OFF review: "Undertale fans need to play this RPG that inspired it – I can't believe it took this stellar remake to get me to step up to the plate"

OFF is one of those games that deserves a remake if only because people weren't paying enough attention back in 2008. Yes, it became a cult classic that I was more than aware of thanks to having a Tumblr account (for my sins), but as a free, French RPG Maker game relying on fan translations to play it was easy to overlook. This luscious OFF remake is easier to play than ever thanks to a multi-platform release, and it adds several enhancements that makes it slicker.

Unproductive Fun Time, the joint project of Mortis Ghost and Alias Conrad Coldwood, originally developed the game, with Mortis returning for the remake alongside Fangamer (who is also publishing). Undertale creator Toby Fox is also involved with the new soundtrack, who has mentioned before that OFF was one of the inspirations behind Undertale (alongside the likes of Moon, Touhou Project, and more). There's even a new, small reference to Undertale in the early hours of the game. With thematic parallels and a similar playfulness with the medium, OFF is a real must-play for Undertale fans.

While it's a shame the original soundtrack isn't included – it was a huge part of setting the tone of the original – it is at least available for free online. Even so, the new composers, Toby Fox included, have done a great homage soundtrack that's banging in its right. In many ways, this OFF remake feels like a real love letter to the original. But, having now also played the first version as well, this newer iteration of OFF makes enough tweaks to core mechanics that it's easily the definitive version in my mind.

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Well judged

For an RPG, OFF is a pretty short experience – taking me about 7 hours to fully complete with all endings and (newly added) optional bosses. But that just means it doesn't spend much time messing around. You, as the player, are immediately thrown into the action as you're paired up with The Batter – an enigmatic bat-wielding man on a mission to cleanse and purify a strange and fractured world. The division between you the player and the being that is The Batter is immediately clear, and just one of many fourth wall breaks in store.

Mechanically and narratively OFF is extremely playful, pushing the limits of creativity with RPG Maker as an engine back in the original. While these days meta-twists may be more par for the course, they're effective playing though OFF today.

Whether it's a strange shop keeper who keeps insisting nihilistically that we're in a game, or the way puzzles sometimes require you to scour background images or even beyond the UI of the game (yes, that puzzle is still here, even if you don't have a folder of game files), OFF frequently requires you to be deeply engaged with what you're doing rather than zoning out and just pushing through random fights, all while keeping you at a degree of remove.

There's a lot about OFF that's – forgive me – a little bit off. The state of the world is unfamiliar to an elemental level with a sea made of plastic, residents mining for smoke, and meat a primary energy source. The Batter's guide through each discrete Zone is a loquacious cat named The Judge that has a mouth full of massive teeth (who inspired Undertale's Sans).

There's a frequent, deliberate clashing of art styles. Notes you can find will often have art far more detailed than the usual overworld, sometimes hiding vital clues for solving pattern puzzles. Meanwhile, though The Batter starts out bonking cute little ghosts in encounters, these gradually evolve into dicier clashes with nightmarish creatures that look like compressed photoshop images the further you progress.

Batter up

Combat itself marks the biggest departure in this iteration of OFF. Where the original was pretty standard RPG Maker fare, now fights have been overhauled in a big way across mechanics and the user interface. Sprites are still close to the original, though now in widescreen the bright monotone colors are even more striking. Making the most of the screen space, action buttons now hover dynamically next to party members. The chunky commands have an almost comic or 'zine-like off-kilter look to them that really adds to the chaotic, messy feeling of the fights as you absolutely batter each Zone's ne'er-do-wells to purify them.

The Final Fantasy 7-style ATB system that has party members waiting for an action bar to fill up before using their commands can be altered to fill at different speeds, but will now stop once you're able to select inputs. There's no longer an Auto command, but given there's much less time pressure it's not really necessary. A lot of elements keep some of the Frenchisms that remained in original fan translations as well, subsequently becoming part of the fandom DNA, such as some enemy names or even the fact that skills are called competences. I really appreciate that OFF still retains that original identity.

The thing I love most about these dust ups is how critical hits are managed, telling you outright when a party member is about to pull one off. Crackling with a yellow, lighting energy, their action meter charges extra fast, which then also applies to the commands as you select them. You can even tactically have them wait a moment while you select moves for someone else to slam your critical hit out at just the right moment. It's a small detail that really adds to the tactical possibilities, and I'm shocked I've not seen it done more. Thematically it works well too, really adding to the sense that The Batter is winding up an extra strong homerun-style strike.

Fights have been rebalanced as well, which is a good thing given the original's ping-ponging difficulty. Where once battles were a bit of a chore to get through so you could engage more with the world and the story, here they're just so much more fun to smash to pieces. The only thing I will say is it might have overcorrected into being a bit easy – there's some simple competence combinations that'll see you through late game pretty easily.

Zone runner

But, while the violence enacted by The Batter is definitely part of the point, OFF isn't a game that wants to get bogged down in an endless amount of random battles. Even The Batter's party simply consists of nearly identical 'add-ons' you collect – floating halo-like spheres that support him in battle. This is his journey, solo. Even with you as the player and The Judge interacting with him, he exists as a force unto himself.

Returning to completed Zones remixes the area's maps with new geometry, enemies, and – yes – revelations about the nature of the world. Through all the toe-tapping action and the satisfaction of putting sometimes obtuse puzzles together there's a sinister edge beneath. Undertale fans will know what themes they'll be grappling with, but OFF takes its own abstract approach to storytelling that leaves the player to fill in the blanks and remains unique.

Optional new boss fights in this release give even more reason to re-clear completed Zones. These new fights are inventive, offering some wonderfully playful new mechanics. They're harder than other fights, but still lean a little easy. As far as I can tell, and the game has told me I've fully completed everything, these don't add any new endings or anything (OFF has multiple), but do add a bit more color to the world at large. Sinfully, I'd love to see some of these ideas expanded even further if we were to get more in the OFF universe, something I'm not sure I'd say without the presence of these bosses – so they're definitely worth the inclusion.

Somehow, OFF manages to walk the line between feeling overly simple given its length, and packing plenty of thematic depth. What's really impressive is how easy it is to get into, throwing you in a strange world that's satisfying to smash your way through while also quickly putting you into a position to spin up your own theories about quite why the world is the way it is, and what's spurred The Batter into action with your help.

It's easy to see how OFF inspired a lot of other later indie RPGs, Undertale included. But, rather than feeling old hat, this recharged edition of OFF is still an incredible experience thanks to smart judgment on where to let the original breathe, and where to make changes. I can't believe it took me this long to step up to the plate.

17 years after it was released, I'm tracing Undertale and Deltarune's origins back to Toby Fox's spooky Earthbound mod