From a very unique take on bounty hunting to cool takes on espionage, several excellent ideas have been buried by their studios, with a variety of factors coming into play that didn’t let them see the light of day. We’re taking a look at a few that we would have loved to play, but sadly never got the chance to.

Let’s dive right in.

1. Crackdown 3

While its Wrecking Zone multiplayer mode drew heavily on Microsoft’s bold idea to bring cloud computing to the Xbox One, Crackdown 3 didn’t really catch on the way it should have, despite being a lot of fun. The final product was sadly nowhere close to the high bar that was set for it, with the result being a very destructible city that was largely devoid of the players it was meant to host.

The dream of entire city blocks collapsing in front of you with your console handling core tasks and the cloud rendering all of the destruction just didn’t materialize, and the game suffered for it as a result.

2. Project Milo

This was a tricky one for a long time, with a lot of back and forth about whether it was actually intended to be made into a game taking place between its creators and Microsoft. Still, it would have been cool to see a game with AI actively responding to you and acting on your voice commands.

This was a relationship sim that could have been quite innovative for its time, but it simply faded away into the background amid all the noise surrounding its “release”.

3. Star Wars 1313

We’d be lying if we said that this one didn’t sting a little. For starters, it was supposed to have Boba Fett as its frontman with a fast-paced gameplay loop that relied on gadgets and more traditional weapons in lieu of lightsabers and The Force. As if that wasn’t enough, it was purported to emulate Star Wars Bounty Hunter while bringing a gritty, darker tone to its story.

Sadly, LucasArts never got to make this one a reality, and we never got to explore District 1313 and see what the underbelly of Coruscant had to offer.

4. Silent Hills/PT

A Silent Hill title that was going to feature a collaboration between Hideo Kojima and filmmaker Guillermo del Toro (whose horror credentials are quite well known), with Norman Reedus playing its protagonist, sounds like a dream, right? That’s sadly all it was to most of the gaming world, with Konami pulling its playable demo from the PlayStation Store shortly after its cancellation.

All we can do is look back fondly at the supernatural time loop being brought to the table, and of course, shudder at the thought of Lisa constantly lurking out of sight just waiting to jump at us. A Playable Teaser was all this one was ever going to be in the aftermath of Kojima’s exit from Konami.

5. Prey 2

Aside from the obvious draw of an amnesiac protagonist affected by the presence of The Sphere from the first game, the chance to be a bounty hunter on an alien planet while uncovering the truth about his abduction sounded too good to be true. That was probably a valid insight when we look back at this one, with the game’s plans to make you embody a bounty hunter never coming to fruition.

We would have loved the chance to make use of all the agency this one gave us as we took on the role it wanted us to, but all we can do now is smile somberly at what could have been.

6. Scalebound

An action-RPG that gave fans of the Eragon novels a lot to be excited for, this one might have been a legendary title had it actually made its way to its audiences. Getting to command a literal dragon in the heat of battle, and even directly take control of it to unleash its fearsome abilities, is an idea that we’re yet to see even in the current generation of games. And that’s without even considering the co-op potential that the concept could bring to the table.

Its eventual cancellation after years of development is a showcase of how even the best of ideas may not translate to commercially viable titles in the long run.

7. Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Patriots

Although this one did make way for Rainbow Six Siege, the thought of being part of a unit led by a morally grey former Navy SEAL against a terrorist group that was willing to impose its own beliefs on New York’s residents had all the makings of a Tom Clancy story that was true to the author’s vision and tone.

However, the decision to cancel the title and scrap this unique concept is a choice that we continue to question to this day.

8. The Lord of the Rings: The White Council

An open-world RPG where you would work under the guidance of the White Council, with its story and themes drawing from both the films and books, sounds like a Lord of the Rings adventure that might have put even Frodo and Sam to shame.

But it seems that the idea was cast into the fires of Mount Doom, and while we do have Shadow of War to help us cope, we can’t help but wish for a Palantir to view what it might have turned out to be if its version of Middle-earth was allowed to take shape.

9. Agent

Set in the Cold War and rumored to place its players at the heart of all of the espionage, political assassinations, and counter-intelligence that the era brought along, Agent was a great idea. Even Sony seemed to think so, locking down its IP with the belief that it could “set the bar for the industry” as per Michael Shorrock, who headed SCEA’s third-party relations at the time.

