Ion Maiden – PAX East Preview and Writer’s Choice Winner

Ion Maiden Logo

“What if Quake and the last twenty years of FPS evolution never happened, and we were still making games the same way we made Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior back in the Nineties?” was the question that one of the guys at the 3D Realms booth said drove the development of Ion Maiden. Much more than another retro-inspired FPS, Ion Maiden comes from a legendary studio and resurrects an equally legendary engine – for the first time in almost two decades, the Build engine forms the core of a new game.

Currently available on Steam as an Early Access title, Ion Maiden is a prequel to 2016’s Bombshell, an FPS which 3D Realms used to resurrect one of their old IP ideas for a female EOD Tech turned GDF combat expert. The build available at PAX East was the Preview Campaign, a full campaign available exclusively to Early Access purchasers. There is more than enough there to give early purchasers a good taste of what’s to come.

With the Build engine upgraded to take advantage of newer technology, Ion Maiden has bigger levels, more colors, and morphing maps that would have been impossible for the games actually made in the Nineties. Unlike Duke Nukem Forever’s abortive attempt at being retro while still modern, Ion Maiden unapologetically embraces its classic roots. Enemies are 2D sprites, levels have all sorts of hidden secret spots, and textures pixelate when examined closely. However, where modern gaming changes make sense, Ion Maiden happily incorporates them. Headshots, physics, and autosaving make the cut. Likewise Widescreen graphics, and controller support in an era where crossing platforms is the rule, not the exception.

Playing the game is like stepping back in time, in the best way possible. Shelley “Bombshell” Harrison carries massive arsenal about her person. Aliens scream and collapse in puddles of pixelated gore when shot. Secret levels lurk everywhere, begging players to try every random pixel to see if there’s some super weapon just waiting behind a panel. Difficulty is uncompromisingly hard, with three levels bearing Apogee’s classing naming style. Playing on the medium setting “Wanton Carnage,” I died a lot. Those autosaves help a lot, because I’ve lost the habit of quicksaving around every corner!

Ion Maiden Cityscape

Pixelicious like an old friend. Old, but looking great.

“Bringing back classic build-engine shooters has been our aim for years, so we’re diving right into a spiritual successor to the games which put 3D Realms on the map,” Frederik Schreiber, Vice President, 3D Realms. “The team assembled for this project knows exactly how to execute our vision, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally bring back a true 3D Realms shooter.”

As of this writing, the Early Access version on Steam includes the preview campaign, plus an extra-difficult version of the campaign called the Bombardier Trial. Update 2 released just after PAX East ended, and includes a new Queen of the Hill mode, where players are challenged to fight every increasing waves of enemies equipped only with a mini-gun and unlimited ammo.

Ion Maiden Minigun

There are very few in-game problems that can’t be solved through the judicious application of a minigun.

3D Realms is co-developing the game with Voidpoint, and promises that multiplayer, one of the wackiest and best parts of Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior will arrive for the game’s official release. The Steam version will also include early access to development and modding tools, and Steam Workshop support. The game is expected to be released in Q3 2018. No word on whether the game will receive a console port, although it’s difficult to imagine this not showing up on Xbox One at some point.

Shotgun, meet badguys. Badguys, meet Shotgun. Goodbye badguys.

I liked Ion Maiden so much that it received one of my three Writer’s Choice awards at PAX East. A game I didn’t realize existed prior to PAX, and a return to the classic shooters that taught me the genre in a time before regenerating health bars or “Press F To Pay Respects”, this game instantly became something I couldn’t wait to play. Fortunately, 3D Realms hooked me up with my own Early Access key so that I can follow along with the development.

Ion Maiden 3D Realms Voidpoint Writer's Choice Award

Presenting the Writer’s Choice award at the booth.

Aaron is proof that while you can take a developer out of the game industry, it's much harder to take the game industry out of a developer. When not at his day job, Aaron enjoys teaching Axis & Allies to his kids, writing sci-fi stories, playing classic space sims on Twitch, and riding around the American Midwest on his Harley.

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