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.
