Original Release: SebabDukeBoss20, 2017, Flash
A visual novel romp through the world of Duke Nukem, but through the eyes of a pursued woman rather than a heavily armed Chud
Abduction (Flash, SebabDukeBoss20, 2017)
Where to Buy: Freeware – download at Hentai Foundry
How to Emulate: Flash Emulation Guide
Review by: Master-B
Fan game Abduction answers some vital questions about the Duke Nukem mythos: what exactly were the alien invaders doing with all those Earth women, like in gruesome detail? And what was the average email job office woman in LA going through in the background as Duke waged his one-man war against Chaingun Orcs and Jetpack Tony the Tigers?
We play as young Crystal, off to another day at work at Guropohomo Enterprises or whatever. Things will quickly take a turn for the perverted as the alien invasion of the outset of Duke 3D kicks off just as she’s settling in to another day of filling out TPS reports. Her treacherous boss turns out to be part of a cabal of turncoat humans selling out their race to the aliens, and Crystal finds herself teleported into space to a “breeding chamber” she must find her way out of, potentially rescuing some other girls along the way.
I guess the game technically fits the category of visual novel, but it’s really best characterized as a brutal choose-your-own-adventure. You’re basically shuttled along a series of linear paths, occasionally getting to choose one direction or another. There’s one “correct” path to keep progressing through the game, and a bunch of eventual dead ends … most of them contain unique “adult material” though, and there are a total of 26 endings to find in this way.
The word that keeps popping into my head for this one is “overstuffed,” both in a good and bad way. It kinda feels like the developer had no intention of making any other games and packed every idea they had into this one. That’s good in that since there’s essentially nothing to do but click on menu options and hotspots, there’s at least an absolute ton of stuff to see. Free-ranging jokes and references, such as a number of television show series that keep getting new installments as you stumble across new TVs over the course of the game. Lots of little hidden “adult” moments, as the designer seemed determined to stuff all his fetishes and fantasies in this one too. The paths to some optional endings are also at least a little complex (as is the main path through the game at times!).
The fire hose of raw content kinda seems like a little much at times, though. I think the text is a major exacerbating factor here; it’s stuffed down at the bottom of the screen in a small font, making lots of reading not exactly the most pleasant of propositions. The first chapter also seems like a huge string of lengthy side tangents, some amusing but few actually relevant to the game or presenting any challenge. The pacing really evens out more in the second chapter, once Crystal is in peril and forced to escape dire situations (and the first “real” animated sex scenes start popping up).
The game’s choices also feel very trial-and-error-y. Occasionally you get some sort of hint about what to expect down one particular path, but at times it feels like it’s just “guess and restart if you’re wrong.” The biggest example is a seemingly arbitrary choice of outfit in the later stages of the game, which determines who you get sold off to at a slave auction. Three lead to non-standard endings, only one is the “correct” choice to keep the game progressing, and I didn’t see any sign of how you’re supposed to discern that other than guessing.
It also doesn’t have a save or password system; there are passwords to re-watch the various endings, but not to pick up your progress. However, the game is divided up into six individual SWF files representing each chapter, and you can just open the one you want to skip to it. Some chapters also have checkpoints that you can return to at any time.
In terms of “overstuffed,” it’s also a simple Flash game that manages to take up around 800 MB in total. It’s a memory hog and prone to serious crashing, like of the Windows-freezing variety, you probably want to stick to playing just one chapter at a time even on a decent computer.
Links
Developer’s Duke 3D modding channel