A stealth-action game with Rockstar at the helm certainly fits that description, but like the agents it aimed to bring to life, this one quietly vanished, presumably sacrificed in order to focus more resources on the development of GTA V.

10. Project Titan

The World of Warcraft killer that spent seven years in development continues to have us wondering whether it might have been able to live up to its lofty ambitions.

Despite the best of Blizzard coming together to bring this sci-fi MMO to life, complete with cool mech suits and rumored superhero-esque powers for its characters, along with a unique twist where you play as a normal citizen of the world by day while battling it out at night, Project Titan was unable to get off the ground. This is a cancellation that still rankles, if we’re being honest.

11. The Last of Us Online

Among the many projects that were cancelled in the aftermath of Sony’s ill-fated live-service push, this one was the most disappointing to us. The concept definitely had its merits, with a massive world filled with The Infected being the perfect stage for a survival-horror gameplay loop, complete with a standalone story to keep things interesting.

Unfortunately for it, the concept was scrapped after concerns about its long-term viability began to rear their head. For our part, we would have played this one for hours on end if it had made its way into our hands.

12. Duke Nukem Forever

While Duke was a hero who was quite clear about where he stood on alien invasions, the creative team behind this one could have emulated his conviction. That wasn’t the case, and this title switched engines during its development so many times that it’s hard to think about the game it was meant to be versus the one that we got.

Its vision was ultimately diluted by a needless focus on technical relevance, and as one of the record holders for being the longest game in development, we can’t help but feel that this was a game that deserved to be greater than the sloppy experience it ultimately devolved into.

13. Final Fantasy Versus XIII

The darker, more gothic take on the franchise was quite appealing when it first came to light, and Prince Noctis was quite an intriguing character. But with Final Fantasy XIII and eventually Final Fantasy XIV constantly dividing the attention of its team, and engine issues caused by the PS3’s aging tech, this one was pulled back and repurposed into FFXV.

When the trailer for the game eventually came around, it felt like it had changed almost completely, ditching its darker tone for something better aligned with the franchise’s overall light-hearted trappings. It would then be a solid five years before XV came out, and Versus XIII quietly vanished from the hearts and minds of its potential players.

14. The Getaway 3

We were quite fond of the original Getaway’s unique way of presenting its world, with the sort of cinematic quality that comes along quite rarely. With its parallel storylines and lack of a HUD and other elements, it was quite immersive and also fun to play as a Sony-backed sandbox. The sequel carried on those traditions, and we were delighted to know that a third title was in the works.

But The Getaway 3 was lost to the annals of time, with its cancellation never actually being announced, but quite clearly understood by the gaming world at large.

15. Deep Down

A sci-fi fantasy co-op adventure that would have its players exploring time-hopping dungeons is something we’re still waiting to see. It doesn’t help that Deep Down had its gameplay drawing inspiration from Dark Souls, which was already among our favorites to begin with.

But its 2013 reveal, and the lack of any concrete evidence of its development over the years has essentially made this once unique concept nothing more than vaporware. We’re holding out hope that it eventually becomes a great game, but we’re not going to hold our breath.

BONUS: Wonder Woman

Monolith’s proprietary Nemesis System, a unique mechanic that worked so darn well in the Shadow franchise, was the perfect way to craft a Wonder Woman story that could really dig into the character’s lore who could defy challenges and come back stronger.

That’s probably why the cancellation of this one continues to be an annoyance to us, as the concept is probably not going to make it to any other titles in the near future.

And that’s a wrap on our picks for great gaming ideas that showed a lot of promise but did not ultimately make their way to their players. Here’s to hoping that we don’t have to make another one of these lists over the next few years, though!

1. Duke Nukem Forever (2011)

Absurdly long development times are perceived as harbingers of doom nowadays, and 2011’s Duke Nukem Forever serves as the poster boy of such a perception. Development spanned 15 years for Duke Nukem Forever, and it’s still in the Guinness Book of World Records today for that reason. Not releasing an entry in over a decade will no doubt poison a franchise, but the game’s quality also failed to garner optimism for ole’ Duke. For one, Forever’s design was outdated without actually, you know, being good. The pacing tries to ape Duke Nukem 3D, but falls on its face due to the lack of viscerality the former had and the incredibly repetitive level design. Duke Nukem Forever soured players with its cringy humor too, yet I believe it could’ve been charming if some creativity was put into it. Remember how cool it was to run into a corpse of Luke Skywalker in Duke Nukem 3D? Or the unique visual aesthetics of levels like the “Escape From LA” stage to the 2001 Monolith on the moon? Duke Nukem Forever failed to use its raunchy referential charm in creative and fun ways, leading to a boring time embarrassingly cringing at the screen for many players.

2. Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Another 4th game in the respective series with a troubled dev cycle was Dragon Age: The Veilguard. While The Veilguard didn’t bomb quite as hard as Duke Nukem Forever, its tone is similarly to blame for its meager performance. Unlike the gritty (and very bloody in the case of Origins) realistic medieval tone of the previous Dragon Age games, The Veilguard is lit up in bright purples and sanitized almost like an ‘E for everyone’ title at times. Even the enemy designs lean in the cartoony direction with dragons that hardly instill any sense of fear or urgency. But it’s the awkward writing and dialogue that really disappointed a lot of fans. Instead of working you way through an origin story through blood, sweet, and tears, your character is just instantly accepted as ‘the hero’ of the narrative. Teammates rarely argue with you and often feel more like cheerleader social workers than elite warriors. At least the combat feels satisfying, but many have lamented the series distancing away from RPG mechanics since Inquisition, and The Veilguard is the series at its most streamlined and RPG-lite.

3. Mirror’s Edge Catalyst

Unlike Duke Nukem Forever or The Veilguard, Mirror’s Edge fans don’t mind a return to the series in the style of Catalyst. The main reason Mirror’s Edge has been dormant since 2016 is because DICE and EA have been focusing almost exclusively on reviving the Battlefield franchise. And thanks to recent gaming trends of big companies not giving small series’ a chance, it’s unlikely we’ll see another Mirror’s Edge title. But Catalyst didn’t exactly do everything right. The story was incredibly bog-standard, with characters that fell flat for a majority of players. The main reason to play the game was the excellent parkour movement, and that’s something Catalyst opened up substantially thanks to its more open structure. However, many locations felt copy-pasted, adding a sense of bloat that didn’t exist in the first game. Catalyst is still recommended by fans of the short-lived series, but its bump in quality from the first game, as well as DICE being busy elsewhere, doesn’t leave a lot of room for a series return.

4. Bionic Commando (2009 reboot)

Bionic Commando’s gritty 2009 reboot effectively killed the franchise due to a paltry 27,000 US units sold in its first month. Capcom’s top brass criticized the outsourced dev team for being difficult to work with, affirming their hesitancy to outsource overseas that would reverberate throughout the company for years. We previously cited Bionic Commando as an example of nonsensical story twists in games, and for good reason. This reboot is laughably campy despite its attempt at high stakes grit. The dude’s arm is his wife for crying out loud. But it wasn’t just story that players couldn’t take seriously, it’s also the janky movement with the arm rope slinging and the average shooting and combat mechanics. I’m glad the Bionic Commando reboot exists, if for the memes and campy ‘B-movie’ quality alone, but it also helped convince Capcom to shelf the series, and that’s a shame considering how iconic the original 2D titles were.

5. Saints Row (2022)

It’s been three years and I still haven’t encountered anybody who likes the Saints Row reboot. On paper, the ingredients for a decent Saints Row experience are there. But the exucation is severely half-baked. The open world design is uninspired with a plethora of repetitive side missions. Even the humor is disappointing, something the series always differentiated itself with. Saints Row was always known as the more goofy GTA, with well-written gags and scenarios that managed to get a chuckle out of gamers. But the reboot is anything but that, going for a more serious tone in-between jokes that fall flat on their face. Seeing how poor sales were and the terrible critical reception, it’s very unlikely we’ll see a new Saints Row anytime soon.

6. Lost Planet 3

Lost Planet 3 is undoubtedly the black sheep of the series. It’s the only entry developed by an outsourced western team, it didn’t heavily feature mechs in combat, and was panned by critics and the fandom alike. If relegating mechs to a minor role wasn’t enough of blow to fans, the repetitive side missions, bland level design, and less fluid combat sealed the deal. At least you’re still fighting Akrids in a snowy environment, but besides that, the game is hardly recognizable from the past two entries.

