johnnythewolf, on 20 March 2019 - 01:59 PM, said:
Honestly, I just cannot see how Duke Nukem could become a hit again at this point. As I said, I do not think the character could still draw in a mainstream audience, as players nowadays tend to prefer protagonists that are either more realistic and have some depth to them or grimdark edgelords who literally do not joke around. The Duke Nukem Bullestorm DLC gave us a perfect example of just how silly he would look in this day and age, especially if he is to be portrayed as he was in DN3D and DNF, i.e. as an unoriginal narcissistic douchebag who somehow still manages to be idolised by practically everyone. If anything, Duke Nukem Forever's failure felt in many ways like the character finally getting his comeuppance for his hubris and his unwillingness to get with the times.
While I liked Shadow Warrior 2013 for the way it managed to reimagine a horribly racist stereotype into an actually likeable protagonist and get him to embark on a pretty compelling quest, I cannot deny that it is still kind of a mediocre game, in part due to being essentially a spiritual successor to Flying Wild Hog's fairly average Hard Reset. I did not like Shadow Warrior 2 as much, but it still sold much better and was technically a superior game. While it would be definitely interesting to see Duke Nukem be given a similar treatment, I do not think it would be enough to make it another blockbuster.
I can sort of see a Duke Nukem game done in the style of the new Wolfenstein games, but not how it could avoid coming across as a complete rip-off, and not just because its incarnation of BJ Blazkowicz already looks so much like Duke Nukem without his sunglasses.
Finally, I just cannot imagine a Duke Nukem game done in the style of Doom 2016. I am not saying it is not possible, but I just cannot see how it would work.
Using DNF Duke or Bulletstorm Duke as examples of Duke as a character is fucking laughable. That's not Duke in the slightest. While Duke was (and still is) a fairly simple character, compare the stuff he says in 3D, TTK, ZH and particularly LOTB (where he typically has conversations with people) to the shit in DNF or Bulletstorm and you can see it's not even the same character. Duke was generally far more serious in his classic incarnations - in fact, Broussard has gone on record stating he was a HOMAGE, not a parody to the action stars of the 80s and 90s. That's not to say he had no humor, but he didn't go around saying LOOKS LIKE UR FUCKD to a bunch of impregnated raped women. By comparison, his attitude in DN3D when mercy killing a woman was to be very pissed off (and who wouldn't be in the first place) Not to mention, he was nowhere as douchey nor as narcissistic in the classic incarnations either.