Doug Huggem

Although the Duke Nukem franchise still maintains a healthy fanbase, it’s not without its fair share of controversy from those less familiar with the IP, namely with the argument of how certain aspects haven’t aged well. In light of this, around the release of Duke Nukem Forever in 2011, San Diego-based YouTube comedy troupe Mega64 released a sketch called “Doug Huggem”, in which the team of the People for the Enriched Tutor­age of Attitudes Particularly In Teens (PETAPIT) announced their own game called Doug Huggem, with the intention of spreading positivity and with a release date of March 2024. Like many, as the next 13 years went by, I started to wonder if the game would ever actually see the light of day, mainly due to Mega64’s talent of staying committed to a bit for extended periods of time. Though Mega64 did formally announce Doug Huggem last month, I was still skeptical of it actually coming out due to its announced March 31 release date, with a one-day delay to April 1, but then I was surprised to wake up this morning to see the game had actually come out, available for free on the Mega64 website and itch.io. After finally getting to experience the game in its full glory, I would say the wait was well worth it, and actually pretty decent for their first game.

Though the game is pretty light on story, it makes up for it with its interesting gameplay. In a similar fashion to the Duke Nukem series, the game is presented as a single level, with the goal being to max out the Positivity Meter as much as possible within seven minutes. This involves performing various acts of kindness, such as helping people across the street or giving them a compliment, which each advance the Meter to varying degrees, though you can earn bonus points by performing side tasks such as recycling garbage found on the sidewalk, with a minimap in the corner helping you find what you need. Objectives can also be clicked from a very great distance, lending it some interesting speedrunning potential as well.

You can help an old lady cross the street.

 

Your score is recorded at the end of your seven-minute run, but pressing Continue allows you to keep going to continue filling up your Meter to ever increasing heights, though you may not be able to interact with certain NPCs. It should be noted, however, that closing the game instead will reset your progress on startup.

The visuals themselves appear to be very simplistic, and perhaps a bit slapdash, but this lends the game some charm as an obvious parody title. I will say, however, that the physics are a little wonky in places, with the ability to push certain objects and NPCs without meaning to and stationary cars can even be sent flying if tapped the right way.

 

Don't forget to recycle.

Of course, the casting of Jon St. John as Doug Huggem is perfect, giving the game a sense of authenticity with the franchise it is commentating on and adding a certain level of gravitas to otherwise humorous lines that you can tell he had fun recording. Naturally, there’s also some inversions of classic Duke Nukem one-liners thrown in, but St. John’s voice acting makes them work and they can be just as memorable as the original lines themselves. The voice acting is also supplemented by the cast of Mega64 themselves, and while they do voice every NPC in the game, it’s pretty easy to tell who voiced what character. The BGM also consists entirely of a joke ukelele cover of the Duke Nukem theme "Grabbag", which somehow does not get annoying to listen to after an extended play session.

Though flawed, Doug Huggem is actually a pretty decent game in its own right, even divorced from the original context of the Duke Nukem IP. Now that this game finally exists, and available for free no less, I would highly recommend fans of Mega64 and even non-fans of Duke Nukem to give it a try, even if only for a few minutes of fun.