that made it… like this. It’s unimaginable what could have happened to put it in this state. The game reveals its hidden themes of philosophy very late into the game. It puts everything into perspective. Gameplay OFF is a pretty traditional 2D RPG. You traverse an overworld, occasionally getting into battles with some of these ghosts. These battles are a little different than the traditional JRPG though. Characters attack based on cooldowns, so you have to make decisions fast in this game. It can be confusing at first, but you’ll get the hang of it. As for actual options, it’s the traditional affair, with an attack, defend, special attack and item button. The Batter recruits 3 “party members”, but they’re strictly for battling. They’re called spherical add-ons, and they aren’t characters at all. They’re only to help you fight. That’s not the only unorthodox rephrasing of a traditional RPG mechanic in this game, either. There’s a weakness system, but it’s explained in-world; there are five elements, being smoke, metal, plastic, meat, and sugar. These are all that the world is composed of. Some of the battles can actually be tons of fun, and planning is completely shifted up. Mortis Ghost said he never played Earthbound before making OFF, but this cooldown mechanic reminds me a lot of the spinning health bar from that game. The overworld sections take a much bigger focus on puzzle-solving than other RPGs. These puzzles are more comparable to one you would find in a Silent Hill game rather than one in Skyrim. You’ll definitely need to pull out a pen and paper (or just your phone) to solve some of these. Some of the answers can be unclear, but they’re generally well-put together puzzles. The equipment system and general progression was a bit of a let down for me. You can buy stuff from this fellow named Zacharie who constantly breaks the fourth wall (like The Batter didn’t do it enough). The thing you’ll probably buy the most is new gear, and they’re really just linear improvements. Replace equipment with better equipment. Buy what you have money for. The levelling up is also rather basic, with no choice going into it. I understand satisfying progression was never the goal of the game, but I still have a right to critique. In this remake, there’s some new content, specifically in the form of six new “Zodiac” bosses. OFF is by no means a hard game, and the only fight to give me trouble and force me to properly plan was essentially the final boss. These new bosses are on the same tier. They’re completely optional, so if you want to experience only what the original game had, you can. Presentation. The first thing I have to talk about is the soundtrack. This soundtrack is HEAT. This is genuinely one of the best soundtracks I’ve heard in a game. Toby Fox redid a lot of tracks himself, and you can certainly tell which ones he did, which I think are all of the battle themes. The ones not made by him are of the same quality, of course. I’ve had the Zone 2 battle theme stuck in my head the whole time I was writing this. I would say this soundtrack borders on perfect. Every area’s track fits well and conveys the emotion of the area well. I would give examples, but I don’t want to spoil. For the graphical presentation, it looks like an NES or SNES game. OFF released early into this trend, so it might not be the most refined pixelwork, but… it’s still incredibly good. The game expertly uses color to portray how odd its world is. Most zones are limited to one, maybe two colors. Nothing blends together, and the colors are extremely vibrant. It’s super easy to tell OFF’s influence on Undertale from an art design standpoint. You don’t really see games that look like this anymore. The battle spritework is easily my favorite. Every enemy looks gruesome in its own way, and detailed yet obscure. It’s like you can see what’s going on and what they are, but you also have no idea what you’re looking at. It’s brilliant. As for the remastered stuff, OFF originally played in 4:3 resolution, so when remaking this game, Fangamer added widescreen support. They added borders, so the game still rather faithfully plays in its intended 4:3 resolution. You’re not seeing more than what you should be. The borders have art that reminds me of Edmund MacMillen, oddly enough. It looks great. Positives: -Complex story -CRAZY soundtrack -Fun battle system -Odd world Negatives: -Lacking in accessibility options -Progression isn’t great OFF is maybe the oddest game I’ve ever played. It’s so abstract and random. It doesn’t seem to make sense until it does. This game had the influence it did for a reason. This remake is an excellent way to play a game that defined a generation of indie RPGs. Fangamer is the only company on the planet to put this much effort into remaking a freeware game. There’s so much new content in this remake, and it’s clear that they loved the original. It warms my heart to see this much effort put into game preservation. This is Fangamer’s first actual game, so I’m excited about what else they’ll do to help classic game preservation and distribution. It’s weird, because I know this isn’t the best game I’ve ever played. I played a 2D RPG earlier this year called Look Outside, which in my opinion is better. But something draws me to OFF. Please check this game out. OFF is a certified classic.