7. Crackdown 3

I’m not going to pretend that the Crackdown series was a household name worthy of GOTY discussions or anything, but the first two titles showed a lot of promise for the arcady GTA/Saints Row alternative. Crackdown 2 in particular was just a ton of fun to let loose and enjoy the bonkers open-world mayhem in. And the third game had a lot of hype leading to release, with none other than Terry Crews starring as the main city-destroying protagonist. But even longtime fans couldn’t find much to enjoy with Crackdown 3. The world map lacked variety, basically feeling like the same three nighttime city blocks copy/pasted throughout. The missions and gameplay don’t do much to make up for level design either, forming a repetitive loop of basic tasks over and over again. There’s not even anything fun to collect; with ability orbs comprising the majority of world secrets. I don’t even think Crackdown 3 would be appealing if it released decades ago; it’ll be a miracle if we see another entry any time in the near future.

8. The Order: 1886

Everyone talked about the life-like graphical fidelity of The Order at the time of the PS4’s launch. It was the defacto tech demo game for the console for good reason, showcasing impressive lighting and texture details. But hardly anything noteworthy could be said about any other aspect of the game. I can’t in good conscious call The Order a bad game; it’s just that it wasn’t much of a game to begin with at the asking price. The campaign takes around six hours to complete with little more than some collectibles to warrant further play sessions. It’s not just that it’s brief though, the content is somewhat superficial with its many quick-time events and bog-standard cover shooting. It’s one of those games that’s fine to rent for the story and setting, but you’ll forget about in a couple weeks. While The Order never developed into a series, it was initially planned to be one, with a sequel on the docket until the studio, Ready At Dawn, shuttered in 2024.

9. Kane & Lynch 2: Dog Days

Finally, we have the controversial cult classic, Kane & Lynch 2. This game was bound to have mixed reviews from its inception. Despite how it appears, Kane & Lynch 2 is a highly unconventional art piece of a game. The camerawork is intentionally amateurish and, at times, nauseating, in an effort to simulate cop cams or body cams. Plenty critics called out the camera as terrible and superficial, but it’s also the element that appealed to its fans the most. It’s really the five hour campaign and repetitive cover shooting that resulted in the general poor reviews and lackluster sales. And with IO Interactive moving on with their enormously successful Hitman games and upcoming James Bond title, it’s unlikely Kane & Lynch will get another opportunity to gain a following beyond that small cult classic crowd.

SHELLSHOCK 2: BLOOD TRAILS

Shellshock 2: Blood Trails is maybe not completely without its redeeming qualities, such as its genuinely creepy atmosphere, but it is, at the same time, also a classic case of a game that is as unfun to play as it is conceptually interesting. Broken shooting mechanics and AI, terrible level design, frustrating controls, you name it- the game was riddled with issues that made it an absolute nightmare to play.

DUKE NUKEM FOREVER

Few games deserve a spot on such lists as much as Duke Nukem Forever do. After spending an interminably long time in development hell and changing developers more times than anyone could keep track of, the long-in-development FPS was brought to market by Gearbox, and it. Was. Awful. As broken and bland in its design as it was dated and abrasive with its writing, with a host of technical issues to boot, Duke Nukem Forever was an unmitigated disaster.

XIII (2020)

The original XIII, back when it first came out, may not have been special by any means, but it certainly didn’t deserve a remake as horrific as the one it got in 2020, which may truly be one of the worst games ever made. 2020’s XIII may have had some cool visual flourishes, but from a mess of technical issues to braindead enemy AI to painfully dull shooting to so, so much more, it was an atrocious time. A major overhaul in 2022 did sand out many of its rough edges, but it’s still a tough game to recommend.

MEDAL OF HONOR: UNDERGROUND (GBA)

We understand that Medal of Honor: Underground came at a time when it was common to see completely different versions of the same game for different platforms- but why the hell would you try to develop an actual first-person shooter for the Game Boy Advance? Unsurprisingly, it did not go well. Medal of Honor: Underground looked awful and was frustratingly limited in the gameplay department in ways that an FPS just cannot afford. Other than as a curious novelty (that stinks like week-old socks), there is no reason for this version of this game to exist.

ALIENS: COLONIAL MARINES

Everything about this game was an absolute dumpster fire. Gearbox and Sega made huge promises in the lead-up to Aliens: Colonial Marines’ launch, but the game itself fell spectacularly short in so many ways. Game-breaking AI issues, crippling technical problems (including a huge visual downgrade), and more combined in an experience that failed to satisfy in any real way. Hell, so bad was Colonial Marines that Sega and Gearbox literally got dragged into court over claims of false advertisement.

