Download Duke Nukem 3D: Blast Radius (last update: 03/04/2024; v. 5.0.2)
In the final (non-secret) level of Blast Radius, every rule is reformed as Duke Nukem's most ultimate battle dissolves into a vicious game of Monopoly.
Play along, build Build houses, then raise Hotel Hell to reconcile Duke with his design and, finally, bring his search for the source of the blast to a close.
History: "Closure" was the fourteenth level built for Blast Radius, chronologically soon after level 14/secret 1 "Duke Du Quatrain" and a long time before work on the later addition that was level 15/secret 2 "Hotel Atlantis" even seriously begun.
It was started on September 17th, 2022 and then structurally completed on September 29th, 2022 except for the dimension-warping ending - which itself was added later, during one extra pass, on December 23rd, 2022.
"Closure" was a very late addition to the episode considering how work on its construction begun around the time of finalizing the implementation of the gameplay in all the other maps, and its completion just barely predates the first traversable build of Blast Radius that was sent out to the project beta-testers on January 12th, 2023.
For the longest time of Blast Radius' development, level 12 "Zarathustra" was supposed, and set to be Duke's final destination; the ultimate stop of his long, cosmic journey, the pinnacle of his perseverance and the culmination of his episode.
But, only after that version of the ending had materialized, something became apparent: regardless of the qualities of "Zarathustra" as one raw challenge, upon finally getting to the Cycloid Archangel and completing that level, Duke's quest still lacked a major element: resolve.
And so, what was then still internally refered to as the "boss map" would need to be complemented by one "epilogue" map; an original idea for which would need to be found.
The Monopoly theme spontaneously came up through the continuation of the deconstruction initiated in "Zarathustra" with, this time, not just Duke Nukem's reality dissolving, but having progressed to now engulf the game: both as the given product that is "Duke Nukem 3D" (via gameplay that simultaneously involves positive and negative drawing features of the Build engine) and as a fundamental concept, redefining all rules to better expose the reality of the activity, of the codes, of the stakes and of the adversary.
The board starts out as flat, then the various moves by both players literally Build upon it.
Every keycard is one game turn during which Duke Nukem acquires and erects houses around the terrain, thanks to Build engine magic, which the Cycloid Archangel promptly mimics, until the board is full.
Then, Duke gets to be the one to raise Hotel Hell - before the game starts collapsing on itself in retaliation.
That also is through a series of engine exploits that literally break it, until universal balance meets again.
(HEAVY photosensitive epilepsy warning when the time comes to play that particular section of the level.)
For a couple of months, the level had a completely different orange sky texture (as well as a 'DUF BEER' blimp); see a beta screenshot here.
The beta version of "Closure" had zero secret places and zero security cameras; no clue regarding the rules of the game used to be provided to the player at all, so that they truly would have needed absolute trial and error of their very own to grasp the logic of board, thus forcing a purely personal challenge.
Then, some timid clues were introduced later, after beta testing revealed the original experience may be too extreme.
Walkthrough:
With no apparent transition from the ending of "Zarathustra" (walkthrough here), Duke is precipitated into "Closure" from high up, weaponless, and directly under fire from three Battlelord Sentry types (on the Come Get Some difficulty setting), at ground level, that appear to be determined to assist our hero's descent already.
Below, there are various rectangular vats of liquid Duke can survive falling into, despite how toxic most of them are. Resurfacing and looking back up, our hero shall realize what he just reached is a giant Monopoly board, and the vats are spaces.
The Cycloid Archangel will resume attacking with the same arsenal of projectiles it already was employing against Duke in "Zarathustra": auto-aiming rockets and freeze rays, at regular intervals.
It will keep attacking at all times and so, as long as he's on the surface of the board, Duke should adapt by keeping on moving.
To fight back against the trio of Battlelords, our hero's best option would be to rush to the Community Chest space nearby, just a few spaces to the left of his entry point.
In total, there are three Community Chest spaces around the board where grates in the floor can be broken, and a buried switch accessed.
