OFF is a French Indie RPG made in RPGMaker 2003. The game starts out in a peaceful world that is being plagued by ghosts, and it's your job to assist a man named The Batter in getting rid of them. Your mentor along the way is a little white cat called The Judge, and despite the sharp teeth, he's quite articulate and friendly. There's also a man named Zacharie, who is your average, friendly, everyday teleporting RPG shopkeep.

You start off by beating ghosts into "Purification" with your baseball bat. Learning new abilities. Adding new, mysterious, ring-shaped party members into your party. Defeating bosses who seem pretty evil: an asshole who bullies his subordinates, an insane cat who punishes his people for not taking advantage of the wonderful city he has built for them, and a businessman who keeps his workers hopped up on sugar. Everything seems pretty fine so far. You're doing it all for the Elsen, the people of this land. Eventually they'll be free. You're the hero here, you're doing it all for them.

However, it doesn't stay that way. The cat isn't really evil-- he's actually The Judge's brother, and the only way to kill the bird possessing him is to kill them both. The Judge is heartbroken by his brother's death, and even stops helping you as a result, not showing up again until the very end of the game. Go back through the Zones, and you'll notice that you've just wiped the world entirely of color, music, and people. Going back to defeat the Secret Boss, Sugar, causes your only friend, Zacharie, to lose his love to your hand, even losing his signature chuckle in the process. Was the money and EXP gain you earned really worth it? The bombshell really drops once you get to the final level, The Room. Your allies in battle? The Guardians of the Zones you killed, who you thought you were Purifying. And they're actually pretty nice guys! The evil Queen you've been gearing up the entire game to defeat? Your loving wife. The sickly little boy who shows up between levels? Your son. You don't even get a chance to opt out of killing him, and he doesn't even fight back when you do. The final level really hammers it in that your son thinks of you as a comic book villain, and you start to wonder if you really are.

The Judge calls you out on your bastardly behavior at the end of the game, and gives you a choice. Side with The Batter, and be forced to kill The Judge, your conscience. Successfully complete the mission and turn the light Off for the world forever. Side with The Judge, admitting your outrage at being strung along by The Batter, and The Batter transforms into the monster he really was all along. The worlds will never be back to what they once were, but at least The Judge knows that by defeating The Batter and not allowing him to complete his mission, The Judge can at least have his peace. Cue the credits, The Judge walking through the monochromatic Zones alone, set to "Somewhere Over The Rainbow".

There's also an after-credits bonus sequence, unobtainable unless you beat the Final Boss and obtained the bonus Aries Card instead of the final weapon. It informs you that by purifying the worlds, you have just allowed a race of talking space apes to take over and build factories that they will now use to defend against their enemies, a race of alien brains. The End. Hey, what do you expect from a guy who thanks Suda 51 in the credits? (I expect they'd get along well. They appear to both be fond of cats, among many other things.)

Overall, it's a fantastic game with a fantastic soundtrack (courtesy of Alias Conrad Coldwood). I've included the basic battle theme here as just a taste. Quite a catchy little electro-swing track.