Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour

I only recently started to play this franchise, and luckily somehow I got the Megaton version back in the days. But the 20th Anniversary version is the latest version isn't? So I played the Anniversary version for a few levels, and decided to go back and play Megaton version for reasons I myself don't really know. It could be because of the weird rewind feature (which is from the Xbox Live Arcade version which is also what the Anniversary version based on) or some other things just made me feels weird.

I finished the entirety of Megaton version + expansion packs without much issues besides some minor sound effect glitches from time to time, and how the NVG works kinda bad. Then I played the fan made source port for N64 which I really like, the fan made source port includes a lot of QoL features which are pretty enjoyable.

Then I came back to this to play Alien World Order and... it's just the worst. I had high hope for this actually, especially the flamethrower which is something I really like, it's a shame it wasn't featured in the final version of Duke Nukem 3D.

So when I was playing the few levels in the first episode it was fine actually. i don't really mind the new 3D graphics (the ambient occlusion feels kinda weird though), I personally don't have the control issues as some others mentioned, though I do have issue with vertical mouse aiming as if there is some vertical acceleration turned on which are not shown in the option menu, but it's not thaaat bad. Also I didn't turned the developer commentary on when I was playing the first episode so I have no idea what they were saying in there. But I did turn it on for Alien World Order.

While most of these are going to be about Alien World Order, some of these issues are also in Anniversary version in general:

Pros:

1. It has the flamethrower, and it works quite well against regular enemies

2. New soundtrack isn't bad

Cons:

1. Firefly troopers shrink themselves and when they did that it is very difficult to hit them (if you can hit them at all). I don't think I ever killed one of those shrinked firefly trooper with hitscan weapons ever, it just feel kinda frustrating and drag the combat when some of them just refuse to come back to normal (or shrinked themselves again very quickly) and if you don't want to waste your explosive, you just have to stand there and wait for them.

2. Your flamethrower doesn't work underwater, but I think firefly trooper's does? One of them once splitting flame at me when we were both in the water and that damaged me, it just didn't lit me on fire I think.

3. The flamethrower doesn't show up in your "0" weapon slot if you picked it up using full HUD and it caused me some confusion when I was wondering where is my flamethrower went, and because of this you cannot keep track of your ammo for the flamethrower by looking at the full HUD.

4. These new levels in Alien World Order are... well I don't want to question Allen Blum's and Richard Gray's level design abilities, I know they were part of the original dev team and are experienced professional, but for some reasons they just really really love to spam alien hordes for you to fight in this new episode. I never feels this game on "Come Get Some" is that hard. But with so many enemies in a very high density, it just made combat a frustrating chore to get through. The bosses are made thing worse. I always feels bosses in this game are "strafe and hold down LMB at them for awhile" or "find a blind spot and hold down LMB for awhile" and since how they love to spawn them plus the mini version you have to do that a lot, and it gets old really fast. Many of those levels' layouts don't help it either as most of them are not really in boss arena (there are only like a couple of actual boss arena iirc), you can easily find a blind spot or stay far away and just "hold down LMB at them for awhile". And Yes I know such boss and enemy placement were in the original episodes as well but not this frequent and overused to the point it making me feels like I'm playing some troll mods.

5. The developer commentary on Alien World Order are... not very informative, 95% of the comments are like Allen Blum and Richard Gray saying whatever off the top of their head as they were playing the game. They probably talk more about their old maps though, I haven't listen to those yet so I can't be sure.

6. Bugs. lot of weird bugs.

6.1 First thing I noticed is how pressing ESC will play a random sound effects for no apparent reason, these sounds consists of shooting, exploding, reloading, gibbing and Duke's moaning sounds etc. It confused me and made me thought as if I bind some weird functions to the ESC key but after checking and reset the key bindings several times it persists.

