Early Duke Nukem Forever Build From 2001 Leaks Online

The long-lost build of the game finally comes out in a recent 4chan leak.

By Ahmed Mansoor May 9, 2022

Duke Nukem Forever came out in 2011 and was a big disappointment for the players. It got a rather negative reception from critics and players alike. Not even one aspect of the game was good and it was very underwhelming overall. This felt even worse for the players as they had waited a total of 14 years for this sequel. However, Duke Nukem Forever’s troubled development resulted in this total mess of a game. At the start of the project, though, there was a lot of hope for Duke Nukem Forever, especially after a build shown at the E3 event in 2001, which was scrapped afterward. Recently, this version of the game has come out in a new leak from 4chan.

Recently, a user on 4chan has leaked Duke Nukem Forever’s 2001 build on a forum and also shows us gameplay footage. This is the version of the game that got most players excited for the project two decades ago. However, no one was ever able to play it as the development team left in 2009, after a reshuffle at the 3D Realms. What we got instead of this was a hot mess that essentially nuked the franchise.

However, players will now apparently get to play the real version of Duke Nukem Forever, if this is true. Screenshots pertaining to the game show different areas in this 2001 build. It looks much more polished than the sequel that players actually got and the information from the leaker is also promising.

Almost every chapter is present in this leaked version, according to the user, and it’s mostly playable. It’s based on Unreal Engine 1 and nearly all the weapons are functional. The leaker will release the full source code and make it available in June. However, it’s not the finished version, as the game was never complete. You will see some blocks with no enemies at all and some visual problems.

Vice President of 3D Realms, Frederik Schreiber, said that the 2001 build was 90% complete back in 2018. Duke Nukem Forever was very dark in this version and has an RPG base to it. Issues with the source code and textures were the reason this version didn’t see the light of day. So, this leak can be true based on this information and we may finally be getting the original build of the sequel.