Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

I love retro style shooters*, but this one just falls flat for me. Feels like a soulless content and not something with coherent vision. Mimics a retro shooter, but doesn't even use retro figures for sprites - it uses modern pieces instead, which results in visual dissonance. Level design also is a bit lacking - easy to get lost during more frantic moments and there's no map which would make navigation way easier. Weapons aren't satisfactory to use - shotgun is one of be biggest culprits of this - just lacks the punch that you'd expect. Honestly, I enjoyed Prodeus way more than this one and I found that one similarly unsatisfying. *Altenatives: Cultic; Project Warlock; Fallen Aces; Wizordum; Turbo Overkill; Hellbound; Forgive Me Father.

It does what you'd expect of a boomer shooter from the 90s, but doesn't add anything new or interesting into the mix. I'm just going to list cons since I didn't find anything about this game exceptionally praiseworthy. It does a lot of things well enough, but not in a way that makes them stand out. With that being said, here are the cons: - It would've been nice if we had more movement options - grappling hook, dash ability, etc. - I don't understand the logic of resetting the loadout to just a boltgun at the beginning of each chapter or even if you want to replay/restart the current level. - Certain sections like purges and key hunting are overused and don't improve the experience. - Enemies are bullet-spongey and not varied enough. - Level design is bland. - Some boss fights are borderline unfair, with bosses constantly summoning ads, making potshots against the boss the only viable strategy to defeat them or using a powerup if you're lucky. - Story is uninteresting and never captured my attention. It has a solid foundation, but the developers could've been more creative with the mechanics and level design.

tl;dr: a solid Boomer-Shooter with W40k license, hampered by not so great level design. In the old days, Boltgun would be called a Doom clone. Don't expect anything else from gameplay but shooting enemies, finding keys to open doors and reach the exit of the level. Its uses Unreal Engine 4, but could also be based on gzdoom, as the graphics are heavily pixelated and enemies, ammo boxes and other stuff in the levels are 2d sprites, clearly visible as they always rotate towards the player. In its gameplay, it’s a solid FPS, its biggest asset is the Warhammer 40k license, with weapons available a Space Marine typically uses to blast those heretics to pieces. Contrary to what I first thought, there is no resistance system, but the small icons at the top when aiming at enemies show the general power of the weapon: the boltgun is viable against almost everything, energy weapons like rocketlauncher-like plasmagun are good against bigger enemies like Chaos Space Marines and bosses take less damage from pretty much everything and are massive bullet sponges. The shotgun is useless against pretty much everything, which is disappointing for a boomer-shooter. The major weakness of the game is the level design. Contrary to the classic FPS, they are not complex labyrinths, most of them are linear, two parallel ways that contain the same enemies do not count. They are interrupted by arenas, but those also aren't great designed, they have many ramps and narrow paths, plus some of them are so big, I lost track where I am. Other parts of the level are re-used multiple times, sometimes including placement of enemies, ammo boxes and such. At least the aesthetic is great, it really captures the gothic gigantism of the Imperium. Overall, Boltgun is a solid boomer-shooter. If you're into W40k and what to squish chaos worshippers and demons through the eyes of an Ultramarine, this is for you. General fans of FPS should first look at other classic-like FPS like Dusk or Amid Evil.

Technically and thematically a fun retro shooter. The guns feel varied and fun, same for the enemies. What I didn't know when buying this game though is that it's an arena shooter. Every level has multiple arenas that you get locked into and have to defeat waves of spawning enemies. It's pretty annoying to have cleared out an area with good cover just to have waves of enemies spawn right on top of you. Every level is like this - explore, get locked into an arena, clear it out, explore, locked into the next arena etc. Some people probably don't mind this, it's just not what I was expecting.

I recently wrote a revew on Blood West where I noted that the retro shooter renissance had begun to move past the likes of Dusk and Ion Fury into more complicated offerings (just as the 90s shooters had moved past Doom onto Duke Nukem 3D and finally into System Shock 2). This year has shown that, if the gameplay is fun and the price is right there is a place for both types of shooters to prosper. Having played Blood West - and loved it for what it was - I can say that it is refreshing to be able to turn on my Steam Deck and just turn off my pre-frontal cortex for a time while having some old-fashioned F-U-N playing Boltgun. The story is, as amazing as this is going to sound, a sequel to Warhammer 40K: Space Marine. You are a veteran of the Ultramarines, sent in to mop up the mess left behind after forces of Chaos decided to interrupt the 'little shindig' between the Orks and the Imperial Guard. Nothing complex to tell here; no grandstanding moral quandaries or introspection into the human soul. You are a Space Marine, purged of fear and doubt, ready to slay anything that goes against the will of the Emperor of Mankind. Promo material for Boltgun made it out to be some long-lost 90s shooter recovered and and re-released. While not true they weren't far off. The graphics are a chunky, pixelated type with a wide range of saturated colours. It's the sort of style that was post-Doom but pre-PS1 (so, think Sega Saturn). Environments are detailed and colourful, the enemies are easy to differentiate (with excellent attack animations), and the weapons...oh, the weapons. If you thought that the Doom remakes treated getting a new weapon like a religious experience, Boltgun definitely does - because in the 40K universe it IS. So then, why 4/5? Because, simply put, much as stealth shooters are not everyone's cup of tea, neither is a power fantasy shooter. No cover coupled with slow movement might not appeal to everyone. If you can get past that, Boltgun is a blast.