MAAAAN, that's the kind of thing I needed last year!
Dude made the game alone, along with help of a mocap and EDM artist.
The soundtrack is absolutely badass, and the violence along with it.
The game is a beautiful mix of Hotline Miami and Arkham games.
The combat is so satisfying and so are the finishers, you can throw guns, weapons, etc after you used them, and a lot of blood/bodies on the ground showing the carnage you went through.
Of course some levels are gimmicky or can get annoying, but man this indie game is just a blast of fun. Definitely recommend

Warhammer 40.000: Boltgun

Hello and welcome to Warhammer 40000, a universe set in the titular timeline, where there is only war, suffering and the laughter of thirsting gods. Humanity has spread through a large part of the galaxy and performed genocides on an unimaginable scale, while they now live in an oppressing, religiously fanatic society that kills and punishes any deviant thinkers and fights a bloody war against the aliens that survived their galactic genocide and against the dark powers of the warp, the otherwordly dimension that houses demons the Chaos Gods.

And you play an Adeptus Astartes of said Imperium of Man. A Space Marine, who got taken in as a child and turned into a superhuman killing machine by both cyberpentic enhancements and mental indoctrination. Your name is Malum Caedo and you are send on a mission by the Inqusition (basically the CIA of the Imperium) to inspect a possible Chaos incursion and kill any heretic you encounter.

That is basically all the story synopsis you will get. Boltgun is very light on the story departmen and although it is the unofficial sequel to the game Warhammer 40000 Space Marine, they barely have anything in common, except of the planet you are on and the McGuffin you are after.

Gameplay wise, Boltgun is a retro shooter along the lines of Doom and Quake, although I feel that it is more Quake than Doom, given that there are platforming sections in the later parts of the game and the overall mobility. You have your set of guns, with the Bolter being like an Assault Rifle that fires what are basically mini rockets that turn regular humans into a red mush. The shotgun is, well, a Space Marine sized shotgun and has the same saitisfying results. The Plasma Gun fires balls of plasma that deal small AoE damage and can charge up if you keep holding the trigger, with each consecutive shot dealing more damage and increasing the fire rate. The Retribution Launcher is a grenade launcher that fires time based sticky grenades and the Heavy Bolter is basically the regular Bolter, only with a higher rate of fire and that it doesn't need magazines.

All in all, you can wield up to 8 weapons, which all behave like you would expect them to when you know the lore. Although one of them feels a bit on the weak side, but it is managable. In addition to the guns, you also have your Chainsword for a melee attack, though how you use it is a bit unconventional. Instead of being able to use it freely, you have to aim at an enemy and when there is a red outline around them, your character with dash to the enemy and start mutilating them. Regular humans die with one hit, while bigger enemies like Chaos Space Marines or Demons need multiple hits, which can be accomplished by repeteadly pressing the melee button when chainsawing them. You are not invulnerable when doing so though and tougher enemies can also push you back.

Ammo is scattered around the levels and instead of introducing new guns and enemies with a cutscene, you just pick them up or encounter them on the battlefield. The levels themselves are a bit maze like and while the first ones are rather linear, they open up later on in the game, though you never will have an open world feeling. You always need to follow a certain path, only that sometimes you can decide if you want to follow Path A or Path B. This is further enforced by the keys you have to hunt for, so your movement will be restricted up until you've progressed enough.

As in regular 40K fashion, the level aren't really varied. Most chapters follow a specific theme, with Chapter 1 being set in the mountains, Chapter 2 having a desert factory setting while Chapter 3 takes place inside an Imperial building. I can see it getting monotonous for newcommers, but it feels fitting for an Imperial planet, since they are all about brutalistic building styles and don't give much of a thought about the environment.

That said, the game still has a good amount of set pieces. One has a Mechnaicus burial ground, another has you going down a tunnel, before entering a large cave with a Mechanicus facility inside and yet another one has you jumping from tower to tower in a gigantic, bottom less library. All in all, the design Team did a very good job bringing the world of 40K to life. Especially the Chaos corrupted places, where the Warp is entering real space, look great.

The same goes for the music and while it doesn't reach the same heights as Darktide's soundtrack, but it does fit the franchise and complements the action nicely once the bullets start flying. It also gives you a good indication that there are still enemies in the area.

And speaking of area, the game has the annoying habit of locking you into them. That's right, Boltgun has copied the mechanic from Doom 2016 that locks you into an arena and you have to kill the majority of the enemies before you can continue. These can range from regular rooms with one or two floors over metal grates that are hanging over a bottomless pit up to a gigantic elevator with several layers that is moving upwards. They are varied, but they are still noticable and fairly often, you will recognize an arena when you enter it.

