Last night I was browsing the Open World games category on Steam, hoping to find something, anything, that could capture my attention for a little bit, when something called Straya flashed past my scrolling spree.
Naturally, being an Australian, I had to have a look.
It's early access. Of course. And normally, these days, I tend to stay away from early access titles. But I couldn't help myself! It was an Australian game, made by Australians, and there were only 6 reviews on it. I felt like I needed to support it. So I added it to my cart and threw some money at my countrymen.
When the game started I was greeted with the familiar song of kookaburras laughing and the somewhat stereotypical sound of didgeridoos playing. It was also dark-ish, and there was no brightness and contrast slider in the graphics menu.
I was driven into a small settlement where, after being dropped off, I went straight to the Pub. Just like a good little Australian.
In the Pub were three cheerful blokes who all looked identical to the driver who drove me here. The only difference was that one was coloured, so was obviously the aboriginal elder of this outpost.
One of the cheerful blokes told me where my lodgings were, made me introduce myself to the few locals, got me to rescue his keys from some pesky magpies, and, like in any good adventure game, told me to kill a few rats with my new and trusty shotgun.
I was also forced to kill several kangaroos and goats, due to the beasts coming out of no-where in an attempt to disembowel me and headbutt me.
After roaming around the settlement, performing various tasks for people who, understandably, stayed indoors and didn't come out to actually talk to me (possibly because they were all women-folk and it appears there is only one male model at this time), I was at last entrusted with the keys to the helicopter!
I was tasked with heading over to one of the nearby cattle stations to help with the muster. Little did I know that this would spell the end of my journey.
I landed the chopper outside the gate and went onward into this vast property, seeking the farmer whom I was to help. Alas, as I travelled his very long driveway, I got bitten by a snake.
A snake which I swiftly shot in the head, before remembering I'm supposed to be capturing them for money.
Of course I forgot to buy medical supplies before heading out into the wilderness. Of course I needed anti-venom. Of course I was too far away from the settlement to hurry back and seek treatment.
So I bravely continued onward, towards the farmstead, hoping beyond hope that there would be medical supplies available.
On my journey I was attacked by dingoes, kangaroos, and a giant-arse spider. I swiftly wrapped myself up in bandages but the venom was still flowing through my veins.
I'm such a bad Australian. I died to my first ever snake bite. Oh the humanity.
It appears death isn't the end though! Because I woke up in my shed like it had all been a bad dream. I even still had most of my money and my shotgun ammo.
So far it looks like a game that could go somewhere. It has a decent sized map which I have yet to explore. You can grab a metal detector and look for things. Apparently you can even find bits and pieces of Ned Kelly's armour.
You can pan for gold, which so far I suck at.
One of the things that really amused me was the fact that you can get attacked by swarms of mosquitoes. And in order to thwart the swarms of mosquitoes, you need some mozzie repellant and a flame.
I've never seen anything more accurate in a game. 😅
I'm liking it so far. It's just your basic open world survival game. There are some quests to follow but there's no story. It's a do what you want. Which is basically exactly what I'm looking for at the moment.
I've been after a new open world game in which to explore, and even though this is so very clearly and obviously an early access title, it's still fairly enjoyable.
I haven't come across any bugs yet, though I must say that the wildlife is absolutely relentless. A kangaroo will come at you, then three dingoes, then a camel, then two spiders, then an emu, then a spider, another twenty kangaroos, then a snake. It can be pretty non-stop. And will probably reinforce the notion that my country is filled to the brim with deadly creatures that will stop at nothing to murder every tourist that steps foot here.
The developers seem to be working on the game actively - there are regular updates every week which is good to see, and they're also responding in the Steam discussions which is nice. There are so many silent devs out there, it's refreshing to see one actually speaking with the playerbase and answering questions and whatnot.
In saying that, I'm fairly sure the playerbase is verrryyyyyy small. I'm happy to be supporting this and hopefully more people will see it and support it too.
All screenshots in this post are courtesy of me, 
