Duke Nukem 3D v0.99 Beta: E1L3 Death Row

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DN Stuff

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Published on February 11, 2025 2:52:06 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paRe5mCSCzE

Game:

THE FINALS (2023)

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About this video:
This footage comes from the leaked prototype dated January 4, 1996, which is free to download. The leak was only a shareware version, so only the first episode and 6 of the weapons are included.
This video shows gameplay on "Headache" difficulty. There are 5 difficulty settings: Easy, Medium, Normal, Hard, and Headache. Enemies respawn on the last two difficulties, and cheats are allowed on all difficulties.
Cheats were used. This footage is just meant to showcase the prototype.
Key bindings can be changed, but the modern WASD control scheme doesn't seem to work correctly. (Sorry for the janky movement and random jumping!)

Notes on Death Row:
In the final version of this map, stepping foot into the control room beside the electric chair triggers a sound effect that mimics a prison door opening, implying that the Pig Cop which spawned in the hallway must have come from the other side of the locked prison gate. However, you won't hear it in this video; the sound effect wasn't added until v1.0.
The secret elevator that takes you to the ceiling of the chapel is much larger in this version. It was probably shrunk in the final version because it would too easily crush the player unless they were standing in the middle.
The secret area with Doomguy is shaped differently.
The "Silence Discipline Remorse" sign in the chapel is misspelled.
There is water below the spinning yellow cylindrical gears.
The control hub with a hologram of the Battlelord's face is overhauled in the final version to include more doors. This was probably done because the open spaces would have tanked the game's frame rate.
The turrets outside have shadows.
The map on the bridge across from the Battlelord hologram shows an extra row of pews in the chapel, and it's missing the compartment with the Blue Access Card. 1995 prototype screenshots show the Blue Access Card was moved around a lot, so this map of the level probably comes from a slightly earlier version.
The monk hanging from the ceiling of the chapel is actually the level's designer, Allen Blum. Blum was the photographed model for the Deathfire Monks in Rise of the Triad, and the dead monk sprite was based on the same artwork as the Deathfire Monks. Apart from being a clever way to insert himself into the game, this might also be Blum's way of complaining to George Broussard for forcing him to remove the second row of pews from the chapel in order to conserve the game's frame rate (Blum makes a similar joke out-of-bounds on Spaceport, where he labels the green fighter ship the "U.S.S. Framerate").
The tunnel to the submarine is easier to find and shaped very differently.
The submarine has fins on its tail in this version. These were removed in the final version.
The canyon walls around the submarine have textures that are correctly aligned in this version, but if you look closely in the final version, they are badly misaligned. This probably happened while deleting the submarine fins.
When using cheats, running out of ammo with other weapons allows you to use the Shrinker, though the first-person weapon sprite is not shown.
Even though all the secrets were shown in this footage, the one at the top of the chapel wasn't counted for some reason, which is why 1 secret was "missed" on the level-end screen.