’A nice game for cute children.’

OFF is a surrealist indie RPG developed in RPGMaker 2003 by Belgian dev Mortis Ghost (Martin Georis) and his team, Unproductive Fun Time. The soundtrack is done by Alias Conrad Coldwood. OFF was released on June 5th, 2008, 14 years ago, in French language only. In 2011, it was translated into English with official sanction from Unproductive Fun Time, and took the (at the time) rapidly growing RPGMaker scene (and also Tumblr, though those two definitely overlapped) by storm.

You are assigned to a being called “The Batter”. The Batter has an important mission. Be sure that it’s accomplished.

’Purification in progress…’

OFF is a puzzle RPG with a battle system. Don’t get me wrong, you battle a lot (and the battle theme slaps). The battle system is an Active Time Battle system like Final Fantasy and Chrono Trigger, and honestly is something best put on auto-battle, in my opinion, for your own sanity and reaction time. Though, try it for yourself first and see if you differ. The main brainpower goes into doing the puzzles, which range from typical indie RPG puzzles to weird brain-teaser notebook shit, which I’m pretty down with personally.

With a charming hand-drawn artstyle with smokey shading crafted meticulously by Mortis Ghost, alongside a sometimes-grand, mostly-eerie soundtrack by Coldwood, OFF presents a truly bizarre world of cordoned-off numbered zones filled with strange people, surreal logic, and impure spirits. A lot of impure spirits. A lot of impure spirits. The Batter’s important mission: purify the world. I’d say more plot-hook-wise, but the Dadaist setting crafted by Mortis Ghost & co. is one best experienced for yourself, and the game wastes no time easing you into its unreality.

Remnants of OFF’s legacy can be seen in critically acclaimed works such as Undertale and OneShot. As to be light on the spoilers, if you’ve played both of those games, you should know the connecting link between them. OFF was the first RPG to really do it. Even though some parts of OFF may feel inferior and underwhelming comparative to these works in hindsight, OFF set the bar for a new level of what would eventually become the standard for RPGs attempting to use said device. Even if the device’s more shallow usage doesn’t wow you or comes off as cliché, there is still much value to be had within the world of OFF, as OFF rarely lingers in moments.

’Hence nothing remains except for our regrets.’

OFF is a free downloadable game for Windows and Pre-Catalina Mac, but due to the nature of RPGMaker 2003, the platform limit can be entirely circumvented as I lay out in a couple paragraphs. You can download OFF and its translation variations here.

I personally recommend 3.0 for the English translation, it’s more accurate to the source, and LISTEN TO THE GAME’S PLEAS TO INSTALL THE FONTS THEY’RE NOT JOKING IT DOES BREAK THE TEXT OTHERWISE.

You can also play OFF in your browser or just cross-platform by loading it through the open-source EasyRPG interpreter for RPGMaker 2000/2003 games. This should work on any OS, as long as you have access to a keyboard.

According to howlongtobeat, OFF ranges from 5-6 hours of content on average. Plus, with many save points, it’s easy to pick up and put down at most moments. Plus, it’s free! I'd definitely recommend it, OFF offers an experience that at times is entirely off-the-wall and out of left field, and it's quite refreshing. Have fun!

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