There was a period of time after id software's DOOM in which FPS were still experimenting with the exploration of large 3D spaces. This era basically slammed to a close when Half-Life came out in 1998, with more realistic environments, its cinematic approach, and a more linear structure. There's a very clear divide from the post-Doom era(Blood, Hexen, Dark Forces) and post-Half-Life era (Call of Duty, Halo, F.E.A.R.). And as gaming continues to grow and evolve, those old school Post-Doom shooters have largely been left behind. If you wanted another game where you grab color-coded keycards through "gamey" enviorments at an unrealstic fast pace, you're kinda shit out of luck.
Ahh, but the democratization of game development means that somebody, somewhere, has nostalgia for that specific thing you miss. Enter Ion MaidenFury, the first commercial game in 19 years to be created from the Build Engine. The Build Engine is a FPS engine used to create games like Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, and Blood, all post-Doom mid 90s shooters. Right from the start, this gives Ion Fury a level of authenticity that other old school revivals miss.
The engine isnt just for nostalgia sake. The developers are intimately familiar with the style of games, and have been working on improving the engine to modern standards, while also keeping that specific game design intact. The level design its the game's strongest asset. There's no procedurally generated junk here. Its all huge, hand crafted maps, each one containing hundreds of bad guys, secrets, and interactables. The game keeps a steady stream of varied aesthetics for its levels, from mad scientist labs, shopping malls, and moving trains. You move crazy fast through sprawling environments that only sorta resemble reality. Enemies are not limited to showing up in certain gated rooms or set pieces, but throughout the entire stage, respawning more combinations as you open new parts of the map and backtrack. Oh yes, there's color-coded keycards and gated doors, but the game is fair about placement. Almost all rooms containing the keys have a camera system so you can see the outside corridors and refresh your memory about where the door for this coordinated card goes. There are various Exit signs that remind you of the way forward without blatantly telling you on a minimap or some other invasive UI element. Hitting a switch almost always has a very clear cause and effect so players are rarely stumbled about where exactly they show go next.
And yet this is still a game where every major element is guiding you towards exploration and experimentation that's fallen out of fashion in current FPS titles. There's no regenerating health, that handy developer shortcut so the player goes into every playtested area at exactly the health you want them to be. Whatever damage or ammo spent in a prior room, you carry with throughout. You need to constantly move around for supplies or secret stashes, and often have to use various weapons since your favorite won't always have ammo. Luckily, all the weapons in the game are quite fun, and useful right up until the end. Every weapon has an alt-fire mode, like the Revolver that locks on to enemies(think Overwatch's McRee) or an laser crossbow that turns into Hot Machine Gun Death when fully charged up. Enemies are very distinct from the environment, with visual and audio cues for all their attack patterns. The game does a decent job of introducing new enemies and finding devious combinations to constantly keep you on your toes. And there's just enough modern conventions to lower frustrations. Autosaves after clearing a significant hurdle or grabbing a key are in place, so no starting over from the beginning of the map in case you forget to save. There's collectible med kits you can use that will cut down on that times where you saved with 32 health and zero armor right before a hard fight.
Ion Fury, at its frequent best, reminds players of how deeply satisfying the post-Doom formula for shooters were. Challenging combat and no obvious way forward forces you to really get to know the environments as maps and not just cinematic shooting galleries. It gives the most vague pretenses to narrative context, as you move faster than basically any modern shooter, which makes the backtracking an enjoyable process. Its well paced, with boss fights and unique environmental problem solving, providing an adrenaline rush that's hard to put down. I can honestly say it stands tall with the very best of the 90s shooters, building on what makes them work with a modern polish and flair.
