It's safe to say that the Warhammer 40,000 franchise has been experiencing a bit of a renaissance in gaming as of late. After what can only be described as a mixed bag in terms of quality, recent video games set in the Warhammer 40K universe have been steadily increasing in quality. The first-person shooter genre has always been an ideal fit for the Warhammer license and many of the games set in its universe have been FPS of varying quality. Warhammer 40K: Boltgun is the latest in the long line of Warhammer-themed FPS and stands as one of the better entries in the Boomer Shooter subgenre as well as one of the best Warhammer titles.
Getting its name from the application of the term "boomstick" to Doom's iconic shotgun (itself a reference to Ash from Evil Dead's use of the term), Boomer Shooters have been steadily rising in popularity within the FPS genre in the last several years, thanks to PC gamers' fondness and nostalgia for the genre's progenitors. What began as games seeking to replicate the feel and momentum of classics like Doom and Quake has evolved into an entire subgenre of first-person shooters that blend antiquated genre mechanics with a modern sensibility to game design. Warhammer 40K: Boltgun continues the trend of quality boomer shooters as not only the latest but also one of the greatest.
How Warhammer 40K Boltgun Carries the Torch for Retro Shooters
As far as boomer shooters go, Warhammer 40K: Boltgun is an exceptional one in that its developers clearly understand the important criteria that make one tick. The first thing that players will notice upon booting up Boltgun is the era-appropriate retro-style graphics and rigid enemy animations. And while Boltgun looks like it could have been released in the 90s, it certainly doesn't sound like it. The audio design in the game is exceptional, with everything from character movement to gun sounds being carefully crafted to immerse the player and provide audio cues to enemy positioning.
Audio and visuals aside, Boltgun absolutely nails the boomer shooter mechanics of frantic run-'n-gun action. There are no skill trees, weapon upgrades, or RPG-lite elements to be found here. Instead, developer Auroch Digital focuses squarely on the shooting and strafing mechanics that the subgenre is known for. The end result is a retro-style shooter that is firmly entrenched in the style of the FPS genre's classics. This is not a modern shooter with a retro appearance, it's (for better or worse) an honest-to-goodness retro shooter released in a modern context.
In place of Doom's trademark "monster closets", Boltgun swaps in Purge Areas where players are locked into an arena until all enemies have been extinguished. It's during these segments where momentum is the player's best friend and the game begins to show its Quake and Doom inspirations proudly. The Purge areas bombard Boltgun's Space Marine with seemingly endless waves of foes and any delay in movement results in a swift and painful death. By the time these areas are over the floor, walls, and ceilings are typically covered in pixilated gore in true boomer shooter fashion.
The last few years have seen many developers try their hand at crafting compelling boomer shooters, with the boomer shooter subgenre even gaining its own offshoot in the form of movement shooters such as Deadlink and Ultrakill. While Boltgun doesn't reinvent the FPS wheel, it does provide a great time to those that enjoy retro shooters and have a fondness for the Warhammer IP. Between Boltgun and other recent boomer shooter releases like Hrot or the upcoming Phantom Fury, the subgenre appears to be alive and well and is a site of nostalgic creativity for developers looking to make their own version of the games they cut their teeth on.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
