Word about the 2001 build of Duke Nukem Forever being leaked out into the wild just earlier this week. At the time, the leaker known by the handle of "x0r" said that they would probably release this build in June some time. Until June, all we would have to tide us over would be a handful of screenshots and short video clips.
As it turns out, June came early this year as the unfinished build of Duke Nukem Forever is now available to download by everyone with an internet connection. You can download the build, along with the Unreal Editor used to build the game's maps, from the Internet Archive. This release includes the editor, unfinished content, source code, and even the entire 4chan thread where the leaked media was first released.
If you plan on downloading this, you need to understand that what is available is from an unfinished game. Beyond entire segments of the game being near unplayable or totally unfinished, it's also a bit difficult to get running. A Reddit thread provides some tips on how to get the game running along with how to change the resolution and how to ditch the d3d8 wrapper.
Those who have already started to check out this leak have managed to find some interesting ideas that were unique and honestly ahead of their time. There were touchscreens that you could interact with properly, a "pipe dream" style hacking minigame that predates the hacking mechanic found in BioShock by several years, a dedicated piss button, and a kind of spooky escort mission that takes place in near complete darkness.
Duke Nukem Forever really just is the gift that keeps on giving. It was stuck in development limbo across various developers for over 14 years. It was ultimately released by Gearbox in 2011. It has even resulted in some pretty intense drama just this week alone.