ROBOCOP (2003)

Coming after an unusually long development cycle of four years (for the time, at least), Titus Interactive’s RoboCop arrived in 2003 on the back of the promise of an authentic FPS based on the beloved sci-fi property, and roundly failed to deliver on that promise even the teensiest bit. Terrible licensed games were far from a rarity in those days, and given how repetitive, generic, and painfully dull it was, it was no surprise to see RoboCop join that list.

REDFALL

Until not too long ago, it would have been impossible to imagine that the studio behind the original Dishonored and 2017’s Prey would end up delivering one o the worst shooters ever made, but the sad and indisputable fact is that Redfall is that bad. Broken, buggy, and uninspired, it exhibits none of the ingenious design that Arkane is typically known for, all in favour of a co-op looter shooter structure that it also doesn’t do any sort of justice to. On top of ending support for Redfall and cancelling its DLC plans, parent company Microsoft also went on to entirely shutter Arkane Austin, which shall always be this game’s unfortunate and tragic legacy.

BATTLE: LOS ANGELES

Coming back to poorly received licensed games, here’s one that you may not even remember ever existed- which would be a blessing in disguise, because boy is this an awful game. Battle: Los Angeles launched in 2011 and was just as bland and forgettable as the movie it was based on. A shockingly short campaign that lasted under an hour and painfully dull level design and gunplay were just a few of its many glaring issues.

THE WALKING DEAD: SURVIVAL INSTINCT

The Walking Dead as an IP has had its ups and downs in gaming. Survival Instinct definitely falls in the latter category, and may even be so bad that it’s its flag-bearer. Focusing on the Dixon brothers, The Walking Dead: Survival Instinct made thin promises of being a genuinely well-made game, before being roundly criticized by one and all upon launch for being a disappointingly shallow and broken experience, to the point of being downright unplayable.

GOLDENEYE: ROGUE AGENT

Rogue Agent was literally announced with the working title GoldenEye 2 back in the day, but the actual game couldn’t have fallen further from those implied heights. Though it hid some fleeting moments of fun in its innards, there was by and large just too much else that dragged the game down, including uninspired levels, lackluster gunplay, and a nonsensical story that was almost hostile in its disrespect for James Bond canon.

007 LEGENDS

We’ll stick with the man with the license to kill a tad longer, because we can’t really talk about bad Bond games and not mention 007 Legends, which may even be one of the worst games ever made, period. Conceptually, its promise of combining all eras of the Bond movies in a single, anthological experience was an intriguing one, but the game seemed much more interested in instead being a poorly made Call of Duty clone that did not even have the shooting mechanics to back up those ambitions.

TERMINATOR 3: WAR OF THE MACHINES

Also often known as the poor man’s Battlefield 1942, Terminator 3: War of the Machines is a rare example of a game where it’s genuinely hard to come up with legitimate redeeming qualities. In almost every way that mattered, this was a game that came up short in significant ways. It was ugly to look at, its awful level design made it a chore to play, it was riddled with technical issues, its multiplayer was downright broken- and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

FAR CRY VENGEANCE

The Far Cry series has generally maintained an admirable level of quality with its mainline entries over the years, but its spinoff offerings have stumbled in more worse ways. Exhibit A: Far Cry Vengeance, an absolute mess of a remake of a game that wasn’t that great to begin with. Vengeance checked almost none of the boxes that you want a Far Cry game to check, instead coming across as an underwhelming cashgrab with mindlessly repetitive offerings and downright ugly visuals.

ROGUE WARRIOR

How this game was allowed to release in any form, much less as a full-priced $60 release back in the day, will forever remain one of gaming’s greatest mysteries. Releasing in an era that was oversatursated with shooters, Rogue Warrior offered absolutely nothing of value. Rather than focusing on fun shooting and stealth and solid design, the game instead relied on horrible writing and dull mechanics, all delivered in a shockingly short campaign and broken multiplayer modes.

HAZE

Haze was one of several games to be billed as a supposed Halo killer in the lead-up to its release back in the day, and like every single one of them, it did not live up to that billing. On the contrary, in fact, it has rightly gone down as one of the worst games of its era. Though Haze could show fleeting flashes of quality from time to time, it was ultimately far too much of a mess across both its campaign and multiplayer modes to be remembered as anything more than than massive disappointment it was.

