Rami Ismail’s New Game, Australia Did It, Is A ‘Tactical Reverse Bullet Hell’

Rami Ismail is known recently for his work advising and consulting with game developers around the world, but he’s also an accomplished developer in his own right, with games like Ridiculous Fishing, Luftrausers, and Nuclear Throne on his résumé. To that end, today he revealed his latest project, Australia Did It, and announced it’s coming to PC later this year. You can check out the reveal trailer below.

Australia Did It (which is co-developed by Aesthetician Labs) claims to invent a new genre called tactical reverse bullet hell. It’s a big swing to attempt to define a new style of game before yours even comes out, but Ismail’s press release makes even stronger claims than that.

“I believe the games industry has been failing at supporting developer innovation and experimentation,” reads a direct quote from Ismail in the press release. “Publishers, investors, and shareholders fund the same few safe bets, later and later in development – forcing even the most creative developers to make safe games with predictable ideas, and force in the latest flavour-of-the-day.”

Ismail goes on to say that the way to break out of this cycle is to support games with truly new ideas, and that Mystic Forge, the publisher of Australia Did It, is doing exactly that by funding the project.

Australia Did It is a game about transporting cargo by train across a monster-infested, dried-out Atlantic Ocean. In the first part of an encounter, you’ll place units along a grid defending your train as it prepares for the journey, using strategic grid-based combat to hold off monsters long enough for the journey to begin. Once your engine departs, it becomes a bullet hell machine, blasting out overwhelming amounts of ammunition the bullet hell genre typically has players try to avoid.

I don’t personally see the genre title sticking – it’s too many words, for one – but the game looks good so far, and I’m interested in trying it for myself soon. Australia Did It launches on PC later this year.