GG’s 2024 Game of the Year: Off the Grid

Off the Grid has only been available for a short while, but it’s by far the best bitcoin activity of the year, and it’s not even close.

Hamster Kombat blew most game out of the water by collecting 300 million gamers this summer, if we’re talking true figures. The repetitive tap-to-earn small game inevitably came off as a financialized fad that was lightly veiled as a sport, and the airdrop resulting hardly justified the hype.

Off the Grid impressed both Web2 and Web3-native players by providing a genuinely excellent competitive gunman that rivals other AAA battle royale games.

The elites who livestream live in the livestreaming industry were even able to see how the blockchain can increase gambling as a result. That’s why Off the Grid is GG’s Game of the Year for 2024.

How did it do this? In many ways, it was accomplished by going against what the blockchain gambling sector had come to expect, not developing in the people and eventually iterating at a very early age. Gunzilla Games instead opted to work with a more traditional “AAA” approach, where the majority of the work is done away from prying eyes, just showcasing the activity once it has been largely refined.

” You want to put your best feet forward—because if you burn that gate, it’s gone”, Gunzilla Games Director of Web3 Theodore Agranat told . ” First impressions matter all throughout life, in everything”.

In a way unlike any other crypto activity launch we’ve seen, it made a big splash and reached mainstream players in October. The film’s intriguing fusion of recovery elements from the tried-and-true fight royale style, set in a futuristic reality TV show setting suggested by” District 9″ director Neill Blomkamp, created the perfect storm. &nbsp,

As a result, notably harsh crypto game critic Jauwn called it one of best ( if not best ) crypto game he’s played. Additionally, it received praise from Web2 content authors like Warzone expert IceManIsaac, who claimed it was” by far most pleasure” he’d had playing a battle royal, while YouTuber Tomographic said he prefers Off Grid to well-known hits like Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone.

Crypto games content creator Kyroh told ,” The launch of the first access was very hyped up.” ” It was wonderful seeing so many of the major players getting involved like Ninja, TimtheTatman, Scump, and more”.

The game’s special cyberlimb engineer, which allows players to switch out their arms, legs, and backpacks for mechanical ones with unique abilities, is a part of what contributed to these favorable reviews. This has resulted in numerous fascinating viral videos where players find happiness pushing the boundaries of the sport or laughing when their cyberlimb is shot off, forcing them to cross the image.

” It’s one of the primary Web3 game that has really innovated on the battle royal style, and I think people took notice of that”, Kyroh added. Given enough time to prepare,” I believe it has the potential to be one of the best battle royales out there.”

Keeping crypto fair

Even with a sensational launch, some players have concerns about what will happen once the game’s crypto elements come to the surface—including the likes of Jauwn, IceManIsaac, and Tomographic. Gunzilla claims there is nothing to worry about because the features are already incorporated into the game and operate in the background.

” Well, I’m happy to tell you that everything is already implemented. People just don’t openly see it”, Agranat explained. ” It’s not like we’re hiding it. It’s just that it’s irrelevant”.

In its current state, the game is running on the GUNZ testnet—essentially a practice run of the real thing. New players have wallet addresses seamlessly made for them, extracted hexes are minted on-chain, in-game GUN tokens are actual crypto tokens, and items are transferred as NFTs between wallets when traded on the in-game marketplace—albeit, all on a testnet. &nbsp,

After years of having crypto bevilified by many gamers, some people saw this as enough to open their eyes to the possibility that blockchain gaming might not be so bad. Most notably, former Counter-Strike pro player Michael” Shroud” Grzesiek said that tokenized, tradable items was a “pretty straightforward” concept, comparing it to Valve’s Steam marketplace, that he was surprised hadn’t caught on already.

It’s the next step that scares a lot of gamers. In Q1 2025 (estimated ), the GUNZ network, built as a dedicated L1 on the Avalanche blockchain, will move to mainnet and the GUN token will be freely tradable. Testnet GUN balances will be deleted, but distinctive assets will still be kept. &nbsp,

This theoretically would prevent real players from using GUN tokens and allow anyone to invest real money to purchase all of the powerful weapons. But Gunzilla has a plan.

A new variant of the asset, with a cosmetic change, not a statistical power difference, will be added to the game to combat this, in the event that a particular weapon is being hoarded by a single player.

” Guiser who decides which items to drop on the island in the various hexes, in the various loot boxes, right? It’s us, of course”, Agranat told . Nobody benefits from simply putting a million dollars into the market, according to the statement.

He explained that in the end, all weapons that are available for purchase in the market can be scavenged on the map. You must still receive enough in-game cash to purchase a loadout, which Agranat suggests might have led you to find your desired weapons anyway even if you purchase the cyberlimbs and weapons on the marketplace. &nbsp,

Some players would, however, refute this by saying that it is too simple to find the funds for a loadout. Rather than battling marketplace whales, this becomes the key balancing issue.

” No pay-to-win ever, ever, ever”, he said, definitively.

That said, by getting the battle pass via the$ 11.99 monthly OTG Pro subscription, you’re able to trade your items and earn GUN tokens at a faster rate. This is clearly an advantage, Agranat admits as much.

But is it much more advantageous to unlock weapons for Warzone than purchasing the most recent Call of Duty game for$ 69.99 plus their seasonal battle pass offers for$ 9.99?

” It does not grant you any special rights in the game. It does not give you a weapon that’s stronger than any other weapon”, Agranat explained. ” Any weapon that exists in the game, in the whole universe—in terms of functionality of the weapon—you can find for free in an in-game session”.

For all of its strengths, Off the Grid still hasn’t solved the age-old crypto gaming problem of launching on consoles, as PlayStation and Xbox still haven’t embraced blockchain gaming. Moonray, an Ethereum battler, recently made it known that the PlayStation 5 would be the only one that would completely remove any blockchain elements.

Agranat confirmed to that more details will be made about the game’s crypto elements and how they will be “handled differently.” In the end, he made it clear that even though the crypto user interactions on console games may not be the same as those on PC, the GUNZ network will still be used to power the back-end.

What’s next?

Before the mainnet launch early next year, Gunzilla Games wants to have many things in place for GUNZ and Off the Grid.

As part of the storyline, Agranat explained that the game will launch a ranked mode, solo queue mode, and a new battle royale mode that would open up the remaining 80 % of the map. Not only do they want these features live, but to be” top, top notch”.

Additionally, there are plans to bring in outsider developers to create new games for the GUNZ network, creating a gaming ecosystem powered by the GUN token.

It’s encouraging that Gunzilla Games is dedicated to earning the respect of gamers in a year where Telegram tapping games were the norm. Many players appeared to be very happy when the penny-to-earning tap-to-earning giant Hamster Kombat finally launched, despite the hundreds of millions of players ‘ enthusiasm.

” I’m not denying the fact that they have definitely tapped into the current zeitgeist of people wanting quick things, social things, and something where they don’t need to think,” Agranat said. ” But beyond that, it’s quite hilarious that 300 million people just tapped on something”.

Gunzilla is willing to take a lesson from this, with the studio considering developing its own Telegram mini app as a way to welcome users to the expanding ecosystem. Agranat said this is “absolutely” on Gunzilla’s roadmap as a user acquisition funnel.

” We already are establishing best practices”, he said, in reference to the entire game rollout and developing strategies. We want to use these best practices in all of the games that come into our ecosystem so that we are known for the only company that produces high-quality, enjoyable, and sustainable games.

Perhaps in 2025, we’ll be hailing the next game launched on the GUNZ network, following those very same practices. Given how well Off the Grid landed, we can only hope.