Duke Nukem Forever 2001 Build Restoration "First Slice"
Last July I made a video talking about Duke Nukem, the effective death of the franchise, and the lasting memory of Duke Nukem Forever. That video was to mark the 10 year anniversary of DNF's retail launch, communicate my love and connection to the series, and lament its relegation to the dust bin.
Since I published that video, within the last year, we have seen some of the most monumental shake ups relating to Duke one could have possibly imagined. May 2022 saw the leak of a stable/playable build of Duke Nukem Forever from 2001, that same build that spawned the E3 trailer that we as a fanbase have held in reverence for two decades. I was tempted, at that time, to make a video just exploring the unfinished levels, and toying around with the guns- but almost immediately, the modding community proclaimed their intention to take the leak and complete it into a finished game.
The Duke Nukem Forever Restoration Project released this "First Slice" demo on December 21st, 2022. It includes "All of Chapter 1 (9 levels) 1 Secret Level and a Bonus Map to explore." This video is my first experience playing it.
Mere days prior, on December 18th, a build of the cancelled "Duke Nukem: Endangered Species" from July, 2002, also leaked. Christmas Day then brought us a leak of the 1996 prototype 'Duke Nukem Forever', a sidescrolling action platformer.
The gravity of these builds coming to the public cannot be understated. 2022 has been the most significant and best year for the Duke Nukem series since 2011, if not since Manhattan Project dropped in 2002. Scott Miller has spoken at length about these builds through twitter on his personal account. For their part, Gearbox has been remarkably silent.
Always Bet on Duke
Download the 01 First Slice here: https://www.moddb.com/mods/dnf2001-re...
Leaked Builds can be found here: https://rentry.org/x0r_jmp
Duke community forums: https://www.Duke4.net
#dukenukemforever #dukenukem