Playing Duke Nukem Forever was a bit like having to spend time with your fat, former bodybuilder/current sex offender of an uncle who can't stop waxing rhapsodic about his glory days. It was not the sort of game to tear 3D Realms asunder or to assault our ears with constant soundbites from Randy Pitchford when Gearbox picked it up. So why 3D Realms have decided to get the band back together now is a little mystifying. Read on.
The game in question, Earth No More, is a first-person shooter originally slated for a 2009 release, before the entire studio was crushed under the weight of Duke Nukem Forever's oppressive ego. The premise, via 3D Realms:
Mankind’s relentless destruction of Earth awakens a biological response from deep within the planet’s crust that threatens an environmental apocalypse.
So, it's Day After Tomorrow with more guns, I guess? Goodness knows the best way to avert environmental catastrophe is more BFGs. That's what the Iraq War taught us, right?
3D Realms is teaming up with an as-yet unnamed "mystery studio" (ooh) to get Earth No More back on track, using the recently opened crowdfunding portal Gambitious to draw in backing from fans. We've already seen that crowdfunding + nostalgia is not a golden ticket to Successland, but considering Gearbox's polished turd of a game still managed to sell as well as it did, maybe there's some hope out there for 3D Realms to get this project off the ground.
You can visit Gambitious's "Ideas" page to view Earth No More (scroll down to the Upcoming Projects section).
Via Eurogamer.