Here I am with another Warhammer 40K review. Frankly, I was expecting either a mediocre or a bad experience, given that there are only a few phenomenal hits and far more forgettable or average games in the vast 40K (black) library. Fortunately, Boltgun is currently at the pinnacle of the best Warhammer 40K games. Unlike Darktide, Boltgun started terrifically straight from the get-go.
The promo trailers for Boltgun were phenomenal, or rather, too good to be true. Rarely does a trailer accurately depict what to expect from a game, but Boltgun delivered and remained just that. Boltgun is a “boomer shooter,” a retro FPS that harks back to old shooters like the original Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem. What characterized those games, and directly applies to Boltgun, is fast gameplay, lots of shooting, explosions, and destroyed enemies on exciting maps designed like mazes. What sets Boltgun apart is that its gameplay is modern but simultaneously retains the soul and essence of retro shooters.
The Story of Warhammer 40 000 Boltgun
The story in Boltgun is very obscure, unusual for 40K games, and usually full of lore. Here, the lore is mainly conveyed through the environment, except at the beginning, where you learn that you are an anonymous Sternguard Veteran of the Ultramarines tasked by the Inquisition to eradicate the Forge planet Graia from traitorous legions. For a game of this type, that’s sufficient – go and kill everything in your path – but for a 40K game, I felt it lacked a bit more. Throughout the missions, you’ll be accompanied by a servo skull that guides you and briefly describes the environment and enemies. What bothered me was that the servo skull speaks in binary code (as per the lore), but its translation is in a small box in the upper left corner of the screen.
When there’s intense action in front of you, and you focus on gameplay, you often miss story details because you won’t notice some tiny text while a Chaos Terminator is closing in on you. It’s a shame there’s no Codex (Astartes) to store information about what the servo skull is saying, allowing you to follow the story details leisurely. Even sadder is that when you stand still and do nothing, your marine will take out the Codex Astartes and start reading it until you give some input. Graia is a well-known planet for 40K game enthusiasts as the action takes place in the Space Marine game, which is soon getting a sequel, and Boltgun serves as a quasi-follow-up or spinoff.
The Gameplay
If the story is secondary, gameplay takes the lead, and it shows clearly. You start the game slowly, only with the Chainsword attack activated by right-clicking until you find the first Bolter. The game gradually introduces you to the idea and premise of what awaits you in the levels, and it’s exceptionally fast-paced fun. I played the game on Medium difficulty, and the first act (of three) is elementary, while the game becomes a bit more challenging later on. I haven’t tried them, but I assume the game is much more enjoyable at higher difficulties due to a crucial factor – movement.
The movement in Boltgun is phenomenal. Your marine is fast, agile, nimble, and precise (as marines should be), allowing you to reach high speeds if you get into a good rhythm, reminiscent of Warframe. And you’ll need that speed – enemies rarely jump out of some corner to surprise you; instead, you’ll always see what’s ahead and, the size of the arena and the best way to navigate through it. Sometimes, you won’t even have to defeat everything on the map if you feel you’re running out of ammo or getting too close to the Emperor’s embrace. It’s not fleeing; it’s tactical withdrawal.
The Look and Feel of Warhammer 40 000 Boltgun
The game’s design strikes an excellent balance between modern and old-fashioned. The maps are entirely 3D with a low polygon count but very detailed and high resolution. I can’t explain it any other way. The maps are enormous, both vertically and horizontally, although they are linear by definition. Some maps try to be mazes and lead you back with keys of various colours, but I sometimes get lost. Fortunately, this only happened sometimes. Enemies and some elements on the maps are 2D sprites that blend seamlessly into their 3D environment, as in Doom and Duke Nukem, the so-called “BUILD engine“. I don’t know what magic they used when making this game, as these two opposites collaborate in perfect harmony.
The game gradually introduces cultists, then Chaos Marines, then creatures of Chaos gods, until it throws in elements of the Warp towards the end. For those who don’t know, the Warp is a non-material way of travelling through space. However, these journeys won’t be pleasant because you’ll find yourself in a world where Chaos gods “live.” The Warp in Boltgun is represented so well that I felt ill whenever I was near it or looking in its direction. The designers pasted an image of some purplish-pink colour as a static element around which the player’s perspective rotates, inducing mild nausea, at least in my case. The variety of enemies is diverse and expands as you progress through levels, but many of them will repeat, so zones aren’t strictly limited to one type of enemy. There will be moments when you encounter creatures of one god in another god’s zone.
What about the guns?
The weapons are furious and powerful, as in any 40K game. From the starting Bolter to plasma weapons and heavy Bolters, and some other weapons I won’t spoil. A marine wouldn’t be a marine without a charge attack that mows down weaker enemies without mercy, and on top of all that, you have a taunt button that I regularly use. Ammo is plentiful in zones and respawns after some time so that you won’t have a big issue with it – the point is in tearing and ripping. Actively and quickly changing weapons is essential because, in specific situations, some are more useful than others, and the whole feeling is reminiscent of the fast gun swapping in Doom Eternal. You’ll rarely stick to just one powerful weapon, which is excellent because each battle will differ somewhat from the previous one.
Warhammer 40 000 Boltgun works well on the Steam Deck
I had the opportunity to test Boltgun on the Steam Deck, and I can tell you that the game ran without any issues, even before the official release (preview period). It now sports an official green checkmark for the steam deck, and the game maintains a solid 60FPS with occasional drops. Boltgun consumed around 18W at the highest settings, where I experienced most of the FPS drops. However, by lowering the TDP to 9 and limiting it to 55FPS, I managed to keep the game running steadily. I wouldn’t say I liked the gamepad controls, which worked great but couldn’t convey the speed and precision of the game when using a mouse and keyboard. With these settings, the battery lasted about 3 hours, which is sufficient for a single play session.
Since we were talking about the steam deck, I was able to use our XP-Panther sky gaming headset and fully enjoy the magnificent carnage.
In Conclusion
Overall, Warhammer 40K Boltgun is a fast-paced boomer shooter that hits the mark where it counts and does its job well. Extremely enjoyable shooting in this fascinating universe with a phenomenal design that will only improve over time. This is a warm recommendation for all fans of retro shooters.
Warhammer 40 000 Boltgun has an ESRB rating of M. We cannot recommend this to anyone younger than 17.
Posted on 7th Feb 2024 by igorthegreat