Each one of the switches corresponds to a specific type of supply that it will precipitate into the actual Community Chest, near the northwestern corner of the map, upon activation.
Each switch only works once, and also will raise one of the four corners of the Community Chest itself to signify that it's been activated.
The Community Chest space that is the closest to the start corresponds to the RPG plus a massive stash of rockets. The remaining two will drop a Devastator with full ammo, and a whole bunch of inventory items, respectively.
Duke can use either his Mighty Foot, or the enemy projectiles to smash the grates and dig to the switch.
After he's activated the switch, Duke should leave as rapidly as he's arrived, so as not to give any of the Battlelord Sentries a chance to catch up and trap him before he gets to go claim his prize.
Once he's retrieved the RPG and exploded the Battlelord Sentries, Duke should be a bit more at peace and yet a bit on the light side when it comes to weaponry.
There are a few immediate solutions to that problem already, such as instantly going to visit the Go space.
There, Duke shall find the pistol, pistol clips, Atomic Healths, a switch to lower the platforms in order to facilitate getting to all of these and then even some extra goodies, underwater.
Keeping sinking underwater underneath the Go space shall take Duke all the way down a vat that is full of Protozoid Slimer eggs and their remaining Octabrain guardians, but also contains the level's specialized, most abundant Scuba Gear and Protective Boots stash.
It also is connected to one massive, central underwater area, but Duke would be wise stocking up on weapons at the surface before he goes to swim over there since it is pretty poorly frequented.
One thing out of many Duke already may do at the surface at this point would be locating the only secret place in "Closure", accessible from the very start, for it conceals explosive ammunition galore but also an exclusive security camera screen to provide hints at the logic, and rules of the various spaces of the ongoing Monopoly game.
Up there, Duke can get some reprieve, but should remain careful about the Cycloid Archangel's projectiles as those still can reach him through the various gaps in the walls. He also should be mindful of the N.U.K.U.M. that is squatting the office; if Duke happened to go in weaponless, then a rather unique pipebomb- and tripmine-only battle shall unfold, as those are supplied aplenty.
The rules on the security screen match the different spaces around the board with their respective contents and/or purpose.
As established just earlier, the Go space is where the pistol can be retrieved, on the surface, and also where Scuba Gears and Protective Boots are stored in the most considerable abundance.
The purpose of the Community Chest spaces also is explained: once visited and their buried switch dug up, they will provide Duke with the two rocket-based weapons in the game, the RPG and the Devastator, and with most of the inventory items by dropping the corresponding sets of supplies into the central Community Chest, in the corner of the board.
The Go To Jail space appears to be linked to the Jail space and also to the Shrinker.
The gun already can be seen from ground level as soon as Duke's first appearance on the board, but it's out of reach and platforming seems out of the equation, too, since stepping on the floor of the Go To Jail space will warp Duke straight to the Jail space, on the exact opposite corner of the board.
The coordinates of his immediate landing there will align with the ones he left the Go To Jail space from; that means the center should be avoided in order to possibly dodge the actual jail cell, which contains lava and may be home to some Fat Commanders.
From the Just Visiting section of the Jail space however, Duke can submerge and eventually find a switch which serves to elevate the platforms above the surface; at the top of those, Duke shall find another switch which will rearrange the platforms of the opposite, Go To Jail space this time, in a way that makes the Shrinker accessible.
A battalion of various Pig Cop tanks will drop onto the board to defend it our hero shall fend off first.
After Duke's avoided slipping back into Jail from the platforms by the means of his innate jump form prowess and perfectly refined technique, and finally fetched the Shrinker, it is a whole guard of Fat Commanders that will descend onto him in return.
The newly-acquired weapon may be ideal against them, but Duke most likely will have to dodge their rockets for a while (in addition to the Cycloid Archangel's) until they come down and into reach.
The Chance spaces appear to be tied to the three keycards Duke shall need to find around the board. In fact, they all already can be seen from ground level but so far are still inaccessible.
The Electric Company space has to do with the chaingun.
