Boltgun? More like Badgun. 👏👏👏

When you release a game in a genre as oversaturated as this, you really gotta do something better than fish-in-a-barrel shooting. There’s like 50 other games in this genre you should play before even considering this two pack of mid.

Oh, also making the shotgun feel like it's worse than the starting weapon is a cardinal sin.

The initial honeymoon is very strong but quickly gives way to a weak Wolfendoom propped up by wonderful aesthetics and weight. The thunk of your marine's boots, the thwack of the boltgun, the thud of your armour into an enemy, the thrill of the chainsword all mean nothing when levels are quasi-labyrinths with the same gothic coat of paint, the same enemies, the same circle-strafing.

The chainsword is cool in theory but is not as snappy as DOOM Eternal's loot granting chainsaw. The weapons feel fantastic but most of the time you can just use the boltgun and ignore everything else. The raison d'etre to charge ever forward to maintain your defenses withers away when you're locked in an arena trying to hunt down one last blue horror so you can get a key, or when you're trying to find the elevator in a sea of brown architecture. The unique models might as well not exist if they blend together or recede into the background as visual mud. It feels like playing the handheld port of a console title, the inferior (if charming) sibling to Space Marine.

Genuinamente me dói dar uma nota baixa pra esse jogo, porque no papel ele tinha absolutamente TUDO pra ser um jogo que me agradaria, Um Boomer Shooter com gameplay rápida, e forte direção de arte e som além de ser inspirado na estética de Warhammer 40K, que por mais que eu tenha jogado poucos jogos e explorado um pouco dos livros, ainda acho extremamente interessante, mas diferente de todo o apreço e carinho que esse jogo tem recebido, eu honestamente não consigo apontar uma única coisa que esse jogo faça que não seja o absoluto básico, o mais arroz e feijão possível pra jogos desse gênero

Meu problema com ele não é o que ele é, mas sim o que ele poderia ser, principalmente pelo preço que está sendo pedido nele, R$80 por um jogo que faz pouco mais que o básico é complicado, principalmente quando muitos outros jogos como HROT, Cultic e até o próprio DOOM Eternal entregam experiências mais completas praticamente pela metade do preço desse jogo (R$80).

Por mais que as armas sejam boas de manejar com um design sonoro maravilhoso, o sistema de combate num geral pouco inova, trazendo um combate corpo-a-corpo que praticamente fica por mais que te encham de poder, te fazendo apertar os botão de Melee para o inimigo ser serrado, ainda assim dá pouquíssimo dano em inimigos com barras de vida cada vez maiores e mais maçantes de matar além de armas que mesmo sendo mais fortes, dão menos dano do que outras, além de serem horríveis de manejar, um botão de investida completamente inútil, upgrades desinteressantes além do sistema inteiro se resumir a: Segure o botão de tiro até o inimigo morrer, sem incluir nenhum ponto fraco, nenhuma habilidade que diferencie um do outro que não seja movimento, tendo até projéteis similares

Os mapas são extremamente desinteressantes, com uma quantidade praticamente infinita de assets copiados e colados, além de nem um pouco criativos, sendo em sua maioria corredores retos que você passa pra ir pra próxima área a fim de repetir o tiroteio desinteressante e até os segredos são chatos de descobrir, visto que as recompensas TAMBÉM desinteressante, assim como o sistema de upgrades do jogo, que não precisava ser algo ultra complexo mas sério, adicionar +1 de dano? em um jogo de quase 100 reais? parece ter sido implementado de ultima hora e com um descaso enorme.

No geral me entristece muito eu não ter gostado desse jogo, porque achei que seria uma boa continuação da experiência que eu tive com o primeiro Space Marine, mas ainda consigo reconhecer que não é um jogo ruim, só realmente desaponta bastante pelo preço cobrado e pelo quão desinteressante é

Em promoção, talvez valha a pena, mas a preço cheio passe longe

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun: A clone of DOOM that doesn't deliver anything really unique outside of its Warhammer 40K paint job and even that is forgettable at times. Mostly competent but lackluster, it can feel like a slog and won't be remembered as a standout of the self-described boomer shooters.

Really, to sum it up: the game is fine, probably the picture-perfect definition of “average”. If you wanted a Warhammer game, it's not here, this is just a reskinned, slightly modernized DOOM. If you like DOOM, you'll probably enjoy this game, but there isn't much new for you here to see. If you came here for the atmosphere of 40K, it's there, but not as much as it is in something like Darktide.
There are some nice touches, like your heavy, metallic footsteps that can make you sound like a sprinting Abrams tank; your armor is called Contempt; the idling animation will have your marine consulting the Codex; there's a dedicated taunt key that'll have your space marine shout insults at the heretics. It would be nice if he did some of the taunting all on his own, as actually pressing the button to insult computer enemies is sort of a hollow gesture. Just spitballing, but maybe at the end of one of the numerous Purge sections, he talks some hard-earned smack? Oh well.

