OFF Remaster Review
OFF is a surreal old-school RPG and indie trailblazer that’s now available to a wider audience thanks to a remaster from Fangamer.
OFF. Credit: Fangamer / Mortis Ghost
Cult favorite RPG OFF, from Belgian designer Martin Georis, AKA Mortis Ghost, was developed in RPG Maker 2003 and initially released as freeware in 2008, with an English fan translation from the original French in 2011. The game has become one of the most influential indie RPGs, inspiring beloved games such as Undertale and OneShot with its unconventional approach to storytelling and atmosphere. Fangamer has now released a remaster made in Unity that brings the game to modern platforms and a new audience. The remaster features new areas, hidden bosses, a remixed soundtrack, and an official English translation.
OFF. Credit: Fangamer / Mortis Ghost
You play as the Batter, a man in a baseball uniform who carries a bat, who arrives in a strange land made up of several zones on a "sacred mission" to purify the world from the specters that haunt it. The story unfolds through cryptic dialogue as the Batter travels through a pixel art world devoid of much visual detail, creating a surreal, unsettling feeling the deeper you go. The zones operate on their own strange logic. A farm extracts metal from cattle. Smoke is extracted and bottled in a forbidden mine. Plastic and meat are considered elements. Amusement park guests are perpetually terrified for reasons unknown. All that, and more oddness that’s just a little…off.
OFF. Credit: Fangamer / Mortis Ghost
Gameplay is typical for an old-school RPG. You explore, talk with NPCs, and solve puzzles, most of which involve finding or deciphering numerical codes. Combat is turn-based, with a battle system resembling classic Final Fantasy ATB (active time battle) mechanics, where turn order is based on the speed at which action meters fill for each character. Frankly, the combat feels very dated. It’s made worse by the frequency of the random encounters, which makes the game feel like a grind.
Though unsettling, the pixel art that makes up the world is drab. It creates a stark contrast with the enemy designs during battles, which are genuinely striking and memorable; they’re depicted with pixellated, low-resolution pencil drawings so great that they made me wish this were a graphic novel rather than a game. The remaster’s excellent soundtrack was composed and remixed by seven artists, including Toby Fox of Undertale fame, as the original composer, Alias Conrad Coldwood, was not involved with the new project.
OFF. Credit: Fangamer / Mortis Ghost
I played OFF without nostalgic attachment. The game is creatively bold, but doesn’t meet the heights of the games it inspired; it felt more interesting as a historical artifact than a fun experience. I’m still glad I played it, though I have to admit it turned into a bit of a slog for me.
Fangamer’s remaster of OFF is available now on Steam and Nintendo Switch.
Overall Score: 6/10
Played on: Steam Deck
