So AquaRush was an idea I had quite a few years ago. Back when I first started playing around with Unreal Engine. The idea behind the game came around the same time when Battle Royale games first started to pop.
The concept; players would enter matches of 30 people in total in a room. There are no weapons, just the environment around them. The only way to go is up.
Once the game starts, the lobby gets a one minute head start to start making their way up. What starts off with simple stairs and platforms soon become harder obstacles and even puzzles that require moving around objects or pressing hidden buttons.
After one minute, the room starts to flood, and you can’t swim. Hit the water, you’re out.
This is where things get interesting.
As the match progresses, the once large space will get smaller and smaller, and it quickly turns into a game of every person for themselves. Those objects quickly become weapons to push other players, and buttons can be used to hinder players as well as help them.
Last person standing wins. Simple.
To keep things interesting, levels could either be randomly rotated, or procedurally generated. Depending on complexity. Although I like the idea of them being pre-built and rotated at random, as it allows for people to learn tactics and essentially “master” a route to the top.
I think this game whilst having a fairly simple concept can quickly become a favourite. I remember when Crab Game was a thing for a while on Steam, and it had a round that was pretty similar to this concept, and honestly it was my favourite thing.