Duke Nukem Begins trailer shows canceled third-person cooperative shooter game

Gearbox used to make a prequel to “Duke of Destruction”.

The Duke of Destruction begins It is the name of a cancelled project developed at Gearbox around 2008. This unannounced game was originally a prequel, and we are now learning about it, thanks to the people who worked on one of the trailers.

Gregor Punchatz was working in a studio called Janimation, and his team was tasked with creating a vertical slice for Duke Nukem Begins. The vertical slice is essentially a model, and the studio uses CG to show the look, feel and core mechanics of the game. This is what the studio uses to market the concept to the publisher (and in some cases to the public), which was not ready to show any gameplay at the time.

Although the movie has been completed, the cancellation of the game means that no one outside the team has seen Janimation’s work-until now. Thirteen years later, Punchatz decided to upload the full clip to YouTube because it was a clip he was proud of, and because “the entire team I worked with should see it made public.”

The trailer shows the first third-person game of the Duke of Destruction. We can see Duke making some fashionable moves, usually dual wielding weapons. At the back of the video, three other players appeared to help him move forward. This is another feature that is of great significance to the Duke of Destruction game.