The shooter Off the Grid was created in collaboration with a well-known director and aims to redefine the battle royale genre.
Who is behind it? Off the Grid is a new shooter from the developer studio Gunzilla Games, which is based in Frankfurt and was founded by a German-Ukrainian duo.
The founder Vlad Korolov originally comes from the fintech sector before he and co-founder Alexander Zoll launched Gunzilla Games. The latter was once the head of Crytek Kiev. The studio now employs around 100 staff.
In 2020, they began the development of the blockchain shooter Off the Grid for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X/S. A release is planned for 2024, although no exact date has been set. However, you can apply for the playtest via the official website (via offthegrid.com).
The shooter was developed in collaboration with filmmaker Neill Blomkamp, who has experience with the cyberpunk setting through District 9, Chappie, and Elysium.
What can you expect? The battle royale shooter takes place in a dystopian cyberpunk world, which you can get a good look at in the trailer. You can see the destroyed streets of a metropolis, underground tunnels, skyscrapers, and even a suspended train.
With Off the Grid, the developers want to create a battle royale shooter that offers a bit more than most other games in the genre. After all, a “normal” battle royale hardly stands out among the many other games.
Integrated story as a unique selling point
Off the Grid not only lures players in with PvPvE gameplay but also with a story, aiming to create a clear unique selling point. According to the developers, the story is supposed to include about 60 hours of gameplay. The interesting part is that you will follow the story while facing 150-player matches.
Singleplayer and multiplayer are thus seamlessly connected. How well that works remains to be seen.
You play the role of a corporate soldier participating in a corp war on an island called Teardrop. The game offers classic PvPvE gameplay. It’s not just about eliminating your opponents, the hostile corpos, and AI enemies; similar to Escape from Tarkov, you must extract loot to enhance your equipment and improve your chances in the next round.
The shooter is being developed in Unreal Engine 5, and at least the first impressions from the trailer show that it looks visually quite good. The gameplay shown appears to run smoothly and promises not to be overloaded. Everything has a fairly realistic style, which contributes to the overall atmosphere of the game.
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