Fans of the Duke Nukem series may remember the long wait for Duke Nukem Forever, a game that wasn’t officially released until 2011. Some may also remember the original demo of the game which was shown off back in 2001. Now it seems one fan has gotten their hands on that demo from over 20 years ago, giving us a closer look at what could have been.
Duke Nukem Forever ended up releasing 10 years after its first E3 showing in 2001; and over those 10 years game development in general had changed. Gone were the PS1-style graphics we had seen back in the day, and long gone was the Unreal Engine 1.0.
The leaks which originated on 4chan have been compiled and rehosted on the Duke Nukem fansite Duke4.net. Here, fans can check out not only leaked screenshots but also gameplay footage of the original game.
The 4chan user known as “x0r” also provided their insights and answered questions throughout the thread. The user has said that a “huge chunk [of the game] is playable”. Also the character Bombshell who was meant to be introduced in Duke Nukem Forever is “not visually present in the game” and “there is a log file showing that her model was deleted. Bombshell has since gone on to star in her own games like the titular Bombshell and more recently Ion Fury.
Although it’s been over a decade since Duke Nukem Forever launched on Windows, PS3, and the Xbox 360, the Duke’s franchise is still alive. A film had been announced back in 2018 starring wrestler/actor John Cena. In 2021 the Embracer Group confirmed the film was still in the works after they acquired Gearbox Software, the then-owners of the Duke Nukem franchise.
While x0r has only chosen to upload screenshots and video so far, some fans on 4chan remain hopeful that the original game might one day be leaked for play.