After apologising last week for including two small, puerile gay jokes in Ion Fury, the throwback FPS’s makers and publishers have now declared that their voluntary decision to cut one of those would actually constitute “censorship” and they cannot abide that. A bottle of soap branded “Ogay” (like “Olay” but “gay” haha do you get it?) will remain in a bathroom in their off-brand Duke Nukem 3D tribute. This bold and meaningful manifestation of political speech, this brave bottle of soap, will stand proud to tell future generations where they drew a line in the sand against the cruel forces of tolerance.

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I probably didn t grow up when you did. I feel the need to get that out of the way early, because this review is largely going to be about how Ion Fury s old-school sensibilities clash with my own. Not all of them, I should stress. Shooters have trended towards a slower pace, while I’m a nippy boy. It feels good to shoot and hop.

I m just so unbearably lost.

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The lawyer-dodging title change may be a little on the boring side, but Ion Fury (formerly Ion Maiden) is looking anything but. As well as confining their new title, Voidpoint and 3D Realms have confirmed that their old-school shooter, built on the time-worn foundations of Duke Nukem 3D, will launch on August 15th. Having previously played the early access pseudo-demo, I’m very excited for this one, as it’s essentially the successor that Duke Nukem 3D never got. They’ve even got the voice of Duke, Jon St. John, to voice the villain. Below, a gib-splattered new trailer.

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English heavy metal band Iron Maiden, or their business company Iron Maiden Holdings Limited, are suing 3D Realms with allegations that retro FPS Ion Maiden is causing confusion and muddying their brand. They want $2 million ( 1.56m) in damages for trademark terror. Ion Maiden is a pun on the words “iron maiden”, though whether it’s riffing on the name of the band or the apparently-not-medieval torture device may be up for contention. Maybe they’ll claim it’s an homage to Margaret Thatcher and we can just explode the world right now.

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Retro FPS Ion Maiden‘s latest early access update, ‘Heskel’s House of Horrors’ is now live on Steam, adding a big, new level to Voidpoint’s 90s-styled shooter.

The new trailer shows off the same unapologetic carnage but this time set in the titular Heskel’s House of Horrors. (more…)

Authentically old-school FPS Ion Maiden will feel just that little bit more retro when it arrives, as it’s slipped to launching in “early 2019” according to developers Voidpoint and publisher 3D Realms. On the plus side, the game will now include multiplayer at launch.

The Build-based spinoff from 3D Realms’s ill-fated Bombshell impressed both myself and John when it bombed its way into early access a few months back, which makes the extended wait all the harder.

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Ion Maiden Preview Campaign is, without question, brilliant. A mad-speed Build engine project that feels like it was made by present-day time travellers who went back to 1996 to make a game. It’s stupid and crass and loud and gory and everything else you could hope for. And this is just the two-mission mini campaign while they finish the full game.

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Every cloud has a silver lining, and let’s be honest; isometric ARPG/shooter Bombshell was a pretty big (possibly mushroom-shaped) cloud. Originally planned as a Duke Nukem reboot, legal scuffles forced the game to re-brand, and it all turned out a bit pants anyway, leading developers Interceptor Entertainment to fold not long after.

The silver lining may be just what old-school shooter fans have been clamouring for, though. The Build-engine retro FPS now known as Ion Maiden was originally planned to be a promotional tie-in with Bombshell (and still shares a protagonist). It fell off the radar after Bombshell turned out a dud, but it seems that side-studio Voidpoint never stopped believing. Without warning, and under the (recently purchased) 3D Realms banner, Ion Maiden has launched direct to early access.

To everyone’s surprise, it may actually be really good.

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