Fun fact: origins of the term ‘grimdark’ can be directly traced back to the original Warhammer 40k tabletop game. Suffice it to say, the cynical and nihilistic world of Warhammer 40k sucks. Despite the highly advanced and amazing intergalactic society that mankind has built, to live in this universe is to live in a bleak place where humanity exists in a state of total war as it fights hopelessly to delay its inevitable demise at the hands of all manner of eldritch space gods and aliens. Nobody is ‘good’ in this universe, and nobody is going to make it out okay, which makes Warhammer 40k and the boomer shooter genre feel like a match made in hell. Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun may not be the best entry in this genre, but it gets enough right that we’d recommend it to anyone looking for a solid retro FPS.
Boltgun is set after the events of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine. You're a marine sent by the imperium to pacify a group of tech priests who are experimenting with a dangerous power source on a distant planet. You’re initially sent with a squad, but your drop pod rather conveniently crashes and burns on the planet’s surface, violently killing everyone except you. Left with no other choice and armed with nothing more than a sick chainsaw sword, you press on into the den of heretics to carry out the mission in the name of the glorious Emperor.
As you could probably guess, narrative doesn’t play much of a role in Boltgun, which is slightly disappointing given the absolutely cavernous depth of the existing lore. Even so, the relative absence of story here doesn’t really detract from the overall experience, as the sugar rush of killing an arena full of heretics quickly erases any concerns over the hows and whys of what’s going on.
Gameplay follows classic boomer shooter game design wherein you explore the winding corridors of mazelike levels, picking up upgrades and ammo while ripping and tearing through a concerning amount of baddies in the bloodiest ways possible. You start with just your titular, trusty boltgun, an automatic weapon that packs a heavy punch, and you’ll pick up more weapons—such as a plasma rifle or a shotgun—as you progress. These each have key strengths that make them shine more in certain situations, and while you’re encouraged to make use of your full arsenal, you can reasonably just stick to your favorites and not have to worry too much about how you’ll perform—this isn’t DOOM Eternal where you need specific weapons for specific enemies.
No matter what gun you’re using, everything has a delightfully crunchy and brutal feel to it as the screen and controller shakes with each slug you fire, coating the surrounding area in viscera as your unfortunate foe erupts from the impact. Blasting away yet another cultist or plague toad into a fine pink mist with your shotgun remains amazingly satisfying all the way through, and the challenge quickly ramps up as you get deeper into the campaign. On its base difficulty, Boltgun never feels like a hard game, but we ran into more than a few scenarios where we had to break away from the enemy hordes to scrounge up armor and health before finishing them off. It feels mostly balanced, then, but the main thing that throws it off is the somewhat finicky controls.
The issue here is that you never feel like you have complete control of your space marine; sometimes he doesn’t turn fast enough, and other times he turns way too quickly. Tweaking the sensitivity in the settings can help to take the edge off, but it feels like this is more a consequence of the Switch hardware. The Joy-Con sticks don’t have enough travel to give you that sense of being precise with your inputs, and the lack of an option to compensate for this via aim assist or gyro control means that it can be difficult to get mid-range or distant enemies into your sights consistently, especially when you’re running and strafing like crazy. Luckily, most of your weapons are more akin to hammers than scalpels, getting a shot ‘close enough’ usually means you’re still pulverizing your enemy’s face, but we’re still hoping that gyro controls will be added at some point in a future update. At this stage, they should be standard for any FPS on Switch.
Going along with the finnicky controls, level design really needs some work. The shooting action itself remains electrifying and exciting every time you get pulled into another skirmish, but the environments these battles take place in are often vast and confusing. There’s nothing wrong with extensive levels loaded with secrets—the recent Doom games used them to great effect—yet we found ourselves getting lost quite frequently in some of Boltgun’s larger stages. Corridors tend to loop back on themselves and there’s a general lack of notable landmarks to help with wayfinding, which can make it quite difficult to determine the way forward when all the dank stone walls and rooms look almost exactly the same. There’s no map, either, so you’re truly left stumbling around in the dark until you happen to find the nondescript door that you need to step through.
Graphically, Boltgun utilizes a fascinating visual style that merges modern 3D with the old-school 2D spritework of games like the original Doom. Everything has a delightfully pixelated look to it, from the many horrifying enemies you face to the equally terrifying weapons you use to put them down, but you can tell that most of the environment is 3D ‘underneath’ the pixel filter. The locales themselves fit the characteristic grimdark aesthetic perfectly, with all kinds of bleak, vaguely religious settings that perfectly blend science fiction and fantasy.
