If you’re a cyberpunk warfare maniac, then Off The Grid has been designed specifically for you. It’s like a version of the most recent Call of Duty, Battlefield, and PUBG video games, combined with their best features and based upon new ones.
It has a large map, way too many options, impressive graphics, and neat sound effects, and it has actually been imagined by visionary director Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium).
I downloaded and played the early access version of the game for a couple of hours, checked all of its features and options, and what actually brings to the gaming community. It’s not perfect, it has its own number of bugs and performance issues, but it’s here to stay, and we’re here to review it and bring it to its knees.
It’s also worth noting that Off The Grid got a low 3.8-star rating on the Epic Games Store – and I’m here to help you figure out if that rating was too low or too high.
Editor’s Note
All the screenshots provided in the gallery above are in 4K ultrawide resolution, so please click on them if you want to open them in full size.
What is Off The Grid?
Off The Grid is a new extraction battle royale PvP and PvE game developed and published by Gunzilla Games. Its gameplay quickly reminds me of all the classic games that I currently play, with many changes that you won’t see elsewhere.
The game takes place on Teardrop Island, which is filled with hundreds of weapons and body parts that you can loot and use to stay alive.
You can modify your character’s body and arsenal mid-fight, like changing its arms, and you basically have one mission: Be the last one standing. You can use whatever strategy works best for you, whether that’s running and killing whatever moves or playing it more stealthy.
What makes Off The Grid even more interesting is that the game supports, includes, and uses the Blockchain, NTF technology, and Cryptocurrency. That means that you can buy anything you want with cryptocurrencies, but players are advised to do their own research before using this payment method.
Set in a dystopian cyberpunk future dominated by powerful corporations, you’ll learn more about the main story from the in-game events that occur.
For players who find the game’s visuals more like Elysium (the sci-fi movie), that’s because of the writer and director Neil Blomkamp, who seems to used his old movies to draw inspiration. And to be honest, I liked the movie a lot, and I found the game’s visuals extremely enjoyable.
System requirements for PC players
As with any game, there are some requirements that your PC’s hardware must meet in order to run the game, and we already got the first recommendations from Gunzilla Games.
| Requirements | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS: | Windows 10 or higher | Windows 10 or higher |
| CPU: | Intel Core i5 9400 or similar | Intel Core i7 12700 or similar |
| Memory: | 16 GB | 32 GB |
| GPU: | GeForce 3060 RTX or similar | GeForce 4070 RTX or similar |
| DirectX: | DirectX 12 | – |
| Additional Input Device: | Gamepad | – |
Yes, as you can see there aren’t any official recommendations for AMD-powered PCs, but I guess anything as good as the requirements given above will run the game just fine. Actually, to make things even more interesting, I’ve played the game from a gaming PC that doesn’t even meet the minimum requirements (in 4K).
Off The Grid was running absolutely great in 3440×1440 4K resolution with all of its graphics set to low on an Intel Core i5 9600K processor along with the GeForce RTX 2060 with 12GB of VRAM and 48GB of RAM. Apart from small performance issues here and there, it mostly ran great the whole time.
There was an issue with the introduction video and its sound being out of sync, but maybe that was because I couldn’t change my settings before, hence the lagging.
Playing Off The Grid in its early access version
The whole game was less than 25GB in size, which I downloaded extremely fast. Once you launch the game for the first time, you’ll be able to watch an introduction video that basically explains the world, the battles, and how everything started.
Once the video is completed, you’ll be asked to play in a test environment and learn about the basics of the game. It’s all about learning how to loot weapons and body parts, how to shoot at enemies, and what’s the main objective. You’ll be over with it pretty easily – it took me less than 5 minutes to complete it.
Then you’ll be asked to join the online gameplay, which is where all the fun begins – well, apart from the waiting times that you’ll be facing until your sessions are filled with players. Depending on the hour of the day, you may have to waiter longer – for me, most of the time I had to wait almost 10 minutes till the session was full.
I didn’t mind the waiting time since the game is still very new and it’s just early access – the more popular it becomes, the more players will be active and the fewer the waiting times will get.
Once the game session starts, this is where all the magic happens; You basically jump from the sky and fly to the safest spot that you can find. Like other similar games, you’ll have to loot as many boxes as you can and get the most preferred weapons, better body parts, and more.
As a player, you can jump really high and fly for a few seconds. In order to fly you must be somewhere high enough to jump and then use the action key needed to activate the flying. It’s fun, especially when other people try to shoot you, and it makes things a whole lot harder than simply running through the streets.
The epic dialogs that made me love Off The Grid
If there’s anything to be said and mentioned about this game, that would be its dialogs, if you have a similar humor to mind, you’re gonna be thrilled by them. Especially when you first launch the game and play in the testing environment, listening to the instructions will make your day quicker than you can imagine.
Off The Grid comes with some very humorous dialogues, and many can describe the new title as a game known for its satirical and ultra-violent narrative. From witty and darkly comedic interactions, you will enjoy each and every instruction that you get, which makes it even more enjoyable.
This is something that I strongly believe more games should have implemented: Humor. Not too much, not too little, just a few sentences that’ll make you laugh and have more fun while enjoying the brutal gameplay.
My personal thoughts after playing Off The Grid
I won’t lie here: Even though the company has made Off The Grid look like a modern and unique game that we’ve never seen before – and we haven’t, to a point – I couldn’t but feel that I was playing an improved (or upgraded, if you like) replica of Call of Duty or PUBG.
It feels like any other third-person shooter game, with some unique features that others don’t have, such as the body parts for example who look pretty cool, jumping higher than usual, and even flying for a few seconds each time. But all of those features can be found in other games too, so I didn’t really see anything special with this one.
If you are a fan of Call of Duty or PUBG, there’s a high possibility that you’re gonna love Off The Grid and its online gameplay. If you like looting boxes, switching between different weapons, playing in larger maps filled with over 100 players, and trying to survive and stay the last person alive, then this game has been designed for you.
Unlike similar other games, it brings something new to the table when it comes to its overall gameplay and visuals, but nothing too unusual that will make you go “WOW“.
There were many active players in the game, even in its early access, which is good news if you want to try it out – which you can do anytime and completely for free.
As time passes, we’re going to see new updates that will make the game even more stable and introduce more features and options – but for the time being, its early access is the best that you can get to play.
The game is currently available to download from the Epic Games Store, and apart from the PC release, it’s also available for PlayStation 5 and Xbox gaming consoles.
