Warhammer 40K: Boltgun is an absolute blast of a boomer shooter

polygon.com:

In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war. The Emperor’s finest, the transhuman Space Marines, are the bulwark defending humanity from the malevolent forces of Chaos. Sometimes, the setting of Warhammer40,000 is deadly serious. But it’s also an extremely silly galaxy, and Warhammer 40K: Boltgun indulges in the lighter side of things, to great effect.

Boltgun, a boomer shooter created by Auroch Digital, takes heavy inspiration from Doom, Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem, and other old-school FPS games. I take on the role of an Ultramarine, one of the Emperor of Mankind’s Angels, dispatched to the world of Graia to clean up after the events of the 2011 action game Space Marine. I play as Malum Caedo, a Sternguard Veteran, and I’m the sole survivor of my squad.

Everything’s gone straight back to hell after the events of Space Marine concluded and prior Ultramarine protagonist Captain Titus killed boatloads of Orks and Chaos Space Marines. The planet has been re-infested with cultists, Chaos Space Marines, and daemons. Luckily, I have a chainsword, the titular boltgun, and a dedicated button to shout praises to the Emperor. My course of action is clear: rip and tear.

At first glance, Boltgun is an elaborate joke. If you’re familiar with the 40K setting, then it’s a delightful jest that turns familiar tropes on their head. If you’re unfamiliar, it’s just an over-the-top, gory romp — a Duke Nukem game in which, instead of playing a red-blooded American who likes beer and boobs, the protagonist is an 8-foot-tall tank in power armor who turns daemons into red mist and praises his Emperor.

The thing about most jokes, though, is that they eventually wear thin. If Boltgun was just a silly goof, it would become stale after