Off The Grid’s ‘biggest update yet,’ Rumble Kong League review: Web3 Gamer

Off The Grid introduces huge update for Teardrop Island

Avalanche-based blockchain shooter Off The Grid has dropped its most significant update yet for one of its five major maps, adding a new playable location, cyberlimb, side event, and a bunch of gameplay improvements.

“Teardrop has just deployed its BIGGEST UPDATE YET!” Off The Grid said in a Feb. 28 X post.

The game has introduced Midtown Harbour to the Teardrop Island map, a new playable area south of urban neighborhood-themed area Little Kyiv and west of other playable locations Marshlands and Saltie, according to the game’s official Reddit channel.

On top of that, players can now use a Cyberlimb as a new weapon and take on the “Combat DJ” side mission, where they capture DJ booths, control the music, and rack up experience points (XP).

Some cool gameplay improvements, like jetpack upgrades and rotational aim assist, have also been implemented into the game.

Web3 gaming commentators have already weighed in on the update. Popular Web3 gaming streamer Yellow Panther said it is “Damn fire.” AVAX DAO member Kyle Willson said, “This is dope.”

The improvements come just a few months after the game’s early-access launch on Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 in October.

According to the latest data from analytics platform DappRadar, Off The Grid kicked off 2025 with a “stable user base” of 4.9 million monthly wallets. The game’s developer, Gunzilla Games, is planning to launch the $GUN crypto token and GUNZ mainnet sometime in Q1 2025.

From the get-go, many in the industry were tipping big things for the game. In October, crypto analyst Miles Deutscher said, “Off The Grid may finally be the catalyst we need for a much bigger gaming run.” Similarly, Pseudonymous Web3 commentator Loki The Bird asked if Off The Grid will become “the Axie Infinity” of this cycle.

Futuristic combat game Tokyo Beast is launching on Immutable

Game development platform Immutable is bringing futuristic combat game Tokyo Beast into crypto as part of a push to tap into Japan’s massive but underutilized gaming market.

Worth $27.4B a year, it’s the 3rd biggest gaming market in the world – but “it still hasn’t seized the opportunity that is Web3,” Immutable said in a Feb. 26 statement.

In the coming months, Tokyo Beast will join Immutable’s platform and integrate with the Immutable Passport, which serves as a non-custodial wallet, gamer profile, and authentication solution for users.

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Immutable co-founder Robbie Ferguson said Tokyo Beast’s big fanbase and “strong game design” could help bring blockchain gaming to the mainstream.

“We believe the Tokyo Beast championship tournaments will engage millions of new players,” Ferguson said. The game has competitive PvP battles and global tournaments, where the top 20 players each week battle for in-game rewards and higher rankings.

Meanwhile, Tokyo Beast producer Naoki Motohashi said partnering with Immutable was to “push to expand the boundaries of Web3 gaming.”

Tokyo Beast isn’t forcing anyone to use the Web3 elements however and will allow gamers to start playing without needing in-game assets upfront.

“Tokyo Beast addresses this by allowing players to battle without owning a Beast NFT. Instead, Beast owners pool their NFTs, and players can battle using copies,” Immutable said.

In August 2024, Immutable announced it was shutting down its NFT marketplace, choosing to support other marketplaces in the ecosystem instead of competing with them.

Hot Take: Rumble Kong League

Blockchain-based basketball game Rumble Kong League may be jarring to the eye but it offers fairly decent gameplay and is kind of hilarious.

Launched in December 2024 and backed by NBA star Steph Curry, the sports game runs on the Ronin network and is available on iOS and Android.

When you start your first match, the super sharp graphics make it feel like you’re watching an LA Lakers game on TV — except you’re controlling monkey-inspired characters instead.

Oh, and you can violently tackle the other team’s monkeys, which is pretty wild for what is otherwise usually a non-contact sport.

What’s sweet about the gameplay is how smooth it feels. Unlike the football (or soccer, if you must) game FIFA, where you pretty much have to be looking at a player to pass, or the ball just flies into open space, Rumble Kong League is more automated. Even if you’re facing the wrong way, you press pass, and it just somehow goes to a teammate — it’s slick.

This helps the game to keep moving.

Real basketball is five-a-side, but three characters per team work better for a mobile game, keeping things less crowded on the small screen. The controls aren’t annoyingly tiny or placed in some weird spot on the screen either, which is something a lot of blockchain sports games on mobile mess up.

Games run for 35 minutes, split into two halves, which is shorter than the NBA’s standard 48 minutes. But let’s be honest, controlling three monkeys sprinting around a basketball court? Just over half an hour is enough for me.

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The game has several different NFT collections you can buy, giving users extra gameplay, tournament access, and other perks.

Plus, there’s a planned $FAME token launch later this year. Players can earn offchain $FAME points through Sigma League gameplay, which can be swapped for onchain tokens once the launch happens.

Overall, if you’re into NBA and other basketball video games and don’t mind football-style tackling on your basketball court, this is definitely worth checking out and stacking up some $FAME points before the token drops.

Other News

— Avalanche-based open-world game Haunted Space, developed by Galaxy Labs, is the third blockchain game to announce its move to Xbox and PlayStation, joining Moonray and Off The Grid.

— The highly anticipated sci-fi game Parallel TCG has finally dropped its release date, March 18, and it’ll be available on iOS and Android.

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