METAL GEAR – METAL GEAR SURVIVE

You’d think that Konami couldn’t have given the Metal Gear franchise a worse sendoff than it did with the troubled launch of MGS5 and the acrimonious departure of series mastermind Hideo Kojima, but the company decided to follow up on those disasters with another major screwup. That came in the form of Metal Gear Survive, an abomination of a survival game with mindless, repetitive mechanics, uninspired design, and an unimaginable misuse of a beloved IP. Metal Gear Survive isn’t mainline, of course, and as such easily ignorable- which is good, because that’s exactly what you should do with it.

Fallout 76

While Fallout had already switched gears from being a top down RPG to a full blown first person adventure with the third entry, the franchise’s biggest risk to date has undoubtedly been Fallout 76. Released in 2018, Fallout 76 sought to take what was a predominantly single player franchise and morph it into a live service game. But that process was far from smooth, and the launch version of Fallout 76 was criticized by fans on account of its empty world and technical inefficiencies galore. But thankfully, Bethesda didn’t give up on the game and Fallout 76 has become much better with each new content update. As it stands now, Fallout 76 is easily one of the best ways to experience the franchise – which ultimately makes this risky venture a smash success.

Lair (2007)

The PlayStation 3’s Six-Axis controller might not have been the most ergonomic when compared to its competitor the Xbox 360 controller, but it was certainly ambitious – sporting a fully-featured motion control setup. Factor 5’s dragon warfare game Lair was made to utilize the motion control functionality, and a big-budget and marketing coalesced to form huge hype and of course, expectations for the game. After a year-long delay, Lair would finally release in 2007 – to middling critical reception. Reviews at the time criticized the game’s motion controls as being cumbersome and unintuitive among a number of things, and the game quickly became one of the biggest disappointments of the year.

MASS EFFECT ANDROMEDA

No one needs to be told about the massive legacy of the original Mass Effect trilogy. Barring some missteps here and there, BioWare’s first three Mass Effect games are collectively probably the best work they’ve ever done. Then there’s Mass Effect Andromeda, which is… not. To be fair, Andromeda is a good game in its own right, and it certainly has a lot going for it, but it just doesn’t do justice to the magic of its predecessors. Even if we ignore the overblown criticism the game was subject to at the time of its launch, we still have to accept that Andromeda is a pretty big step back from the Commander Shepard trilogy.

RIDE TO HELL: RETRIBUTION

Ride to Hell: Retribution has received no small amount of criticism (to put it mildly), and yet it still doesn’t feel enough. Some games are simply offensively bad, and this is one such game. From crappy writing to repetitive gameplay, from terrible AI to a litany of bugs, ugly visuals to awkward controls, Ride to Hell: Retribution was a game that had critical problems in almost every single area.

The franchise first got its start with the eponymous Duke Nukem in 1991. The franchise is most known for 3D level progression much in the same way that Doom or Quake games play, but it actually got its start as a 2D scrolling platformer. wherein the player navigates Duke to the end of the level, all the while managing his health bar and collecting enhancements for health or weapons, It was a game whose story is told in three episodes, with Duke Nukem pursuing the evil Dr. Proton through Los Angeles, a base on the moon, and in the future in the first, second, and third episodes, respectively.

This game was followed up by Duke Nukem II in 1993, and would be another 2D scrolling platformer, following Duke Nukem as he fights against an evil alien race who seek to take over the Earth across four episodes, each with eight levels. The game features four different kinds of usable weapons. Visually it shares great resemblance to the first game, but mission progression differs noticeably, and features interactable environments such as climbing across pipes as part of playing through stages. Interestingly, besides releasing on computers, it also released for the GameBoy Color, and offered a different gameplay experience altogether – a different enemy alien race, fewer stages, but different weapons, and in this game, Duke Nukem can hang onto ledges.

It would be with Duke Nukem 3D that the franchise and its reputation would really take off. It’s the franchise’s first first-person-shooter, and sits amongst a pantheon of pivotal computer FPS’s such as Quake, Doom, and Wolfenstein 3D for their popularizing of 3D shooter action games. Compared to games such as Quake or Doom, Duke Nukem 3D is noticeably less linear, with destructible stage elements and the ability to interact with environmental elements such as climbing through air ducts.

