Warhammer 40K Boltgun is the Doom clone we deserved in the 90s TechRadar Skip to main content TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. Warhammer 40K Boltgun is the Doom clone we deserved in the 90s By Jeremy Peel last updated 7 June 2022 Forget the FPS, we're reverting to the id-alike (Image credit: Focus Home Interactive) The mid-90s were all about the rise of the first-person shooter, right? Wrong. Back then, the FPS was so newfangled we didn't even have a name for it. There was just Doom, and games that looked an awful lot like Doom. Warhammer 40K: Boltgun is one of those – a few decades late, but no less welcome for it. A single-player campaign that puts you in the oversized shoes of a Space Marine, Boltgun is due out next year on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series XS, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and its spiritual home, PC. It's described as a "boomer shooter" and a "sprite-based, hardcore experience", taking aim at a bunch of bad ol' Chaos Marines and their associated daemons. You can see the sprites for yourself, in the announcement trailer shown during today's Warhammer Skulls event. That's a potent mix of nostalgias, alright – both tabletop and desktop, a Toy Story for the satanic panic generation. Boltgun doesn't so much recall Doom directly as the glut of well-liked licensed games that followed it – Star Wars: Dark Forces, Alien Trilogy, and a little later, Star Trek: Voyager - Elite Force. Sometimes, a characterful lick of paint in a favorite color is more than enough novelty. Given that Games Workshop was licensing video games throughout the same period, it's difficult to believe that something like Boltgun hasn't happened before. You've got the first-person Space Hulk games popping up from 1993, sure – but those bore closer resemblance to claustrophobic tank simulators than id Software's slick, floor-sliding formula. It wasn't until Fire Warrior that Warhammer got a real FPS, and by then Halo had changed the paradigm. (Image credit: Focus Home Interactive) Boltgun, then, is something like a playable correction – a gory apology for an institutional oversight. It has that in common with the newly revealed Rogue Trader, the 40K CRPG also announced at this year's Skulls. If Games Workshop has entered its counterfactual history phase, that's of benefit to all of us. Boltgun is developed by Auroch Digital, which has previous in Games Workshop's universes, having adapted both Chainsaw Warrior and Dark Future. The studio has a proud past in turn-based tactics, too, which is spiritually Warhammer, I'd say. It's also given Boltgun a jump button, but we'll let that go. Quality of life has improved since the 90s, and some things are best left uncloned. Editor's note: the writer is a friend and former colleague of staff at developer Auroch Digital.If you need another Warhammer game to tide you over in the meantime, we have you covered. Jeremy PeelTRG features editorJeremy is TRG's features editor. He has a decade's experience across publications like GamesRadar, PC Gamer and Edge, and has been nominated for two games media awards. Jeremy was once told off by the director of Dishonored 2 for not having played Dishonored 2, an error he has since corrected. TechRadar Newsletter Sign up to get breaking news, reviews, opinion, analysis and more, plus the hottest tech deals! Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. MOST POPULARMOST SHARED1You may not have to sell a body part to afford the Nvidia RTX 4090 after all2It looks like Fallout's spiritual successor is getting a PS5 remaster3My days as a helpful meat shield are over, thanks to the Killer Klown horror game4One of the world's most popular programming languages is coming to Linux5The iPhone 14 Pro is made of the wrong stuff; the Pixel 7 proves that to me1We finally know what 'Wi-Fi' stands for - and it's not what you think2Dreamforce 2022 live: All the announcements from this year's show3Google's new AI lets you turn words into HD videos4'Go small or go home': HTC teases a new Vive VR headset5She-Hulk episode 8 just confirmed Netflix's Daredevil TV show is canon in the MCU Technology Magazines (opens in new tab)● (opens in new tab)The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviewsFrom$12.99 (opens in new tab)View Deal (opens in new tab)