Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Review
Played on Xbox Series X
Developed by Auroch Digital
Released 23rd May 2023gust 2014)
Warhammer is possibly one of, if not the biggest nerd cultures out there, specialising in providing vast universes rich with lore for many to engage with, from its tabletop roots to its off-shoots in other media like video games and comics. One of the most popular of these universes is the 40K world, set in the 41st millennium, where humanity is ruled by an evil fascist theocracy and all the races of the galaxy battle for dominace and their own goals. With much love from its communities and potential for a wealth of stories, it's no surprise that this would cause video games to be made within these worlds, with 2 of the most popular ones in recent memory being 'Boltgun' and 'Space Marine 2'. While they were both scheduled for a 2023 release, 'Space Marine 2' went on to be delayed to the Autumn of last year and praised as one of the better games of that year, despite it being stacked up against so many other worthy competitors. The former of the two launched on its promised 2023 deadline and advertised itself as an authentic way to experience the boomer shooter genre.
Announced at the Warhammer Skulls 2022 (the video game showcase for Warhammer content), the development team would go on to describe and show how, despite being built on a modern game engine, most of its design choices are there to pay tribute to the games that came before. Modified enemy spawn points to dynamically challenge the player, multi-state enemies as first seen in 'Half-Life', hybridisation of the pixel sprites of the past and the 3D models of the present and more were listed in the PlayStation blog revealing the game's release date. Despite it being severely polished and the attention to its detail being fantastical, there's not enough meat on its bones to provide a feast for any fan of the genre.
Story
'Boltgun' was my first time delving into the 40K universe, so much of the dialogue, exposition and content within this narrative felt like a mental concussion grenade that I couldn't have braced myself for even if I tried. For those who are well-versed in this world, the story summary is that it takes place after the first 'Space Marine' and you are sent to the Forge World Graia by the Inquisition to stop the rogue Techpriests from experimenting with the remains of the late Inquisitor Drogan's Power Source which would otherwise let the Forces of Chaos invade again. For those who don't know anything like I did, you're a super solider who's been sent to stop heretics from trying to invade the empire you serve.
There are minimal cutscenes and dialogue as the game strongly directs you from room to room, level to level, all to shoot anything that stands in your way. On the instances that a cutscene will play at the beginning or end of a chapter, or dialogue would be spouted out in the middle of the level, there was a lot to take in for a first-timer like myself.
From what I've seen online from other 40K fans, if you're also in love with this world, you'll love the faithfulness and direction the game takes with its tale. From the environments to enemy designs, there's much for you to grab on to lore-wise, with many calling it the best 40K game because of it. For the average Joe like me and maybe you, there was too much to gauge for me to enjoy. It felt like every piece of dialogue was there more as an exposition dump rather than a way to expand the current moment, and the story of a sole soldier stopping a worldly invasion didn't necessarily make me as interested, even if its pretenses of eliminating heresy and supporting an empire were enjoyable.
The narrative progression here isn't the strongest as it boils down to the protagonist moving in a straight line to finding the antagonist, and the conclusion wasn't all that conclusive, with it basically saying, "your job's not done". While I may be ranting about how it didn't scratch my itch in terms of storytelling, there still are many elements to it that worked for me, most of which originate from how expansive the 40K world is and how I liked my attempts are getting hooked into it, even if it was quite tricky to do due to its overwhelming size.