The floor is electrified there, and a six-button combo puzzle can be found. With Protective Boots on, Duke can go and manipulate the switches (all the while minding the Cycloid Archangel's attacks) until he cracks the code, which will rearrange the height of the platforms inside the space and form stairs that lead to the weapon.
There is a trap in the middle of the stairs: the shape of the letter C, with a gap Duke can fall through and get stuck down on the electrified floor. Were he to let that ever happen (for instance, in order to snag the hidden Atomic Health at the bottom), our hero always can shoot the switches again, through the walls, to undo the arrangement of the platforms in one bullet hit and then possibly get out.
Finally, the Water Works space is linked to the Freezethrower.
The gun really is accessible any time there with some relatively delicate platforming, but there is one semi-secret convenient way up there that involves the Free Parking space.
The Free Parking space features more platforms that will turn into stairs upon Duke's approach; the highest one that is the G hosts some items, including a potentially crucial Portable Medkit Duke can collect; jumping onto the lower ones however will trigger a special event.
The A-Team van will emerge from the center of the board and, as soon as its theme starts playing, vehemently charge at the group of Pig Cop tanks that just dropped from the skies and is now arriving from the Go To Jail space.
Alas, seconds later, the A-Team will just as vehemently, and pathetically crash right next to the Water Works and so, Duke shall deal with the tanks himself; but then, he can use the truck carcass as a platform to reach the upper levels of the Water Works space a bit more conveniently (the deformed terrain from the collision also makes for some new available cover in that corner of the board).
Upon dominating the structure, Duke finally can grab the Freezethrower and also flick a switch in order to lower the platforms inside the space, for more convenient access.
Undocumented are the purposes of the Railroad spaces: each one acts as a teleporter to the opposite one on the board, and of the Luxury and Income Taxes spaces, which are item caches.
After he's stocked up on artillery altogether, our hero now should feel relatively comfortable moving on to explore the central region of the underwater area, below the board, at last, submerging from just about any space that is a vat; only a couple of them have the way barred, or secured with a forcefield; submarine navigation around, and to the center shouldn't be an issue per se for Duke as long as he watches his Boots (to protect him from the particularly toxic liquids) and his Scuba Gear.
What may be more problematic would be the enemy presence there: the board corner that is adjacent to the Go space hosts a pretty massive Protozoid Slimer egg hive that is defended by all the last Octabrains, governed by an Alien Queen, Jr. from above that itself is under the close protection of a Sunburnt Battlelord Sentry.
Then, across the room and around the central purple lava, adjacent to the opposite corner with the Free Parking space is a zone with another Alien Queen, Jr. with more eggs, an Ice Cold Battlelord Sentry as its guardian and then one particularly mean (full-sized) Permafried Battlelord supervising the scene from around the corner.
Duke's best chance may be to use the network of vats (possibly speeding up the process via the Railroad teleporters on the surface) to study the best possible strategies and then methodically approach each encounter.
Each board space/vat should provide our hero with a different angle and in case of doubt, the secret office he may have found earlier features a security camera screen that shows even more.
Whilst on his underwater peregrinations, Duke might find an additional Freezethrower, the Microwave Expander weapon and the shotgun.
Conquering more and more of the central area, our hero shall locate a building that is surrounded in toxic purple lava, but adorns three distinct colored switches he may have gotten to observe already, from earlier security camera angles.
The colored switches correspond to the respective keycard and Chance space; pressing each button will turn the platforms of the matching Chance space into stairs, allowing access to the top of the question mark-shaped ledges and thus to the key that is just sitting there at the end of each, on the final dots.
Because of the purple lava that is surrounding two of the three switches however, Duke would be wise to check the current state of his Protective Boots before he fancies getting too promiscuous.
If Duke chooses to remember, the depths of the Go space are a relatively safe stash of Boots, unless he's been around for a while and already has worn all of these out; in which case, our hero probably can find a new pair elsewhere, either around the general area somewhere, at the bottom of some of the board spaces, or from the surface if he never grabbed the one from the Community Chest for instance.
