Once the most popular Free-to-Play game on the Epic Games Store, what is the gameplay and experience of Off The Grid like?

Written by: Karen, Foresight News

Under the cover of the AI+Meme craze, the significant progress recently made by the Avalanche network ecosystem has not received enough market attention. Thanks to the exploration of the cyberpunk-style battle royale game Off The Grid and its subnet Gunz within the Avalanche ecosystem, the development of Web3 games is also accelerating.

Off The Grid launched its early access on October 8 and became the first Web3 game released on all major platforms, including PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. In the initial phase, Off The Grid quickly gained traction through collaborations with popular game streamers like Ninja, Dr. Disrespect, XQC, and TimTheTatman, who have large fan bases. On October 10, driven by game streamers, it attracted over 150,000 Twitch viewers, briefly becoming one of the most popular shooting games on Twitch (at one point ranking in the top three).

Currently, the Gunz testnet has nearly 8.3 million wallet addresses, and Off The Grid briefly became the most popular Free-to-Play game on the Epic Games Store (its ranking has since declined).

On-chain data shows that trading activity on the Avalanche testnet has seen a significant increase since October 8. Among them, the daily transaction volume on the Avalanche subnet Gunz's testnet reached 3 to 4 million transactions, recently accounting for over 99% of the overall trading activity on Avalanche.

Source: Snowtrace

Behind Off the Grid: Over $100 Million in Funding + a Stellar Team

The developer behind Off the Grid, Gunzilla Games, was founded in 2020 and secured $25 million in funding that same year through GameGroove, a gaming venture capital fund established by two co-founders of Gunzilla Games.

Subsequently, Gunzilla Games completed a $46 million funding round in September 2022, led by Republic Capital, with participation from several venture capital firms and individual investors, including Griffin Gaming Partners, Animoca Brands, and Jump Crypto. Angel investors and advisors include Twitch co-founder Justin Kan.

In March of this year, Gunzilla Games completed another $30 million funding round, with $10 million of strategic token funding co-led by CoinFund and the Avalanche Foundation's official fund, Blizzard Fund.

In September of this year, Delphi Ventures announced its largest investment in Gunzilla Games to date, stating it would become the largest validator of GUNZ.

In addition to over $100 million in funding, Gunzilla Games boasts a strong team. The team is led by CEO Vlad Korolov and CSO Alexander Zoll, with most members coming from renowned gaming companies like Ubisoft, Electronic Arts (EA), and THQ, having participated in the development of famous games such as Far Cry and Assassin's Creed. Additionally, the team has brought together experts in creative aesthetics and sound, including Oscar-nominated director Neill Blomkamp and Grammy-winning composer Lorne Balfe.

• Co-founder Alexander Zoll: Former CEO of Crytek Kiev, known for the game Crysis and its game engine CryENGINE.
• Chief Technology Officer Timur Davidenko: Worked at Crytek for nearly 19 years, previously serving as the technical director for Crytek's internal engine CryEngine.
• Chief Visual Officer Neill Blomkamp oversees motion capture and the overall aesthetics of the game. Neill Blomkamp has directed legendary films such as District 9, Chappie, Elysium, and Gran Turismo.
• Grammy-winning composer Lorne Balfe serves as the composer for the Off The Grid soundtrack. He has composed for 172 works in film, television, and games, including Mission: Impossible 7: Dead Reckoning (Part One), Black Widow, and The Lego Batman Movie. In the gaming field, he has created original soundtracks for games like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Assassin's Creed 3, Assassin's Creed: Revelations, and Beyond: Two Souls, all of which have been nominated for the BAFTA Games Awards for Best Original Music.

Off the Grid On-Chain Economy

Gunzilla Games has also developed a digital economy platform called GUNZ. GUNZ is an Avalanche subnet designed to allow Gunzilla and even other AAA game developers to enable players to gain full ownership of in-game items in the form of tradable NFTs on on-chain markets and mobile applications.

GUNZ launched its testnet in April 2023, optimizing high-speed gaming and simplifying gas payments using its native token, providing verifiable transparency for gamers and developers.

Off the Grid powers its in-game economy through digital items (in NFT form) and GUN tokens. In-game digital items such as weapons, cybernetic limbs, and skins can be obtained during gameplay or purchased off-chain, while the utility of GUN tokens includes minting fees, in-game transactions, marketplace transactions, game direction voting, and gas tokens for the GUNZ chain.

Off the Grid Gameplay and Experience

Game Background

Off The Grid is a third-person battle royale shooting game built using Unreal Engine 5, set in a dystopian future world, or more specifically, on an island called Teardrop.

In this world, players fight for survival, and those who engage in combat become "human sticks," losing limbs and equipping advanced cybernetic limbs for battle.

Game Configuration and Preparation

Off The Grid is free to play and supports PC, Xbox, and PS5. The minimum configuration required for the game is not high; an i5-9400 + RTX3060 + 16GB RAM is sufficient to run it. However, for a better gaming experience, the PC configuration should reach i7-12700 + RTX4070 + 32GB RAM.