Gameplay
On the one hand, 'Boltgun' allows the player to exude this bulldozing tank persona incredibly well, but on the other, the game lacks so much mechanical depth that it can't sustain itself for its 10-hour campaign. For a first-person shooter that mimics those that came before it, this game does quite well in that department. The shooting of the weapons feels great and powerful with complementary camera shake, sound design and impact effects. The player's movement and gliding between enemies and weapons felt fluid and reminiscent of how it would be in 90s shooters like 'Doom' or 'Half-Life. '
My favourite part of this gameplay loop is that brutish tank feel the player can have. Within most modern games, even outside the realm of FPSs, there has been an acceleration in player movement and sequencing, making them often quite fast-paced, with the player using evasive manoeuvres to survive: a dash, double jump, grapple, etc. However, here you're a force that cannot be stopped, and I loved it. When you jump off a high place, you fall and hit the ground like a boulder, temporarily stopping and squashing anything beneath you. You don't have a simple dash that can be used mid-air, but rather a charge that lets you pummel through enemies. The overhealth you can receive on your health and "Contempt" (which functions like armour) further drive forward that tone. While the sprint toggle and the slower-moving of the enemy's projectiles incentivise constant movement and dodging like many other current-day boomer shooters, the combination of speed and tankiness here is well-made. I didn't experience that unstoppable feeling as much since I played and beat the game on Hard, but the few instances I did it, it felt great.
The way the game handles difficulty here is quite well done. Normally in games, higher difficulties result in damage sponges that are incessantly frustrating to deal with as it slows down the game's momemntum, however, in 'Boltgun', the difficulty here only increases the enemies' health by a slither amount, instead making it so that their accuracy increases more rather than any other annoying statistical values.
Back to the combat, the weapons here were awesome. At first, they did start with standard FPS tropes that weren't all that interesting like the rapid-fire Boltgun (which is an SMG), the shotgun, and then the Heavy Bolter (which is an LMG), but they soon began to pick up the pace and become greatly varied and fun to utilise, especially with how each gun is designed to fit a use-case scenario. Enemies have resistances to certain weapons, adding a layer to the combat where you have to focus on quick selection between weapons and prioritisation of enemies beyond their threat level.
Some of the weapons you can use are the Vengenance Launcher, which is the equivalent of a sticky-mine launcher with a satisfying one-two combo to it, the Grav Cannon, which is a smooth way to decimate any enemy in your vicinity as its black-hole-esque function shreds through anything and anyone, and the Plasma Gun whose orbs can overheat the gun and damage the player. When out of ammo (which would be a shock given how generous the ammo placement and distribution is), you do have the option to use the Chainsword, which allows you to instantly dash to any enemy in range and saw them to bits as you mash on the action button. While fun and satisfying, its gimmick does fall off quickly as it begins to lose its impact and efficiency, given how sawing in one spot becomes impossible with the enemy's density and health.
The most annoying part about this whole game, however, is what also drags down its other moments: the level design. While true to the technical limitations of the 90s, resetting your weapon collection every chapter and removing all the bonus/power-ups you found in every level is incredibly demotivating. Just because it's an homage, it doesn't give it a valid excuse for something that removes a sense of progression and essientally invalidates your efforts in the previous level. It's not too much of an issue, but it does remove some of that accessibility you'd come to expect from a game released in 2023.
Side note: The accessibility options here are more like "cheats", given how they range from invulnerability to unlocking all levels.
The design within the actual levels isn't all that great. While the encounter placement of the enemies is done to the best of its ability, most of the obstacles, high points, covers, etc, become increasingly repetitive, making the areas lack a sense of identity and memorability. Meanwhile, the time in between these arenas lacks consistency in design, making it difficult for the player to learn what cues to follow when determining the correct direction to travel. There is a navigation system you can use, but having to rely on it rather than using it occasionally when lost is not a good sign. What worsens this is how the objectives of each level become stale by the third level, as you'll have to either navigate to find a colour-coded key or clear out an entire room full of respawning enemies as a part of a "PURGE". The formula for each of the 24 levels never deviates from this, which is a shame.
Within these levels, you'll be able to find pickups that act as temporary buffs to your character: an insta-kill mode, an incendiary magazine for your base gun, a black-hole-esque grenade and more. These were enjoyable small additions to the level and provided a much-needed variance in the combat sections of the game, but with the resetting of your weapons and repetition in level design beyond this, the impact of these secret pickups wore themselves out.
Finally, the enemy design - it's plentiful. From the self-ressurecting Aspiring Champions that blitz at you with their dual axes, to the terrifyingly large and quick Ambulls that soak damage like crazy, there was always plenty of challenge that came in different shapes and sizes that were constantly getting introduced even towards the end of the game. If the level design had been more varied, these foes could've provided for some immaculate moments of action instead of the present repetitive cycle.