An other bad mechanic is that Boltgun spawns Trashmobs during boss battles, so instead of having a fair 1:1 fight, you constantly have to run like a maniac to dodge the hail of projectiles flying your way, while keeping an eye on the boss. This also makes the fights themselves cheap, because you don't struggle because the boss is well designed or has a challenging mechanic, but because you just get swarmed by enemies. It doesn't help either that most bosses are rather simple designed, with attacks that could be dodged fairly well if it weren't for the constant enemies biting your ankles. And it's not like the boss only summons fodder enemies, but you get attacked by mid and late game units as well.

Ok, I've beaten enough around the bush, let's talk about them. Boltgun has three types of enemies: Humans, Chaos Space Marines and Demons of Tzeentch and Nurgle. There are no followers of Slaanesh and Khorne, which is kind of weird, given that Khorne demons were in Space Marine.

As with the weapons, they behave pretty accurate from a lore perspective, though there are some outliers. Humans are basically cannon fodder that you run through like a hot knife through better. They barely pose any threat and the only ones that can be dangerous are the renegade Guardsmen with Plasma Guns.

Chaos Space Marines are only mildly more dangerous and show the most discrepancy with the lore. Unlike in the books or other games, they are no match for your. Yes, they are suitibly tanky for wearing power armor, but that's about it. They don't do much damage, they don't have good reaction times, they don't take cover or try to get a tactical advantage, they just stand around and fire at you. The same goes for Terminators and much like Chaos Space Marines, they are just a joke.

For the unitiated, when a Space Marin is a walking Abrams tank, Terminators are walking Mäuse from WW2. They wear armor that can simply shrug off most infantry gun fire and wield a devastating arsenal themselves. To make a good comparison, imagine a Cyberdemon that has a minigun loaded with explosive shells. Even as a veteran Space Marine, Terminators would shredd you to pieces, yet they are pretty harmless in Boltgun. More dangerous than Chaos Space Marines, but still harmless.

This is also true for the Lords of Change. Yes, I'm getting ahead of myself, but the Lords of Change are so disappointing. In the lore, these guys are master magicians that could turn you into a red mist by a simple glare. Facing them like is standing face to face with the embodiment of the apocalypse. And again, I know some concessions have to be made, but they just don't feel like Greater Demons. They do have a variety of spells, but just like I said above, the only reason they are threatening is because they constantly spawn minions into the fight. And funnily enough, the final boss of the game feels much more like a Greater Demon than the Lords of Change. It would have been more immersive and not change the story that much.

Luckily, Tzeentch other Demons fare better with this and behave more like you expect. Pink Horrors throw homing projectiles at you and split off into two Blue Horrors, who in turn split into two tiny Brimstone Horrors. Flamers hurl volleys of Fireballs, while Screamers and the Blue Horrors try to slash you with their claws. Like I said, they are well done and fun to fight against.

The same is true for the demons of Nurgle, although they can be a bit tedious. You see Nurgle's gimmick is that he is the God of Death and Decay and most of his armies are disease torn creatures and people that are rotting away while they are alive. As such, they are really hard to kill, an aspect that Boltgun has included into the game. You may kill Nurglings with one shot, but Plague Toads take a lot of bullets to take down. Even the lesser ones are deceptively tanky for their small, but can be cut down quicker with the Chainsword, another aspect taken from the lore.

The same tankiness is seen in the other demons of Nurgle and again while this is lore accurat, it can be a bit annoying. All in all, they are much more dangerous than the demon's of Tzeentch and need more focus, especially if they are mixed together with other enemies.

So, what can I say? Despite of the negative tidbits I've mentioned with the Chaos Space Marines and some demons, Warhammer 40000 Boltgun is a good game. It is a fun shooter with good weapons, satisfying combat and proper gore effects. You don't need to know the lore to understand the story and it might even be a good first step into the grimdark future of Warhammer 40000.

A boomer shooter that has a fun variety of both guns and enemies, with great visuals and level design to boot. The story itself is fine. Find a thing to stop a bad guy and his demons, simple. And weirdly this game ties itself to Space Marine which I found odd. Would’ve worked just as well without connecting them. But again, you’re here for the gameplay, not the story.

Guns all work as they should and enemies are challenging, but fair. Certain weapons will work better on others and you switch accordingly. The only flaws I can think of is that difficult enemies that require a lot of focus are surrounded by swarms of other enemies. Which can be frustrating. And the secrets you find aren’t collectables that unlock something if you find them all. Instead, they’re either upgrades or different ammo types for your boltgun. These aren’t necessary for combat and aren’t really worth getting.

Other than that, it’s a great 40K game and a great boomer shooter. Definitely worth playing.