izigame.me

Retro shooter fan? Enjoy 100%ing games? This review is for you.
(TL;DR at the end)

If you're a completionist like me, it is very easy to be misled by this game's positive reviews. A quick review of this game's achievement stats shows an abnormally sharp drop in player retention with ~48.8% of players quitting after finishing the 1st chapter. Now I am well aware that the achievement stats are not a 1:1 representation of all the people who reviewed this game but it still goes to show you that, by in large, most players who played Boltgun did not engage with it in any meaningful manner.
The following is my personal opinion on the game as a huge fan of the retro shooter genre that has 100%’d Boltgun and its' DLC but has absolutely ZERO knowledge of the 40K universe or the lore.
1. The enemy design leaves a lot to be desired
All enemies in this game basically fall into 3 categories.
- Humanoid fodder enemies
Fighting these guys feels like a waste of time
- Tanky bullet sponge pressure units
Fighting these guys feels like doing the dishes
- Massive hordes of tiny nuisance enemies
Fighting these guys feels like getting soap in your d*ckhole.
Combine these 3 enemy types in an arena fight and you get a concerto of mediocrity.
2. The secrets are weird and inconsistent
A “secret” in this game can be the most cryptic and convoluted thing to find or it can simply be an item that’s behind a box off the wayside. This means that finding a secret can be as simple as turning the camera away from the obvious forward path for 0.1 seconds or it can require the player to be omniscient and there’s no in-between. This creates a sense of paranoia when you end up missing 1 secret and don’t know what type of secret you’re trying to find, or if you’ve passed a point of no return and have completely missed the secret. This brings me to my next point.
3. The game does not lend itself to completionists at all.
The levels are not backwards explorable, so it's very easy to miss secrets or kills and not be able to go back and look for them. The kill % counter is also very cursed and tracks based on the amount of enemies that have spawned on the map thus far so it is constantly updating as you go through the level. I have also gotten several situations where the kill counter would not register an enemy that falls into the void or clips out of bounds. This is immensely frustrating as it basically requires a full restart of the level. Enjoy gunning down every toad and nurgling all over again.
4. The soundtrack is basically non-existent.
Boltgun’s soundtrack is something you’ll probably barely notice while you play, and it’s pretty underwhelming even when you do take the time to try and single it out while
it’s playing behind the sound effects. This comes as a pretty big disappointment for me as this sub-genre has spoiled us so far with the epic metal riffs you will find playing DOOM, Dusk, Prodeus and Forgive Me Father or even the atmospheric and unsettling tunes of HROT and Cultic (I haven’t played Ultrakill yet, crucify me). Either way, the bar has been set really high and in my humble opinion, you can’t market yourself as a “boomer shooter” these days and have a soundtrack as lackluster as Boltgun’s.
5. The combat feels off and it’s hard to put my finger on why.
This could be because of the horrendous damage feedback the game provides, the sluggish player movement, the complete lack of audio queues provided by the enemies around you or the bizarre weapon strength system that dictates the damage delivered to enemies. Each of these minor issues would not be so bad on their own, but together they create a combat experience that does not feel outright BAD but definitely feels lacking.
TL;DR
As a grizzled retro-shooter veteran/completionist, Boltgun misses the mark for me in multiple ways. The enemies are all either quick and tiny nuisances or insufferable bullet sponges, the soundtrack is pretty much non-existent, the combat lacks proper auditory/visual feedback, and trying to 100% this game was a janky and frustrating slog.

A Brief Introduction

It’s fairly common knowledge among long-time fans of the series that there just really aren’t that many good Warhammer 40k games. You got Dawn of War, Space Marine, Mechanicus….. and that’s about it. Maybe Darktide. Most of these games are over a decade old and aren’t the best thing to recommend to people anymore.
But what if we made a game that was intentionally designed to be old? Enter Warhammer 40k: Boltgun.
Riding the high of the 2020 resurgence of the “Boomer Shooter”, FPS games designed to be more reminiscent of the simple but effective formula of 90s FPS games. No regenerating health, no hiding behind cover. Just you, your guns, a whole lot of enemies, and your typical olympic track star speed to evade them.
I believe Boltgun is worth your time and money, especially considering how cheap it is. But it’s always best to make an informed purchase. That’s what I’m here to do!