All this is paired with a collection of unremarkable, but fitting industrial tracks that hit hard and underline the frenzied action quite well. The soundtrack can feel a little one-note, but it fits well enough with the gleeful and unadulterated violence on display. Special praise is due, too, for the sound effects. Everything from reloading your shotgun to thundering down to the ground after jumping from three stories up sounds crisp and confident, which adds a crunchy, satisfying extra layer to the stimulating combat.
Conclusion
It may be confusing to navigate, but Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun has definitely got it where it counts. When you aren’t busy trying to remember how many times you’ve been through a certain room, the comically violent combat sequences offer up consistently thrilling engagements with just the right amount of difficulty. We wish that it controlled a little better, but it’s impossible to deny that Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is just a plain fun game to tear through. We’d recommend this to anyone looking for a solid boomer shooter to add to their library; it’s not a game that you need to rush out and play right away, but you’ll probably be satisfied once you get around to it.
Comments 53
Boomer shooter?
Currently at the top of my wishlist with the intention of using my gold coins to have this for "free".
Kill the alien
Burn the heretic
Purge the unclean
@NeonPizza Don't correct them. It just makes us sound more old and plays into their joke. Just pretend that its because the guns went boom a lot.
@NeonPizza i was born in 80's, playing games like Duke Nukem, and Quake not really on release, but a few years later in later 90's when i was a young teen. i think thats how it is for a lot of us.
I would buy this if it had a physical release.
@NeonPizza
I mean, you're correct on all counts, but the label really caught on at some point and it's probably too late already to turn back the tide. I've just embraced it.
The historically-accurate term would, I guess, be Doom clone.
I had watched the long gameplay from this game and I liked. Looks good enough to play.
Again I'll say please stop w the "boomer" thing. Boomers tried to ban these games.
I always thought it was "boomer" shooter because gun go BOOM
I love the game but the audio on Switch is broken. Lots of pops, skips, dropped sounds, high pitched sound static. It's really disappointing and I hope that they patch it.
I can not fathom a FPS without gyro, total, uncomprehension and hard pass
It's boomer shooter cause of the noise of the gun, for some reason.
***** all to do with age.
Finally. Good review. Been loving this one. Noticed a slight stutter at times when the action gets hectic but nothing a patch or two can’t fix.
It's amazing how 2 retro FPS shooters came out in the same week (this and Slayer X) and that this review, including score and every bullet point, could be for either one of them.
@NeonPizza
as others said, it is Boomer Shooter because you make a lot Boom Boom through the Level.
Damn near perfect FPS
@Firesnake First thing I do with an FPS on my Switch OLED is disable gyro if it's enabled. Makes it completely unplayable for me, lol
Stop saying boomer 🤪
@HeadPirate They are very different. But I see that you are a Foam Stars fan, so I am guessing both of them are probably not your thing.
Unless it gets gyro aiming down the line, no buy for me. The controls (at least on Switch) are awful, tried it at a friend’s for 10 minutes and I hated it. Great review btw, these are the kind of useful in-depth impressions we need more of.
@Azuris that's not what the term means. It's inaccurate in the first place (like I said above, "boomers" tried to ban these games), but it's not a reference to "gun go boom."
@LikelySatan
They are very different. They also have a lot of similarities, in particular, 4 of the 5 bullet points made in this review.
And given this is a pretty positive review, if they "weren't my thing" I don't think I would agree it applies to either let alone both.
Assumptions are bad. I don't really have a "thing". But people "protecting" games they like from opinions they don't like is always hilarious, especially when they misread the opinion, so thanks for the smiles
You're the reason I enjoy commenting so much.
@ComfyAko
In the name of the Emperor,
LET NONE SURVIVE.
@HeadPirate lol. Okay bruh.
Stop using the term Boomer Shooter. That term comes from Gen Z people not knowing the history of the genre. Not because "gun go boom", you guys will parrot nearly anything you read. RETRO FIRST PERSON SHOOTERS were made by Gen X and played by Gen X and Millennials.
Also LOL@ "Level designs can be sprawling and confusing" that should read "The game isn't pointing me in the direction I need to go." Figure it out, it's more rewarding that way.
So it's an "Okay Booomer?"
@Zulzar I like that I don't get lost as much in modern games. I don't find it rewarding, I find it frustrating. Getting lost is an enjoyable aspect of some genres of games. I don't want it in my shooters. I want to shoot.
I just noticed I don't use much Gen Z slang... despite being Gen Z. This is a momentous occasion.
For relevancy, Ps2 nearest neighbor graphics are getting popular these days aren't they.
