Off the Table

Ok. We're back to school, playing Off the Table, a game by RUNEGOD. Yhis is a small game (about one phour of lenght, more or less) that is also a spin-off of RUNEGOD's webcomic of the same name.

Ok, clarified this, what is this game about? Well here we play as Hydrogen, a silent protagonist that is in a school where all the characters are named as the elements of the periodic table of elements: there's Carbon, Oxygen, Calcium and so on... the game is about solving the slice of life problems of these characters. That's all. No battles, no level ups, no risk of death, nothing else! We just help some people in their daily lives.


Still a better love story than Twilight, of course!

Ok, I've not been really honest since despite the walking simulator/visual novel nature of the game there are still puzzles, tasks and quizzes that may test your knowledge and cunning, otherwise it would be really boring, but yes, nothing really difficult and in any case if you fail you can also retry. And save anywhere, so it's really a heartwarming and relaxing game.

The most important thing is that this game not only uses custom made graphics, but also a sort of side-view: you can go just left or right and interact with doors to enter rooms or corridors and explore other locations. This reminds to me of Sideways, a game I reviewed years ago that presented a similar approach, even if it used the classic white screw shop assets, but despite that it still proposed puzzles and a sort of side-view perspective. Music is likewise custom made, and while it's a bit repetitive, I did not mind it at all. It's really nice and cute, there was surely a lot of work on the visuals that are colorful and original. The system requires just to use five keys: left/right arrow to walk around, Z or spacebar or Enter to interact/examine/talk, down arrow to open the menu (well that's odd!) to save or exit the game, and arrow up to pause the game and have a summary of the active quests... even if I did not get hos this could help us, but maybe I missed something. Well probably!

Ok, that's all, I guess! In this game you talk with various characters, visit various locations, but it's a really small adventure about meeting these little people from the comic and knowing them better as we complete their little quests. It's a lighthearted simple setting and adventure.


This game includes (simple) puzzles! What did you think? Just doing silly fetch quests? Oh that's not enough!

Final Verdict
If you are looking for complex a storyline or engaging battles, well look elsewhere! This is a little relaxing game with cute characters, and it's all about wandering and talking to people, but I'm pretty sure you already understood that there is no world in danger or any kind of threat. Just meet people, talk and solve their problems for the fun of it! Nothing else, and that's ok, the original visuals and perspective are also a plus! Clearly this is not a game for everyone and the simplicity and the necessity to roam around the school may bore some players, especially those who do not like puzzles and fetch quests, anyway it's not an extremely long or difficult game.