If the newer DOOM games have taught us anything, it's that exceptional music can help elevate “old” gameplay to ridiculously high levels. In Boltgun, the music is barely there. The main menu theme reminds me of the ambient music that played while you chose a track in Guitar Hero III or maybe the intro to a Bon Jovi song. During gameplay, you'll barely hear any jams playing at all. Sometimes there'll be single syllable chants every so often over a light beat. I've read online “Just put on the DOOM soundtrack,” as though that's not indicative of a pretty big problem with Boltgun. You may as well do that, as the sound effects of Boltgun's weapons aren't that impressive and there's zero monologue/dialogue you'll miss.
Listen to this track and tell me it isn't instant atmosphere, setting a clear tone. Darktide is known to have its fair share of issues, but music isn't one of them. Music can do a lot and its near-total absence is heavy, here.

The quality of game and its deservedly low price point reminds me of those Xbox 360 Arcade games, though towards the higher-end (in quality/competence) of them. I think they make it pretty clear to not expect very much, and so I didn't, yet I still feel sort of disappointed. It's hard to feel like a hardened space marine when my largest boss enemies manage to get stuck on the environment, standing still and waiting for me to slowly snipe them to death with my boltgun or plasma rifle, while they do little to nothing. The game tells me my weapon absorbed the machine spirit, but I'm not feeling it.
This may out me as a total moron, but I found myself getting lost in a lot of maps easily. A lot of the map design seems needlessly convoluted and when combined with the art style that can easily blend everything together into a pixelated blur, it can turn your brain to mush.
Lesser enemies shooting at me nonsensically did add challenge to the gameplay, but I felt like it made zero sense in the context of the game. Some shots were aimed right for you interspersed with shots aiming arbitrarily. Add four or five guys doing this at the same time and you don't really know how to move in that area without taking some hits. I think my opponents randomly flipping the switch between “competent” and “Stormtrooper” is a weird way to add difficulty, and ultimately, one I didn't really care for. I also cannot overstate how much I HATE Nurglings and the choice to just overload you with them (especially in the last fight? Seriously?) is a horrid one.

If you ask me, this game is repetitive, overstays its welcome, and just isn't that interesting. While its Warhammer 40K aesthetic is pretty good, it isn't a super strong coaxer. When I was finished with the first chapter, I had actually hoped it was over. I'm not entirely sure what it's missing, here, but it's obvious something is wrong. I don't think I can really recommend this game, though if you like “boomer shooters” to death, maybe this is worth checking out. Just don't expect anything great.

Decent core gameplay with a lot of missed potential and wonky pacing. Much of the game was underwhelming and I felt particularly frustrated with how much of a slog the first and third chapters felt like. I found myself wanting more from the game and wishing the last chapter wasn't so clearly barebones.

A minor but noteworthy nitpick: Why are god-mode and level unlock cheats in accessibility options but not a colour-blind mode? There's not even options for an in-game map nor a kills / secrets tracker for those interested in 100%'ing the game.

Boltgun is mostly enjoyable, but I'm not sure why the boomer shooter community talks about it like it's the second coming of Christ.
I do love the aesthetics of the game. Some levels are very beautiful to look at, with huge, impressive structures and well-chosen colors/lighting.
The gore is also great, and the weapons are fun to use. So there is definitely a solid action game here.

But there are plenty of problems too. Mainly level design and pacing. The levels lack clever and unique situations, and most of the time it just throws the player into the middle of ok-ish arenas with a ton of enemies that spawn constantly. It ends up becoming quite repetitive (especially towards the end of the game, when even the visuals start to repeat themselves).
The developers seem to have forgotten that the strength of old-school FPS was not only the action, but also the cleverness of the level design.

The bosses are particularly bad. They have no unique strategy, and are just annoying bullet sponges. And they are recycled many, many times throughout the adventure. The last boss is a total slog. It's not even hard, it just drags on and on.

Also this is a nitpick, but Boltgun doesn't seem to know the meaning of "secret". At first, I was glad that the game had secrets like old-school FPS. But in this game, all the bonus items in the most obvious places are considered "secrets", which is a strange decision.

For any Warhammer 40K fans who also want to have a fun and gory FPS, Boltgun is certainly a game to try. But if you're looking for a fresh and unique boomer shooter that tries something new, this is probably not the right game.

my introduction to warhammer 40k was bolt thrower's realm of chaos ~30 years ago, but i still know only the most basic things about the game world's lore and stuff. what i feel i can say quite comfortably is that i'm tired of the seemingly unexamined fascist vibe of every 40k video game i see being some kind of pro-imperium romp. to my understanding, the imperium (and its space marines) is a megalo-genocidal interstellar war church following the iron will of its xenophobic lich king. kinda the iconic grim and dark sci-fi future extreme depicting humanity as the zealous heart of endless cosmic war with chaos. i certainly see the appeal of 40k as a universe, but i would like to see something that doesn't ask me not to roll my eyes and/or gag at the edgy voice clips about obliterating heretics and traitors. "it started out as a satire," or so i've heard more than once, but boltgun seems like the unfortunate height of 40k stuff not really getting that and kinda just being super gleeful about its brutality FOR THE EMPEROR ad nauseum. i mean, they're even proudly touting this as a boomer shooter in their ads and idk that's a little embarrassing imo.

