Playing and/or watching a playthrough of OFF is reccomended before reading this page in-depth.
Spoilers are at hand!
OFF was released in 2008, by Unproductive Fun Time. It was created by Martin Georis, also known as Mortis Ghost; and Alias Conrad Coldwood, who made the game's soundtrack.
Alias Conrad Coldwood, however, has cleared both his Youtube and Twitch channel. He still has his Website up, and has listed his email as a means to contact him directly.
OFF follows the entity known as The Batter, as the player controls him to fulfill his sacred mission; to purify the Zones of the world.
Zone 0
The Judge, Pablo.
Zone 0, also cited as Joas on the map of The Nothingness, is the starting location for OFF. The track that plays here is Empty Warehouse, featuring Empty Warehouse Out, and Empty Warehouse In depending on the player's location.
It is assumed that this Zone's Guardian is The Judge, also known as Pablo.
The Judge and his brother, Valérie, inhabit this Zone. Unlike the other Zones, there are no Elsen present, along with no Spectres.
This Zone serves to teach the player the game's basic functions; interaction, combat, and movement.
During The Batter's travels to the other Zones, The Judge can be found in various places throughout. Usually remarking on the player following him, while giving insight into progressing.
Spoilers.The hidden boss of Zone 0, Sugar/Sucre, will be covered in-depth at the bosses section of this shrine.
Zone 1
Zone 1, features the sub-locations of; Elsen, Damien, Pentel, Shachihata and Alma. The tracks that play here are Rainy Day (And Meat), Soft Breeze, Clockwork, Flesh Maze Tango and Fake Orchestra. The two tracks featured on this page are Rainy Day (And Meat) and Clockwork.
This Zone's Guardian is Dedan. It is said he has an iron body, and is filled with anger.
Various Elsen, along with many Spectres inhabit this zone. It's Guardian, Dedan, is tasked with keeping the Elsen workers safe from Spectres. A duty, he seems, to follow with a certain level of disregard. Dedan is known for ruling Zone 1 with 'an iron fist,' however, as Zone 1 is the Zone responsble for the elements keeping all Zones working; it's possible that Dedan is overworked.
Each of the elements that Zone 1 produces are as follows:
❝ Um... You're at the smoke mines of Damien, the southern part of Zone 1. Here, we send workers into deep tunnels to unearth metal from the ground, freeing embedded smoke that was trapped in the depths. Thanks to a variety of tools we are able to put some of it into bottles, which the Queen sends to the other Zones. The rest of it flows free, forming the air that our lungs inhale and exhale... Uh... So we can live. As the first of four elements... It's an important element. Because without smoke, people would have nothing to breathe. ❞
❝ Um... You're at the metal farmsteads of Pentel, the eastern part of Zone 1. Our work consists of cutting livestock in two and extracting the metallic boulders that were contained in the cadavers. All the poor quality metal is discarded, forming the ground we walk on. The rest gets purified to make tools and other objects with. Some of it is also put into crates and sent to the other zones, so they have tools and soil as well, I suppose... As the first of four elements... It's an important element. Because without metal, people would have nothing to walk on. They would sink and drown. ❞
❝ Hhh... You're at the plastic administrations of Shachihata, the northern part of Zone 1. Our work consists of filling in forms. Afterwards, we wrap them up with string and send them to the courier service. There, they ship the packages, and in return we receive parcels full of plastic. There is alot of liquid plastic that forms lakes and oceans. There is also solid plastic, used to make various objects. As the first of four elements... It's an important element. Because without plastic, the world would have no boundaries. People would walk and walk without ever stopping. ❞
❝ Hhh... You're here at the meat fountains of Alma, the center of the first zone. Here, meat flows freely, continually filling these immense metal pools you see before you. Our work consist of pouring this meat into bottles before the fountains overflow. The meat is then immediately delivered to all the other Zones, from Zone 1 on. As the first of four elements... It's the most important element. Because without meat, people would have nothing to eat, and they would devour each other. ❞
The Spectres that appear in the entirety of Zone 1 are as follows;
In Zone 1, the player will enter their first combat with any Spectres they encounter. The combat music is Pepper Steak, which has become what some consider the staple track for OFF.
The track Pepper Steak shares the same name as the song Pepper Steak by The Washboard Rhythm Kings, which can be listened to here. The original song was released in 1967, on the album Jugs, Washboards & Kazoos.
The track Pepper Steak notably samples from the original Pepper Steak from the 1960s. In early versions of OFF, the track was incorrectly labelled as Peper Steak or Pepar Steak.
