Duke Nukem Forever, more than ten years after its initial release, is still considered by many to be one of the most disappointing releases in recent history. However, a new leak seems to infer that an early build of Duke Nukem Forever showed promise at one point, with the 2001 build of the game now leaked and making its way to various forums online.
The early build of Duke Nukem Forever still remains up on a thread on Reddit, where the poster lists various features about the vertical slice:
https://duke4.net/duke-nukem-forever-2001-content-4chan-leak/
- Almost every chapter is present in some form. A huge chunk is playable, a huge chunk is block-outs with no enemies. All of the E3 content is there.
- Not just the editor, we will be releasing the full source code too.
- All weapons are functional with the exception of the chainsaw and the freezer.
- Do you have any date on when you are gonna leak it then? June.
- The editor works. We also have the engine and UnrealScript source code and have written instructions for compiling it.
- Two builds, but only the content for one.
- It is Unreal Engine 1, like the final game.
- There is no complete game. It was never finished.
- The E3 2001 iteration but not the E3 2001 build.
- The shrink ray is in the game, it’s the first weapon in slot 4.
- The theme is just the Megadeth version. It starts playing as soon as you boot the game.
- Bombshell is not visually present in the game at this point, there is a log file showing that her model was deleted.
- The strippers can be seen and interacted with when you first enter the club. By the point in the game that was recorded, most of them are dead.
Gameplay footage: https://streamable.com/5qttin
Lots of screenshots at the link. Sounds like we’ll be getting everything to download soon (in June, apparently).
It’s interesting to note that the duke4.net site is currently down or unreachable, but we do have some footage available thanks to the Streamable link. Judging by the gameplay footage, this early version of the game seems to be vastly different to what we actually got, and fans on the subreddit where this leaked are seemingly more receptive thanks to its feel being overall closer to the original Duke Nukem.
The leak does not end there, however, as the leaker promises to leak this playable build and everything else associated with it sometime in June. However, as is the case with everything unconfirmed, take this onee with a grain of salt until officially confirmed.