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Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun — Everything We Know

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Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun turns a Space Marine into the unstoppable lead of a 1990s-style boomer shooter. Fast movement, huge weapons, hand-drawn sprites, and maze-like battle spaces deliver the rhythm of classic Doom while modern effects give every bolt round and chainsword execution considerably more weight.

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun: Essential Facts

  • Current status: Released
  • Release date: May 23, 2023
  • Developer: Auroch Digital
  • Publisher: Focus Entertainment
  • Genres: Action, Indie
  • Verified store platforms: Windows
  • Modes: Single-player.
  • Controls: Full controller support.
  • Steam achievements: 21

Storyline and World

Malum Caedo of the Ultramarines returns to the Forge World Graia after the events associated with Space Marine. His mission is to recover a shard of a dangerous power source and purge the cultists, traitor Marines, and Chaos daemons overrunning the planet. A servo-skull provides guidance while the campaign moves through bastions, cathedrals, furnaces, corrupted canyons, and increasingly infernal territory.

What the Gameplay Is Actually Like

Caedo sprints, jumps, strafes, and charges through large enemy groups rather than taking cover. The boltgun anchors an arsenal that expands to shotguns, plasma weapons, meltaguns, heavy bolters, grenades, and other 40K tools. A dedicated chainsword lunge closes distance and deletes weakened targets. Secrets reward searching vertical ledges, side rooms, switches, and suspicious wall geometry.

Signature Systems

  • High-speed strafing, jumping, dashing, and arena combat
  • Boltgun, chainsword, plasma, melta, grenades, and heavy weapons
  • Secrets hidden across large, vertical 3D levels
  • Difficulty options spanning power fantasy to severe challenge
  • A full campaign plus free Horde mode and an expansion

Campaign, Progression, and Replayability

Campaign stages introduce stronger daemons and weapon combinations while upgrades such as ammunition, health, and Contempt temporarily turn pressure into momentum. Difficulty levels accommodate both power fantasy and punishing old-school play. A free Horde mode provides escalating survival battles after the campaign, and the Forges of Corruption expansion adds further environments, enemies, and weapons where available.

Multiplayer, Co-op, VR, and Controls

Modes: Single-player. Input: Full controller support.

Art, Audio, and Atmosphere

Pixel enemies inhabit fully three-dimensional levels, creating a deliberate clash between retro art and modern lighting, particles, gore, and scale. Heavy-metal music and exaggerated weapon audio make the Marine feel massive even while moving at arcade speed. Retro cutscenes and chunky interface art commit to the period without reducing visibility.

Release Status and What You Are Buying

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun is fully released and currently sold through Steam. The listing currently associates 1 add-on with the game. The verified listing is Steam.

Languages and Accessibility

Listed interface/subtitle/audio languages: English , French, Italian, German, Spanish – Spain, Czech, Japanese, Korean, Polish, Portuguese – Brazil, Russian, Simplified Chinese, Spanish – Latin America, Traditional Chinese
languages with full audio support

Store-listed accessibility features: Camera-comfort options, separate/custom volume controls, adjustable difficulty, playable without timed input, save anytime, subtitle options.

Practical Things to Know Before Playing

Full controller support makes the game comfortable on either gamepad or mouse and keyboard. Difficulty can be adjusted without changing the campaign's identity, so newcomers do not need to accept the most punishing setting. Secret hunting rewards checking vertical routes and suspicious geometry before leaving an arena. Horde mode is free, while the larger Forges of Corruption content is a separate expansion where offered.

PC System Requirements

These are the currently published requirements for the PC version. Console players do not need to match these specifications.

Minimum

  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 / Intel Core i3-2120
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 1 GB VRAM, AMD Radeon HD 7770 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 5 GB available space

Recommended

  • OS: Windows 10
  • Processor: AMD Ryzen 5 1500X / Intel Core i5-8400
  • Memory: 8 GB RAM
  • Graphics: 3 GB VRAM, AMD Radeon RX 580 / NVIDIA GeForce GTX 780 Ti
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 5 GB available space

Who Should Play Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun?

Boltgun is a strong recommendation for Doom, Quake, and Warhammer 40,000 fans who value speed and secrets over cinematic scripting. Its navigation can be intentionally old-school, and repeated arena fights may tire players seeking tactical squad combat. The campaign is single-player; Horde mode also focuses on solo survival rather than co-op.

Jord is acting Team Leader at gaming.net. If he isn't blabbering on in his daily listicles, then he's probably out writing fantasy novels or scraping Game Pass of all its slept on indies.