“They shall be my finest warriors, these men who give of themselves to me. Like clay, I shall mold them and in the furnace of war I shall forge them. They shall be of iron will and steely sinew. In great armor I shall clad them and with the mightiest weapons shall they be armed. They will be untouched by plague or disease; no sickness shall blight them. They shall have such tactics, strategies, and machines that no foe will best them in battle. They are my bulwark against the Terror. They are the Defenders of Humanity. They are my Space Marines…and they shall know no fear.” 

For years, this statement from the Emperor of Mankind has reverberated through gaming and has galvanized fans to the Warhammer 40k video games. While many have been waiting with bated breath as to when Warhammer 40,000: Space Marines II will come out, Focus Entertainment has provided us with a gift to hold us over with Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun! Will this game satiate your thirst to slaughter those who oppose you or does this game spit in the eye of the Warhammer 40,000 legions of fans?

Developed by Auroch Digital, a studio that dabbles in rather stylistic games, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is a perfect marriage between the world of Warhammer 40,000 and the stylistic look of Doom 64. All of this provides players with a unique look at the Warhammer 40,000 Universe that we all know and love. It also provides enough of a twist that it feels like you have been transported back to the 1990s.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun puts you into the pixelated hands of a Space Marine who is sent out on a mission to stop the Chaos Space Marines and the daemons of Chaos. You will come across enemies of all types as you paint the battlefield red with the pixelated blood of your enemies and try to stop the enemies of mankind! With an arsenal of nine weapons to choose from, you are able to defeat your enemies in a myriad of ways that allow for plenty of replayability in the roughly nine-hour campaign.

While there will be plenty of enemies to slaughter in each mission, there are also plenty of goodies for those who try to explore every inch of a level. These goodies take the form of Secrets, which will help the player along by increasing the power of either weapons or the player themselves through a variety of power-ups. While I have not personally been able to find every power-up that exists in the game, the ones that I have found have allowed me to increase my carnage in spectacular ways!

The one thing that I do have a slight problem with is the difficulty of Warhammer 40k: Boltgun. I initially started out on Medium, but I soon found that the game wasn’t putting up as much of a challenge as I was expecting it to. So, I decided to switch the difficulty to Hard and take a crack at things there. I didn’t notice too much of a difference between Medium and Hard, which seemed rather disappointing.

For those who want the full brutal experience of playing a Warhammer 40,000 game, I would highly recommend playing on the Exterminatus (hardest) difficulty. For all of those who love to trophy hunt and 100% their games, this mode will have to be tackled eventually so you might as well start here first.

Overall, I believe that Warhammer 40K: Boltgun is a truly remarkable game and a nice departure from the usual batch of games that we get these days. It might not be for everyone as I know there are a few gamers who don’t like the pixelated art style that this game uses to great effect. However, I believe that everyone should give this game a try!

Plus, Boltgun can easily run on most gaming computers that are on the market today. This is a game that no one should have a problem getting to work. While Warhammer 40K: Space Marine II is supposed to release later this year, I believe that this is the perfect game to hold everyone over until it finally comes out! If you are interested in reading more articles about Warhammer goodness, check out Alexx Aplin’s article about an upcoming Warhammer DLC coming out on an unlikely game right here.

A PC Review Copy of Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun was provided by Focus Entertainment for this review.

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Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun

21.99

8.5

Score

8.5/10

Pros

• Great Combat
• Interesting Art Style
• Basic PC Requirements

Cons

• Medium and Hard Difficulty Don't Seem Different