From what I’ve played so far, Rami Ismail’s Australia Did It combines a whole load of different genres.
Featuring inspiration from the likes of Fallout, Vampire Survivors, and even 2048, Australia Did It is set in a hostile wasteland following a catastrophic event that dried up the Atlantic Ocean.
Oversized bugs, reanimated ancient weapons, and bizarre mutated creatures now roam the earth, and your ragtag team of mercs seek to deliver cargo while holding off endless waves of these creatures.
Australia Did It is best described as a game of two halves, with the phrase “Tactical Reverse Bullet Hell” used to describe the genre.
In one part, you’re defending a train full of cargo against a series of turn-based attacks from enemy units. Your mercenaries can be recruited with different abilities, and they’ll have to defend the train cargo from attacks coming in four different directions.
These units can be upgraded by merging two of the same units together, a bit like the mobile game 2048 where different tiles are combined to create a larger one. It works similarly here, where combined units get more powerful, with more effective weaponry and better armour.
There are 30 units to discover in the game, which can each be found by combining different tiers of characters to make them more powerful. Ismail hopes that players will find joy in discovering different combinations and strategies that work best depending on the situation.
A Back-And-Forth Between Turn-Based And Real-Time
Between these turn-based rounds, you’re mowing down thousands of enemy units in real-time as the train moves to its next destination. This part of the game is a lot more chaotic, where you’re constantly using your firearms to drive away large hordes as the train moves across the wasteland.
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Ismail compares this to doing raids in MMOs, where “you’re managing your abilities and every now and then you have to aim at a thing”.
Despite a fairly very substantial roguelike structure being at the forefront of Australia Did It’s gameplay loop, Ismail says that he views it as “more of an arcade game”, where abilities and units are not there to make or break a run.
Ismail says that if you know how the game works, a lot of these factors won’t actually affect how well or poorly the run goes. “The game nudges you to try new things, so I think of it as more of an arcade game. You play it, you learn a little bit, then you get evaporated, and you throw in your next quarter and play a little bit more.”
Australia Did It doesn’t have a release date yet, but from what I’ve played so far, the game is shaping up well and is very well polished. In addition to the press build I played, it also has a private playtest available to sign up for right now, in case you wanted to check it out yourself.
