Off (video game)

Off (stylized as OFF) is a French-language role-playing video game released in 2008 by the Belgian team Unproductive Fun Time, consisting of Martin Georis ("Mortis Ghost") and Alias Conrad Coldwood. It has garnered a cult following for its story, characters and atmosphere, particularly after its officially sanctioned fan translation into English in 2011. It is about an enigmatic humanoid entity known as the Batter, who is described as being on a "sacred mission" to "purify" the world of Off. The Batter travels through four bizarre Zones in the world, revealing more about the world as the game goes on.

Gameplay
The gameplay of Off is similar to that of classic RPGs. The Batter advances by leveling up, acquiring new party members, and upgrading his statistics, such as attack and defense, as well as gaining special abilities termed "competences." Unlike similar games that function in a turn based system, OFF uses a system in which a character is able to attack once a cooldown has passed, meaning enemies and players are able to attack each other at the same time. This system serves to encourage players to make fast decisions in combat. The player can allow combat to take place automatically by selecting the "Auto" option during encounters, which will make the Batter and his Add-Ons act without player input. The battle system also features an unorthodox element system, where rather than "classic" elements often found in RPGs, such as fire or ice, Off uses bizarre elements more commonly thought of as materials: smoke, metal, plastic, meat, and sugar.

There are four numbered Zones, labeled 0–3, along with a fifth zone, The Room, in which the final act of the game takes place. The Zones are only accessible once the player obtains their associated "Zodiac-Cards," which are acquired from the previous Zone's Guardian upon death, and the player traverses between them via a map termed the "nothingness."

One notable feature of Off is its unusual number of puzzles, which include finding a multi-digit password and entering it into a giant keypad, locating missing book pages, or "repeating room" puzzles where players walk through multiple instances of the same room in the right order to escape.

Plot
The player (who is referred to directly) assumes control of the Batter, a man in a baseball uniform on a "sacred mission" to "purify the world". After receiving guidance from a talking cat called The Judge, The Batter begins to make his way through four locations known as Zones, killing malevolent ghost-like creatures called "spectres" in order to "purify" the Zone. Each Zone is under the direct administration of a Zone Guardian. In order to purify the Zone, the Batter kills the Guardians as he progresses. After the purification of each Zone, scenes of a sick boy named Hugo are shown, implying a form of connection to the Zone. Throughout The Batter's quest for purification, he interacts with the game's mask-wearing merchant, Zacharie, who provides the Judge with cryptic hints. The Batter's only companions throughout the game are three circular entities known as "Add-Ons," each of them named after a Greek letter (Alpha, Omega, Epsilon) who also have character classes that correspond to the Holy Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit respectively).

The first Zone consists of a series of towns that is ruled by a vulgar, imposing humanoid creature named Dedan. The Batter is informed that there are spectres within the smoke mines of the first town, Damien, and promptly rushes through them in order to purify the area. Once the smoke mines are purified, The Batter proceeds to the metal farms of Pentel, the second town. As The Batter exterminates spectres within a barn, Dedan, the Zone Guardian, berates one of the workers for their incompetence. The Batter resolves to defeat Dedan, advancing to the next town, Shachihata, which is known for its post office. The Batter encounters Dedan at the highest floor of the office, who perceives The Batter as the "lord of the phantoms." Dedan escapes to the final town in the zone, Alma, the location of his office. The Batter advances through the Zone and confronts Dedan within his office, defeating him and claiming that the Zone is purified. A cutscene with Hugo plays out, where he says "That started badly..." and the Batter returns to the Nothingness.

The second Zone, known as Bismark, centers around a towering library. The town itself appears to be an infinite loop. The Batter is informed that there are spectres within the library and advances through the building, encountering the Zone Guardian, Japhet, who appears to merely be a cat. Japhet flees the battle. The Batter is informed that there are spectres within Bismark's shopping district, and proceeds to slay his way through the town's shopping mall. He proceeds to Bismark's amusement park, and then to the residential district, where Japhet is terrorizing citizens with spectres. The Batter dispatches of them. The Judge informs The Batter that his brother, Valerie, has been "calling himself Japhet," implying that he has been possessed by the Zone Guardian. The Batter returns to the roof of the library and engages in battle with Japhet, who reveals his true form - a hulking phoenix with Valerie's corpse still attached. The Batter dispatches Japhet, purifying the Zone in the progress. Another Hugo cutscene plays, where he says "The... The bird... He left too..."