The mysterious, central underwater building already can be entered through a hole in the wall next to the red switch Duke can fit and swim through, but that would be relatively pointless for now: the way ahead, into a collapsed floor, is blocked by a succession of three colored forcefields.
And so as to progress, once the switches are pressed should mean time for our hero to go and collect the respective keycards.
If he's defeated every enemy around the board at this point, his little journey through the Chance spaces should be undisturbed for the most part but by the Cycloid Archangel's incessant rockets and freeze rays.
The activation of each colored keypad, on the other hand, shall ramp up the ruckus as it will mark a new turn in the game, where Duke and the Cycloid Archangel will erect houses on different properties around the board in succession (thereby generating more possible cover), and a unique full-sized boss from the base "Duke Nukem 3D" will drop from the skies and into the Chance deck, opposite the main Community Chest, near the Go space - before coming right at our hero.
There should be enough space and cover around for Duke to relatively effortlessly defeat the three bosses, in a battle that can be approached in different fashions: our hero may choose to distill its flow and filter each boss into the game one by one, by taking out the trash every time one of the keypads is swiped prior to activating the next one; that will result in less projectile hell and more focused, individual fights, but also in extraneous time and ammo spent.
Or Duke could go and try swiping all three keycards in one run, causing the Battlelord, the Overlord and the Cycloid Emperor to show up at once, so he can confront them all in just one go.
The game board will get a lot busier then, but one advantage is the bosses can be manipulated to hit each other with their various shots and projectiles; not to mention the Cycloid Archangel's constant barrage of rockets that is just bound to crash into the large aliens a few times, especially if Duke keeps luring them in the way with his own position, and/or the Holoduke if he's found one.
Our hero can save up on a lot of ammo just like that, in addition to gaining time.
After all three keys have been swiped, the three colored forcefields inside the central building, below the surface, should be deactivated. That means, Duke's new objective should be one last dive underneath the board and swim into the open, collapsed floor where a lever can be used.
As shown on a nearby security camera screen, the lever serves to raise one particularly enticing 'WIN' switch out of the ground, back outside on the board.
Duke now needs to swim back one last time, return to the surface and then go hit that switch.
The 'WIN' switch will cause the central building to grow out of the center of the board now, revealing it to be Duke's winning hotel.
A higher platform also will have raised, featuring a very last switch our hero needs to reach, then press in order to validate his turn.
Visibly upset, the Cycloid Archangel will dispute the validity of the move by throwing a fit and shaking the game board, deforming the terrain completely, all the while entering its own second phase: from then on, the barrage of rockets and freeze rays will be supplemented by even deadlier fajins and gamma ray bursts.
Thankfully, now, Duke can use the torn terrain of the board to climb up the hotel and then endure his quest's ultimate platforming test: in order to reach the final switch, our hero will have to carefully maneuver across the thin 'MONOPOLY' letters all the while dodging the heat of the non-stop enemy fire.
For as many obvious reasons as there are inescapable gaps in their middle, he should be particularly careful around the letters 'O' and 'P'.
After Duke's finally ended his turn by pressing the ultimate switch, it's game over for the Cycloid Archangel as a monumental Build engine door appears from the skies, above, only to instantly shut close on the enemy and squish it out of the picture.
At the same time, the northernmost section of the crimson cliffs that had been encircling the game board the entire time will collapse and reveal the successful escape of the humans our hero had just saved earlier on Zarathustra, aboard the stolen ship and towards an unknown, hopefully safe destination.
From the other side of the cliffs, four N.U.K.U.M.'s will break onto, and try invading the game board as long as our Duke doesn't downright refute them and so, just that, he should do; all the more easily so if he happens to have some Shrinker crystals left on him.
The enemies now all defeated and the game over, there seems to be no more possible progress for Duke.
That is, until he gets closer to the collapsed cliffs and gets to notice the bogus placement of one specific Atomic Health that appears to be just floating there, on the other side, sitting on top of a semi-transluscent block.
