Off the grid It's only been available for a couple of months, but it's the best cryptocurrency game of the year by far — and it's not even close.

If we are talking about pure numbers, then... Hamster Kombat Blew most games of water through shelves 300 million players This summer. But the bland "click-to-earn" applet ultimately felt like a financial gimmick thinly veiled as a game, and the resulting airdrop It hardly justifies the hype.

As for Off the gridthe game impressed the original Web2 and Web3 players by offering great competitive shooter gameplay that rivals other AAA entries in the battle royale genre.

In doing so, it not only caught the attention of the streaming elite, but also opened their eyes to how blockchain technology could improve gaming. For this reason, Off the Grid received the GG Game of the Year 2024 award.

How did you do this? In many ways, this was achieved by going against what the cryptocurrency gaming industry expected, by not developing overtly and iterating gradually from a very early stage. instead of, Gonzilla games It followed the more traditional "AAA" model of doing the bulk of the work away from prying eyes, and the game was only released after it was mostly optimized.

“You want to give it your best shot, because if you burn that bridge, it's gone,” said Theodore Agranat, Web3 director at Gunzilla Games. Decryption. “First impressions are important throughout life, and in everything.”

This helped the early access launch in October generate significant buzz and reach major players, in a way unlike any crypto game launch we've seen. It's an interesting mix of extraction elements within the tried-and-true battle royale genre, set in a dystopian reality TV show conceived by the director of "District 9." Neill BlomkampIt created the perfect storm.

As a result, he became a famous brutal crypto games reviewer Jawn Describe it as one of the best (if it isn't the Best) Crypto games he played. It has also received acclaim from Web2 content creators such as War zone Specialist IceManIsaac, who said that “By far the most funHe was playing a battle royale, while YouTuber Tomographic said he was playing Preferably off-grid For fixed strikes such as Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone.

“The early access launch was a huge buzz,” said the cryptocurrency gaming content creator Kiroh He said Decryption. “It was great to see so many big streamers participating like Ninja, TimtheTatman, Scump, and more.”

Part of what fueled these positive reviews was the game's unique bionic limb mechanic, which allows players to swap out their arms, legs, and backpacks for bionic ones with special abilities. This has created a ton of Exciting viral clipswhere players find joy in pushing the boundaries of the game or laugh when their bionic limbs are shot – forcing them to crawl across the map.

“It's one of the first Web3 games that really brought innovation to the battle royale genre, and I think people noticed that,” Kiroh He added. “I think it has the potential to become one of the best battle royale games out there, given enough time to cook.”

Maintaining fairness in cryptocurrencies

Even with the exciting launch, some players have concerns about what will happen once the game's crypto elements appear - including the likes of Jauwn, IceManIsaac, and Tomographic. But Gunzilla says there's nothing to worry about there, as the features are already built into the game and working behind the scenes.

“Well, I'm happy to tell you that everything has already been implemented. People don't see it openly,” 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, which is essentially a beta of the real game. New players have wallet addresses designed seamlessly for them, mined hex tokens are minted on-chain, in-game GUN tokens are actual crypto tokens, and items are transferred as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) between wallets when traded on the in-game market – albeit All on one platform. com. testnet.

For some, this was enough to open their eyes to the possibility that blockchain gaming isn't so bad – after years of vilification of cryptocurrencies by many gamers. Most notable is a former Counter-Strike player Michael "Shroud" Grzecyk He said token and tradable items were a "pretty straightforward" concept, comparing it to Valve's Steam marketplace, which he was surprised hadn't been realized already.

It's the next step that scares a lot of players. In Q1 2025 (estimated), the GUNZ network will be established as a dedicated L1 network on the Avalanche blockchain, It will move to the main network The GUN token will be freely tradable. Testnet GUN credits will be erased, but unique assets will be retained.

In theory, this means that anyone can invest real money to obtain GUN codes and purchase all the powerful weapons, preventing real players from using them. But Gunzilla has a plan.

If one player retains a certain weapon, a new version of the original - with a cosmetic change, but no statistical power difference - will be introduced into the game to combat it.

“Guess who gets to decide which items get dropped on the island in the various different hexes, in the different loot boxes, right? Us, of course,” Agranat said. Decryption. “No one benefits at all from just putting a million dollars out into the market.”

He explained that eventually, all weapons available for purchase in the market can be searched for on the map. Even if you buy weapons and bionic limbs from the market, you still have to have enough in-game cash to buy gear, which Agranat suggests could have led you to finding the weapons you wanted anyway.

However, some players may object to this by saying that finding the money needed for the download process is very easy. This then becomes the main challenge to achieve balance, rather than fighting the whales of the market.

“There is never, ever, ever pay to win,” he said emphatically.

However, by obtaining the Battle Pass via $11.99 With a monthly OTG Pro subscription, you can trade your items and earn GUN tokens at a faster rate. This is clearly an advantage; Agranat admits as much.

But is this much more of an advantage than buying the latest Call of Duty game? $69.99as well as Seasonal Battle Pass offers for $9.99 to unlock weapons in Warzone?

“It doesn't give you any special privileges in the game. It doesn't give you a weapon that's more powerful than any other,” Agranat explained. “Any weapon that exists in the game, in the entire universe - in terms of weapon functionality - you can find it for free in an in-game session.”

For all its strengths, Off the Grid still hasn't solved the legacy cryptocurrency game problem of being released on consoles, as PlayStation and Xbox have yet to embrace blockchain gaming. Ethereum fighter Monray It recently revealed plans to release it on PlayStation 5, but it will Completely remove any blockchain elementsAt least at launch.

Agranat confirmed to Decryption That the crypto elements of the game should be "handled differently" and that more information will be released about the mainnet launch. However, he eventually confirmed that console games will still be supported by the GUNZ network on the back end, even if user interactions with cryptocurrencies are different from PC interactions.

What's next?

There's a lot Gunzilla Games wants to deliver for Off the Grid and GUNZ before the mainnet launches early next year.

Agranat explained that the game is set to launch ranked mode and solo queue mode, unlocking the remaining 80% of the map in a new Battle Royale mode as the story unfolds. They don't just want to roll out these features, they want them to be "top notch."

Not to mention plans to engage third-party developers to publish other games on the GUNZ network, fueling the gaming ecosystem powered by the GUN token.

In a year where crypto gaming has been dominated by Telegram clicker games, it's refreshing that Gunzilla Games is dedicated to making the industry respected by gamers. Click-to-earn giant Hamster Kombat may have attracted hundreds of millions of players, but few seemed too happy by the time the token finally launched.

“I don't take credit for the fact that they've definitely tapped into the current zeitgeist of people who want fast things, social things, something they don't have to think about,” Agranat said. “But beyond that, it's very funny that 300 million people just clicked on something.”

However, Gunzilla is ready to learn a lesson from this, as the studio is considering creating its own Telegram mini app as a way to bring people into the growing ecosystem. This is "definitely" on Gunzilla's roadmap as a user acquisition path, Agranat said.

“We've already established best practices,” he said, referring to the full game rollout and strategy development. “We want all games launched into our ecosystem to use best practices, so that we can be known as a series that only has good, fun and sustainable games.”

Maybe in 2025, we will pay tribute to the next game released on the GUNZ network, following the same practices. Given how successful the off-grid landing was, we can only hope.

Modified by Andrew Hayward