In-Depth Analysis


Gameplay

As aforementioned, Boltgun is part of the “Boomer Shooter” genre of FPS, which are FPS games designed to appear and somewhat play like old 90s FPS staples such as Doom and Quake, but with modernized movement and controls. Boltgun definitely gets this idea; arenas are large and designed to run around full sprint while mowing down your enemies, and you have a total of 9 different weapons to unlock throughout the game as convenient spinning pickups.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3262136317
However, every good game has a core mechanic that sets it apart from the rest. In this case, much to the delight of myself and other fans of 40k, Boltgun excels at emulating an FPS experience that is extremely similar to the IRL tabletop gameplay. Every weapon you can wield has a “Strength” value, and every enemy has a “Toughness” value, both of which can be conveniently seen at all times on the UI. If your weapon’s Strength is greater than your enemy’s Toughness, you do more damage per shot! If it’s equal, you do okay damage. If it’s lower, you do noticeably less damage.
Every weapon in the game has a different gimmick that sets it apart and makes it useful compared to the rest. The weapon the game is named after, the Boltgun, has a Strength of 4 and a very deep ammo reserve. This makes it excellent for chewing through cannon fodder enemies, but struggles significantly against heavily armored enemies. Comparatively, the Plasma Gun and Meltagun have a Strength of 7, making them extremely effective against every enemy, but they possess either a low rate of fire or very low ammo reserves, meaning you can’t be wasting them on random mid-level enemies.
Just like all “Movement Shooters”, Boltgun demands you avoid damage through strafing and running rather than hiding behind cover. Every enemy attack that isn’t melee is a form of projectile that can be avoided with good enough reactions or speed. Some enemies track better than others, and so you must strafe rather than just try to outrun. Some just spew hundreds of rounds, forcing you to keep moving or else they’ll catch up with you.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3262132192
Another staple of the BS FPS formula are secrets and power-ups. Every map contains an array of power-ups that only last until the end of the level. One example of this is special ammo for the Boltgun that makes it fire faster, penetrate walls or add an AOE. Another is the Vortex Grenade, which when thrown creates a small black hole that rapidly damages and sucks in any enemies around it. But the most impactful power-up you can find is the Machine Spirit, which empowers whatever weapon you are holding when you pick it up. Some of the secrets are genuinely just impossible to find without a guide (Just like Doom), but there’s usually a few easy ones to make up for it. I can usually reliably find the Machine Spirit every level.
Overall, the gameplay is responsive, engaging, and multi-layered; the best kind of FPS gameplay you can get. Varying enemy toughness requiring you to switch weapons is great moment-to-moment engagement that keeps you on your toes, and the multiple different types of environments you venture through help keep the game fresh even when fighting the same enemies. Remember Doom: The Imp never changed from start to finish, but the places you fought it in did!
However, one critical flaw I must make known is that Boltgun lacks any form of map. While the environments are relatively straight forward, sometimes you loop around to the same “hub” room with a key for a new door and need to remember where that door actually is. It’s only a bit annoying and time consuming, but be prepared to actually pay attention to where you’re going so you don’t get lost.

Story

Another staple of the Boomer Shooter genre is an intentional lack of focus on the story. It’s still there, of course. It just barely matters. You play as Malum Caedo, a Space Marine of the Ultramarines chapter, tasked with purging the Chaos filth off a Forge World.
Don’t know 40k lore? Don’t know what any of that means? Doesn’t matter! Point and shoot at the bad guys. It’s as easy as that!


Visuals

Boltgun has a very good grasp of the world of Warhammer 40k and the “grimdark” feeling it pioneered. The combination of technology and religious zealotry is on full display through excessively large cathedral designs, overcomplicated iron techno-junk, and of course the chaos corruption and vandalism covering it all.
The low-poly nature of the environments help to emulate Quake, which is clearly the main inspiration for most of the gameplay (As it is so practically all FPS), but the enemies are a nice unique 2D claymation spin on the sprites you normally see in these kinds of games. It reminds me very heavily of Doom 64, which had far different and rather memorable redesigns of the classic Doom enemy ensemble.
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3262175629
Weapon effects, enemy attacks, and particles are very distinct and prominent, though the sheer AMOUNT of effects can sometimes cause a bit of blindness by making it impossible to tell living enemies from the pure carnage going on around them. This is compounded by the speed of the game, which sometimes results in confusing scrambles where you just spray and pray and hope for the best.

