Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Review

A rough but rewarding boomer shooter set in the Warhammer universe.

Over the past weekend, I sat down and played through Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun in preparation for the sequel coming in October. Boltgun is one of those "boomer shooters," retro style graphics, over the top gameplay. It had been close to two years since I last played it, and I was looking forward to getting back into the Warhammer universe.

The story is simple. You're a veteran of the Ultramarines sent to investigate corruption on Graia. Your ship crashes, and the mission quickly becomes "kill everything." Sure, it works, but I would have liked something a little more in depth. There's potential for a deeper, more involved story here, and I'd love for Focus Entertainment to go in that direction with the sequel.

The gameplay though? It's great. Fast paced combat, incredible movement. The controls are smooth, and you never feel held back by them. The weapons are satisfying to use, and Warhammer fans will recognize plenty of them. My one personal issue is that the action is almost non stop. I found that to be a minor drawback since there's rarely a chance to catch your breath, though others may not see that as a problem at all.

The downsides are few. One is the lack of an in game map. Maybe I'm spoiled, but I love having one. Even Doom had it back in the day, so in my opinion, there's no reason not to include it here. There were a few moments where I grabbed a key and genuinely struggled to remember where it went, though that might also just come with being a middle aged gamer at this point. The other issue is difficulty. Most of the time it's fine, but a handful of levels felt like they jumped straight from Normal to the highest setting, leading to deaths that felt cheap rather than earned.