Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 Review
Boltgun 2 expands Auroch Digital’s retro FPS series with a second playable character and more to explore in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.
Boltgun 2. Credit: Auroch Digital / Big Fan Games / Devolver Digital
Auroch Digital’s Boltgun 2 is a fantastic follow-up to the first game. I was hungry for more, and the sequel delivers the boomer shooter goodness I craved.
I’m not terribly familiar with the grimdark Warhammer 40,000 universe, but that didn’t hamper my enjoyment of this FPS at all. Rahul Kohli’s Ultramarine Malum Caedo returns, alongside a second playable character, the nimble Sister of Battle Nyra Veyrath. Each has unique abilities, different weapons, and a distinct feel. I preferred Nyra, but both are a blast.
The two characters and branching campaign give the game great replayability. Choosing one level can lock you out of another, so if you want to see everything, you need to play again. The campaign also includes optional levels, though I don’t see why you’d ever want to skip them. The level design was fantastic, with interesting structures to navigate, scenarios to survive, and challenging, sometimes surprising enemy encounters. The levels are full of secrets, most of which I didn’t discover even on a second playthrough.
The guns all feel great to fire, with plenty of variety in how they handle. The design also encourages you to use each character’s melee options and explosives, something I’ve completely ignored in other games. Mixing shooting with melee hits and stuns builds a good rhythm that makes you feel even more like a badass when enemies explode into bloody bits.
Boltgun 2. Credit: Auroch Digital / Big Fan Games / Devolver Digital
Boltgun 2. Credit: Auroch Digital / Big Fan Games / Devolver Digital
Occasionally, the “Purge” gauntlets, where your route out gets blocked until you slaughter several waves of enemies, could be frustrating. If you started one low on health or ammo, reloading after death put you back in the same predicament. That aside, those gauntlets are a lot of fun. The boss fights offer a different kind of spectacle, with giant enemies and multistage battles. I feel like those are rare in FPS games, especially when done well, and Boltgun 2 pulls them off.
The game also features automapping and a navigation guide that I found extremely helpful. I was more interested in blasting enemies than getting lost, something that happens to me often, especially in old-school FPS levels that demand backtracking after finding the various colored keys needed to move forward. Tapping a button makes a path temporarily appear on the floor, showing precisely where to go next. Some might argue that it’s a bit too hand-holdy compared to a general direction marker, but frankly this feature greatly increased my enjoyment of the game.
Enemies are 2D sprites in the Doom style, with the exception of some bosses. The levels themselves feature more 3D detail than classic shooters. Varied textures and architecture make areas within each level more distinguishable from one another, making them more fun to explore and harder to get lost in. If you want to push the old-school look further, the options include two filters—pixelation and posterization—with multiple nostalgia-boosting gradations.
Even without being a Warhammer fan, I had a blast with Boltgun 2, even more than I did with the first game. Auroch Digital has made some of the best-feeling, most fun boomer shooters out there with this series. I’m already planning on playing through it again.
Boltgun 2
Boltgun 2 delivers some of the best-feeling combat in boomer shooters, with excellent level design, two distinct characters, and a branching campaign worth replaying.
Boltgun 2 expands Auroch Digital’s retro FPS series with a second playable character and more to explore in the Warhammer 40,000 universe.