10 Things You Didn’t Know About Ion Fury
Ion Fury has been in the news a lot this week. If you’ve been paying attention, it’s being compared to the old Duke Nukem. However, if you’ve been playing, that’s not all you’ll have noticed. There’s so much going on with this game, that you might have missed some of the fun details, but never fear, we have a list of ten things you may not know about IF.
1. Duke Nukem for the 2010s?
In addition to being compared to Duke Nukem in terms of great one-liners and gore, Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison, the bomb expert has more in common with the Duke than you might think. This FPS is designed with modern tech, but it uses a modified version of the same engine as the precursor Duke Nukem. The similarities point to a particular fandom among the creators, but we’re just guessing on that point.
2. Before People Lost It, They Were Already Losing It Over This Game
A lot of the news about Ion Fury is terrible, but before the current issues arose, fans were head over heels in love with this retro shooter. It is in (almost) every way, the FPS we’ve been waiting for. A game capable of taking us back to our youth when we’d go over to our cool friend’s house to play Duke Nukem because our moms didn’t want us to play it makes us happy. Unsurprisingly, that’s precisely what the creators were going for. It’s almost too bad the controversy has overshadowed what would otherwise have been one of our favorite games of the year.
3. A Long Time
Ion Fury is “The first official (3D Realms) published BUILD Engine shooter in over 20 years.” That’s a significant accomplishment in itself. We were so happy to hear that this game was coming out, and it plays like a 1990’s dream. Everything about it makes us want to tell a Y2K joke, grab a Faygo and blast some Cobain while we party like it’s not yet 1999.
4. Secret Passages
If you loved 90s gaming than the not-so-easy to find secret passageways will give you flashbacks. 2019 is a renaissance year for throwback-inspired games to be sure. If you haven’t yet seen all the secrets in this game, then you probably weren’t a gamer back in the day. Searching for all the twists and turns was always one of the best things about your second and third playthrough. Ion Fury is reintroducing that classic playstyle into the new century. It reminds us of all the great nostalgic yet new reboot movies and shows they’re coming out with.
5. Shelly, Duke & Friends
Our favorite surprise about this game is Bombshell herself. Originally in Duke Nukem Forever, Shelly was designed as the Duke’s Partner. She’s finally getting the game she deserves, sort of. If you’re expecting her to have the same foul mouth as Duke, you’ll be disappointed. However, Bombshell’s one-liners are just as good without adding forced swears into it. What they did drop n were some delightful references to Doom and Half-Life among other classic 90s favorites.
6. A Very Crude Word
There’s a super-secret area of the game with a nasty homophobic slur on a wall. However, in order to reach this area, you have to hack the game. According to the creators and 3D Realms, a single developer added that comment without anyone else’s knowledge. Before you ask, no, we won’t reprint the bad word here.
7. Problems Abound
In addition to the other issues with this game’s release, apparently, the staff has made sexist and transphobic comments on Fury’s official Discord. We weren’t able to locate official records to fact check that, but we’re pretty sure Eurogamer.net checked into the situation before they mentioned it.
8. Not Their First Rodeo
The current snafu aside, this is not the first time Ion Fury has been in trouble for choices they made in creating the game. They had to change the name from Ion Maiden to Ion Fury because they got sued by Iron Maiden. That’s right; the rockers got very irate over some trademark issues including the symbols used on a gun and of course, the name “Ion Maiden.” The symbols were used in a previous game without comment from the band. Moreover, 3D claims the reaction is “frivolous,” yet they changed the name anyhow.
9. In Case You Missed It
If you haven’t read today’s news, Ion Fury is on a lot of people’s naughty list right now. They’re catching a ton of backlash over an allegedly homophobic joke that is part of the game. Initially, developers promised to pull the gag because it was in poor taste. However, they’ve decided to leave it in and not kowtow to censors. It remains to be seen whether this ends up being more like Paula Deen, or Duck Dynasty where the hate speech is concerned.
10. Ten Thousand Dollars
3D Realms, the publisher of the massively popular and controversial game announced it would donate ten-grand to The Trevor Project as a result of this game. However, no word has been given on whether they’re reneging on that as well. If you haven’t heard about this charity before, they help with suicide prevention in the LGBTQIA community. 3D stresses strongly that they will not tolerate hate speech even in jest, but they also want to respect the fans who also feel strongly about censorship issues. Future games will not be allowed to push the line, and sensitivity training is being implemented. However, this well-loved (until now) game is already out, and it will remain as-is.
Final Thoughts
Few games manage to garner so much controversy in such a short time, but Ion Fury has undoubtedly made its share of waves. We’d rather see less drama and more love for games and developers, but we also tell it like it is. IF is hands down one of the most hotly debated games we’ve ever written about. We won’t weigh in on OGAY Face Wash-Gate or Iron Maiden, but we’re happy to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Let us know if you think it’s awful hate-filled dreck, or if you want someone to get you the first bottle when (if) the merch comes out.
