Battle Royale has dominated the world of gaming in recent years but the genre is potentially facing its next evolution with the announcement of the Cyberpunk-styled AAA Third-Person-Shooter, Off The Grid.
Announced earlier today (5 May) by developers Gunzilla Games, Off The Grid is set to release in 2023 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X and PC, boasting a 150-player experience. What makes this title stand out from the crowd in terms of the Battle Royale genre, however, is that Off The Grid will have a heavy focus on narrative progression with the game containing both PVP and PVE storyline elements using the same map inhabited by other players in real-time.
Off The Grid sees the creative minds of Chief Visionary Officer Neill Blomkamp (District 9, Elysium), Script Writer Richard K. Morgan (Altered Carbon, Crysis) and Industry veteran turned Executive Narrative Director Olivier Henriot (Far Cry, Assassin's Creed) collaborating to make a Battle Royale experience like no other.
In the press release, Blomkamp describes their goal as "...creating battle royale 2.0" with their implementation and focus on narrative progression but also claims that they want Off The Grid to be more than just that, stating that Gunzilla wants "...to build an evolving world designed to take on a life of its own, changing in unexpected ways each time a player rejoins the game." So that "...there is always something new to find and explore, and for us to expand upon.”
Off The Grid was revealed alongside a cinematic teaser trailer that shows a cybernetically enhanced figure walking through the game's setting of a dystopian tropical island that's in the middle of a covert corporate war. The trailer also reveals that the title will be produced using Unreal Engine 5, further backing up Gunzilla's desire to evolve the Battle Royale genre.