The legendary Duke Nukem Forever E3 2001 build has appeared on web for all to play.
To say that Duke Nukem Forever took forever to come out would be an understatement. It’s long development cycle was one of the early memes of the internet where most believed it wouldn’t actually release.
Eventually Duke Nukem Forever did finally release back in 2013, to a rather disappointing response by many of its fans for the mechanics introduced such as two weapon carry and a regenerating health bar.
It was at this point many would look fondly at the 2001 footage of the game which was showcased for E3 of that year. To many, it appeared that version of the game would’ve been truly a joy to play over what we actually got. A story of what could’ve been. Here’s a look:
A leaker on 4chan (via Duke4.net) shared what appears to be the long-lost build from E3 2001. It’s been reported that a build for this version of the game is now available to download. Of course this is a build of a game which never saw a retail release, so it is not complete.
Though this leaked build appears more complete than one would expect. According to a user the name of “x0r”, they state that nearly all chapters of the game are present, albeit there is a large chunk that’s unplayable.
Other interesting information about this leaked build is that all the E3 content is present. So one can finally play out what was shown over 2 decades ago which got us all excited for the game. This leak isn’t over either, as the leakers have stated their plans on releasing the full source code some time in the next month. Perhaps this might hopefully mean some talented and dedicated fans may give us the game we’ve all been dreaming of after all these years.
This is some of the biggest news the Duke Nukem franchise has gotten in a while. After the purchase of the IP by Gearbox and the release of Duke Nukem Forever, not much has been done with the Duke name outside of some re-releases of the older games and talks of a film. There was also unfortunate statements made by a Gearbox employee who said that the company had no plans on returning to the franchise.
What do you think of this news? Are you going to check out the leak to play some good old fashion Nukem goodness, or are you going to be like Gearbox and leave the Duke as a relic of the past?
