Few video games in history have stolen more of their foundation from the Warhammer universe than the original Doom. The groundbreaking first-person shooter of the 90s was filled with giant demon spawn, shotgun blasts and sweaty comic book masculinity. Not like giant space marines in the dark gloom of the far future. So it’s fitting that Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a dogmatic tribute to the old-fashioned id software-whittled doctrines of monster slaying. . The latest installment of Games Workshop’s digital empire aims to bring us back to a happier time, the era of level maps dotted with 2.5D sprites, jelly-like blood splatters, secrets, keys and ammo pickups. is. The 90’s are back, baby. John Carmack would be proud.
You are a Space Marine, a superhuman race of radical intergalactic fanatics who burn down entire universes to eradicate all forces that wish to harm the Emperor of Humanity. After a brief expository overture, Boltgun discards all its narrative morals and immediately gets to work. Your Space His Marine is dropped to his opening level, equipped only with his typical Gears of War-esque chainsword. A single right-click reveals the ill-fated Chaos Demon to his two. Your hero unlocks an ever-expanding arsenal of weapons as he makes his way through the gauntlet, instantly familiar to anyone who’s ever conquered Mars or Hell. You can now move between vaulters with the mouse. All of these can turn enemies into misshapen pinkish blobs.
Boltgun is not inspired by modern first person shooters. Players won’t find RPG meta-progressions, open-world stat grinds, or quasi-MMO multiplayer mandates. This is a video game that briefly appeared in 1996. Boltgun is passionately committed to these tenets in his style of art. This is his old-school PC experience, packed with paper-thin enemy models, static death animations, and color-coded locks and doors. But that vintage ideology has been bolstered by 2023 engineering, much like a 1958 Jaguar was converted to an EV. Boltgun may play like Doom, but id Software certainly didn’t emphasize the brutal particles that fill the screen with developer Auroch Digital’s gunfights and his effects and psychedelic bullet trails. .
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After using the Boltgun for an hour, I can assure you that the action is beautifully put together. This is not a shooter with tough tactical decisions. Space Marines are big, beefy, and generously durable. He forces players to switch off their brains. The bolt gun is more and more unhinged as bullets begin to fly and corpses begin to burst. Every inch of terrain is smeared with bright crimson blood, making it difficult to remember exactly what you were aiming for. Trust me, I mean it as a compliment.
Of course, if you want Boltgun to be truly memorable, it’s going to require a certain amount of internality. We’ve also played enough indie stylized shooters to know that being alone isn’t enough to carry your product across the finish line. But you might get lucky. I noticed a few hints on the game loading screens referencing different damage types. These seem to be more effective depending on what’s currently occupying the crosshairs. It seems. It’s reminiscent of Doom Eternal, the game that delivered all of the feverish carnage of the Mother franchise, but encourages true mindfulness when planning murders. In the same way that the weapon catalog gradually expands and the demons in its path become more dangerous, the boltgun is matched by the same thoughtfulness.
Aside from that, Auroch Digital managed to teleport us all to another universe. This is where id got his Warhammer license at its peak in the 1990s. Time travel is possible. To prove it, I only have a low-res chainsword.
