Platforms:
PC, Nintendo Switch
Released:
August 16, 2025
Publisher:
Fangamer
Developer:
Mortis Ghost
I remember during one high school lunch break, circa 2013, when my favourite webcomic was on hiatus and I had nothing better to do, I decided to follow in the footsteps of some of my Tumblr mutuals and download some weird game called OFF. It was quite a process; there were multiple files to download and extra steps necessary to get the game running, including font installations and a bunch of other stuff I would not have been able to figure out without a guide at the time. I lingered over the .exe file for some time, half worried that I may have installed some sort of virus, but when I finally gained the confidence to boot it up, my perspective on video games changed forever.
OFF was originally released in 2008 by indie developer Mortis Ghost and received a fan translation from French into English a few years later. While it certainly got some attention during its first few years, OFF was suddenly incredibly popular among folks like myself who found themselves listless during the Homestuck megapause spanning April 2013 to June 2013. Being completely free and a short experience, it was very easy for friends to convince friends to play it. Once I got it all working on my laptop, I even started carrying the files around on a USB in case someone else wanted them. I was obsessed with it, and even to this day, I am constantly convincing people that they need to play OFF, so I can only be overjoyed that it is getting an official release after all this time.
Created using RPG Maker 2003, OFF follows a man simply named The Batter on his journey through a strange world consisting of separate zones. These zones are being invaded by spectres, and by defeating them, The Batter seeks to purify the world. OFF almost immediately establishes The Batter and The Player as two separate entities, asking for The Player to provide their name, and having The Batter directly refer to them as such, stating that while he knows they are always watching, they cannot directly speak to him or other characters in the world. This blew my socks off when I first played the game. I had never experienced a character so blatantly acknowledging my existence in a video game before, and the fact that OFF does this in its opening seconds instead of saving it as a big end-of-game twist is to be applauded.
OFF is played like a standard RPG Maker game with a 2D world populated by pixel-art characters. There are lots of puzzles to solve in the world, usually consisting of entering a number combination based on clues that can be found nearby. While quite simple, the puzzles are still suitably engaging and can require a bit of notetaking to figure out exactly how to input the numbers as they are found. The Batter can also encounter NPC characters to have brief, usually one-sided, conversations with.
The world of OFF is mostly populated by Elsen, a people consisting of well-dressed little businessmen who give off an air of anxiety. Each of them lets out a shaky little sigh whenever you speak to them, almost as if they are taken aback at someone giving them the time of day. I really like the Elsen, I think that they’re funny. I especially love this moment when The Batter visits a theme park and finds a bunch of them sitting in a row of stationary chairs, and they are still panicked and nauseous as if they are on a moving rollercoaster. Though The Player may quickly notice that something is up with some of the Elsen, the ones that seem more panicked than usual have a tendency to explode into a pillar of smoke when spoken to, forcing The Batter into a combat encounter.
Combat in OFF is one of the areas where the original release suffered quite a bit. While the puzzles, world, music and story were very engaging, the combat was a pretty basic RPG Maker fare. Considering that there are so many newer games made in later versions of the RPG Maker engine that have found ways to push against its restraints and create something truly interesting, this is an area where the original OFF feels quite outdated. Luckily, the new release of the game does quite a bit to improve both the visuals and the feel of the combat overall.
“OFF keeps with its tradition of having a banger of a battle theme.”
OFF has always utilised a cooldown system to help speed up the pace of its combat, though originally, The Player could only see their own cooldown meter. The updated combat system displays both a cooldown meter for The Batter and the enemies on screen, allowing for more tactical strategy during each turn. Changes to the battle UI also do an outstanding job of making the combat feel more engaging and navigable. It’s much more modern with elements popping up on the screen instead of everything being relegated to the battle menu below; it’s dynamic, stylish and a huge improvement. In battle, The Player controls The Batter and his companions, named Add-Ons that appear as white circles floating beside him. The Add-Ons are not characters in any sense; all they are is a vessel for extra turns and new abilities. The Batter and each Add-On have a basic attack and what the game calls ‘competences’, which are your skills. Add-Ons generally have a specialisation, such as buffs, debuffs or damage over time attacks, where The Batter himself focuses on raw damage.
