Australia Did It: the longest title of the year belongs to one of its smartest games

The full title is Australia Did It: End-of-the-World Railway Defense Business. Yes, that is the real name. The game used to have another one, the team asked its community to pick a new one, and this is the one that won. The studio itself notes, with a mix of pride and worry, that a lot of people really did vote for it.

So this is a game with a sense of humour, and luckily it also has some very good ideas.

A shoot'em up in reverse

A catastrophe dried up the Atlantic ten years ago, and the ocean floor became a wasteland full of giant insects, reawakened ancient weapons and mutants. Your company hauls freight by train across all of it. The house motto: cargo delivery must not be compromised. Repairs are optional.

The game alternates two phases. At the station, it is turn-based tower defense: you place your limited units to hold against the waves. Once the train is moving, everything flips into what the developers call a reverse bullet hell. In a classic shoot'em up, you dodge thousands of projectiles. Here, you are the one firing them, and the enemies have to survive your train.

It is the best idea of the bunch, because the two halves answer each other. What you prepare calmly at the station gets paid for live on the rails, and every placement mistake explodes, literally, ten seconds later.

Merging to the point of absurdity

The merge system is the strategic core: more than 30 unit types, merged on the fly into more than 1,500 variants. Some combinations make powerhouses, others very niche specialists, and reward cards let you stack effects to specialise even further. Several train models to unlock, each with its own stats, round it out.

Rami Ismail, co-founder of Vlambeer, the team behind Nuclear Throne, signs the game with Aesthetician Labs, and you can feel it in the rhythm of the shooting phases.

The flip side of 1,500 combinations is readability. In the first hours you merge somewhat at random, and the game does not always explain clearly enough what a merge will produce. You learn eventually, but the curve is steep.

Out tomorrow, 10 November. If you like games where preparation and chaos fit in the same run, climb aboard.

Your most absurd merge belongs on the InsertCoins Discord. Cargo delivery must not be compromised.