There are five known areas of Zone 1. Because Zone 1 is responsible for the production of all the elements that keep the world of OFF running smoothly, there are most likely more areas that remain unknown. The areas The Batter visits are as follows:
Elsen
Rainy Day (And Meat) plays in this area. Elsen is the tram station the player stops at as soon as they leave The Nothingness and enter this first zone. There are two Elsen at this tram station. Only one them can be spoken to without noclipping. These two Elsen say the following:
❝ Train #1 is a really useful means of transport to get about Zone 1. ❞
❝ If you are reading this, then that means you have the power of noclip. Help Dismal find his fruit cup. That is all. ❞
Dismal, as referenced by the second Elsen, is still unknown.
Damien
This area is where the player learns of the element smoke, which is obtained from Damien's smoke mines, in the south of Zone 1.
The smoke mines are managed by many Elsen, travelling deep underground and digging up metals which frees the smoke the inhabitants of all zones breathe.
Some of the smoke is also bottled, and sent off to other zones. Whether the bottled smoke is used strictly for breathing, or for other purposes in the zones it is sent to, is unknown.
Pentel
This area is where the player learns of the element metal, which is obtained from Pentel's farmsteads, in the east of Zone 1.
The elsen working here manage cutting the livestock in halves, in order to extract metal from the cadavers. The livestock shown are cows. The discarded metal creates the ground, while the quality metal is used to make a variety of things.
Due to the presence of cows in Pentel, some fans have theorized that Dedan, this zone's guardian, has been effected by Mad Cow Disease, explaining his irrational or cruel behavior with the elsen he oversees.
Shachihata
This area is where the player learns of the element plastic, which is obtained from Shachihata's plastic administrations, in the north of Zone 1.
The large office-esque building has many elsen working within it. This space is responsible for filling out forms, and sending said forms to the courier service. Parcels of plastic are sent in return.
While it is said that The Queen is the provider of plastic, the origin beyond that is unknown. The plastic creates the "water" in various zones, as well as many objects.
Alma
This area is where the player learns of the element meat, which is obtained from Alma's meat fountains, in the center of Zone 1.
The fountains are kept from overflowing by the elsen working there. The meat produced by these fountains is bottled, and sent off to other zones as a source of food.
The elsen working in this zone are considerably easier stressed than other areas, which is assumed to be due to the fact they need to keep the fountains from constantly overflowing; along with being in close proximity to the zone's guardian, Dedan.
Concept art of Pentel's layout.
Regarding the names of these areas, there is an elsen at the stop in Pentel that says the following:
❝ It is said that the names of the metro's stops correspond to the names of important people of the past... ❞
❝ I have trouble imagining it hasn't always been like this... ❞
As far as I know, there are no concrete theories as to who, or what the "important people of the past" could be.
Going off of information that we know, the elsen and Enoch are human, but in an unrealistic context. This could imply that the area names could be tied to elsen of the past, or they could have been something more similar to Enoch. This is still unclear.
Zacharie
Zacharie's talk SFX.
The merchant of OFF, known as Zacharie, is first encountered in this Zone. Specifically in the smoke mines, and he provides a small piece of dialogue that breaks the fourth wall. Zacharie, throughout the course of the different Zones, continues to display the fact he is aware the world is within a game.
❝ What I'm saying is that the average player doesn't need all these complicated and tedious dialogues. There should be more action and fewer questions. ❞
Zacharie's inventory at this location is as follows:
Luck Ticket — Recovers a moderate amount of HP.
Moloch's Meat — Cures poison.
Eye — Analyses the enemies' characteristics.
Harold Bat — Offensive equipment for The Batter.
Audacious Symbol — Offensive equipment for the Add-Ons.
Aura of Justice — Defensive equipment.
Nicolas Tunic — Defensive equipment for The Batter.
Radius Epidermis — Defensive equipment for Add-Ons.
Zacharie is usually decipted with an alternative mask, which will be covered further down this shrine.
Dedan
❝ You'll taste the pain, you sick spirit. ❞
Zone 1's guardian, Dedan, can be found in both the director's office of the post office building in Shachihata, and his offices in Alma. As part of his position, being the Queen's inspector, Dedan is tasked with eliminating spectres that haunt his Zone.
His competences, commonly known as special attacks, are all themed around time, specifically clockwork. They are named; Minute Hand, Hour Hand, and Sweep Hand respectively.
