Ion Fury Aftershock (PC)

Geoffrey Wright | October 20, 2023 | Review | No Comments

With Ion Fury releasing several years ago, with ports to numerous systems since, It was about time for some fresh action and Shelly Harrison has plenty of axes to grind. To that end we now have Aftershock, a DLC package that follows on from the base game with plenty of new content to blast through. Worth the wait? Lets find out.

Just when you thought the feud between Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison and Dr. Heskel had quietened down, Neo DC is ready to boil over again as Shelly’s personal vendetta without end is about to be ignited again. The fate of the city rests in your hands as only Bombshell stands in the way of Dr. Heskel’s nightmarish vision for DC.

The story keeps things ticking over nicely and is delivered in a way that doesn’t create any obstacles to what’s most important here – the gunplay. While a bit shorter than the main game (17 maps across 5 zones compared to 28 across 7) , that does work in its favour as it helps refine the game while dealing with some complaints. Once done with the new episode there’s still more shooting to be had. A new ‘Arrange’ mode also remixes the stages from Ion Fury and adds in aspects from Aftershock to create new ways to enjoy the original maps. So while a more streamlined adventure at face value, it probably turns out to be more content rich than expected.

Sticking with the build engine as you would expect of only DLC, the game carries much that is similar to the original Ion Fury – Ion Fury in general has a look to it that not many can emulate and should please boomer shooter fans. The new stages & enemies are great, the engine is probably being pushed a lot with these, and it manages to add in plenty of atmospheric moments and set-pieces. Adding to that is the music and Shelly’s sassy one-liners, always on point to keep the energy up.

If your system has no issues with Ion Fury, then it shouldn’t have any problems running Aftershock really. My system (R7 5800X/32GB/RTX 3090) is overkill for boomer shooters so it lets me do 2.2x DLDSR at 4K with a completely locked 120fps. Everything looks crisp & smooth with rock-solid performance to match, and with the PC hardly breaking a sweat, its probably an experience lower systems can handle easily enough as well.

Don’t fix what isn’t broken, Aftershock in a nutshell. If you enjoyed everything about Ion Fury then there’s plenty more of that here for you to sample. Levels feel a little more expansive this time around though with some great designs and new enemies to catch you out, puzzles can sometimes be a head scratcher too, so its not all the same as before but a little expanded upon at least. There’s some new guns to handle too which fit into the world seamlessly, and no surprise the gunplay is as good as ever. It feels like a refined version of the base game that returning players will enjoy.

A real highlight to look forward to is the hoverbike sections and the vehicle combat of it as it offers something a little different and doesn’t feel out of place. The one aspect you may or may not appreciate is the difficulty. The main game was relatively mild I guess with difficulty spikes here & there, but the DLC is a notch or two above whatever option you chose before. Your health evaporates and enemies can sometimes hit you with cheap shots, so its a lot more intense than Ion Fury. Like I said though, you may or may not appreciate it depending on how you played the base game.

Ion Fury Aftershock is more of the same, and that’s all it needed to be as DLC. Looks great, sounds great, Shelly’s great, plays great, it’s just a great package for fans of retro shooters and those keen on Ion Fury. Quite a few of the complaints Ion Fury had have been eased over here as well, so it improves where it needed to with just a niggle or two holding it back from boomer shooter perfection. A worthy addition to Ion Fury that should have fans & newcomers alike living up the glory days.