There’s nothing quite as satisfying as being a big, badass space marine. The huge armor, the massive guns, it all makes for perfect video game material. Few space marines are bigger or more badass than those in the Warhammer 40,000 universe, and Boltgun, a new retro first person shooter from Auroch Digital, absolutely knows it. Throughout three chapters of eight levels each you turn all varieties of monsters, cultists and chaos marines into piles of pixelated gore with a wide array of devastating weapons. It’s not without its issues, but when everything clicks into place it’s on fire like a Grey Knight’s Incinerator.
Boltgun is the latest entry in the “boomer shooter” subgenre that chases after the feeling of Doom, Quake, and other classic shooters of that era. In a gaming landscape where we heavily rely on recharging health and waist high cover, it’s refreshing to be forced to be mobile during an encounter. Health and ammo pickups are scattered around the arenas, guiding you on loops that allow you to refill on ammo while you’re under fire from the forces surrounding you. It’s fast and furious, but never feels overwhelming in a bad way, always giving you enough resources to make it through by the skin of your teeth. The lightning-fast movement speed can be tough to get used to at first, but once you do, it’s a blast.
With their emphasis on satisfying combat, retro shooters heavily need a solid set of weapons to be successful. Boltgun‘s suite of guns takes full advantage of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, doling out new additions to your arsenal at a smart pace throughout the game’s campaign. Each feels different enough to justify its existence, and the smart ammo limitations will have you cycling through as you desperately sprint around looking for a few more bullets. The audio-visual feedback from each weapon doubles down on the feeling of empowerment. Cycling from the noisy ‘budda-budda-budda’ of the Heavy Bolter to the flashy, electric sizzle of the Plasma Rifle makes you feel like an unstoppable killing machine. There’s even a chainsaw that has a satisfying hitstop to emphasize its power, perfect for when the enemies are getting a little too close for comfort.
All your favorite Warhammer 40,000 monstrosities show up in Boltgun for you to mow down. Plague Toads, Chaos Marines, cultists and all manners of horrors (both pink and blue) will attempt to tear you apart. It’s a good mix of ranged and melee enemies, forcing you to switch up strategies and prioritize targets on the battlefield. Fortunately, enemies all have distinct silhouettes and color schemes that make them easily identifiable at a glance so you can adjust tactics accordingly. It’s easy to spot an Aspiring Champion in the midst of some Blue Horrors and immediately recognize it as an emergency to be dealt with right away, especially if it transforms into a Chosen Champion upon death. Most of the enemy types are introduced by the end of the first chapter, but there’s a wide enough variety that you don’t get too sick of them by the end.
Not only does the gameplay feel like a 90s shooter, but the graphics emulate that era as well. The world of Warhammer 40,000 is rendered in a sharp-looking pixel-art style, which especially shines with the enemies. The 2D sprites look great and explode into glorious pixelated gibs upon death. It’s quite a wonder to see the piles of gore that litter the arena after a big fight, once again the highlighting awesomeness of your Space Marine. Environments range from interesting to bland, sometimes feeling a bit samey, but some areas are tainted by the power of the Warp, and this effect looks super cool, truly making those spaces feel strange and uncanny.
If you’re looking for a unique story that takes advantage of the license, that’s not something this game really tries to do. There’s some animated 2D cutscenes in the beginning and end of chapters, but they mostly just provide some extremely light context. It gives you enough reason for the mission you’re on, but the Warhammer 40,000 flavor mostly comes from vibes and presentation rather than referencing your favorite characters and lore. There’s some in-level narration that comes from the little Servo-Skull that floats alongside you, but it’s presented via text in the upper corner rather than voice over, making it very easy to miss it among all the information on the screen.
Boltgun ends up being the biggest mixed bag in its level design. Most of the time it works well enough, with several different paths to go down while hunting down keys of various colors to unlock progression, but sometimes it’s a bit hard to navigate. I found myself getting turned around often, not being able to backtrack to a door after finding the key to unlock it, which caused me some frustration. Since levels tend to be pretty large, each usually taking about 20 to 30 minutes to complete, if you happen to miss a turn and pass a key, it’s very hard to double back and find it. At one point, I had to restart a level from the beginning because I was having such trouble finding one of the keys and it was quicker to start over and redo the level than to figure out where I had already searched. The game probably could have used a minimap to help alleviate this, but even that idea feels a bit more like a band aid than a solution.
Frequently in levels, you’ll come across arenas that get locked down and will not reopen until you “purge the heretics.” These arenas do a great job of taking advantage of verticality, forcing you to keep an eye on everything above and below you. Spaces are big enough so that you can sprint at high speed constantly during the fight, zig-zagging around to hunt for the well-placed health and ammo pickups that are littered around the arena. Unfortunately, this massive size is both a blessing and a curse. Time and time again I would find myself hunting down an enemy in the room whose death would trigger the next wave, which brought the usually kinetic pace to a halt. Also, after running around a huge arena for several minutes during the battle, I would have no recollection of where I entered or where I should exit, making progression sometimes a bit annoying. None of these are absolute fun killers, but they do highlight a general problem with pacing that’s seen in the level design.
Boltgun’s combination of genre and property is pitch perfect, using the vibes of retro shooters to highlight the empowering feel of the iconic Warhammer Space Marine. Sprinting around, cycling through weapons to turn beautiful sprites into pixelated gibs is a blast, capturing the combination of challenge and badass-ness popularized by the original Wolfenstein and Doom games. There are four difficulty levels and plenty of secrets hidden throughout, giving you reasons to come back after you complete the campaign. If you’re a fan of Warhammer 40,000 or retro shooters in general, you’ll find a lot to like here. It’s not the best on the market in either category, but it’s a damn good time if you can deal with some pacing issues.
The post ‘Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun’ Review – Retro Shooter Proves This Franchise Is Still Badass appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.