6.2 It is hard to use the keycard on the card slot. From what I heard it is because of interaction is now part of auto aiming now and it also effect pressing buttons. This caused me some confusion when I was playing L.A. Meltdown as I thought i didn't get the keycard and wasted some of my time to look for a keycard I already picked up.

6.3 The Rewind feature will randomly decided "you are died" for no reason. It's a minor annoyance compare to many other stuff but still it's a straw to the camel's back. It can be fixed easily by turning this feature off.

6.4 Sound effects missing or glitching, and it is so much worse than the Megaton version's sounds glitching. Drinking tap water has no sound at all. And some times a door make no sounds when open or from a misaligned source (No it was not a secret door), or the worst case, make horribly loud overlapping sounds that will tear your ears. I got jumpscared by one of these doors sound once and it became one of the major reason why I'm writing this negative review.

6.5 There are some vertical surface, like a very tall wall or cliff, if you move into it Duke will instantly flew onto the top of it as if it's a small step.

6.6 Bosses and mini bosses which the new episode really adores will turn invincible if they took too much damage from flamethrower damage.

Most importantly from what I heard many of these issues exist since day one, that means Gearbox has completely abandoned (or never really cared about) this game as they haven't fixed any of these in the past nine years.

7. The NVG still just barely works.

one of the best shooters and best games of all time. Sad that it doesn't include the official addons..oh well.
Hail to the king baby!

Glad I finally got to play a Duke nukem game and it being this instead of forever.

It’s tons of fun with the overtop action film parodies and “wtf” humor and moments. I understand why people love Duke and want him to come back.

Play it now to understand and love Duke and his crazy adventures now over forever!

Rad! I would rather play this than Doom. I got his just for the nostalgia but ended up wanting to find everything. The old cheats do not work but typing GOD for god mode during gameplay still works. I suggest doing that while finding all the secrets and then going back without cheating to try to get a good time, or using a guide the first time because the amount of secrets I never knew existed and never would found, like never in a million years lol. The mod maps in the workshop are awesome also! No one is online but there might be a discord you can find people in. Get it if it's on sale.

This game taught me how to treat women back in the day.

Good job Randy getting rid of the Megaton edition from Steam and GOG, I only played this version to do the Alien World Order expansion.

Identical to Doom 1 and Doom 2... Just how i like and love it.

I'ts a damn shame i didnt know about this release sooner... Bro, Duke Nukem 3D was the first PC game I ever played. This game literally started my absolute love for first person shooters. And the new maps are incredible. Please please please dont let this be your last project. We need retro 90's graphic games like this. and there's literally no one better to continue that than Duke Nukem. Thank you for this title. This is truly a gift to fans.

This is a bad port that is also missing content. The mouse look is scuffed, the added effects don't look good with this style of game and for something that is supposed to be an "anniversary edition" it isn't even feature complete. Get the Megaton Edition off Zoom and play Duke with a source port like BuildGDX. I only recommend getting this if you want the exclusive episode, and even then, you want to play it on a source port.

Input feels absolutely terrible. Movement controls have massive input delay and mouse aiming seems super broken, like it has a deadzone or something where you need to move your mouse at a certain minimum speed to actually move your crosshair in game, so fine aiming is not really possible. And to make matters worse, this effect varies depending on the direction. Like if you wiggle the mouse up and down, the crosshair mostly moves down, because the threshold to move up is higher.
If you're looking to replay this classic, better look for alternatives. This is not it.

Its time to kick gum and chew ass.

The greatest FPS PC game of the '90s! It's always a pleasure playing an old classic from my childhood.

duke is one good of clone classic doom .but not better

Not the best way to play the game, but considering that I did miss out on grabbing the Megaton Edition nearly a decade ago, I'm glad I waited till this was on sale to grab it for as cheap as possible...not best waste of $2, but hey...it could've been worse

Simplesmente um clássico dos fps, tomara que algum dia voltem com o Duke Nuke como foi com Doom e agr com a acenção dos boomer shooter, pena que foi decepcionante com o seguinte Forever kjkkjkkk

Huh, it seems I completed my childhood again so I guess its time to kick ass and chew bubblegum but I'm all out of gum...