Dedan's name in Hebrew means low ground. The name also shares some associations with other words, such as:
Des Dents, French, meaning "some teeth."
Deaden, English, meaning "make less intense."
Dedans, French, meaning "inside."
Further info on Dedan, the guardian of Zone 1, will be expanded on in the bosses section of this shrine.
Zone 2
Zone 2, features the sub-locations of; the Library, Shopping Center, Amusement Park, and Residential Area. The tracks that play here are Desperately Safe, The Walls are Listening, Windows Licking, Not Safe, A Stab of Happiness, Unreasonable Behavior, Dramatic Crescendo and Minuit à Fond la Caisse. The two tracks featured on this page are Desperately Safe and Unreasonable Behavior.
This Zone's Guardian is Japhet. He is described as a flaming winged sovereign, a guardian angel of his subjects.
The Elsen that inhabit this zone live their lives consumed by fear and worries. They're cushioned beyond belief, making statements about how turning book pages in the library is too loud, for example. Because of how these Elsen live, their guardian Japhet has seemingly been forgotten by them, despite him having created the zone they live in.
The library is full of many books. These are transcribed as follows:
❝ For afterwards, she enstated three guardians, responsible for watching over the zones. The fire bird was designated lord of the second zone, the eternal city of Bismark. He was the tallest, the most beautiful, and the most just.
????????? it a
?????????o more
?????????you
????Ro
?????????wish
??????finishe
?????????The
?????the gar ??ou ????e of
??window
????trying in
???????in peace
?????????that
?????up
??????you do
???
❞
The she mentioned in this text is most likely the Queen, who will be covered in later sections on this shrine.
❝ The Toad King. A long time ago, there lived an evil king with countenance so repulsive, he was called the Toad King. One beautiful day, a masked man presented hisself at the souvereign court, and spoke these words: "Good day, o evil monarch! Leave and return peace to thy people or taste mine blade and perish at its end." The king reponded: "I am the king, and thou art my subjects. Thou art not to oppose mine will." Thus, the masked man brandished his epee and killed the king. The End. ❞
Many theorize that this book is actually an indication of Zacharie's background, seeing as he wears a mask.
❝ ...and, swarming about in the stomach of the world, the seven hundred thousand up-children-down of sin gnaw at the queen's established order, menacing her gentle rule. They are the physical incarnation of evil's harmful deeds in the world. Forever lost in their sickly madness, they are beyond redemption and immortal. Only the queen herself, when the final battle comes, could annihilate the miasmatic force that is the up-children-down.
Chapter 2.
of the apocalypse and the dark liches.
The same shall happen to all souls banished for their sins; they shall be tortured forever by the accursed hordes of the dark liches, residing... ❞
❝ Prenez garde, Madame, vous commencez o grossir!... et grossir c'est vieillir!... En suivant la methode Dalcroze, qui a introduit le sport dans le solfege, vous conserverez toute votre sveltesse. Trois sonates de Beethoven determinent un amgaigrissement progressif tros sensible et six fugues de Bach ont sur les cellules adipeuses une action foudroyant. On peut encore accelerer les effects du traitement en l'executant sur ❞
❝ Be careful, madam, you're starting to put on weight! ... And putting on weight means aging! ...With the Dalcroze method, which combines sport with music theory, you will keep the entirety of your slenderness. Three sonatas of Beethoven lead to gradual, quite sensitive weight loss and six fugues of Bach have a devastating effect on fat cells. The effects of this treatment can be accelerated by executing it on... ❞
❝ This is the story of the three guardians, chosen by the Queen to rule over the zones, islets of life in the Nothingness of this world.
The first, Dedan, was tall and short of temper. His firmness of character and his body of steel ensured him supreme reign over his Zone. The second, Japhet, was kind and generous. Always smiling benignantly, he was beloved by all. He always went off in all directions, never ceasing to give more security to his subjects. The third, Enoch, was cold and just. He produced a fifth, artificial element in his Zone, sugar. His people became addicted to this magical substance.
They were happy, but disconnected from reality. Arcane legends tell of the Queen, living by her father's side in the Room, engendering the phantoms to destroy the world that they themselves have created. Some say that she is beautiful like the heart of the sun, others are certain that she is invisible. All of this is, evidently, nothing but unfounded speculation. ❞
❝ And, drawing from the last of his waning forces, he created the library, more beautiful even than it had ever been before. As its height pierced the clouds of smoke in the sky, he took his place... He had done everything for them, like the most benevolent of guardians. He had given them peace, security and several means of having fun; such was the greatness of his generosity. For a while, all was well for all, and they enjoyed the land that had been created for them with a most childish innocence. They were running through the streets, amazed by so many...
