If you grew up playing games in the 90’s then you got to witness the start of something beautiful. The FPS burst onto the scene as a viable genre with powerhouse games like Doom and Quake. ID Software may have created a template for a billion dollar genre, but they were not the only ones doing interesting things at the time. 3D Realms gave the world the Build Engine, something that would become as synonymous with 90’s FPS games as the two BFGs from ID.
Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Shadow Warrior and Witchhaven all have their place in FPS history, and every one of them was built in the Build Engine. All engines have their own feel and nuance, and I always loved the feel of Build Engine games. I can honestly say I wasn’t expecting one to arrive in 2018, but here we are!
Ion Maiden, from developers Voidpoint, is built in the engine, and is being published by 3D Realms. It feels like the 90’s again! The game stars Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison, star of the isometric action game, Bombshell. Bombshell was an odd beast. Starting life as an FPS game, it eventually became a Diablo-like game, but did not set the world on fire. Shelly is back though, and Ion Maiden is already getting a much warmer reception.
Currently in Early Access on Steam, you can play the Prologue to the game right now, with a full campaign coming later in the year. The action is everything you would expect from a Build Engine game, with blood, gore and guns by the bucket load. With an apparent modern day videogame scare on the way, it feels fitting to have something like this in development as well.
The game will bring all kinds of modern standards to a classic game, including much higher resolutions than we used to get back in the day. I’m really looking forward to seeing how this game comes along, I have to say.