Classic game. I hear Eduke is better.

Pros:
Good gameplay
Updated voice over and game features

Cons:
Level design is often bad
Expensive for a game this old
Bosses are op

so little enemies in each level and the easiest levels are top tier special forces missions

Hail to the king, baby!

This is Duke Nukem 3D exactly as you remember it, badass, over-the-top, and now running smooth as hell on modern hardware. And get this: you can toggle between the original pixelated glory and the updated visuals on the fly. Yeah, it’s a cool feature, but let’s be real—I ain’t missing that old-school isometric jank one bit.

Now, playing with a keyboard AND mouse for the first time? Damn, that’s a game-changer. Makes me wonder how I ever blasted alien scum with just a keyboard back in the day. And don’t let the nostalgia fool you, this game still packs a punch. Even on easy, it’ll kick your ass harder than today’s hand-holding shooters. No regen health, no aim assist, just you, a big-ass gun, and a city full of mutant freaks to mow down.

This is how games used to be. Guns, explosions, and babes! No filler, no fluff. Just pure, unfiltered Duke. Take me back!

Гэта проста добрая гульня, незалежна ад году выпуску.

Палову часу шукаеш куды трэба ісці, а потым вельмі здзіўляешся, знайшоўшы, бо як жа можна было прапусціць такое.

Мне вельмі падабаецца, безадносна настальгіі.

Accidentally tipped an NPC money and now my profile forever makes me seem like a pervert

Duke Nukem: Atomic Edition will always have a special place in my heart -- of the original "boomer shooters" I probably played Duke3D the most. Besides the gore, smut, interactivity, and real-world locations, I also appreciated its easy to use map editor and excellent multiplayer.

I know this version gets dumped on because of Randy's/Gearbox's involvement (which is very fair), and purists will shout you down for not using such-and-such source port instead... But I really like this version. It looks great, plays well, and has all of the official expansions + a new one (I never played the two episodes in Megaton, so there's no nostalgia there.) It's a nice, clean rerelease with good features that's often available for dirt cheap on sale. Big thumbs up from me.

I sure wish they'd give this series the Doom Eternal treatment. Though I think they tried it a few times without anything coming up as good. Duke Nukem Forever was okay, but it could have been better.

This port isn't good. The movement is different, the True 3D renderer runs like shit (which may be due to my potato pc but i've heard people say it still runs like shit on modern pcs), they removed simple Quicksave/Quickload buttons with this dumbass "rewind" feature (why), and the re-recorded Duke lines aren't...BAD, but hearing crisp Jon St John lines while all the other voices are still bitcrushed is...weird.

Go download a source port like BuildGDX. It's way better that way.

I've played a lot of Duke 3D over the years, Anniversary World Tour is the weakest of recent additions/ports. It kicked of Megaton Edition from the store which was far superior and had the three Expansion Packs(Duke it out in DC, Nuclear Winter and Duke Caribbean).
Developer Commentary isn't on all levels nor is it abundant, Alien World Order adds a flame thrower type weapon along with a few new enemies.
If you don't already have Megaton Edition or really want to have Alien World Order then I can recommend this on a sale.
For everyone else that already has Megaton Edition or uses EDuke32 I can't recommend this too unless you really really want to play Alien World Order Episode.

I had the urge to play Alien World Order again but this "remaster" is just as awkward and odd as I remember it being.

- Selecting weapons with the mouse wheel only works on rare occasions. That's good isn't it?

- Quickloading and quicksaving are the same speed as manual loading and saving... Meaning, they don't exist, and you're required to manually exit the menu yourself after quicksaving, unlike in every other game with quicksave ever made.

- Mouse movement feels bad, like Duke has arthritis or something, and you can't adjust the X and Y axis individually.