Duke Nukem 3D also incorporates game design ideas that noticeably differ it from its franchise predecessors, such as a portable medkit that allows Duke Nukem to himself at will. Another evolution of note from its predecessors for the series is the introduction of online multiplayer, in line with the other computer-based popular shooters of the day. Players can play on levels used in the main scenario or on levels made by the level editor included with the game – the same one used by the game’s developers, and the option for co-operative progression through the game’s main scenario was also an option. Duke Nukem 3D, and the first two Duke Nukem games, have all been developed by the same company – while 3D Realms is listed as the developer for Duke Nukem 3D, it is also the name that Apogee Software took on after 1996.

And while Duke Nukem 3D would be followed up by a host of other spinoffs following its release, there would not be a proper sequel for quite some time – not until 2011, with Duke Nukem Forever. Not that this was intended to be the case – as it was initially announced back in 1997, but was delayed and even one officially cancelled at one point in 2009 – though development continued in spite of that. 3D Realms, responsible for the development of the influential Duke Nukem 3D, did not end up completing the game themselves, but Triptych Games and Gearbox Software would finish the job, with Triptych containing some personnel from original Duke Nukem developers 3D Realms. Duke Nukem Forever features interesting deviations from past games, including the way health works – first, Duke Nukem’s ego bar must be depleted, and then his health bar can be depleted.

Duke Nukem Forever was also treated to a DLC expansion called The Doctor Who Cloned Me, an additional scenario campaign featuring the villain Dr. Proton from the first Duke Nukem game. While Forever left the door open for a sequel, the reviews for the game were negative across the board, with the game being seen as dated both in its gameplay design and regressive or offensive in its humor. It was also seen as a weak gameplay experience, plagued by poor controls and too long loading times. The game plays slowly despite trying to harken back to the shooters that 3D released alongside (and despite not containing more movement sophistication associated with more modern shooters, such as cover mechanics,).

This all said and done, it would turn out that Duke Nukem Forever holds the longest ever development time for a video game, a time marked by repeated releases of promotional media – 14 years and 44 days. Rather than a strong return to form, the game is mostly known for a comically long development time and for being disappointing upon release.

The Duke Nukem franchise has also been host to a variety of spinoff games. Releasing in 1998 on the Playstation is Duke Nukem: Time To Kill. This game was not developed by 3D Realms, but by n-Space. Following that in 1999 for the Nintendo 64 is Duke Nukem: Zero Hour, developed by Eurocom – known for their work on certain 007 titles. However, while 007 Goldeneye is seen as an N64 classic, this game released to mediocre reviews.The last main spinoff for the Duke Nukem franchise would be Duke Nukem: Manhattan Project, originally releasing for PC in 2002. It is a game that plays in 2.5D, and allows for the player to focus zoom on either the environment or on enemies, and at times allowing the use of jetpack for traversal.

While Duke Nukem Forever teased a seqyel, the future doesn’t seem good for another new game at all. In a statement dated April 2017, Gearbox made it clear that they have no plans to work on another Duke Nukem game anytime soon, after discussing Duke Nukem’s cameo appearance in Bulletstorm. It’s a rather strange turn of fate for a franchise littered with cancelled projects, signaling the once great interest in continuing the life of the franchise. The voice actor for Duke Nukem, outright stated in a Twitter post at the end of this past January that there is nothing in the works for Duke Nukem.

We can hope that the fates of the character change in the future, but in order to do so, the character very likely has to evolve and find a place in the modern gaming landscape, rather than playing to gameplay experiences or humor sensibilities associated with the past. What do you think is needed for a new Duke Nukem game to succeed? While there are a variety of other shooter franchises that are active, Duke Nukem is notable for being both a shooter and placing heavy emphasis on its protagonist. Let us know in the comments section below. As always – thanks for reading.

SPLINTER CELL: CHAOS THEORY

Splinter Cell and Metal Gear Solid are the old guard of stealth games in our industry (both are, sadly, off on a break for now), and both these franchises are well aware of that fact. For instance, Metal Gear Solid 2 allowed players to hold enemies at gunpoint, at which point they’d goofily shake their bodies and drop some ammo. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory poked fun at this mechanics, with Sam holding a guard in his grips in one scene and demanding ammo, to which the guard glibly tells him that it’s not like he can just make him shake and drop some ammo.