District 9 director teases cyberpunk battle royale shooter Off The Grid for 2023

District 9 director Neill Blomkamp and his new studio Gunzilla Games have unveiled their debut game: Off The Grid, a cyberpunk battle royale shooter coming in 2023.

A brief cinematic teaser for Off The Grid was released earlier today, showing a soldier skulking through the jungle outside a city seemingly bombarded by turret fire. You can tell it's a cyberpunk game because all of this guy's limbs are (presumably cybernetically enhanced) prosthetics and his arm has a sword attached to it, plus his gun has a glowy green stock.

Off The Grid is described as a multiplayer shooter set on a dystopian tropical island where players "shape the story and gameplay." While it is a battle royale, it's said to feature a mix of "head-spinning assassination and sabotage missions" undertaken in the name of "the greater glory and market share of your chosen faction." Sounds like we'll be choosing sides and representing them in multiplayer matches that involve more than shooting dudes as we evade an enclosing ring of death – assuming there is a ring of death, as is battle royale tradition. 

Gunzilla Games was co-founded by Alex Zoll and Vlad Korolev in early 2020, with Blomkamp – who's previously led game shorts like Anthem's Conviction trailer and Halo 3's Landfall film – as its chief visionary officer. The studio's staff also includes veterans of Ubisoft, EA, THQ, Metroid developer 4A Games, as well as some more entertainment-minded folks like scriptwriter Richard Morgan, who's known for his work on the Altered Carbon novel and Netflix series but also contributed to games like Crysis 2 and Syndicate. 

Off The Grid is set to launch on PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC sometime in 2023.

With the recent release of Bloodhunt, Vampire: The Masquerade has gotten a battle royale of its own. 

Austin Wood
Senior writer

Austin has been a game journalist for 12 years, having freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree. He's been with 12DOVE since 2019. They've yet to realize his position is a cover for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he's kept the ruse going with a lot of news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

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