When the original Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun shot and carved its way onto PS5 back in May 2023, for my money it did a superlative job of nailing that synergy of Games Workshop’s hugely popular dark sci-fi together with retro boomer shooter sensibilities.
With Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 it turns out that the Warhammer 40K setting and boomer shooter design are still a marriage made in the Warp, and that with more than three years on the clock, developer Auroch Digital is now fully comfortable in realising that hybrid relationship, and in the process delivering not just one of the best Warhammer 40K games in years, but one of the best boomer shooters in recent memory, too.
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 PS5 Review
Burdened with the terrifying task of taking down one Vashtorr the Arkifane, a powerful demonic demigod that is basically creating a Chaos version of the Death Star, Boltgun 2 is quite literally about blasting and cutting to pieces as many demons, corrupted soldiers, Chaos Marines and more in a bid to reach the aforementioned big bad. And that’s precisely as deep as that story needs to be, quite honestly.
Though Boltgun 2 may seem to be a twin sibling to its predecessor, the differences between the two are myriad. The first and most obvious difference you’ll notice when you start the game, is that you can now choose from two different heroes, the returning Space Marine Malum Caedo (still voiced by the charismatic Rahul Kohli) and the newcomer Sister of Battle, Nyra Veyrath (voiced with wonderfully OTT gusto by games industry writer Alanah Pearce).
Representing much more than just a cosmetic distinction, both Caedo and Veyrath have palpable functional distinctions too. For a start, where Caedo is a much more hulking, slower character with a higher health pool and a devastating charge attack, Veyrath is comparably much more nimble and can perform a swift sword slide move which when paired with a jump at the end, can trigger a slow motion effect in mid-air.
The differences don’t end there either. Not only do each have unique insults (Veyrath’s ‘failure is a sin – luckily I remain pure’ had me grinning) that can be reliably triggered by slamming down a digit on the triangle button (there is also a trophy to be had for insulting a particular type of enemy), but they both have somewhat different arsenals as well. Caedo packs a devastating shotgun that can reduce foes to meaty chunks, while Veyrath can obtain a specially tailored crossbow that can accurately inflict single-shot massive damage at long distances.
Another way that Boltgun 2 improves upon the first game is in the new branching and optional mission pathways that are threaded through the story campaign. On the topic of the branching mission structure, at two or three points during the campaign, you’ll be given a choice to tackle one mission over another, with the mission that you don’t choose effectively being forfeited in the process. Naturally as you might expect, this is a decent way to ensure a repeat play of Boltgun 2’s 8-12 hour campaign, while the separate trophy set for completing the campaign as each of the two main protagonists extends Boltgun 2’s legs yet further still.
Where I think Boltgun 2 pulls most comprehensively ahead from the previous game however, is in its level design. The shift from predominantly corridor based, heretic-blasting action to semi-open biome, heretic-blasting action is well-judged too, not least because on more than one occasion and thanks to the faster player movement of newcomer Veyrath, Boltgun 2 gave me some Doom Eternal vibes (more on that later) – which I’m always going to be here for, while a greatly reduced amount of backtracking also ticked a big happy box in my head, too.
Boltgun 2 feels much more larger scale and epic than the first, as you charge into battle with a mass of Krieg Death Corps troopers at your back (though they are fairly dunderheaded and often walk quite cheerfully into some hilariously violent deaths), all the while artillery pounds the ground in your vicinity, battles scorch the sky overhead and legions of Slannesh filth come charging at you. There was nothing like this in the first game.
There is some genuinely great level design in here, too. Indeed, there’s one level where you’re fighting your way up a sprawling sea-rig, as errant shots cause entire sections of it to blow up, twisting and the world around you and punching holes in the floor, while another still has you fighting Scarab Marines and other such abominations in the midst of a train yard with some dangerously fast moving automated trains that can turn anybody, friend or foe, into a red mist if they’re not careful.
There’s a real variance in the types of enemies you’ll come across in Boltgun 2. While pretty much the entirety of all the bad dudes from the previous game return, they find themselves complimented by foes from all four major Chaos God factions including traitorous snipers, shadow stepping succubae, Khorne Berserkers, Occult Terminators and so many more besides.
Certainly on a fundamental level, Boltgun 2 maintains the essence of the moment to moment gameplay which defined its predecessor so beautifully. I mean, it still has the filthiest and meatiest sounding and feeling Boltgun in all creation, while the feeling of impact that every shot makes on your enemies still sounds like it’s tearing through gristle and bone in ways that other shooters simply cannot match.
There are also some other changes to how offense works in Boltgun 2 that feel rather well judged. Gone are the attack stats of each weapon, as instead the damage output of all the weapons in the game have been scaled in a way that makes using any of them at any given time a viable option. Likewise, melee combat is no longer some desperate last resort, but something you’ll actively want to do now thanks to the much higher damage that melee strikes do compared to the first game, which honestly is precisely how it should be. That superb feeling of movement that the original Boltgun here feels somehow amplified here, as if you’re playing Veyrath, you essentially feel like Robocop on turbo-powered roller-skates, making Boltgun 2 feel much more akin to Doom Eternal than the distinctly plodding nature of the original game.
Visually speaking, Boltgun 2 very much carries the baton on from its predecessor, but does so with an elevated sense of sweep and spectacle. Not only do levels appear to be much larger and more complex than those glimpsed previously, but the sheer amount of enemies on screen at any single time is much more than what Boltgun was ever capable of doing too.
In every way that a sequel can and should improve over its predecessor, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 succeeds. A thunderously crunchy and wholly entertaining boomer shooter that firmly plants a steel-capped boot up the rear end of Games Workshop’s most recognisable setting, Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 is essential fare for fans of both its titular dark sci-fi setting and classic first-person shooters. For the God-Emperor!
Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 is out now on PS5.
Review code kindly provided by PR.