So there's been a lot of people making fan art over a game that features a surprisingly small cast for an RPG, where fully a third of all characters are actually glowing rings.
OFF (download links at the bottom of the post; simply download, unzip to a directory, and install the font files before playing) is a "creepy-weird" RPG which is stylistically very close to the early 90s but with an atmosphere and plot that are entirely unsettling.
The basic gameplay is highly puzzle-focused, and while there are mechanics for random encounters and levelling up to increase your health/ damage/ ability base, on my play-through I never encountered any point where I had to "grind" to get past any point. Restore points and saves are perfectly abundant and through simply exploring the world your encounters should likely get you to a level where you can beat the bosses. The fights themselves should be familiar to anyone who has played Final Fantasy or similar RPGs, and if you haven't there is a chance for a quick tutorial near the start of the game.
Battles give you experience and credits. Experience like in most games let you level up to gain abilities, health, and skill points, while credits can be used to purchase consumable and equippable items. The item system is not too complex, and should be easily enough picked up.
Your main character is The Batter, and along the way you pick up allies in the form of these Add-Ons which are all glowy rings. It's worth noting that the game was originally French, and while the translation is quite good there are quite a few colloquialisms that fit through like "Competence Points" ("Skill Points" being the more standard translation, of course) and lots of words that were left in French since they were close enough to the English equivalent, such as the "Esprit", "Statut", and "Classe" above.
The above picture basically sums up the mission of the game: You're the Batter and you're here to purify the world. This seems at first to involve killing ghosts and strange creatures, but escalates into weird places. This will be a fairly spoiler-free review because I think you should all try out this game. It's free and probably only takes about 5 or 6 hours to complete.
The world has a very dystopic run-down feel to it, and it's populated by these depressing bureaucratic creatures which sometimes offer help and sometimes just get in the way. Talking with them is alternately unsettling and hilarious, which describes this game a fair bit for the first part at least.
The game opens up with an incredibly well-spoken cat called The Judge teaching you a bit about the game and the world, while making a curious fourth-wall-breaking statement by separating The Batter from his "controller", you, a distinction that is made by other characters throughout.
Another notable point is that the "world map" is incredibly non-standard, even ignoring the fact that the background music for it is hushed whisperings and mutterings.
Also there's this Zachary fellow who appears in most of the fanart you'll find in the internet. He serves as the "traditional items merchant", but also seems to have knowledge that this IS just a game and subsequently pops up in some unexpected places and roles. The internet seems to have a "thing" for him.
Anyways, the bottom line is that this game becomes more and more unsettling and it's quite easy to immerse yourself in it between the strange plot, characters, art, and puzzles. The music is beautiful and the sound effects attached to each of the characters are perfectly fitting and disturbing. If you do play, make sure to explore the world and interact with as much shit as possible.If you get stuck on a puzzle, look around--the solutions are always in the same part of the world if not the same room.