- When you run out of ammo, Duke automatically switches to the mighty boot even though you still have ammo for other weapons... What the hell?

There's little things as well, like each stat on the end-of-level screen not appearing one by one while being accompanied by Duke3D's iconic BOOM sound effect. A different message font for no reason (not huge deal breaker I know, I just like the old one better.) The music not sounding as good as those Roland SC-55 versions you can download (imo). And misaligned textures in True 3D mode.

The only good thing about this "remaster" is the aforementioned exclusive fifth episode. It has its own feel but fits in very well with the rest of the game, offering some new enemies like the mini-overlords, and marvellous new tunes by Lee Jackson (Big Ben Bang being my favourite). I just wish there was a way to play it with the eDuke32 source port, which is better than this "remaster" in every conceivable way. Maybe someday.

This "remaster" has been, and is still going to be, people's first experience with Duke3D, which is quite saddening. A great game like this doesn't deserve such shabby treatment
*lie detector dings approvingly*, so I encourage the dear reader to buy the Atomic Edition off the Zoom Platform and use the eDuke32 source port. Only buy this "remaster" if you're desperate to play the Alien World Order episode like I was... and if you like the taste of Greasy's satan cork.

The Minecraft movie shows it's title card in the beginning until it's riddled with bullets spelling out "The Duke Nukem Movie."

Yet another way to play Duke Nukem 3D. It's not bad, and the new episode is kinda fun, but megaton is still a bit better IMO.

Nothing fancy, shoot monsters, explore maps, have fun

IF YOU DON'T PLAY DUKE NUKEM 3D YOU LIKE MEN!

IF YOU DO PLAY DUKE NUKEM 3D YOU LIKE MEN!

YOU LIKE MEN!

Es una buena versión aunque le faltan cosas: Principalmente las expansiones oficiales y las nuevas voces de John St Jon la verdad que bastante flojas, son infinitamente mejores los diálogos clásicos, por suerte se pueden activar.

Por otra parte se agradecen las opciones gráficas con luces dinámicas y fondos tipo skybox que reemplazan a los fondos "acartonados" de la Megaton Edition. Sin embargo el principal problema que tengo con esta versión es el sonido. Parece que al meter todos los archivos en formato ogg hace que sea innecesariamente pesado en la instalacion del juego (más de 1gb lo cual para este juego es mucho) y por otra parte es que los efectos de sonido no se cortan al repetirse, se superponen provocando una distorcion que te deja sordo (escuchese a los octabrain al dispararles con la chaingun)...

En fin, actualmente es la forma más cómoda de jugar a Duke Nukem 3D sin tener que recurrir a sourceports ni emuladores como dosbox, y tiene el aliciente de algunos cuantos logros y workshop para disfrutar de la enorme cantidad de mapas de usuarios que hay para descargar y jugar.

Lo recomiendo! Pero podría haber estado mejor!

This is by for the greatest gift for Nukem fans!! If we can get "Duke it out in D.C." the fans will be ready to "Rip'em a new one"!!! Make it happen my dudes, "So we kick ass or chew bubble gum, and we're all outta gum"!

Pros: multiple video resolutions & frame rates, lots of game settings features (including developer commentary), awesome soundtrack, customizable key bindings, you can select episodes & levels from the start (includes Plutonium Pak “The Birth” & a new episode 5 “Alien World Order”), save & load files available & also includes a time rewind menu when you die, new incinerator weapon

Cons: no borderless windowed mode, only 10 save slots available, if you tab out of the game in full screen mode it shrinks the window, does not include the multiple expansions/DLC’s, episode 5 levels are hit or miss (especially some of the puzzles), platforming section in the “Tour de Nukem” level, final boss battle in episode 5 was meh

Overall, a decent update to an FPS classic! This game runs stable on Windows 10. I can only recommend on purchasing this game when it is on sale <$5. The new episode 5 takes about 3 hours to complete on the easiest difficulty.
Duke Nukem 3D: 20th Anniversary World Tour has my recommendation

Duke3D is a true staple of my life; a game that I play through once a year at minimum. The original three episodes are a blast, and the levels are baked into my head. Even if you don't enjoy the humor (which admittedly isn't a part of why I like the game) consider playing for the sheer action-packed thrill of killing cool enemies in interesting locations.

