If you ask Warhammer 40,000 fans if they want a DOOM-inspired baby boomer shooter, they play as a space marine shooting heretics and demons, bringing heretics and Demons sawed to pieces, they might answer in the affirmative.
Enter Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, which answers the appeal of a nostalgic, gory shooter set in a dark, distant future. From its first appearance, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun has been the game fans of the tabletop and universe wanted, even if it wasn’t a concept they’d thought of before. On the other hand, it also created some high expectations for boomer shooters from fans of the dark sci-fi setting and those interested in the genre.
A dream project on paper, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun has the simple but potentially difficult task of living up to the expectations people have placed on it. Thankfully, the Boltgun does just that in many ways.
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From the moment you hit play and start a new campaign, you know you’re getting a faithful Warhammer 40,000 experience. You’re given a brief but useful backstory as to why you need to descend to the planet below the ship to find enemies of the Empire. It’s not so steeped in lore that a layman can’t get involved, but it has nice nods here and there to let longtime fans know that Aurochs Digital has done their research. Narratively, we have an easy setup here, as we pursue a cult of Chaos worshipers who have taken over a planet and need to be eradicated. There are a few twists to keep you interested, and there’s a lovely graphic cutscene at the end of each chapter that gives you another story, but otherwise it exists mostly to give you a reason to get into combat.
Blasting enemies in Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, slashing them with your trusty chainsword, or blasting them into a red mist with frag grenades is an incredibly satisfying act. Combat is as bloody, gruesome, and fun as you’d hope for in a Boltgun trailer. Trek across the red cliffs of the Earth’s face, or along the narrow corridors of an occupied Imperial facility, and you’ll find hordes of human enemies and demons in need of bullets. Most pop out like squashed grapes when you rip with a bolt gun, making you feel like you’re embodying a space marine walking tank, but among weaker enemies you’ll find scattered around too with many more powerful enemies.
Boltgun combat gives you the best of both worlds, as you can sometimes give in to your power fantasies and leave the primitive remains of countless minions on the floor. At other times, you’ll crouch behind a wall because a larger demon just knocked you down to a few health points in one attack. The game is by no means a piece of cake, and at various times, I found myself dying time and time again in the face of stronger foes I didn’t intend to encounter around the corner. It would be nice to see some demonic enemies with more variety, but even if you think you’ve seen it all, the game throws enemies in different combinations, so you have to do it in a way you haven’t done before fighting.
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Sure, shooting and killing enemies is fun, but an additional bit of incredible satisfaction in Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is the game’s mobility. You can sprint and jump incredible distances, making combat even faster as you slide from cover to cover, or just move around projectiles, jumping onto larger enemies before taking out the peonies below body. There are some moments where it’s easy to get lost in the larger levels, but overall I have to give a nod to Aurochs Digital in Boltgun’s level design, especially in terms of open space, which makes you almost feel like a first-person Hotline Miami Plan the approach of the upcoming battle.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun’s art direction and visuals are filled with the nostalgic meta-patterning you’d expect from a baby boomer shooter. From the enemies to the environment, to the two hands you keep seeing belonging to the character, the details in the picture are also very rich. When discussing Boltgun, one thing that shouldn’t go wrong is its sound design, which is one of the main reasons why the combat is so deep. Every weapon (yes, you get more than just a standard bolt gun) sounds exactly what you want it to do, from the thundering heavy bolt to the singing laser of the Volkite caliver. Even the thumping of the Space Marines’ footsteps greatly supports the overall immersion. I wish the same could be said for the game’s soundtrack, which serves as a backdrop to the destruction and death you bring, but isn’t as memorable as it could be. None of the booming, banging tracks really send you into a shooting frenzy, at least in my experience.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a smashing game. It makes you feel like the worst thing in the galaxy one minute, and reminds you the next that the universe is a scary and deadly place. You’ll find hours of fun blasting cultists and demons in the name of the Emperor in hectic shootouts. I’m not sure how well this experience translates to non-Warhammer fans, but if you even know anything about Space Marines, or want to capture the nostalgia of those early 90’s shooters, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun sure Worth a try.