Whenever either curiosity or boredom gets the best of him, Duke is free to jump down from the game board and onto the lower, collapsed cliffs, where more Atomic Healths already are placed to cushion his expected impact, and Duke can get closer to the strange item.
Plot twist: the desperate bait is one more projection by the enemy and, as Duke demonstrates the ego to try and reach it, the bruised, bitter Cycloid Archangel will rise from behind the cliff as the adverse cosmic reaction it typically manifests and, this time, feed off Duke himself.
Duke is now dying and, for as long as his last breath, perceptively thrown into the Cycloid Archangel's dimension that is absorbing him - all the while the Build engine itself starts bursting at the seams, seemingly on the verge of collapse.
"But I'm going to kill you anyway."
After a double take, Duke shall realize the Cycloid Archangel that is facing him really is a reflection of the real one, which is harmless and he has the power to detach from.
As our hero does just so and starts progressing towards the reflection, it will launch as many attacks as it can to try and block his path: psychic blasts, fajins, gamma ray bursts and entire systems of solid stars it will deploy for Duke to possibly crash against, since he's in continuous free fall.
The stars are destructible and Duke may even manipulate the other projectiles to wreck them out of the way.
One ultimate N.U.K.U.M. also may or may not be seen inhabiting this dimension, but Duke's focus really should remain on traversing the room until he reaches the reflection of the original enemy.
Once Duke's accepted his design, the Cycloid Archangel is ripped apart and you win.
Par time route: The registered par times for "Closure" were obtained off the weaponless start the level forces anyway, and on the Come Get Some difficulty setting.
Very clearly they can be optimized (for instance with extra focus on the Railroad and maybe Go To Jail teleporter mechanics) although the level considerably insists on the necessity of collecting all three keycards (in whichever way and order, however) prior to unlocking the last section, in respect to the sequencing of events that unfold. Some more walls than usual are blocked to try and prevent extensive breakage of the order of things and no jetpack is provided, which may make finding cheatless skips tricky (but surely not impossible).
Current strat really is to gear up fast enough, just enough for mere survival through what is just about to turn into projectile madness if one doesn't take the time to handle the minibosses and bosses (the ones that inhabit the underwater section in particular may be rather strong walls), clench teeth and haul ass to all the keys, locks, switches. Retaining (or preparing) some ammunition specifically to destroy the 'force spheres' that block the way to the end once Duke is thrown into his adversary's dimension may or may not come in handy.
Particularities: The design and gameplay of "Closure" are based on the 1935 multiplayer economics-themed board game "Monopoly" (Parker Brothers/Hasbro), itself derived from Elizabeth Magie's 1903 "The Landlord's Game".
Technically and conceptually, it plays with a lot in most every way possible.
It is where Blast Radius, at last, openly admits to taking itself literally, after having explored the definition of certain terms and tropes as common as "episode", "expansion", "3D", "first-person" (in relation to "alien"), then of "Duke Nukem" itself from level 10 "Postmortem" to level 12 "Zarathustra", and now clearly onto questioning the profile of the game per se.
It is the spectacle of dissolving the artefacts of Apogee/3D Realms' "Duke Nukem 3D" from its surface level down to its very engine, narrowing it down to the elements that truly qualify it as a game: exposing its limitations, but also contributing its positive strengths to its experience. "Closure" doesn't destroy: it literally Builds itself from the grass roots up as the player(s) take(s) turns, then stops right before its support cracks.
The entire evolutive sequencing of the level relies on a spider web of sometimes obscure combinations of stock Duke 3D/Build effects (no map effect in Blast Radius at all ever is reliant on EDuke32; the tie to that port only is justified by the enemy and projectile code).
Uncommon combination of stock effects (level editor screenshot).
For instance, the player's/players' ability to erect houses, or the A-Team van to form from the ground up depend on the uncommon association of 'floor rise' and 'earthquake' effects, layered with an extra 'two-way train' set-up in the case of the van.
