Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 Preview
As someone who plays a lot of games, I really appreciate it when something fun and unexpected comes along. This is especially true with genre mashups that feel both unique and entirely natural. Such was the case with Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, which poured brutal Warhammer combat into a retro first-person boomer shooter bottle. It was delicious. Now we have Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2. It’s more of the same, but in the best way possible.
Setting the Stage
Did you grow up playing Doom, Duke Nukem, and Quake? First, you must have had very liberal parents. And second, you’ll know exactly what to expect from Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2. Fast movement around pixelated, chunky levels filled with secret areas, keys to find, weapons to pick up, and consumables to grab are the foundation. Gouts of blood and pixelated gore, check. A sense of decidedly non-serious fun? Double check.
There are lots of retro shooters, but the Warhammer 40,000 tie-in is really where Boltgun 2 and the first game shine. From the Chaos Space Marines to the Nurglings, Pink Horrors, and poison-belching toads, Games Workshop provides an endless number of enemy possibilities. In the two levels I was able to preview, these happily return.
At the end of the jungle level, my character’s extraction was preceded by an epic battle with hundreds of enemies. It was the kind of absurd enemy density that early Doom could only dream of. It also brought the game’s framerate to its knees, but that’s to be expected in an early, unoptimized build. At the end, the environment was painted red with enemy blood, and I was happily exhausted by the battle.
Deadly DuoÂ
In the original game, you played as Malum Caedo, a Sternguard Space Marine. In Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2, Malum returns in all his heavy-weapon-equipped glory. However, there’s now an alternative in the form of Nyra Veyrath, a battle-tested Sister of Battle Celestian. If Malum is weighty and ponderous, Nyra is fast and agile, with unique weapons like a power sword and holy armaments. The power sword is a fun way to both close distance quickly and slice and dice enemies.
The developers said that while you can replay levels with either character, you stick with one or the other throughout the entire campaign. There are no missions where you’re required to switch (are you paying attention, Crimson Desert?). After playing through the pair of levels with both, I still prefer the brutal lethality of Malum’s guns. But of course, the demo only included a few of the weapons and other goodies players can expect in the full game.
Gun for Fun
Even in the demo, there were lots of secret areas and valuables tucked away under lock and key. Still, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 is a linear experience in the tradition of classic boomer shooters. It never takes itself too seriously, except for being serious about providing a fast-paced and wildly entertaining good time. Once again, Auroch Digital has nailed the chunky pixelated look of beloved action games. Like the first game, players can also control just how pixelated everything is. My preference in both games was to dial the pixelated look way down, just because I find it a little visually fatiguing over a long play session.
What impressed me about Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 — like its predecessor — is that the developer has a perfect sense of scale. The game isn’t bloated by extraneous mechanics, endless cutscenes, or complicated controls. Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 might not have the AAA graphics and swagger of Space Marine 2, but in its own way captures the operatic drama and hyperbolic violence of the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
***PC code provided by the publisher for preview***
