The first thing she said was "You are finally here, Batter... The wait for your arrival has been a long one; but your way was in vain. You will do naught but raise trouble here. Return home". Always keeping his icy assurance, the Batter said "That's what I did. This here is the cradle of my father. Your guardians have fallen. You're now a Queen of a kingdom that no longer exists". Surprised, but not at all taken aback, she asked "Why have you destroyed the nation that I have rebuilt?" The answer was simple; "You've never been in this place to do even the slightest thing. Your role was to take care of him. You have failed your task. Now, because of you, I must complete my sacred mission". Continually withstanding the attacks that the Batter had brought into the monotonous dialogue between them, the Queen called a spade a spade: "I have done all this for him. I truly wish for my children to be happy.
— We were so busy preparing the birthday that we forgot who it was for". This response eradicated the patience of the Queen. "You have ruined the carnival, Batter. I will not let you lay a hand on the son that brought us into this world. Today, you will fall".

What is OFF?

OFF is an RPG released in 2008, developped in RPGMaker 2003 by Mortis Ghost, with a soundtrack composed by Alias Conrad Coldwood. It has received a lot of praise for its captivating story, surrealist atmosphere and brilliant soundtrack.

In it, you control a being called the Batter, who is on a sacred mission to purify the world. Throughout the game you slowly make your way through 5 areas called "zones" (save for the last one) where you must fight off ghosts and ghouls. Each zone has a corrupt, impure guardian you must kill, and puzzles you must work through to be able to progress. However, things are not as clear cut as they seem; and as you go deeper into the story you slowly understand the true nature of the mission you are helping the Batter with.

I personally first heard about OFF from a friend who said Undertale was inspired by it. I only played it a few years later, when another friend recommended it to me: and I instantly fell in love. I was playing deep into the night, needing to see more of the story, to know what was going on. The game got me out of a deep depressive episode, got me to think about something else. It made me discover so many things about myself and is still a game I avidly recommend to anyone who wants to try something new.

I am currently developping an OFF fangame called FAILSAFE, taking place after the events of the original game. In it you controll a new entity, called Asaffiel, who is simply tasked with delivering a letter to the head of the nearby hospital; but things slowly fall apart when you discover that your whole itinerary was a scheme set up to test you.

Headcannons

The Batter and Hugo are the same person,

The Batter has no gender,

Hugo is (one of) the sole survivors of an old, first world that has been destroyed,

Zacharie is the last remaining human (I am aware Enoch has been described as human; I do not care),

I probably have more but I'll have to think harder before knowing what else to add here

Lukewarm takes

OFF is an anticapitalist game (I think some people need a reminder of that),

There are things much more interesting than shipping in the game (I realized that later, and I do not hold any judgement towards Batterie shippers),

People are too quick to forgive the characters of the game

Blinkies & stamps