Warhammer 40K: Boltgun imagines the grimdark setting as a Doom-esque FPS

warhammer 40,000: Boltgun There’s a tempting combination: what if you took the grimly dark setting of Warhammer 40K and examined it through the lens of a classic boomer-shooter à la Apocalypse, boltgun The Space Marines and Sisters of Battle are named after the weapon they employed in combat, a .75 caliber gun that fires massive bolts that explode inside their targets. That’s the kind of over-the-top, metallic, slightly goofy lore that gives Warhammer 40K its established allure, and so far, boltgun Deploys it to excellent effect.

i played the preview demo boltgun, which includes tutorial and first three levels. The Space Marine crash-lands, his squad dead, and he must advance through the mountains and factories of Graia, a world that makes Titan mechs for the Imperium. Of course, he almost immediately encounters heretics – cultists, Chaos Space Marines, Daemons, etc. Luckily, he also finds a sacred relic with which to kill them: the Titanic Boltgun.

boltgun Looks like 40,000 idiots made it; There are many tie-ins to the larger lore. The game opens with a cutscene where the Inquisitor, an agent of the Imperium of Man’s secret super police, tells the Space Marines what to expect. boltgun follows the events of 2011 space Marine, where Ultramarine Captain Titus stops an Ork WAAAGH! (that’s how the guys in the big green refer to a continuing war campaign) and a Chaos infiltration. The inquisitor feels that there are some shortcomings after that campaign, and they should be investigated.

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Image: Auroch Digital/Focus Entertainment

boltgun Does a great job of treading the line between two potentially different directions for the game. On the one hand, it’s amazingly silly. There is a dedicated taunt button, in which the protagonist Space Marine shakes his fist and chants “For the Emperor!” Screams like something. or “Eliminate the heretics!” At enemies (or at no one in particular, if you’re feeling spicy). If the player is inactive, the protagonist takes out his trusty Codex Astartes and flips through the pages.

On the other hand, boltgun faithfully captures some of the best parts about what inspired ’90s shooters. There are many secrets hidden throughout the levels, such as vortex grenades that drag enemies into oblivion, or powerful upgrades to the Ultramarines’ arsenal. Blasting through levels toward the nearest enemy is great fun, but I felt rewarded when I took my time and slowed down to shoot at walls and the surreal and visceral pixelated visuals left behind by a Chaos intrusion .

The style of the enemy is also attractive. Anarchy, as a faction, runs the risk of feeling a bit similar. dark Tide Great combat, but there are only so many nerdy cultists you can kill before it gets boring. boltgun Chaos draws from the full smorgasbord of troops, from the Pink and Blue Horrors of Tzentech to Chaos Space Marines in armor to exploding monster frogs.

If you prefer, you can play on an easy difficulty, or use the accessibility options to become invulnerable, or unlock the entire library of levels. This is a great way to get everyone involved. boltgunThe higher difficulties seem appropriately challenging for fans of a good solid shooter, but it’s also possible for a 40K fan to simply take a tour through a game lovingly created in the war-serious universe.