Audio

I have no complaints, but also no compliments about the audio. The music is okay, but not even slightly memorable. The guns do sound satisfyingly chunky, but not quite enough to really resonate. It’s good and performs its job satisfactorily.

Technical

GeForce RTX 3050Ti 4GB | Intel i7 | 16GB | Windows 10
I typically don’t have any problems running Boltgun on my PC. However, on random occasions, the game will suffer a sort of stutter-freeze where every two or so seconds, the entire game will freeze for a split-second. This will happen repeatedly. I don’t really know what causes it, or how to solve it, but restarting a few times seems to fix it.

Conclusion

Boltgun is an excellent retro “Boomer Shooter” that perfectly emulates the lore and appeal of the Warhammer 40k universe while still being approachable enough that non-fans can enjoy it too. While it does have some momentary annoyances, like the complete lack of a map, it is a majority fun experience. It comes with a satisfying amount of content, an enjoyable weapon roster, and iconic enemies, all with a 40k coat of paint. I've replayed it three times and enjoyed it each time!

At only $20, any fan of classic FPS should pick this up!

Follow our curator page, OCG-Curations, if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.

Let me preface this review by stating I have completed the game twice, first time on hard and second on exterminatus alongside all the secrets. I currently hold all 12 achievements for this game. I'm stating this because a common criticism of this game is that people leave positive reviews after engaging with it for a couple hours and then dropping it.
I consider myself a casual enjoyer of the WH40K universe. I have played Mechanicus and the Dawn of War games, but not Space Marine, whose story this game is a sequel of, thus I cannot comment on the story of this game, nor can I compare this to other boomer shooters since this is not a genre I usually engage with.
I will talk about the positive and negative aspects of this game and then give a conclusion. As for what I liked, there is a lot of care put into this game and it has the high quality I desire out of 15-30hour single player games. The atmosphere is phenomenal, both in terms of sound design and visual design, alongside a few truly grandiose levels that you have to stop and be in awe of. The enemy design reminds me of the tabletop game, as if figures are blurred and made into enemies. The gameplay loop does not lag behind, with thrilling action thanks to a violent pace, lack of "cheese" enemies that ruin the fun, and lots of firepower at your disposal. The game goes out of its way to shower you with munitions and powerups so that you feel like a space marine exterminator, a wonderful power fantasy as you mow down heretic/demon hordes with the appropriate taunts.
Unfortunately this power fantasy is also a double edged sword as the tight munitions economy of other games goes out the window and you never run anywhere close to low on munitions. The gun variety is severely hampered by some guns (shotgun/meltagun/caliver) being more situational and specific than generalist guns such as the heavy bolter. There is a lack of weapon specificity where specific weapons counter specific enemies as in Doom, because in Boltgun you can realistically 100% the game with just the boltgun, heavy bolter and grav gun (for the bosses). Map design is also quite poor, as many people had issues navigating the levels while most levels were quite linear and not very interesting. Personally I didn't mind the levels much, I think this issue was more exacerbated by the poor enemy placement at times and general lack of enemy mobility. Enemies usually stand where they are which is kind of immersion breaking. There's also no custom map editor, no weapon wheel for easy gun selection (there are 9 of them. have fun with the keys) and enemy AI is generally limited as enemies usually either chase or stand and have 2 animations (ex plague frogs tongue strike, burp acid and then jump. This on repeat.). I also didn't like some of the secrets placement, I wish they were more environmentally bound to encourage exploration instead of cheaply hiding them being fake walls that need to be activated without a prior hint (you need a guide to find them). Missed opportunity imo.
Overall, I quite enjoyed my time with boltgun. I can see quite a few areas where it could be better, but overall I would rate my 24hrs with it as a solid 7.5/10. Well worth the money I spent on it. It's pretty immersive and fun, though if you're going at it for 100% it can feel like a bit of a chore.