Ion Maiden is something that shouldn't really exist

3D Realms, a company that is often mired in controversy, mostly forgotten and yet refuses to die down has finally released a title again.

Four years after the release of the failed bombshell, 3D Realms has decided to go back to their roots (no not the courtroom), and no I'm also not talking about Duke Nukem or Shadow Warrior, those IP's found new homes at more relevant publishers.

Out of all the advanced 3D engines available (Unreal, Unity, CryEngine, Lumberyard, etc.) 3D Realms has decided to make a Build engine title again. To put it in perspective that is 19 years after the last retail title it powered (World War II GI) and 22 years after the first build engine game (Witchaven).

So what is Ion Maiden? Ion Maiden is a First Person Shooter that is essentialy Duke Nukem 3D without being Duke Nukem 3D (think of it as a spiritual successor) and due to the build engine being used the game has a look eerily similiar to Duke Nukem 3D and Shadow Warrior and thus it has a very 90's look and feel but in a good way.

The developer, Voidpoint, whom I've never heard of before clearly has a good understanding of the Build engine and you can see that they really pushed it to the max (remember the build engine is a 2.5D engine like the original doom engine) the executable is 64 bit that is built on EDuke32, a fork of the original Build engine which supports modern operating systems whilst also implementing an additional set of features.

Even though there is a paper thin plot the main objective is to shoot everything in sight.

In Ion Maiden, the player assumes the role of Shelly "Bombshell" Harrison, a bomb disposal expert aligned to the Global Defense Force. Dr. Jadus Heskel, a transhumanist cult leader, unleashes an army of cybernetically-enhanced soldiers on the futuristic city of Neo D.C., which Shelly is tasked with fighting through.

Ion Maiden is available on Steam (Early Access) for R130 (remember it's early access so this is essentially just the first chapter)

and the Minimum System Requirements are:

OS: Windows 7/8/8.1/10 x64 (Linux is also supported)
Processor: Intel Pentium Dual Core E2220 (22400) or equivalent AMD Athlon(tm) 64 X2 5000+ (22600) or equivalent
Memory: 2048 MB RAM
Graphics: GeForce 8600 GT (512 MB) or equivalent Radeon HD 4670 (512 MB) or equivalent
DirectX: Version 11
Storage: 100 MB available space