The 2001 UE1 version of Duke Nukem Forever was 90% completed, and had RPG (deus ex) elements!

I actually liked the released product!

I followed this thing throughout the whole development cycle. The team just constantly wanted to make the "best game ever" and so kept switching engines which necessitated lots of new work. By the time the latest assets were done, older systems needed replacing as they were out of date (as the team leaders saw it). It was a cycle 3D Realms couldn't brake.

I'd happily buy any version of DNF. My main complaint with it was the load times, which a re-release would fix.
 
Releasing a 2001 build of this game would be akin to The Beach Boys - SMiLE getting released some 35 years later. It would probably be a great project that you could tell was almost finished, makes you wonder why it wasn't finished and leave you wondering what impact it would have had on the medium if it had been released on schedule.
 
With boomer shooters blowing up in popularity, it'd definitely find an audience, if it is actually 90% done which I don't totally believe.

I actually liked the released product!

I followed this thing throughout the whole development cycle. The team just constantly wanted to make the "best game ever" and so kept switching engines which necessitated lots of new work. By the time the latest assets were done, older systems needed replacing as they were out of date (as the team leaders saw it). It was a cycle 3D Realms couldn't brake.

I'd happily buy any version of DNF. My main complaint with it was the load times, which a re-release would fix.

I remember reading that Broussard would play a new FPS, see a new mechanic or something that he liked, and demand the devs put some version of it into the game. And this was a time when the genre was evolving rapidly.
 
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