Warhammer 40,000 Boltgun 2 Takes the Ultraviolent ‘90s FPS to the Great Outdoors | IGN Preview

Warhammer 40K was always such a natural pairing with what has come to be called the “boomer shooter” – these crunchy, nostalgic celebrations of ‘90s mayhem that take notes from the likes of old-school Doom, Quake, and Rise of the Triad. The original Boltgun was one of those team-ups that seems so obvious in retrospect that I was almost mad I didn’t think of it myself. With Boltgun 2, the couple of levels I played show a desire to evolve a bit beyond those templates, though. It still has the look and feel of all the blood-drenched classics, while dialing up the scope and expanding the environments and character roster.

Retroactive Continuity

Like its predecessor, Boltgun 2 brings the grimy, oppressive reality of the 42nd Millennium to life with a readable, pixelated style that evokes the essence of it in a way that even the most hyperrealistic renditions like Space Marine 2 struggle to match. This art style just works for the chunky weapons, madcap enemies, and hostile environments so that it doesn’t feel like a gimmick or a compromise. It feels like undiluted 40K. And it’s impressive how much personality and detail they’ve packed into some of these low-res heretics.

The biggest change this time around is in the way levels are laid out. I played two levels set on two different deadly worlds, and both focus on lengthy, semi-linear outdoor environments that involve traversing huge distances rather than exploring and backtracking though a single facility. We might still see some of the latter, but the devs are conscious of the fact that the first game felt like it kept you cooped up inside too much.

The first level is almost entirely winding natural corridors through a jungle-covered death world. And the forces of the Archenemy seem to be our main opponents this time around, with Nurgle’s cultists taking center stage for this stretch. Hopping over giant tree roots and blasting through mossy caves is definitely a different vibe, and I found it a little bit too linear in some sections. There are still secrets to find and a couple places where you might have the choice of a left path or a right path, but the trade-off of this new biome is that there are several places where it looks like I should be able to blast my way through the underbrush that are simply hard blockers.

It Takes Two

Poxwalkers and Plague Marines are a good fit for this jungle trek, though, impeding the way with damage-dealing pustules and teeming hordes of minions. Boltgun 2 has a little bit of a glass cannon feeling to it, even in the boots of the Space Marine Sternguard Malum from the first game. Ranged attacks can often be shrugged off in ridiculous quantities while even the basic bolter blasts whole rooms full of trash to bits, but getting bogged down in melee is apparently a fate even the Emperor can’t spare one of his sons from.

He has a powerful charge ability that can blast a path through a whole battalion if used right, and a deadly chainsword that makes him a match for just about any individual foe close-up. But charging into the thick of it and trying to fight my way out really never ended up being a good idea. You want to get in, do some damage, and get out so his superhuman health regen – and any powerups you can gobble up – can do their jobs.

This kind of tactical thinking is even more important for Boltgun 2’s second playable character, Nyra Veyrath, a Celestarian of the Sisters of Battle. She’s less tanky but far more mobile, which lends itself to a swift, merciless, almost manic playstyle that had me rarely standing still for more than a second. Instead of a charge, she has a slide that can turn into a jump that doesn’t have the killing power of Malum’s charge, but allows her to quickly reposition through huge groups instead of going around them. Her power sword also has a deadly lunge that further develops her role as a hit-and-run sort of fighter who strafes around the enemy flanks and wears them down.

The jungle level concludes in a large, honeycomb-like cave with a traversable arena surrounded by deadly poison swamps, from which endless waves of Nurgle forces will attack in multiple directions until a dropship arrives. It’s tense, tricky, and tactical. But Malum and Nyra won’t be alone, since friendly Imperial Guardsmen from the Death Korps of Krieg show up to, well, do what guardsmen do and act as human shields for the most part. I’m giving them a hard time, but this can be very helpful. Like I said, getting surrounded is probably the worst thing that can happen to you in Boltgun 2. So having a blob of friendlies in a pinch can give you more options to reposition for a renewed attack.

They don’t do a lot of damage, so they certainly aren’t going to win the battle for you. And they take full friendly fire, so you’re probably going to end up putting a bunch of their names on a plaque yourself. But I like how they create the sense of a larger military operation taking place around us. I would have probably expected Catachans for this particular mission, but they didn’t receive new models in the tabletop game recently and I’m sure Games Workshop wants to sell more Krieg.

Cold as Ice

The second mission I played takes place in dramatic frozen canyons on an icy world strewn with Imperial ruins. This creates a mix of natural and artificial environments and doesn’t feel quite as aggressively linear as the previous one. This time, Khorne’s bloody-handed forces are the main opponents, generally rushing you down like the last 11th Edition rulebook at the local game store. Nurgle has some interesting tactics. These dudes mostly just have anger.

By now, my arsenal was ready to match them, though. And all the guns in Boltgun 2 feel pretty fantastic. Even Malum’s bolter and Nyra’s bolt pistol hit with the devastating force 40K lore would suggest they should, making short work of even some of the tankiest enemies. These aren’t the weapons you fall back on when you’re out of ammo for everything else – they’re fully respectable tools in the kit that can clean up, especially at mid-range.

For when you really just need something big to die, Malum gets an armor-shredding plasma gun and Nyra gets a long-range crossbow. Both have a much slower rate of fire but hit like an orbital laser, which rewards being thoughtful and precise even amidst all the chaos and carnage. For special occasions, Malum brings a heavy bolter that requires a bit of a wind-up but pretty much deletes anything you point it at. And Nyra gets a wicked flamer that can simply burn a path of slag through everything within short to medium range. It’s especially satisfying to exterminate Nurgle’s disgusting minions with this thing.

The ice level also features some occupied bunkers that can either be assaulted at distance or infiltrated for some close-quarters action, which was a nice change in texture compared to the forest level. There are some secrets to be found that required a fair bit of precise movement and jumping, which I had a good time with. And these frantic sections bidding you only to “PURGE” provide intense crescendos to the rising action that tested all of my skills and drained my ammo, encouraging me to use all of the different weapons available to me in their natural roles.

I’ve only played a couple hours of Boltgun 2, blasting through the 45-minute demo as both playable characters, but I’ve had a rousing time with it. Both characters feel different and exciting with punchy and satisfying weapons. The new level designs – particularly the icy one – have me intrigued to see what else they’ve cooked up. It’s still very much what I’d expect when you say “Warhammer 40K” and “boomer shooter.” But that remains a glorious combination.

Leana Hafer is a contributing freelancer for IGN with a specialty in RPGs, strategy, horror, and survival games. She has been reviewing video games professionally since 2010 and is one of IGN’s most prolific contributors, with more than 100 reviews published. You can also find her work on sites like PC Gamer and PCGamesN.