Early 2025 saw the battle royale games genre welcome its latest contender: Off The Grid.
Available now in early access on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S, this free-to-play (F2P) title offers a unique spin on a familiar battle royale formula.
This Web3 game review dives into everything worth knowing about Off The Grid – from basic gameplay to advanced strategies – while exploring its unique features and giving an honest take on its current early access state.
Key Insights:
- Innovative Gameplay: Off The Grid blends battle royale mechanics with extraction shooter elements, introducing fresh ideas like the customizable Cyberlimb system and Extraction Royale mode.
- Blockchain Integration: Optional NFTs and the proprietary GUNZ cryptocurrency enable ownership of in-game assets, fueling a player-driven economy while avoiding compulsory blockchain engagement.
- Cyberpunk Immersion: Developed under filmmaker Neill Blomkamp’s creative vision, the game offers rich cyberpunk aesthetics, though its ambitious graphics currently face optimization challenges affecting performance.
- Community Challenges: While praised for innovative features, Off The Grid struggles with gameplay balance, matchmaking fairness, technical issues, and cheating, highlighting the ongoing challenges of managing a thriving early-access game.
Where does Off The Grid take place?
Teardrop Island is the backdrop for this dystopian cyberpunk world, where 150 players battle it out in the Off the Grid crypto game with innovative mechanics that feel genuinely different from the competition.
Neill Blomkamp’s creative direction has undoubtedly added some depth to the game’s lore, with the filmmaker behind District 9 bringing a distinctive vision to both narrative and aesthetics.
Alongside writer Richard K. Morgan, Blomkamp has created a satirical cyberpunk universe where massive corporations battle for dominance, while players take on roles as enhanced mercenaries called “Zeros.”
But let’s be clear – the most talked-about aspect in any Off The Grid game review is always going to be the optional blockchain integration.
The game features NFTs and its own cryptocurrency called GUNZ, letting players truly own their in-game assets, verified by Gunzilla Games’ launch of the GUNZ blockchain and GUN token. This feature has sparked heated debates among both players and critics, for understandable reasons.
Is Off The Grid a battle royale or an extraction shooter?
The Off The Grid crypto game mashes together traditional battle royale gameplay with extraction shooter elements, creating something that feels both familiar yet surprisingly fresh.
Two main modes await players:
- Battle Royale: Drop onto Teardrop Island with 149 other players, scramble for gear, and fight to be the last one standing. The playable area shrinks through an “Overloaded Zone” mechanic, forcing survivors into tighter quarters as the match progresses.
- Extraction Royale: A more focused experience on a smaller map with 60 players, emphasizing resource acquisition and extraction over pure survival.
Fighting happens in third-person, giving a wider view than first-person shooters. Weapons cover the usual suspects: assault rifles, SMGs, snipers, shotguns – all sorted by color-coded rarity tiers (white, green, blue, and purple). Attachments scattered throughout the environment can beef up these weapons considerably.
Health bounces back on its own, but armor needs armor plates to replenish. Downed teammates can be revived, and eliminated squad members can rejoin the fight if bought back using the in-game currency called Rips.
The Cyberlimb system is one of the more novel elements in the game, earning a nod to originality in our Off The Grid game review!
Every match starts with cybernetic enhancements already equipped, but players can discover and swap out both arms and legs throughout the game. These cyberlimbs grant wild abilities, from rocket launchers and air strikes to grappling hooks and temporary invisibility. With over 30 different options available, the gameplay possibilities are certainly extensive.
Another standout feature can be found in special loot boxes called Hexes. These contain permanent progression items like weapons, skins, and even cyberlimbs, but securing these rewards means finding Hextractor stations across the map.
Starting an extraction triggers a countdown visible to everyone, creating intense defensive situations similar to other extraction shooter games that have launched on Immutable. Successfully extracted Hexes need decryption using GUN cryptocurrency to reveal their contents, adding extra utility for the token.
How do I get started in Off The Grid crypto game?
No Off The Grid game review would be complete without a tutorial – and here’s our breakdown. First-time players should take some time to get familiar with the game’s unique systems. Here’s how to hit the ground running:
Initial Setup and Controls
While the game uses standard third-person shooter controls, mastering movement (especially the jetpack!) makes all the difference between life and death.
PC players activate the jetpack by pressing Spacebar mid-air, and holding W pitches downward for faster descent, while S creates a vertical drop. Horizontal angling enables extended gliding, which is crucial for navigating the Overloaded Zone.
Controller users should consider:
- Setting horizontal look/aim sensitivities roughly double the vertical (thanks to the 16×9 aspect ratio)
- Tweaking dead zone settings to about 0.10 to cut input delay
- Moving “shoulder swap” to the right stick click for quicker combat responses
Your First Matches
Newcomers should start with Extraction Royale mode for a less overwhelming introduction. Its smaller map and objective-focused gameplay make things much easier to learn.
When dropping in, aim for zones with decent loot potential – usually clusters of buildings or mid-tier points of interest. Some players prefer landing near mission objectives for quick advantages, while others sneak off to quieter areas for less-contested resource gathering.
Once you’re on the ground, grab weapons, armor, and cyberlimbs ASAP. Pay attention to the color-coded weapon rarities, as purple will always outperform white. Armor kits dramatically boost survivability, and trying different cyberlimbs helps discover what fits your playstyle best.
During the early match minutes, an automatic respawn system kicks in, so even if you get eliminated, you’ll redeploy automatically as long as a teammate remains alive. Later stages disable this, forcing teams to use Redeployment Terminals and spend precious Rips to bring back fallen teammates.
Mastering Cyberlimbs: Your Key to Victory
Effective cyberlimb usage is what separates the pros from the rookies in Off The Grid! They come in two flavors, arms and legs, each offering distinct advantages:
- Arm cyberlimbs typically deliver offensive or utility abilities: rocket launchers, air strikes, enemy scanners, and more.
- Leg cyberlimbs enhance movement: increased sprint speed, super jumps, or specialized traversal options.
Beginners should focus on movement enhancements.
“Roadrunner” legs boost sprint speed, “Leapers” enable massive jumps, and grappling hook arms grant players swift vertical and horizontal movement. These mobility options greatly improve survival chances by making it easier to navigate, escape danger, and secure advantageous positions.
Each cyberlimb also provides up to three distinct abilities, creating huge customization potential. When playing in the Off The Grid game, review which cyberlimbs you tend to have the most luck with. Experience will teach you which combinations best match your approach to combat and how you end up navigating the map’s challenges.
How can I improve performance in Off The Grid?
Built on Unreal Engine 5, Off The Grid delivers impressive visuals that reflect cyberpunk aesthetics. Neon-drenched cityscapes, advanced tech infrastructure, and meticulously detailed character models and weapons created through 3D scanning technology all contribute to the immersive atmosphere. Some players have also gained exclusive content through OpenSea’s partnership with Off The Grid for exclusive in-game skins.
But heavy graphics inevitably come with a price tag. Performance issues and frame drops plague many players, especially those with mid-range hardware. To squeeze out better performance, consider these tweaks:
- Dial back Anti-Aliasing, Texture Quality, Shadow Quality, Effects Quality, Global Illumination Quality, Post Processing Quality, Reflection Quality, and Foliage Quality to low or medium
- Enable FSR 3.0 for AMD systems or NVIDIA DLSS for NVIDIA setups
- Set DLSS mode to Balanced or Performance for smoother gameplay
What are NFTs and GUNZ used for in Off The Grid?
The game’s most distinctive (and divisive) feature is its blockchain integration.
Off The Grid uses NFTs to represent in-game assets like weapons, loot, and cosmetics, giving players legitimate ownership of these digital items, with some available through the Off The Grid Black Market.
GUNZ tokens, running on the Avalanche subnet as ERC-20 tokens, act as the primary currency for the dedicated GUNZ NFT marketplace. Players can use the token for buying and selling in-game NFTs with potential real-world value.
Worth noting is that engaging with the blockchain side of the game remains completely optional. Players can enjoy the core battle royale experience without touching NFTs or crypto, aiming to help ease concerns among traditional gamers who might not be ready for it.
Another unique aspect involves “Nodes” – virtual entities that validate extracted Hexes and mint contained items as NFTs. These Nodes were mostly sold to early investors, creating an economic layer where Node owners earn GUNZ tokens for validation services.
The game offers authentication through web3 wallets, meaning players can manage GUNZ tokens and NFT assets from multiple platforms. This creates potential to enhance the player-driven economy, though questions linger about long-term viability and gameplay balance impacts.
What are people saying about Off The Grid?
Like any early access title, player experiences reflected in their Off The Grid game reviews are varied.
Early impressions were positive, with many players genuinely excited about the unique concept and mechanics. The cyberlimb system, fluid movement from jetpacks and grappling hooks, and the hybrid battle royale/extraction gameplay earned particular praise.
But as early access trudged forward, some serious concerns have bubbled up from the community:
- Cheating: Widespread cheating, especially through devices like Cronus, has seriously damaged the fairness and enjoyment for honest players.
- Balance Issues: Several cyberlimbs and weapons feel ridiculously overpowered, frustrating casual players in particular.
- Technical Problems: Awful optimization, causing frame rate drops and other technical hiccups, continues driving players crazy.
- Matchmaking Headaches: Solo players constantly find themselves thrown against coordinated squads, creating brutally unbalanced matches.
- Developer Priorities: Many feel developers only listen to high-level competitive players while ignoring the average player’s concerns, an issue recently addressed with Off The Grid’s major update to expand gameplay.
- Blockchain Skepticism: The actual usefulness of blockchain integration remains murky for many, with worries about pay-to-win mechanics lurking beneath the surface.
Despite these issues, Off The Grid maintains a dedicated community that appreciates its fresh take on battle royale. Regular updates addressing various concerns suggest the developers genuinely care about improving the experience throughout early access.
Is Off The Grid game worth playing?
At the end of the day, Off The Grid brings several compelling strengths to the crowded battle royale genre.
The innovative cyberlimb system, smooth movement mechanics, immersive cyberpunk world, and narrative elements are helping it distinguish itself from competitors. Optional blockchain integration offers something new for NFT and crypto enthusiasts, although its current usefulness and gameplay impact remain debatable.
In its current early access state, some pretty big hurdles still exist. Optimization issues, balance problems, and rampant cheating obviously detract from the experience and need to be addressed. The steep learning curve and matchmaking imbalances can leave newcomers feeling utterly destroyed.
For battle royale fans hungry for something fresh with unique mechanics, though, the Off The Grid crypto game deserves a shot, especially since it costs nothing to try. It’s already showing genuine promise and could carve out a unique space in the competitive market.
Whether this Off The Grid game review shows it can truly become the “Crypto Game of the Year” remains an open question. The blockchain integration, while novel, represents just one piece of a complex puzzle, and success hinges on the developers’ ability to tackle current issues, particularly anti-cheat measures, gameplay balance, and performance optimization.
For now, it stands as an ambitious experiment bringing fresh ideas to a well-established genre, one worth taking part in as it continues through early access and beyond.
Passionate about digital tech, with over 10 years of crypto experience.
