Duke Nukem is one of those licenses that has lost its charm over the decades. The reasons are multiple, but he is no stranger to the fiasco of Duke Nukem Forever, with a final rendering far from what players expect. That doesn’t stop them from fantasizing about what Duke Nukem Forever could have been in 2001. And that’s a good thing, because a version of this game has just been discovered.
Photo credit: Take 2 / 3D Realms
The return of the King?
In the 90’s Duke Nukem was a strong license and there are several games that have come out of that prosperity. Sadly, Duke Nukem Forever is not one of them, and having started development in 1997 and slated for a possible release in 1998, we finally witnessed its demise in 2011.
The development of Duke Nukem Forever was more than chaotic, up to the point of several changes of direction. We’ve lost count of the number of times it was announced between 1997 and 2009, only to eventually be acquired by Gearbox Software in 2010 for the result we know.
It was counting hopes of one day seeing what would have become of the game had it been released in 2001. Because we know that for a while there was a version shown during E3 2001 that looked like an evolution of Herzog Nukem 3D. And that was enough, because 20 years later, videos of this version appear on the 4chan site.
However, we should not be too happy because as confirmed on Twitter by George Broussard, the original director of the game from 1997 to 2009, the videos seem to be true, but in his opinion it is better to lower our expectations since there is no real game there to play, only development and testing stages.
This is confirmed by the website Duke4.net, which rushed to spread the news, stating that what appears to have been leaked is a trial version with a lot of empty spaces, as well as some interactions that are possible depending on the location.
The person who published this version, which can be called Duke Nukem Forever 2001, has promised that the game files and its publisher will be released in June 2022, only to immediately withdraw and release them. If you feel like discovering this version, be warned that several manipulations are necessary to successfully get the game running, not to mention that it’s mostly empty levels with a few weapons.