Off The Grid

Off The Grid is a chaotic battle royale masterpiece from visionary director Neill Blomkamp, creator of District 9 and Elysium.

Developed by Gunzilla Games, this ambitious blockchain game combines stunning visuals with a rich narrative. However, early access has revealed some serious challenges, with optimization issues, bugs, and hackers affecting gameplay.

Will Off The Grid become the blockbuster blockchain gaming needs, or will it fall short, joining the ranks of over-promised, under-delivered titles?

Gameplay

Off The Grid takes a fresh approach, combining elements from Fortnite, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty: Warzone. Its 150-player Battle Royale PvP mode intertwines with a 60-hour campaign, creating a dynamic experience where players can tackle both modes simultaneously. The concept is unique and showcases the creative talent Gunzilla Games has brought on board.

Currently, in Off The Grid’s Early Access build, players can dive into an Extraction-based Battle Royale mode featuring 60-player matches. Matchmaking is efficient, with most games filling up within a minute. Occasionally, there are delays in starting matches even after they fill up, possibly due to players taking extra time to load in.

Once the game starts, players begin in a dropship and follow the classic Battle Royale setup: drop down, eliminate enemies with a team of three, and earn rewards such as GUNZ tokens and Hexes.

The in-game currency, GUNZ, powers the Gunzilla Games ecosystem, allowing users with an OTG Pro monthly subscription to buy and sell skins. Hexes, which can be gathered through "Hextractors" that must be defended, provide in-game rewards like attachments and skins when opened post-match, with a small GUNZ fee.

Coming from a competitive gaming background, I find some aspects still lacking. Currently, there’s no ranking system, and gameplay heavily favors auto-shotguns (Squalls). Updates have been relatively infrequent, despite significant marketing pushes.

As it stands, I can often achieve 20+ kills per game, accumulating over 30 GUNZ without even capturing Hexes.

The game’s announcer uses gritty, provocative language, fitting the overall design tone. Textures, buildings, character design, and gunplay feel on par with top-tier extraction games. However, despite my high-end RTX 4090, achieving high frame rates requires adjusting graphics settings below the game’s maximum limitations. With improved optimization in the coming months, Off The Grid could deliver a much smoother experience, aligning more closely with the immersive potential the game promises.

The game features an innovative "Cyberlimbs" system, allowing players to customize gameplay by attaching different legs and arms, each with unique abilities and rarities found in loot crates scattered across the map. These attachments add strategic depth, enabling players to tailor combinations for various play styles. Currently, the "Paralyzer" ability stands out as a game-changer, offering vision through walls and delivering a lightning bolt that briefly stuns opponents, adding an intense layer to encounters. While balancing issues are typical in Early Access games, evolving metas like the Leaper/Javelin combinations keep gameplay fresh and engaging.

Throughout the map, players can undertake missions to earn funds, either to call in custom loadouts or revive teammates. These missions add a compelling purpose to each game, with the Bounty Hunter mission being a standout. This objective marks a target somewhere on the map, allowing players to hunt them down for extra rewards and adding an intense thrill to each match.

The loadout system strikes a fine balance between free-to-play and OTG Pro players, similar to progression systems in games like League of Legends, where unlocking all content can take time but remains fair. My preferred loadout currently includes the Kite and Squall, which, despite a recent nerf, still offers solid firepower.

In Cyberlimbs, my go-to setup is Paralyzer, Leapers, and Phosphorous Fury—perfect for landing powerful hits that can knock out enemies instantly when executed precisely.

The game maintains a constant state of chaos as you navigate missions, shrinking map spaces, and exhilarating escapes using jetpacks and zip lines to shift across the battlefield. Even small choices, like backpack selection, offer strategic advantages. For instance, while the Epic Grid backpack provides brief storm protection, ideal for late-game survival, the Soldier backpack automatically reloads your secondary weapon, making it particularly effective in the early game.

These detailed customizations introduce a high skill curve that rewards practice and precision. A more comprehensive tutorial would greatly benefit new players, giving them the confidence to dive in. While a gun range is available under the loadouts tab, it isn’t immediately clear to newcomers. Knocking down enemies and securing victories is incredibly satisfying, delivering a rush of excitement with each win—though a more dynamic post-win screen would add to the thrill of victory.

Review

Off The Grid has the potential to not only rival giants like Fortnite but perhaps surpass them with its unique take on the battle royale genre. The game is visually stunning, incorporating inventive mobility elements and a narrative-driven storyline—a rare feature in battle royales, and one I find refreshing.

Positioned as a groundbreaking blockchain game, Off The Grid is already a leader in the Web3 gaming space, with the GUNZ token seamlessly integrated into the gameplay loop, adding an engaging layer to progression.

Overall, I find myself drawn to Off The Grid more than any other game I’ve played in recent years, eagerly anticipating its continued evolution. For an Early Access title, it meets my expectations and shows potential to become a 10/10 breakout hit. Time will tell if Off The Grid will fully deliver on its promises when it officially launches.