Yes, the gunplay here is phenomenal, and there are many high points to it and its encounters where you need to charge through, weave between, and carefully strike through the hordes of enemies going your way. But everything that is offered within the first 3 or so levels is what you're getting for the whole game, and that is the biggest issue with it. If there were new mechanics, a form of stable progression with your weapons or even better level layouts with more interesting objectives, this game would've headed towards the top of the best shooters list, instead, it commits one of the worst sins you can do in an entertainment form and that is become boring. Not so boring that it is painful to play through, but more along the lines of something exciting becoming numbing. By the halfway point, shooting at mostly the same enemies in the same maps with the same weapons, following the same objectives I have been following since the beginning was a detriment to my enjoyment, and the game's polish in all of its mechanics is the only thing that saved it from being eternally bland. Compared to the current day, not just for regular FPSs but also boomer shooters alike, 'Boltgun' doesn't offer anything new or interesting for people to latch on to, as a single refined moment isn't enough to fuel 10 hours of a gameplay loop. I had a similar complaint with another game recently - 'Death's Door' - but the reason why its lack of originality and high polish worked for its 6 hours is because it had a sense of progression with an equally developing structure. 'Boltgun' doesn't.
Bossfights
I found the bossfights to be extremely disappointing. One of my least favourite things a video game can do with its roster of bosses is to make them reappear several times over as nothing more than elite enemies, as it essentially diminishes that first-time impression you had with the boss, and any magnificent duel you had previously boils down to some lazy repetition. 'Boltgun' does this. Not only do these interesting "bosses" like the Lord of Change lose their effective impact, but even the less entertaining challenges like the Great Unclean One (which is just a big ass toad) become lesser. I'm more surprised than disappointed, as I expected a world like 40K to be so rich in foes that there wouldn't be a need to recycle these battles. Speaking of which, even then, they weren't that amazing. Whether spamming projectiles or spawning grunts, these weren't adrenaline-pumping fights, but rather they came across as high-damage annoyances, especially with how all the basic enemies would rush you and would ironically take up higher priority. These bossfights weren't terrible and did have some merits to my experience when the flow of the level allowed it to, but they can be boiled down to elite enemies with a fancier health bar.
Atmosphere
Despite the shortcomings I've experienced elsewhere in the game, the atmosphere was simply incredible. Starting with the visuals, the magnificent pixelated design of each area, weapon and enemy was so optically fresh and had the perfect balance between that old-school pixel crunch and modern-day smoothness, combining into some great eye candy. There are settings for if you want to really push the graphics back in time and make them even more nostalgic looking, but the default provided was amazing enough. There was a great combination of old-school and new-school going on here: the vibrant and expressive special effects, world-locked sprites of the enemies' corpses that rotate with the player, the design philosophy of the levels bearing many complementary colours and visually striking palettes with the classic overindulgence in factory-setting assets. It was incredible.
The audio didn't strike me as being as immaculate as the looks, but it was still a good effort. The main menu's OST is banging. Having this hardcore metal with slick riffs and high energy pumps was the right kind of direction to take, making the player want to start ripping through hordes of enemies and as reminiscient as it is of the 90s games, particularly 'Doom', 'Boltgun' makes a clear effort to give itself its own musical identity, or at least in the main menu. The actual gameplay music is very subdued and flaccid compared to the impression that the main menu gives, and while the sound effects shine much more beautifully because of this, the dampening effect it creates on the gameplay loop is felt.
Bonus things to mention that I liked as part of the aesthetic side of the game: by going idle, the player character would start doing things like reading from a book, and the whole taunt button having various emotes and voice lines was just the greatest form of immersion this game could've provided me with.
Story - 7/10
Gameplay - 6/10
Bossfights - 4/10
Atmosphere - 8/10
MEDIOCRE
A greatly refined gameplay loop that refuses to evolve past its introduction.
