District 9 Director Is Working On A Cyberpunk Battle Royale, Coming In 2023
In July 2021, District 9 and Elysium director Neill Blomkamp revealed he had joined developer Gunzilla Games as its chief visionary officer to work on an upcoming online multiplayer game. That game has now been revealed to be Off The Grid, a battle royale with a narrative-driven progression system that's set in a cyberpunk-inspired world.
«The approach is to try to inject the story in a way where players have the option of engaging straight up in the battle royale or have the option of diving into story and story missions, almost like a campaign that you would be playing to follow a story narrative,» Blomkamp told GameSpot.
As Blomkamp explains it, Off The Grid sees you create your character before then asking you to join one of three possible in-game factions. «We're trying to decide the best way of doing [factions],» Blomkamp said. «But I think the idea of a larger story that is told from different points of view is definitely a key pillar.»
The three different organizations--whose identities and mission statements are being kept hush-hush for now--are fighting over a space elevator located on an island. The elevator leads to an asteroid mining operation that's creating an immense amount of wealth, drawing the attention of a variety of interested parties from around the globe.
Within this narrative set-up, you're dropped into your traditional battle royale match, where the last player standing wins. However, within the context of each match, players can participate in challenges or missions that support their chosen faction's goals.
«And I think one of the things that's really interesting is creating a situation where you have 'mirror missions' where [different factions] are stacked against one another,» Blomkamp said.
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