But the dynamics of this world soon escalated into madness. They started to forget their joys, descending in a spiral of fear and mindless worries. They had... As for the fire bird, he wept on his lonesome throne, saddened by the oblivion into which his subjects had made him fall. They now had time for nought but their own worries. And so, the fire bird became a cat, and the cat became a tyrant. Led by his wrath and sadness, he let a gale of ominous spirits rain upon his subjects. His madness blinded him from...
And as the spectres were destroying the world for him that he had himself created, he sought refuge at the summit of his most wonderful creation, the great library of Bismark... There remained nought but to await the purifier, the man who would rise up to destroy him. For at the bottom of his soul, he knew: What he had done was evil. ❞
Books that are too short for transcription are below.
The Spectres that appear in the entirety of Zone 2 are as follows;
Zone 2's guardian, Japhet, can be found all throughout Zone 2, in areas such as the residential district, and on the roof of the library. Being the creator of his Zone's wonders, such as the amusement park, Japhet has grown disillusioned with his paranoid subjects, who no longer find joy in his creations.
His competences, commonly known as special attacks, are all themed around choir. They are named; Alto, Soprano, Head-voice and Tenor respectively.
Japhet's name in Hebrew means may he extend. The proper spelling of the name, Japheth, comes from the Torah; and is the eldest son of Noah.
Further info on Japhet, the guardian of Zone 2, will be expanded on in the bosses section of this shrine.
❝ Um... You're at the smoke mines of Damien, the southern part of Zone 1. Here, we send workers into deep tunnels to unearth metal from the ground, freeing embedded smoke that was trapped in the depths. Thanks to a variety of tools we are able to put some of it into bottles, which the Queen sends to the other Zones. The rest of it flows free, forming the air that our lungs inhale and exhale... Uh... So we can live. As the first of four elements... It's an important element. Because without smoke, people would have nothing to breathe. ❞
This area is where the player learns of the element smoke, which is obtained from Damien's smoke mines, in the south of Zone 1.
This area is where the player learns of the element metal, which is obtained from Pentel's farmsteads, in the east of Zone 1.
This area is where the player learns of the element plastic, which is obtained from Shachihata's plastic administrations, in the north of Zone 1.
This area is where the player learns of the element meat, which is obtained from Alma's meat fountains, in the center of Zone 1.
❝ What I'm saying is that the average player doesn't need all these complicated and tedious dialogues. There should be more action and fewer questions. ❞
❝ For afterwards, she enstated three guardians, responsible for watching over the zones. The fire bird was designated lord of the second zone, the eternal city of Bismark. He was the tallest, the most beautiful, and the most just.
❝ The Toad King. A long time ago, there lived an evil king with countenance so repulsive, he was called the Toad King. One beautiful day, a masked man presented hisself at the souvereign court, and spoke these words: "Good day, o evil monarch! Leave and return peace to thy people or taste mine blade and perish at its end." The king reponded: "I am the king, and thou art my subjects. Thou art not to oppose mine will." Thus, the masked man brandished his epee and killed the king. The End. ❞
❝ ...and, swarming about in the stomach of the world, the seven hundred thousand up-children-down of sin gnaw at the queen's established order, menacing her gentle rule. They are the physical incarnation of evil's harmful deeds in the world. Forever lost in their sickly madness, they are beyond redemption and immortal. Only the queen herself, when the final battle comes, could annihilate the miasmatic force that is the up-children-down.
Chapter 2.
of the apocalypse and the dark liches.
The same shall happen to all souls banished for their sins; they shall be tortured forever by the accursed hordes of the dark liches, residing... ❞
❝ Prenez garde, Madame, vous commencez o grossir!... et grossir c'est vieillir!... En suivant la methode Dalcroze, qui a introduit le sport dans le solfege, vous conserverez toute votre sveltesse. Trois sonates de 
❝ This is the story of the three guardians, chosen by the Queen to rule over the zones, islets of life in the Nothingness of this world.
❝ And, drawing from the last of his waning forces, he created the library, more beautiful even than it had ever been before. As its height pierced the clouds of smoke in the sky, he took his place... He had done everything for them, like the most benevolent of guardians. He had given them peace, security and several means of having fun; such was the greatness of his generosity. For a while, all was well for all, and they enjoyed the land that had been created for them with a most childish innocence. They were running through the streets, amazed by so many...