anyway, i do hope to get something out of owlcat's rogue trader crpg, if only because wrath of the righteous is now an all-time favorite of mine and, well, since it would appear that rogue trader will be a very similar type of game where you get to forge a path through the 40k setting and i bet some or most of the paths through the game will support you distinguishing yourself as a pirate of sorts, defiant of the god-emperor of mankind and his imperium... so that'll be cool... chaos is cool...

Rip and tear until it is... wait a minute this is Warhammer.

I knew next to zero about Warhammer until about a few weeks ago and my major takeaway is that the lore is absolutely insane. Learning about Papa Nurgle and his homie Tzeentch had me wanting more of this universe that had escaped me for however many years. Come Boltgun I saw an opportunity for me to jump into Warhammer as I'm an FPS guy and the DOOM gameplay loop is a pretty basic/easy to understand one.

This game is pretty barebones which is... actually alright. You fight the same group of enemies throughout, none of which are too gimmicky, with the only issue being health bars that can sometimes inflate to Thanksgiving Day Floats. Outside of that you have a rudimentary arsenal of guns that are varied in damage and scope, making each one feel unique and useful. Ammo and health are mostly plentiful across the games twenty plus levels which lent for this experience to be a seemless point a to point b kill everything in your path endeavour, something I greatly appreciate for this genre. Visuals are pretty good, emulating that DOOM/Quake era style with spruced up textures to fit and run well on modern computing. Music is there, providing a good rhythm to your onslaught of attacks but is mostly a non factor. I don't know Warhammer well enough to gauge the story too well, but it didn't seem like there was much of one here either.

I'd say Boltgun loses points on its length, lack of above narrative, and wonky boss fights. I clocked in at a bit over eight hours (some AFK time included,) which if this game was like DOOM (2016) or even Eternal with levels of sheen/story would be alright, but the game felt like it just dragged on as it went. My score isn't to say this game was bad, I think it's above average, but lacks some things to make it stand out and feel "special."

Boltgun is godlike. It’s the first FPS in a while to really nail things down perfectly for me. The guns are powerful and have outstanding audio and visual feedback, the enemies are varied with such detailed designs and suitably implied behavior, and the environments are inspired and don’t really get too boring. Above all, the music is outstanding, the pixel art is superb, and there's a taunt button. The game really sells the 40k Space Marine power fantasy in the best possible way and it’s a blast to play through.

The game is so good that it’s kind of hard to really go over all the areas it succeeds in, it’s too much to go over. It is well worth the 20 dollars considering the sheer quality of the content it delivers, and especially considering the price tags seen on other indie games offering far less. Buy it and play it, this is by far the best 40k shooter released to date.

With that being said, there are a handful of irritations I had with the game that I wanted to cover.

1. Please let me buffer inputs and quickswap while using the Plasma Gun. It is REALLY annoying for it to be the only gun that doesn’t instantly respond to a weapon swap or reload like all the other weapons. I’ve died a lot during encounters for daring to fire this weapon and just being stuck standing there while I wait for the recovery frames before I can act again.

2. Reloading is a mixed bag with the weapons. Being able to quickswap between weapons makes doing weapon combos really fun; but then needing to stand in place and manually reload every weapon is really tedious. It’d be really nice if a weapon would automatically reload if you haven’t used it or swapped to it for 5 seconds. If there are pressing design considerations surrounding this, having it as an accessibility option would also be perfect.

3. It is a little ridiculous that you need to reload a weapon and reduce the reserve ammo under its maximum before you can pick up more ammo. It’s busywork for no real reason.

4. Finally, the weapon balance is pretty solid, but in particular the Shotgun feels quite weak compared to the rest of the weapons. It could do with a damage buff but I don’t think that’s the only solution. Tightening the spread on the shots, increasing its ammo, etc. are all suggestions but I just think the weapon needs a little love so it feels more rewarding to use.

With that out of the way, you should buy and play this game; buy it for your friends too! Please release DLC as well, thank you.

A rock solid entry in the "Boomer Shooter" genre, delivered with the confidence befitting a righteous servant of the Emperor. While not perfect, Boltgun nails the fundamentals to the wall. Satisfying movement, impactful gunplay, generous enemy variety, and carefully crafted encounters elevate the game past its mediocre level design, barebones story and lack of innovation. What's more, Boltgun conveys the aesthetic, sound and feel of 40K in all of its exaggerated, chunky charm and features a dedicated bind for taunting chaos filth whenever the need arises.

Really tight and a total blast.