I wish this was good, I really do.

The pros:
- New lighting
- New 7-level episode
- Red crosses replaced with pill icon, which I really like

The cons:
- No FOV customization (Many don't really mind, but I really hate the narrow FOV in-game)
- Max sensitivity is too low for my taste
- Mouse movement is incremental
- Game tends to go into windowed mode when tabbing out (Really minor issue, pressing ALT + Enter puts back into fullscreen)
- Sunstorm's expansions, Duke It Out In DC and Life's a Beach are NOT included
- No Linux support (I don't use Linux myself, but it must really suck for Linux users)
- Removal of Duke Nukem 3D: Megaton Edition* from digital stores

*Megaton Editon was a rerelease from 2013 put on Steam and consoles. It was well liked, especially for the fact that it included the Sunstorm expansions. It was removed by Gearbox due to conflict with Megaton Edition's publisher, Devolver Digital. A little while after Megaton was taken off of store, Gearbox released this version of Duke Nukem 3D.
By the way, if you have a spare Megaton Steam key, could I have one? I'd like to try out this older version sometime.

I'd recommend getting the ZOOM Platform release of Duke Nukem 3D. It includes the original version, Sunstorm's expansions, and a bunch of other content for $6 and emulate these in a source port like EDUKE32. If you want to try out the new episode in this release of the game, buy this release when it goes on sale for $2 and use EDUKE32 with the World Tour Compatibility Stopgap.


Comments are on. I would love to hear your opinions on this re-release and my review.

even though this has terrible netcode across all platforms this got released on cause i mean i played this on pc and playstation so it has to be bad on switch and xbox as well it is a great piece of nostalgia and has workshop support and people have actually posted old campaign wads from the 90s and 00s in the workshop plus new campaigns and maps have been created too along with other content. with the anniversary release of the game a new episode was created so that was awesome too. i feel like the coulda done better for the multi side of the game but hey it is still worth grabbing and playing

this is the first version of this game I've played so if I'm missing out on something I don't know what it is.

game is great, I see why its a classic. You just feel almost like you bought your own arcade game and brought it home. I recommend the remake of Dark Forces as well.

Amazing update for the Duke we all know and love. The developer commentary adds a nice bit of additional context for some of the more interesting aspects of the game such as level design and easter eggs. The one caveat to this is that not all levels contain developer commentary which is sad considering how much enjoyment it adds to the overall experience. Overall, 10/10, Highly Reccommend!

I don't care if Duke was censored or changed for this version, it sucks balls because the mouselook is choppy as all hell, the movement makes you feel gimped beyond belief, the quicksave and quickload is a complete misnomer, only pulling up the save menu and not actually quick saving :/ - every negative aspect a shooter can have, this horrendous rerelease has in spades. I don't like it :]

Play EDuke32 or with BuildGDX, it's actually a really good game when you do!

I really like this game since the 90s. I really like how they updated it just like doom 95.

Come get some!

This game is extremely fun, a very great game from the golden age.

It's very comedic and very violent!

It's the greasy Randy version. Go for the version on ZOOM, unless you REALLY want to play the new episode.

This is a terrible port, controls are sloppy, no qucksave/load buttons. And if you die and reload a save too fast the game bugs out and says YOU DIED while you're standing there alive.

Only reason to buy this is so you legally have the files to use in a source port like EDuke32.

Constant 'you died' errors, can only progress with save spamming, the 'real 3D rendering' option does not stick after restart. Otherwise fine, if you can deal with it.