Off The Grid is already available on the Epic Games platform, but Epic Games accounts in the Chinese region cannot download the game. A VPN is required to access the game, which supports English and French.

Gameplay

Off The Grid will support up to 150 players competing in the same match. Additionally, Off The Grid will include PvE missions with narrative content. These missions require players to interact with the environment and complete specific narrative objectives. Every decision made will directly impact everyone's gameplay. The game features a campaign mode lasting up to 60 hours, allowing players to deeply experience the game's story and missions.

Before entering the game, players can use GUN tokens to purchase permanent equipment in the marketplace or extract loot chests (Hexes) during gameplay to open in the lobby for random permanent equipment. Each chest is categorized by rarity: legendary, rare, uncommon, and common. The obtained weapons and items are in NFT (ERC-721) form. Players can configure their existing equipment as starting gear in the lobby.

Off The Grid currently features a 60-player, 3-squad mode, similar to PUBG's battle royale gameplay, where players can search for resources on the map (which are relatively abundant). As time passes, the map gradually shrinks until only the last team remains. If a player is shot and killed, their team can continue to revive them as long as there are other members alive.

Additionally, kills and victories in the game can earn players GUN tokens and experience points. Tokens can be obtained not only through kills and victories in the game but also by completing daily, weekly, and monthly tasks in the lobby. Equipment such as limbs can be obtained through loot boxes or purchased from defeated opponents via P2P transactions.

Equipment

Off The Grid features a rich array of game equipment, including weapons, ammunition, medical supplies, backpacks, cash, cybernetic limbs, and leg prosthetics. The variety of weapons reflects the game's fun and challenge.

There are 7 categories of weapons, including 6 types of assault rifles, 4 submachine guns, 2 shotguns, 2 light machine guns, 2 precision rifles, 2 sniper rifles, and 3 handguns. Each type of weapon also has different rarities, categorized as legendary, rare, uncommon, and common. Weapons have 6 customization slots, including stocks, scopes, barrels, muzzles, under-barrels, tactical attachments, magazines, and grips.

In addition, the cybernetic limbs include left and right arms and legs. There are 13 types of arms, including invisible, electromagnetic pulse, attack drones, reconnaissance drones, shock fists, grappling hooks, knife arms, power shields, missiles, incendiary grenades, landmines, sticky grenades, and gas grenades. There are 4 types of legs: jumping, mortar, heavy hammer, and sprinting. Backpacks come in 4 types: grid immunity backpack, limb skill recovery acceleration backpack, automatic reloading backpack, and regular backpack.

Game Experience

Off The Grid offers players a rich selection of equipment and a diverse combination of skills. The introduction of cybernetic limbs adds many novel gameplay elements and fun. Equipping characters with different limbs makes the combination of equipment skills and tactical planning exceptionally important. The shift from traditional shooting games to strategic tactical games not only injects new vitality into conventional shooting games but also greatly enhances the importance of tactical strategy. Players can adjust their combat style based on the equipped cybernetic limbs, making each game feel fresh and challenging.

Secondly, Off The Grid features relatively exquisite graphics, with environmental tasks and objects appearing quite realistic. This is primarily due to Off The Grid's collaboration with the model prop production company Wētā Workshop, which uses 3D scanning, 3D modeling, and photogrammetry to transform real-life combat gear, footwear, headgear, and more into virtual reality, capturing the complex details and textures of real-world objects to create an immersive gaming experience for players.

However, in the early stages of the game, some players (especially newcomers to shooting games) may find it challenging due to the lack of Chinese support, the complexity of equipment usage, and the intricacies of custom strategies. Nevertheless, Off The Grid provides a training mode that allows players to practice in a pressure-free environment and familiarize themselves with various weapons and equipment.

It is worth noting that the game is still in the trial phase, currently offering only one map, and vehicle elements have not yet been added. Scene destruction and interactive elements are also relatively limited. Additionally, since the main player base is concentrated in Europe, Asian players may experience longer wait times during daytime matchmaking and a relatively higher probability of failure. As the game continues to develop and the player base expands, this issue may improve.

In summary, for Web2 gamers, the appeal of ownership of in-game items cannot be overlooked. Once players experience the charm of this concept, it could fundamentally change the gaming industry for a longer period. Whether Off The Grid's rapid rise can help Avalanche become a more influential center for Web3 games and consumer applications remains to be seen. However, the real challenge now lies in how to convert players' interest into sustained engagement and retention.

References:

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-gaming/exclusive-neil-blomkamp-off-the-grid-1235137311/

https://gamerant.com/cyberpunk-battle-royale-game-off-grid-interview/

https://store.epicgames.com/zh-CN/news/off-the-grid-guide-extraction-royale-survival-tips

https://gunzillagames.com/en/news/52-Unlocking-Hyper-Realism--Leading-the-Industry-with--D-Scanned-Skins-That-Redefine-Immersion-

https://x.com/GamingOnAvax/status/1849113855257092603

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