OFF Review

OFF is the first game in awhile that gave me nightmares.

I play all kinds of horror games like Resident Evil in VR, Silent Hill, and various indie titles, but they didn't effect me like OFF does. 

Which is weird because it is originally a turned based RPG from 2008, that looks like it has a shoestring budget, because it did. It was originally a free game that the creator Mortis Ghost (real name Martin Georis) and a small team created. 

So how why did it unnerve me so much? The key there is how intense it is. 

The game starts with you controlling a character named The Batter and a Cheshire Cat like creature named The Judge starts asking your real name, and your pronouns. You are then thrust into a battle tutorial, and before you know it, you have to write down numbers to solve a puzzle to move on. 

 OFF isn't a game that you can half pay attention to. You always have to keep aware for clues, and know that writing down numbers, words, and symbols could be the only thing between you and being stuck. The game also follows this same design with its story. Even when things are explained to you, the greater context is something you need to figure out for yourself. One moment you can be talking to some sad office worker, and the next that same office worker could get you into a turn based battle. 

The battle system, as paired down and clean as a turn based RPG it is, is filled with strangeness. The way the game works is that usually the entirety of the game is in a 4:3 window with borders, but the battle scenes are 16:9, and even the resolution and pixel density feels off. Combined with a sudden battle transition from your field view to battle view (this can be modified in the accessibility if it is too much) every battle feels like a mild bonk to the head. You then use attacks ("Competencies" as they are called in game) named things like "Saturated String" and "Run with Dementia" and the whole thing feels like a fever dream.   

The world of OFF is one of misery, strangeness, and metaphor. It is never clear exactly what is happening, and the more you try to scrutinize it, the more it feels like nothing is how it should be. Despite The Batter's purity as shown on the status screen, or the sheer incorruptibility of his purpose, you as the player never feel safe. There is not a moment in OFF that you feel like you have a handle on things. The biggest contributor of this feeling is the amazing soundtrack. With tracks from morusque, Toby Fox, and more, the soundtrack never lets up as it is constantly either weirding you out, hyping you up, or whispering in your ear the emotional truth of this world. 

The truth then becomes that OFF is a meditation. Is is a mediation on purpose, on resolve, on how we gather resources to live, and how long will we put up with the state of things. Are the facades and stories we create worth the pain and suffering? What would you sacrifice, and when you reap what you have sown, are you prepared for the consequences? The game never asks you to really determine how things will proceed, and it doesn't care for your cleverness, or if you could have done things better. It just asks how you feel, and to be honest, I feel uneasy.

In 2025, I can see OFF being, well, off-putting. For me, sure it gave me nightmares, but maybe in an uncaring, pure world, even a nightmare can be a sanctuary.