The third Zone opens up with a gigantic factory adorned with smokestacks. The Zone's Elsen population seem ambivalent to danger, with one Elsen being murdered by spectres after claiming that the spectres were his "friends." It is explictly stated that the Zone Guardian has been feeding misinformation to the clueless Elsen. The Batter continues his journey through the Zone, discovering a sugar refinery - however, the Elsen there appear to be extremely addicted to the sugar, sending them into a rage when they are deprived of it. The Batter proceeds to the Zone's sugar factory in the district of Vesper, discovering that the sugar is made out of the corpses of dead Elsen. The Batter advances to the Director's office, meeting the Zone Guardian, a gigantic, overweight man named Enoch. The Batter flees the battle with Enoch and maneuvers through the office building in order to exhaust him before defeating him in battle, successfully purifying the three Zones. There is no Hugo cutscene.

Before advancing to the final Zone, The Room, The Batter is allowed to explore through the purified Zones. Each purified zone is entirely devoid of life, barring a singular Elsen in the second Zone. There is only one type of enemy in each of the purified Zones, known as Secretaries, who appear to be large humanoid infants in differing wrestling attire. The purified Zones do not play music, rather, they play voice clips of someone begging for help and loud banging. There are special items (all with the prefix Grand) that can only be obtained by progressing through the purified Zones.

The last Zone, The Room, begins with a long hallway. Each room has some form of symbolism that relates directly to Hugo. There are several references to Hugo's illness, ranging from the constant mention of pills to direct flashbacks. The Batter meets the Zone Guardians once again, however, they are referred to as the Tall Mister (Dedan), The Bird (Japhet), and the Big Mister (Enoch). The three of them have lost their hostility, and, evidently, their role as Guardians entirely, referring to The Batter as a mere boy. More flashbacks ensue, where Hugo reveals that he hates his father. The Batter eventually comes to a platform where he encounters The Queen, the commander of the Zone Guardians. The Batter argues with her over their "son," who is implied to be Hugo. The Batter defeats her and proceeds to search for and murder Hugo.

The Batter proceeds to a final purified room that merely has a single switch. He is confronted by the Judge, who berates the Batter and the player for having deceived him and destroying the Zones. The Judge requests the player's help in defeating the Batter.

In the Official Ending, the player sides with the Batter and swiftly kills the Judge, allowing the batter to flip the switch. Doing so displays the text, "The switch is now OFF," and the world fades to black.

In the Special Ending, the player sides with the Judge and defeats the Batter. The Judge states that "nothing remains now except for our regrets," however, he prefers this outcome to the Batter completing his mission. During the Special Ending's credits, the Judge is seen walking alone through the purified zones.

A third Secret Ending can be accessed if the player collects the Aries-Card and plays through either of the endings. This joke ending revolves around so-called "Space Apes" in a war against brain-like aliens. The Space Apes describe their plan to construct factories in the now-lifeless world of Off to produce robots capable of killing the aliens. This is a minor nod to Silent Hill's dog endings.

Development
Georis lists Killer7, Final Fantasy, and Myst as inspirations for Off. Off has been compared to the Mother series, though Georis has stated that the resemblance is coincidental.

Reception and legacy
Off has been praised for its story, characters, and atmosphere. Heidi Kemps of PC Gamer described it as "a memorable and haunting RPG, filled with tricky puzzles, bizarre symbolism, and challenging thematic elements." Adam Smith of Rock, Paper, Shotgun compared it to Space Funeral.

A large fanbase for the game developed on Tumblr; Off became the sixth most reblogged game of 2013, with the first five being AAA games. Toby Fox mentions Off as a source of inspiration for Undertale numerous times in the Undertale art book.

In 2014 a fangame, Home, was released.