Unreleased Duke Nukem Forever Build From 1996 Gets Dumped Online

The 4chan leaker known by the name of X0R has gained fame among retrogamers, especially within the Duke Nukem fandom, over the course of this year. They first came to light in May this year for leaking the unreleased build of Duke Nukem Forever from 2001.

At that time they had alluded that they might have more unreleased Duke Nukem-related stuff.

A week earlier they had leaked unreleased Duke Nukem Endangered Species from 2001. Now almost after 8 months after the first leak, they have again started leaking more Duke Nukem releases. As posted on 4chan, it appears X0R has leaked an even earlier build of Duke Nukem Forever.

MAJOR TAKEAWAYS 

• The 4chan leaker, X0R, has leaked the 1996 build of Duke Nukem Forever. The build is said to be in 2D, unlike the final release of the game.
• X0R came to light earlier this year when they leaked an unreleased 2001 build of Duke Nukem Forever in May.
• The 1996 build seems to be “undone” as some players found out after running the game. 

The leaked build is claimed to be from 1996, a year before the game was announced to be in production. It is said to be a 2D build of the game, similar to the early releases of the Duke Nukem series. The files(34.08MB) were uploaded on the same link as two earlier leaks, confirming the involvement of XOR.

The leaked 1996 build is to be in 2D but by the time Duke Nukem Forever was announced in 1997, the Duke Nukem series had already transitioned to 3D a year earlier. So the existence of the 2D version of the game is quite intriguing and of great fascination for the series aficionados.

A few players who tried to get it to work said that this could be a pretty early build of the 2D version of the game as it looks “undone” and that “there are probably more 2D builds out there.” Earlier leaks from X0R, most notably the 2001 build of Duke Nukem Forever was unplayable.

It was reprogrammed by the independent Restoration Project to actually make it playable. The fans were largely overjoyed with the leak. Some called it a Christmas present from “leak gods.”

Duke Nukem Forever, announced in 1997, was released in 2011 after multiple delays. It is a sequel to Duke Nukem 3D, which is the series’ first 3D game. This leak suggests that the game was supposed to be 2D. But the idea was probably scrapped after the series had its first 3D release in 1996.

This year has been very eventful for Duke Nukem fans. With multiple leaks already, fans are optimistic that we might see 1 or 2 leaks from X0R.

What do you think? Will we see more leaks from the X0R group? Drop your opinions in the comments section below.