Gearbox’s publishing arm recently announced that the 20th anniversary edition of 3D Realms’ Duke Nukem 3D has launched for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and on Steam for PC for $19.99. The game will also be available on retail shelves at GameStop starting October 18th next week for the Xbox One and PS4.

Steve Gibson, the head of Gearbox Publishing, tried to explain what makes this new release worth owning, saying in the press release…

“With all-new content built on top of what is undeniably one of the most iconic first-person shooters in gaming history, this is the ultimate Duke Nukem experience for both seasoned fans of the title and gamers from a new generation experiencing it for the first time.”

And by “experiencing it for the first time”, he literally means taking the old-school graphics and gameplay and slapping them onto the newer console. You can see what the old classic looks like in its not-so-remastered form with the launch trailer below.

As cool as it was playing Duke Nukem 3D 20 years ago, the fact that they didn’t bother update the graphics with HD visuals, didn’t bother to make the game in 3D, didn’t bother to give a fresh coat of shaders splashed on top is just like a kick in the gut to fans.

Gearbox had 20 years to do something special for The King and they decided to just have the map designers slap eight new stages together and toss in a new weapon and call it a day? Really?

It’s bothersome to me that they would go for such a cheap cash-in. I mean, modders make high-quality Duke Nukem and Doom maps for the fun of it. Heck, I’ve made maps just for the fun of it. Charging $19.99 for essentially eight new maps and the same old game from 20 years ago reeks of laziness.

I’m sure some true fans would have worked on a true HD remaster by remaking the game with updated assets in the Unreal Engine 4 for free.

Anyway, if you want to give Gearbox $20 for a game that’s still available on Steam for a few bucks with plenty of free level and map packs, feel free to do so for Xbox One, PS4 and PC.