- "Faces of Death" redirects here. For the Duke Nukem: Total Meltdown level, see Faces of Death (DNTM).
Faces of Death is a Dukematch level and hidden single-player level in Duke Nukem 3D. It was originally intended to be a multiplayer-only level, but it could still be reached during the singleplayer campaign by exploiting cheats and glitches. In the 20th Anniversary Edition, this was changed so that the level could be accessed normally.
Faces of Death is titled after the 1978 film of the same name and is a morbid pun on the fact that portraits of the game's developers can be found throughout the map. The level designer, Allen Blum, made the map as an homage to his team.
Description
Faces of Death takes place on a small alien space station. It has a simple design, consisting mainly of a large ring with a continuous circle of teleporters around the outside edge, all of which lead to an upper floor with a similar layout. The level features 7 Battlelord Sentries and no other enemies.
How to reach the level
Command-line
In the original DOS version of Duke Nukem 3D, start the game with the command-line parameters "/v1 /l7" (without the quotation marks). You can also add a parameter to set the difficulty level.
Classic and Atomic Editions
In the Classic and Atomic editions of Duke Nukem 3D, Faces of Death cannot be reached without the use of cheats and glitches.
The level can be reached through a hidden exit button on The Abyss. In the circular room just before the the Battlelord, there is a compartment with three Chaingun Cannon ammo packs. Using the no-clip cheat, the exit button can be found behind the back wall of this compartment. When the exit button is hit, the player will be taken to Launch Facility. However, if the remainder of L.A. Meltdown is completed as normal, then hitting the exit button again will take the player to Faces of Death.
How to reach Faces of Death using cheats
Prior to World Tour, Faces of Death did not contain an exit button, so it could not be completed.
World Tour
In World Tour, the secret exit button described above can now be reached without the use of cheats or glitches. Simply pressing the "use" button on the back wall of the Chaingun Cannon ammo compartment will reveal the secret exit button, which will now take the player directly to Faces of Death.
Faces of Death also now contains an exit button, so it can be completed normally in this version of the game, which will lead to the beginning of The Abyss again.
Secrets
Secrets 1-2: Behind the lavafalls
This level contains two secrets, one behind each of the lavafalls:
- Prior to the 20th Anniversary Edition: They can be reached by simply jumping into each of the lava falls. Duke will pass directly through the lava. The secrets are on high ledges, so it is necessary to jump.
- In the 20th Anniversary Edition, Duke will have to use the Jetpack (one can be found in this level) to reach the high areas behind the lavafalls.
Map
Walkthrough
See Also: Written/Pictorial Walkthrough by 3D Realms
Duke Nukem 3D- 20th Anniversary World Tour - Episode 1 - Level 7 - Faces Of Death(100% Secrets)
Development history
See also: Duke Nukem 3D prototypes
There are no screenshots of Faces of Death prior to the commercial release of Duke Nukem 3D, and even though it is part of the shareware episode, it is excluded from all the shareware releases. Therefore, Faces of Death was likely started late in development.
A very tentative case has been made that Faces of Death could have plausibly evolved from Nukeland, the first map ever created for Duke Nukem 3D. However, because the level designers were working with grid-based increments and because the two maps have such simple geometry, it is hard to establish or rule-out a definitive link between the two maps. (See Nukeland (L9)#Faces of Death for more information)
Homage to the development team
See also: Duke Nukem 3D#Credits
As an homage to the development team, Faces of Death features portraits of the developers scattered around the map, but the list of developers featured on the map has evolved since the game's initial release. Two of the developers, Jim Dose and Mark Dochtermann, would later secure publishing deals with other companies on the basis of their roles on the Duke Nukem 3D development team. However, 3D Realms issued an official statement explaining that other team members were offended by this because the two's contributions consisted entirely of imported work from Rise of the Triad and the two had never actually worked directly on Duke Nukem 3D.
Possibly as a direct result of the falling out with Dose and Dochtermann, the developer portraits on Faces of Death were updated with the release of the Atomic Edition. (Note: Faces of Death was not actually modified; the sprite artwork was merely replaced.) Out of fairness, Stephen Hornback ensured the developer portraits in the ART files were updated to include only team members who worked directly on the Atomic Edition. However, the new list proved equally controversial after Richard "Levelord" Gray accused team members of plagiarizing his work on new maps that were added after he left 3D Realms (See The Birth#Disputed authorship for more information). Following these public allegations, some fans have criticized the replacement of Gray's portrait on the map. However, Gray himself has never complained about this and can actually be heard enjoying the map with Allen Blum in the 20th anniversary developer commentary.
| Location | Portrait in v1.3d (Classic) | Portrait in the Atomic Edition |
|---|---|---|
| East chamber, outer wall, left |  |
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| East chamber, outer wall, right |  |
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| East chamber, inner wall, left |  |
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| East chamber, inner wall, right |  |
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| South chamber, outer wall, left |  |
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| South chamber, outer wall, right |  |
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| South chamber, inner wall, left |  |
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| South chamber, inner wall, right |  |
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| West chamber, outer wall, left |  |
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| West chamber, outer wall, right |  |
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| West chamber, inner wall, left |  |
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| West chamber, inner wall, right |  |
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| North chamber, outer wall, left |  |
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| North chamber, outer wall, right |  |
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| North chamber, inner wall, left |  |
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| North chamber, inner wall, right |  |
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In the game files, there is one additional unused portrait for Scott Miller, the CEO of 3D Realms. Miller did not direct or produce the game in any capacity, and he is only included in a "Special Thanks" section of the game's credits.
Sector chronology
Sector chronology in v1.3d. Bright blue=oldest; bright red=newest. Oldest sectors in ascending order include: passage where the player starts (sector 0), windows overlooking lava with the Battlelord sentry in the center.