Both characters controlled by The Player and enemies now also have a chance to proc critical damage that displays as yellow flames around your ability menus and the cooldown meter of enemies. Critical attacks also charge the cooldown faster, meaning that combatants can get two turns right after each other. It contributes a lot to that frantic feeling the cooldown meter is meant to evoke. While these improvements do a lot to modernise the battle system, it still isn’t quite enough to make it truly stand out, meaning that the combat still remains one of OFF’s weaker elements. Luckily, OFF keeps with its tradition of having a banger of a battle theme.
The battle theme for OFF’s original release, titled Pepper Steak, is one of the elements that older fans of the game remember most vividly, a bizarre, ametric jazz-inspired bop that is equal parts unsettling and groovy. When it was announced that the original composer, Alias Conrad Coldwood, would not be returning for this new release and that his music would be replaced, there was quite a bit of concern from fans about what kind of game OFF would be without its utterly iconic soundtrack. Luckily, Toby Fox agreed to compose the new battle theme, and there really wasn’t anything to worry about.
While Fox’s new track White Meat isn’t quite as surreal as Pepper Steak, it still manages to capture a very similar energy with its muffled big brass instruments and liberal sampling. The theme also grows and changes throughout the game to fit new areas, keeping it always fresh and interesting. The whole new soundtrack is very good and fits the game well; there were some tracks where I could barely tell that they had been changed. Luckily for fans of the original OST, Mortis Ghost has stated that it will remain in the original release of the game and will continue being offered for free on Alias Conrad Coldwood’s website, despite the new release of the game being a paid product.
Visually, very little has changed from the original release of OFF, and I am conflicted on this because I do find the art of the game quite nostalgic, but I do acknowledge that Mortis Ghost is a more talented traditional artist than pixel artist. All of his battle sprites, portrait art and the like are incredibly detailed and distinctive; it’s only the pixel work that suffers.
This means the overworld areas are still very barebones, with many sprites being barely representative of their full art or portraits. Despite this, the use of colour is still incredibly evocative, each new zone having a new main colour that fills the entire environment, leaving The Batter and other NPCs to stand out in stark white. The game’s merchant, Zacharie, also has entirely new art whenever you enter his store, and this is an unbelievable improvement. It’s so cool to see more of Zacharie, and I wish that there was an opportunity for more of the pixel art to get an upgrade as well.
While OFF is a very old game now, I still don’t want to spoil any of the plot developments for you, because it is entirely worth exploring that yourself. I will say that the story of OFF is incredibly clever, with many different elements to explore, and so many big indie games from the last five years or so will have taken great chunks of inspiration from it. It was a great joy to replay OFF and see so many elements that I now know pop up in enormously popular games like Undertale and Deltarune. While its twists and turns may seem a little derivative now, I would implore new Players to remember that OFF explored its ideas long before many of these more recent interpretations.
8.5
Great
Positive:
- Memorable and infuential story
- Great soundtrack with a banger battle theme
- Fun and engaging puzzles
- Snappy writing
Negative:
- Despite improvements, battles are repetitive
Despite the passage of time, OFF still holds up incredibly well. The newer translation lets the utterly hilarious dialogue shine, the updates to the combat make it far more intuitive to use, but the part that really holds it together, the story, hasn’t changed at all, and honestly didn’t need to. It’s still a well-written, bite-sized experience that deserves the attention of anyone who loves newer RPG maker games or games inspired by that genre. You owe it to yourself to finally get around to beating OFF.
About the Author
Bree Maybe
she/they
Bree somehow managed to weasel her way into a game design degree, hasn't stopped playing Skyrim since it first came out and never shuts up about Nagito Komaeda.
