Is Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 Worth It? Critics vs Players

Evidence-based review · scores read on 21 October 2026

Yes, if you enjoyed the first Boltgun or any 1990s-style shooter: Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 scores 8.7 (Great) on our formula, with critics clearly warmer than they were in 2023 and Steam players warmer still. The catch is the one critics keep repeating: the sequel is bigger and better built, but its loop of clearing rooms and hunting keys does not change much over a campaign of more than 30 levels.

AFK Journal has not played the game. This review is a synthesis of published criticism and player data: the aggregate scores on OpenCritic and Metacritic, the user reviews on the Steam store page, six full critic reviews and Auroch Digital's own patch notes. The score comes from a public formula, shown in full further down.

What do critics agree on?

The second character is the best addition. Most of the reviews we read single out Nyra Veyrath, the Sister of Battle who joins returning Ultramarine Malum Caedo. IGN calls her its favourite new feature and describes the pair as distinct in personality and weaponry; CGMagazine says the two feel different enough that picking one is a real decision, and Game8 compares her Power Sword lunges to a modern DOOM, against Caedo's heavier, classic style.

Level design is a big step up from 2023. GamingBolt says the sequel sets out to fix almost every shortcoming of the original, especially its levels, and finds them flowing naturally, with platforming sections and environmental hazards mixed in. IGN highlights objectives that vary from map to map, while COGconnected notes the move from a straight run of stages to missions of two or three levels that open branching paths.

The retro art still carries it. IGN calls the pixel-art aesthetic the game's strongest asset, GamingBolt says it looks phenomenal across a wider range of environments, and COGconnected praises how clearly iconic Warhammer characters survive the low-resolution style. Enemy variety, drawn from all four Chaos gods, gets similar credit from GamingBolt and COGconnected.

It still repeats itself. The common complaint is structural. GameSpew describes the familiar cycle of finding keys to open doors to find more keys, and says attention can wane in long sessions. CGMagazine and COGconnected make the same point: the action is relentless, with few changes of pace.

Where do critics split?

The spread of scores is narrow. IGN, GamingBolt and CGMagazine all gave 8/10 and Game8 gave 82, while OpenCritic's median across 35 reviews is 82. The disagreements are about specific parts rather than the whole game.

Branching paths: depth or illusion? IGN says the route choices add a surprising touch of complexity. Game8 calls the branching system one of the most undercooked parts of the game: both characters tackle largely the same missions, and the choices have no real bearing on the plot.

The soundtrack. CGMagazine names the metal-heavy music a major highlight. GamingBolt finds it oddly understated apart from the final boss track by guest composer Mick Gordon, and COGconnected says it provides adrenaline without distinguishing itself.

Weapons. COGconnected found every weapon visceral. GamingBolt is less happy: Malum gets only one new gun, the Frag Cannon, the Vengeance Launcher is gone, and the reworked Meltagun and Heavy Bolter feel worse to the reviewer than before.

Difficulty. Nobody calls it too hard, but the critics who mention it note the options. IGN lists four difficulty levels, from Low, which boosts health and damage, to Exterminatus, plus toggles for screen shake, head bobbing and invulnerability. GamingBolt still found some enemies needing a few too many shots even on Medium.

What do Steam players say?

Players like it more than critics do. On 21 October, 666 of 700 Steam reviews across all languages were positive (95.1%), enough for an Overwhelmingly Positive label on the store page. English-language reviews alone sit at 95.5% (443 of 464), and 97 of the 100 most recent reviews were positive, so there is no sign of a post-launch slide. The first Boltgun stands at 89.5% of 18,476 reviews.

The few negative reviews echo the critics. One says most of the campaign is spent looking for keys, another that Nyra's arsenal leans too heavily on flamethrower variants, and a third that the sequel feels too close to the first game to justify itself. Steam filters off-topic review bombs from its score, and the recent reviews show no sign of one.

How does it run, and on which platforms?

Boltgun 2 launched on 14 October 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. The Nintendo Switch 2 version was announced to follow shortly after, according to GameSpot's report on the release date. GameSpew's PS5 review lists Switch 2 among the available versions, but we could not confirm a Switch 2 date from the publisher. Steam's minimum specification is modest: an Intel Core i5-8600K or Ryzen 5 2600, 8 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 980 or Radeon R9 Fury and 13 GB of storage, for 60 fps at 1080p on Low.

Launch was not clean. IGN ran into enemies that wandered idly and Purge encounters that never ended, locking the exit, and found platforming slippery later in the campaign. Auroch Digital's 20 October patch fixed several softlocks, including two with the Lord of Skulls boss and one on the last Purge of The Trenches, a major performance issue in the Nurgle Nightmare chapter and a launch crash on Intel Core Ultra CPUs with outdated drivers.

Some changes came before launch. In its launch-day post, Auroch Digital listed tweaks made after feedback on the demo: the Bolt Pistol magazine went from six to eight rounds, the Ice World blizzard was thinned, Nyra can now melee while reloading her Bolt Pistol, and Malum's Charge gained knockback. Anyone who bounced off the demo is playing a slightly different game.

How we got to 8.7

Our review score weights critics at 70% and players at 30%. The critic input is the OpenCritic Top Critic Average divided by 10; the player input is the share of positive Steam reviews divided by 10, used only once there are at least 500 reviews. A correction of up to half a point is allowed for problems documented by two or more independent sources.

We considered a deduction for the launch bugs: IGN documented them and Auroch Digital's own patch notes confirm the softlocks. We did not apply one, because the studio patched several of them six days after launch and the Steam share has stayed high. If later patches leave Purge or boss softlocks in place, the 30-day recheck will revisit that decision.

Should you buy Boltgun 2?

• You liked the first Boltgun: yes. Critics and players agree it is the better game, and the second character gives a reason to replay the campaign.
• You want a classic boomer shooter for $24.99: yes. IGN puts the campaign at around eight hours per protagonist on Medium; Game8 calls it 12 hours or less.
• You want a story, or 40K without the lore homework: probably not. CGMagazine says the plot assumes deep knowledge of the universe, and Game8 found the two campaigns barely differ in story.
• You tire of key hunts and endless arenas: skip it. GameSpew warns that attention can wane in long sessions, and the structure does not change much late on.

If you want another October release with a very different tone, our Hellraiser: Revival review covers a horror game that players rate even more highly than critics. Warhammer fans after strategy rather than shooting can read our guide to which Lords of the End Times lord to buy first in Total War: Warhammer 3, and the rest of the month's releases are in Upcoming Games in October 2026.