3D Realms’ original Duke Nukem Forever from 2001 has leaked online

videogameschronicle.com:

A build of Duke Nukem Forever, the long in development shooter that would finally release in 2011, claiming to be from 2001, has leaked online.

Footage and screenshots of the game, which originated on the 4Chan forum, show off an incarnation of the game that was shown off at E3 2001, however, this is claimed to be a far more complete version of the game.

Duke Nukem Forever has the infamous legacy of having one of the longest development cycles for a video game, one that lasted over 14 years.

Originally announced in 1997, the game would switch developers, creative teams and console generations before it was finally released in 2011 to overwhelmingly negative reviews.

It’s claimed that the leaked 2001 build will be released in June and that almost every chapter in the game is present in some form.

However, the game is far from complete. Music from the band Megadeath is also present in the build and it’s claimed that it’s running on Unreal Engine 1.

At E3 2001, 3D Realms, who was developing the game at the time, showed off the game for the first time in three years, to a positive response. However, internal struggles meant that the game would continue to falter in development, and by 2003 only 18 people were working on the game.

In 2006, developer George Broussard told a journalist that the team had “fucked up” and restarted development on the game. This was followed by half of the team leaving in August 2006 due to the lack of progression on the game.

In 2010, Gearbox Software announced that it had purchased the Duke Nukem IP and would eventually release the game in 2011. The Xbox 360 version received a 49 on review aggregator Metacritic.