The king is back… again!
This is the announcement you’ve all been waiting for: as of this moment, the sequel to Duke Nukem Forever is officially in development, set for an early 2013 release. The sequel, entitled Duke Foreverer, is being developed by Gearbox and 2K Games, who have promised to maintain the integrity of the franchise, and to live up to the great expectations set by the original. “There were so many things in Duke Nukem Forever that our fans simply adored, and we’re not about to go messing with a winning formula,” said 2K President Christoph Hartmann on behalf of the Gearbox dev team. That’s right folks, more piss and shit jokes, more sexual objectification, and you asked for it, you got it: even more clumsy monster truck driving! In fact, when we spoke with developers at Gearbox, they promised at least two-thirds of the playable hours will take place behind the wheel of various monster trucks, each more unwieldy than the last. Bungie also told us they hit some snags in production, so the release has been delayed a bit, and it’s looking more like a late 2015 launch date.
When we spoke with Epic Games design director Cliff Bleszinski, he said Epic wanted to take the Dukester in a new direction, “We want Mr. Nukem to feel more gritty, more tangible to the audience this time around.” Bleszinski also said, “don’t be surprised if those schoolgirl-ladies start picking up guns and fighting too.” Epic Games has been working from the ground up and their artistic vision is expansive to say the least, don’t look for this one to hit shelves until at least 2023. There was some talk about alternate-dimensionality or some such, which will allow the devs to really push the storied action hero into a new aesthetic and philosophical space.
Oops, looks like the game has been canceled and abandoned.
Bethesda Softworks has put Obsidian to the task of creating a truly open world for players to explore as the Duke himself. In this 2028 release, players will face tough choices like, “Blonde, or Brunette,” but there will also be hidden paths, and with the right skill set you may see additional options such as, “Redhead,” “Both,” or “All Three.” Chris Avellene, Obsidian’s Creative Director, wants to immerse the player in the Nukem world with their 2032 title, he wants the player to engage in the ethical conundrums of living in such a society.
No, wait. It’s been abandoned again.
Square Enix has picked up the title, and from what we’ve seen, Duke is looking just fabulous in all those zippers. Keep your ear to the ground on this one, set to release on the Playstation 7 in 2063.
[Connor Cleary is a video game columnist and critic, a freelance web and graphic designer, and an aspiring fiction writer. He is a reviewer at GameShark and an occasional opinion and analysis columnist at Gamasutra. His freelance design business is Four Stair Multimedia and Design. You can follow Connor @The_Blue_Key, or at fb/TheBlueKey, or check out his writing archive on tumblr, The Blue Key.]