Former Duke Nukem Teaser Site Reveals Bombshell

The lawsuit between Gearbox and 3D Realms means Duke Nukem is out, and Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison is in.

A brief recap to bring everyone up to speed: In early February, Interceptor Entertainment and 3D Realms launched a website at AllOutOfGum.com, teasing a forthcoming game called Duke Nukem: Mass Destruction. Despite the history of the franchise, DN:MD was set to be a top-down action-RPG for the PC and PlayStation 4, with ass-kicking action spread across multiple alien worlds. But later that month, Gearbox Entertainment filed suit against Interceptor and 3D Realms, claiming that it owns the rights to Duke Nukem and that Interceptor’s game was being made without permission.

Shortly thereafter, AllOutOfGum (which is now offline) began redirecting to a another teaser site, NoGumNeeded.com, and another lengthy countdown. That countdown ended today and in its wake we have Bombshell, a game that appears very much like the one Interceptor had previously teased, but entirely without the Duke. Instead, Bombshell stars Shelly “Bombshell” Harrison, a bomb disposal expert turned mercenary who packs a bionic arm built from parts discovered in the wake of something called “the Washington incident,” which is where she lost her real arm in the first place.

“Lawsuits take time, and are often a long, drawn-out process. Meanwhile, we wanted to be productive — our creative team couldn’t wait around for the issue to be resolved,” the Bombshell FAQ states. “Ultimately, we saw it as the opportunity to create our own intellectual property, and Bombshell was born. So far, it’s been a blast.”

Bombshell will be an action-RPG set on multiple alien worlds, much as Mass Destruction was intended to be, and Bombshell herself sounds very Duke-like: Her biography lists her “likes” as kicking ass, motorcycles and kicking ass on motorcycles, while “dislikes” include bubble gum, sunglasses and blonde hair. Speaking of Duke Nukem, the FAQ also explains that the game originally teased by Interceptor may or may not come back at some point.

“It’s impossible to say what will happen in regards to our previous project,” it says. “We want to make great games without sacrificing our integrity, and Bombshell allows us to do that beautifully.”

Bombshell is currently expected to be ready for early 2015. In the meantime, you can find out more at NoGumNeeded.com.