@BoyfriendOfDeath It is better to die for the Emperor than live for yourself
From Wikidictionary (although there are other examples out there)
boomer shooter (plural boomer shooters)
(Internet slang) A first-person shooter designed to look and play like 90s-era examples of this genre, such as Doom and Duke Nukem 3D.
I am old enough to have played these types of games when they first came out, but I am squarely Gen-X. At any rate, slang be slang. I got this on my PC and it is a nice throwback. It does get a bit overdone on the arena battles but for the money nicely done.
Can someone explain these screenshots? Why does it look like it would run on a 486?
Ughhh it's not rocket science people. Wolfenstein and especially Doom, the games these games are inspired by, are the oldest shooters. "Boomers" are old. It's jokingly derogatory. At least the term is a better fit than calling games "roguelike" or "soulslike".
@NeonPizza The Switch OLED I got for $400 didn't even come with a dock. I have heard that playing docked with gyro is preferred but it doesn't work in handheld mode.
@NeonPizza I've been at the FPS game since Wolfenstein 3D and Doom were wreaking havoc in the PC gaming world some 30 odd years ago. That must be why I can handle FPS controls in any situation and any setup, lol. Now if you put me in a multi-player environment then I'd probably need all the assistance I could get 😆
@HeadPirate and they both frigging rock
@riChchestM because it's a Retro throwback
@Kynwal I'm a millennial and was playing everything after Doom on release, but I certainly feel like a boomer sometimes. Anyway, I like the term - even if everytime you have to say it like you're making fun of it
@Firesnake I don't mind playing without gyro, but I've definitely come to appreciate when devs include the option.
Hopefully they add it in because otherwise this game is awesome. I know Severed Steel launched without gyro and ended up patching it in. Went from a 6/10 to one of the best FPS games on Switch
@LikelySatan “boomers wanted it banned”. Maybe a small minority, but clearly the majority weren’t against it or the genre wouldn’t have excelled. There was probably a section of people wanting Pong banned for being too violent at one point so I wouldn’t pay much attention.
@Alaninho I was referring the senate hearings in the 90s that lead to the creation of the ESA and ESRB.
@LikelySatan I know but my point still stands.
@Alaninho your point about Pong violence? I'd say no. No that did not happen.
Some reactionary dinosaurs clutching their pearls about new forms of media because they fear change is not the same as the government doing that decades after that media emerged because they are worried that games train to kill.
@LikelySatan The Pong comment was a joke. I meant your generalisation of ‘boomers’ wanting it banned was a bit off. I’d say that old generation are no worse for pearl clutching than today’s Gen Z, but I’d never say the whole of Gen Z is trying to cancel people for saying things they disagree with, just a minority. It seems to be a consistent thing regardless of generation.
@Alaninho I mean you can find anything as offensive to anyone at anytime, anywhere and see sodomy jokes on prime time on a Sunday. The only thing is that some advertisers might not want to be associated with that. Your conflict is with them. Most of the people and organizations that people hold up as some representation of "wokeness" or cancel culture only care about the bottom line. Disney took Finn off the posters in China cause he's a black dude, you know? They are just crass and greedy in different ways in different places.
@LikelySatan Agreed. I think people hope that corporations will enforce their worldview and opinions, but at the end of the day they exist to make money like you said. If a game sucks it will essentially cancel itself and there’s no need for all the backlash!
The reviewer writes: "...the lack of an option to compensate for this via aim assist...". However the game does have an aim assist option, which is activated by default.
As far as I remember its in the gameplay options, not in the control options.
As for the controls: I personally think it controls perfectly well. Have only been playing with Pro Controller and not with Joy Cons though.
@YZN3RF I actually noticed this, but I toyed around with it a little to test its effects and it seems to me like it's glitched. In my experience, it didn't appear to work, though I'd agree with you that the Pro Controller feels a little better.
@SwitchVogel Alright, I see.
I only toyed around with it for a bit, because I prefered to not have aim assist. I thought that it did make aiming a little easier, but that was only a very brief testing.
@NeonPizza Actually you're right.. why isn't Wolfenstein 3D on Switch? The New Colossus and Youngblood are, lol. Well that's right. You can technically play that one game in The New Colossus that is like Wolfenstein 3D but you play a Nazi instead, lol. I want The Old Blood and The New Order on Switch.
Sounds great!
The absense of motion controls is a dealbreaker for me, personally though. And even if they added gyro controls, they probably wouldn't add auto-turn. No-one so far on Switch has. And to me, gyro controls are useless without it.
I'm going to play this while listening to Bolt Thrower, because that's what the album cover graphic up top of the page made me think of.
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