The Best Video Games From Australian Developers

Summary

• Aussie game devs often produce unique, challenging games with humor and emotion.
• Hell Let Loose offers a realistic and intense WW2 shooter experience with a steep learning curve.
• Moving Out offers chaotic, cooperative fun in a multiplayer physics party game setting.

Australia has a vibrant history of interactive digital media and video game culture. Despite recent financial pressures affecting the video game industry, Aussie developers are still working hard to produce some of the most unique games on the market, as well as games with humor and emotion that challenge the player in new ways.

Australian studios have been responsible for some landmark games that have shaped the industry, and some more niche classics that have a small but dedicated audience. Why not try one of these beloved AAA titles and indie wonders from down under?

8

Hell Let Loose

Position Those Spawn Points Fellas

Hell Let Loose is a first-person shooter set in World War 2. It is designed to be realistic and conveys the brutality of war. The game pulls no punches with its difficulty and intensity, being one of the most complex team-based shooters out there with a steep learning curve.

Effective gameplay strategies can be hard to implement, and players may struggle to adjust to the playstyle. There is significant depth in this game and capturing objectives is just the beginning. The developers are still updating the game with new maps and there appears to be significant support for maintaining the game’s integrity and community.

7

Moving Out

I Hope You Are Insured

Multiplayer physics party games are a dime a dozen these days. But rather than going in the typical fighting direction, Moving Out takes the most chaotic elements of these competitive games and applies them to a cooperative goal. This is in no small part because of the cliché anxiety about belongings getting damaged when being handled by removalists.

The clients place their faith in the player’s moving company only to see their couch sail through the lounge room window and their family heirlooms dragged along the ground. It is simple, good, frantic fun, and great for a casual afternoon with friends. Moving Out was developed by Australian developer SMG Studio alongside Swedish developer DevM Games.

6

Stray Gods: The Roleplaying Musical

Who Killed Calliope?

Stray Gods establishes its musical credentials straight away with a poorly attended audition and a mournful song to an empty auditorium. There are personality traits for the main character, Grace, that somewhat govern the paths available in the playthrough. But there are still a huge number of factors after this that affect the course of the narrative.

The singing is shockingly good, and Troy Baker’s Apollo is completely unrecognizable from his other big roles. The visual style is like a comic book crossed with a visual novel and affords the flexibility needed for a game with so many dialogue options and branching narratives.

5

Cult of the Lamb

All Hail The One Who Waits

In Cult of the Lamb, the player must enlist as many creatures into their cult as possible. This is done through battle, bribery, and sacrifice. Throughout the course of the game, the player must determine doctrine, win encounters, and hope for good RNG.

Once the cult begins to form, the player must leave it to spread their beliefs, but in the meantime, things back at base may be falling apart without leadership. It is very much about playing the odds and taking strategic risks to grow the cult in a way that is sustainable and adaptable to the disasters that may befall them.

4

Unpacking

The Chickens Are The Real MVPs

Our belongings tell a lot about us, particularly the possessions that make it through multiple relocations and moves. In the delightfully moving Unpacking by Witch Beam, the player unpacks the possessions of an unnamed character, starting from a childhood bedroom and working their way through their homes until they reach adulthood and have a family of their own.

The puzzle-solving is flexible with plenty of scope for player creativity. It is a clever and unique storytelling device unlike any other. It is a journey of personal development, compromise, and identity. It explores friendship, romantic relationships, and passions. Unpacking is a game that rewards players who enjoy piecing together a considered and complex narrative, with a healthy amount of inference involved.

3

Hollow Knight

You Are The Vessel

Hollow Knight is possibly the hardest game on this list. Never has an adorable bug warrior caused so much anguish. But pushing through the pain is absolutely worth the effort. The pay-off is satisfying combat and fluid platforming that looks amazing. The haunting visual style perfectly captures a world in decay, the ruins of a society suffering from a terrible blight known as ‘The Infection’.

Team Cherry has created a game that can be easily compared to both Bloodborne and classic Metroidvania games. Players who take time to investigate the world and uncover its story will likely have a very different experience from those who play the game at a surface level. That being said, it has a high degree of replayability, so there is always the chance to go back and find missed details.

2

L.A. Noire

Press X to Doubt

Cole Phelps is probably the most disagreeable protagonist in video games. However, L.A. Noire as a game has plenty to recommend it. It wears its 1940s noir inspirations on its sleeve, leaning into the schlocky action and seedy corruption characteristic of pulpy detective fiction. What Team Bondi tried to accomplish with the witness interview mechanic was ahead of its time, and perhaps ahead of the technology required to execute properly.

Those viewing the 2011 title through nostalgic rose-colored glass may be disappointed upon revisiting it, especially the driving. But it is still a fantastic game with a well-earned legacy of frantic chase scenes and dubious detective work.

1

Untitled Goose Game

It’s a Wonderful Day in the Village…

How can a pleasant collection of white and yellow shapes be chaos incarnate? It is hard to explain House House’s Untitled Goose Game without using the word charming. The soundtrack is a significant portion of the game’s charm. The player must cross things off a goose’s To-Do List, accompanied by a twinkling piano that would not be out of place on a children’s program.

There is not a single line of human dialogue in the game. There are, however, honks aplenty. The multiplayer mode in particular can turn into a cacophony of honking as two geese joyfully tear their way through the village, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake. With the most stylish and adorable waddle possible, of course.