I bought this game for pennies on a whim, not even sure if I’d play it. But before I knew it, I was knee-deep in alien blood, blasting my way through memories I didn’t even realise I still had.

This version modernises just enough to smooth out the rough edges. Gone are the weird isometric distortions when looking up and down, which always made me feel like I was playing through a funhouse mirror. The lighting even seems better—though maybe that’s just my nostalgia running on overdrive. It feels cleaner, sharper, more like Half-Life 1 than the warping fever dream I remember from the 90s.

Back in the day, getting my hands on Duke Nukem 3D felt like an achievement in itself. I still remember walking into Our Price, knowing exactly what I wanted but realising I was 75p short of the £25 price tag. After scavenging every possible coin from my room, the car’s cup holders, and even my old coat pockets, I was still just shy. That’s when I had a brilliant, desperate idea—my Barclays account. With a grand total of £1.20 sitting untouched, I assumed the bank would laugh me out of the building for asking to withdraw mere pennies. But to my surprise, they handed it over without a second thought. Armed with my final 75p, I stormed back to the shop, dumped a pile of random change on the counter, and triumphantly convinced my mum that this game was definitely not too violent.

When I finally got to play it, I was hooked—but not just by the game itself. What really captivated me was BUILD, the level editor. I spent an entire summer making maps, recreating my school down to the last detail. Those files are long lost to time, but I’d give anything to dig them up again.

Coming back to the game all these years later, the humour still holds up. Back then, it was a love letter to 80s and 90s action movies, a perfect parody wrapped in explosions and one-liners. But while Duke Nukem 3D understood satire, its long-awaited sequel, Duke Nukem Forever, somehow managed to miss the mark entirely. The jokes in this game feel effortless, while Forever made Duke sound like that one guy at the bar still quoting Austin Powers unironically.

The action is still fun, though I can’t help but feel that the modernised 3D fixes might have made things slightly easier—flying enemies, once a pain, are now much simpler to hit. That said, the game isn’t a pushover. The sprite-based enemies are a reminder of its age, but let’s be honest—no one’s booting up Duke Nukem 3D expecting photorealism.

I haven’t yet reached some of my old favourite levels, but the White House stage was always a standout, and even back in the day, the extra content felt like a worthy expansion of an already incredible game.

Duke himself remains a relic of a different time—part Arnold, part Bruce Willis, part every action hero shoved into one sunglasses-wearing, cigar-chomping parody. Back in the 90s, he fit perfectly. Today, he’d probably need a more self-deprecating edge to work, poking fun at modern action heroes rather than trying to be one.

But that’s the beauty of this game—it’s a perfect time capsule of an era where action heroes could do anything, and a good one-liner was just as important as a rocket launcher.

Want to see what 90s FPS games were like? Picture Doom, but with strip clubs, alien ass-kicking, and one-liners that make Arnie look like a Shakespearean actor.

And for a few quid, it’s worth every penny.

Although the game itself is fun, it is abhorrently misogynistic and I can't overlook that. I reiterate, the gameplay itself is really fun and engaging, and I'm a big fan of the respawn system. If you don't mind the massive amount of objectification of women, then this game is actually really good.

I never played the original. The game is harder than I expected, but having a blast! 100% worth the two bucks I paid on sale!!

1#Turn vsync to "FAST" in nvidia control panel for the game exe
2#Play with a controller
= No weird mouse lag or frame pacing issues

It is sickening the devs shipped the game like this? Yes! Very! It's more stupid than sickening though...

Want a better experience with no achievements? A wizard named "Ken Silverman" made a free new engine to run the game from. You still can buy it here and use the exe in this engine, but no steam achievements.

I personally play with fast sync and controller through steam.

<3

Usually, i would say i hate games like this because this is just stupid brain-dead nonsense that has no purpose other than to be an expendable meaningless form of escapism but i like it because this game reeks of sarcastic masculinity so goddamn stupid you just can't help but love the charm.

TLDR: (would recommend) :steamthumbsup: