Why you should play Off The Grid, a new Battle Royale, now
As multiplayer shooters drift away from battle royale and extraction formulas, Off The Grid, now playable by everyone, aims to bridge the two with fun new mechanics that breathe new life into tired modes.
Off The Grid is a free-to-play game with early access on PC and open beta on PS5 and Xbox Series X, which is functionally the same. While it carries over many gameplay mechanics from previous battle royale games (such as Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone), it has more movement via jetpacks and greater variety thanks to the so-called “cyberlimbs” with different abilities that can be swapped in and out during a round.
All this gameplay somehow fits into a surprisingly well-designed world, where the matches you get into are watched around the world by fans eager for carnage. With brazen self-reference, the game’s combatants who are flown in to fight are elite gamers (who want to get rich) and former military agents, all of whom agree to have their arms and legs removed so they can quickly transition to new cyber limbs on the battlefield. . Off The Grid is part schlocky satire of streaming culture, part representation of the gamers who play battle royale-style games, and all smart, self-aware storytelling.
It should come as no surprise that Off The Grid studio Gunzilla Games got help realizing its world-building from Hollywood, particularly through shorts created by Neill Blomkamp, whose sci-fi films (District 9, Elysium, Chappie) seem tailor-made for the game universe. A new in-game movie about cyber limbs which debuted during its early access release, was directed by Blomkamp – and is a bit gnarly, so viewer discretion is advised.
So far the game only has one mode that combines the Battle Royale and Extraction Shooter formats, but others could follow suit and offer different gameplay. Since the game is in early access, expect all of these details to change.
Would you like to give Off The Grid a try? Here’s what you need to know.
What is off the grid?
Off The Grid is a third-person shooter that is free to play in early access for PC (only via the Epic Games Store), PS5, and Xbox Series play with each other (although it’s unclear whether the PC will also be included), according to a report from May GameRant interview with Vlad Korolev, CEO of Gunzilla Games.
How do I get early access to Off The Grid?
Off The Grid is in early access on PC, which you can play through the Epic Games Store. It’s free to play with perks you can unlock without spending a cent, although there is a battle pass and other in-game microtransactions. Off The Grid is free to play in open beta on PS5 and Xbox Series
Who makes Off The Grid?
Off The Grid is being developed by Gunzilla Games, a Ukraine-based studio, which has been teasing the game at major shows like Gamescom for a few years now. They’ve also done several closed gameplay tests for the game, and this current early access (or open beta on consoles) is the first large-scale announcement made available to the public.
How is Off The Grid different from other Battle Royales?
Two big new features make Off The Grid stand out from the multiplayer shooter crowd. After getting into the game, you can find several expendable limbs that you can swap with your own and provide useful abilities such as long jumps, groundstrokes, ballistic shields, or invisibility. There’s also a jetpack that you can use at any time to gain altitude and reposition for flights, but if you get damaged it will be temporarily disabled.
These features make Off The Grid’s gameplay more mobile and dynamic than other Battle Royale games. There’s the usual mix of weapons and backpacks to collect and swap as you wander through areas and open loot boxes full of gear, and a small number of other quirks that make it a fresh take on old subgenres of shooter games.
How do you play Off The Grid?
Off The Grid’s early access period only has one mode you can play for now: Extraction Royale, a mix of both genres. 60 players land on a map with a slowly closing ring that pushes teams of players towards each other. There is a menu option for a Battle Royale that is not playable, so for now players only have the hybrid mode to boot.
Like other Battle Royale games, after you land on the game’s map you will find new equipment in loot boxes scattered around the area that offer a random assortment of weapons, cyberlimbs, cash, and perks. The boxes contain armor plates that you can insert manually for extra protection, just like in Call of Duty: Warzone. You will also need to save your inventory, which can be expanded with backpacks.
Currently, there are 21 weapons across seven categories of typical modern shooting weapons: assault rifles, submachine guns, light machine guns, hunting rifles, sniper rifles, sniper rifles and pistols. They come in different rarities and add more attachment slots as they level up.
Like other battle royale games, you attack with only a gun and your wits. Aside from what you find on the ground or near the bodies of dead opponents, you can summon pre-made equipment (more on that later), which costs cash you take from the loot boxes. But you’ll want to keep some cash on hand to bring your teammates back later in the round. At first, players can respawn for free, but after a certain point (there will be an announcement) only respawn machines can bring them back into the fight.
What are cyberlimbs?
Cyberlimbs come in two varieties: arms and legs. They give you similar abilities typically associated with characters in other shooters. Unlike Apex Legends, where you’re stuck with one set of skills for the entire round, Off The Grid lets you rotate your limbs in and out as you find them (which takes a while, so it’s not recommended during a fight). Abilities must cool down before they can be used again.
There are 13 different arms with abilities, including a hook shot, blob bomb, poison smoke grenade, ranged missile, invisibility, sword disk and an incendiary grenade. Please note that arms in a round come in the left and right varieties indicated and are not interchangeable. There are four leg types, including increased jumping speeds and temporarily increased sprint speeds. Enemies can destroy limbs when shot, so be careful: if someone takes out your legs, you’ll have to crawl to safety.
Off The Grid’s streamer announcer is holding a Hex, which players can find and extract during the match.
Off The Grid’s extraction elements: hexes and equipment
Rounds in the current Extraction Royale game don’t end when you draw from the map; instead, you extract items to unlock after the matches are over. These items, called Hexes, are small blocks found randomly in loot crates.
Extracting hexes is no easy feat. You’ll have to find a special extraction module on the map, insert your Hex into it and turn it on – which will alert everyone in the area to what’s happening. A long countdown timer starts and you have to defend the machine, because people can hijack your process and steal the Hex for themselves.
Hexes contain cyberlimbs, weapons, cosmetics, or other extras, but they won’t help you during a round. Once extracted, you can use energy (a finite resource gained from playing matches and completing challenges) to unlock them, after which you can place them in gear.
The more items and the rarer, the more in-round money you need to summon a piece of equipment. So it may be wise to reserve one of your equipment spots for cheaper options, earlier in a round or when you’re low on cash.
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