Or the adversary's kaleidoscopic dimension, where the character's/characters' duality keeps splitting with every frame is one more nightmarish silent teleporter loop similar to the one demonstrated in level 11 "Silent Scream" (the free fall section), overlaid with mirror and various parallaxed sky tricks in order to saturate the engine as far as polluting the SRAM.
Part of a silent teleporter loop (level editor screenshot).
"Closure" as a title in itself is a play on the imagery of closing curtains, a nod to the ridiculously gigantic DooM-type door which falls onto the enemy to call its defeat at its own game, an important reference to closure as a social psychological concept, and a call to the folding of a Monopoly board into itself after a game is resolved.
While now, that is a visual effect the Build engine wouldn't allow, it could be argued the symbolism parallels the one of Duke Nukem finally meeting his match and embracing his design.
It justifies Blast Radius as a chronic of mindless destruction, confused violence and general excess; also as a possible freeway out of the comfort zone, when the player eventually faces the reality of their challenge all along; and, more assuredly, as a "Duke 3D For Super Players"-type of experience, when they find themselves naturally developing new patterns, movements, techniques, habits and skills to keep up in an environment that insists on being familiar, all the while never hiding how it's not.
In fact if all of Blast Radius thus far typically played on the dichotomy and resonance between the familiar (of the original "Duke Nukem 3D" classic, relying on its stock textures and level design trends) and the unfamiliar (of the extra dimension that is the scope of the experience), prompting the player to adapt instead of fleeing only to then reward them with growth, "Closure" certainly is the culmination of that as its introduces and merges a different game into the game altogether, blending and bastardizing every established rule in the process - in addition to the relentless extreme action.
The challenge finally is done stripping down to its true from, and the only way the adversary can exist is if the player lets them by giving up on pushing through their own design, instead of embracing the reality of what they are doing.
The rules of the Monopoly game in "Closure" represent the ones of the real board game all the while introducing "alien" abstraction into what otherwise would be typical human logic (for instance, starting at the Go Space).
Upon the surprise of the settings they just entered, overwhelmed by the realization that they imminently need to adapt, the player is intended to consider testing the extent to which real-life Monopoly rules apply to the virtual board as a starting point for grasping the level.
They will then be either pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised by the respective outcomes of their varied actions, but may end up figuring out the extent of the alien corruption, learn the language that is the pattern of the level and eventually master the very same experience that used to be so scary.
"Closure" is the end of Duke Nukem's pilgrimage around, then beyond the world and the final breakage of the first person and the third dimension as the character understands its design, in a way becoming sentient all the while disintegrating into the player.
The choice of Monopoly as a specific theme represents not just commentary on the exact point of competition and the consequences of excess; it's also the realization that Duke's rough world tour thus far might as well have been a game of Monopoly all along as he keeps piercing through his design of a fiction character, and unveils the reality of the stakes.
But all the while deconstructing himself and despite the gravity of all the events, our hero still canonically manages to save humanity, with the final escape of the prisoners onto unknown worlds functioning as a ray of hope that doesn't just justify but downright crowns Duke's in-game actions.
After all the demolition experienced thus far, a map that literally Builds itself also serves to reorient the tone towards one of positive materialization, all the while maximizing the player's participation and the engine's possibilities with environmental interaction.
It is the only level in Blast Radius with only one (1) secret place - a late addition. The only level with fewer secret places in the episode is "Zarathustra", which has zero.
Money spawns at the Go space with every new turn.
Technically, the way the end of the level is wired to be triggered after Duke ends is a private joke in how unnecessarily convoluted it is, arbitrarily involving the off-screen destruction of a silent, transluscent ROBOTMOUSE.
Soundtrack: "The Threat Is Real" by Megadeth / "Dystopia" / Tradecraft/Universal, 2016 (MIDI version)
Automap:
(2D map here is focused on the main level and excludes the final dimension; 3D side view is complete.)
Map stats (as of v. 2.0.7): 1098/4096 sectors, 11910/16384 walls, 4065/16384 sprites.
Download Duke Nukem 3D: Blast Radius (last update: 03/04/2024; v. 5.0.2)
