Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Boom

Boltgun Boom Review: The Real Boltgun for $9.99, With Stiff Touch Controls

Malum Caedo, a Chainsword and Sprites Made From Miniatures

The loop is the 1990s shooter one: fast movement, big guns, no cover. You are Malum Caedo, a Sternguard Veteran, carrying the chainsword, the bolter and a power-armoured fist through cultists, traitors and daemons; Pocket Gamer's Iwan Morris points out that the enemy sprites were made from actual tabletop models compressed into pixels, and compares the feel to Quake and Blood more than Doom. Nitro Games rebuilt it rather than porting it: in a September 19 interview the team said Auroch Digital supplied assets, advice and feedback, and that the touch work focused on aiming and combat flow. The campaign is built from chapters of the Boltgun series, with Chapter 4 – Forges of Corruption sold on its own. The timing matters — Boltgun 2 arrives on PC and consoles on October 14.

Touch Controls: Strong Aim Assist, No Layout Editor, No Gyro

In our read of 574 recent Google Play reviews in English, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian, 184 are one-star and 213 five-star, and the most specific complaints are about input: buttons cannot be moved or resized, there is no gyro aiming, joystick sensitivity runs high, and aim assist is strong enough that one four-star reviewer calls it close to automatic. Controllers help — DroidGamers' launch report confirms pad support, and mouse and keyboard in some setups — but lists problems on the AYN Thor, AYN Odin-3 and Retroid Pocket 6 handhelds. Stability is the other theme: several players describe freezes in chapter 2 on mid-range phones. Version 1.0.2, out September 27, fixed purchased content staying locked after a restart, which explains a cluster of angry reviews from the first weekend.

Three Free Levels, Then $9.99: What Free Means Here

Both stores list Boltgun Boom as free, and that is the top one-star complaint: the first three levels are a trial, and the full game is a one-time $9.99 in-app purchase. The App Store also sells a $12.99 Crusade Edition and Chapter 4 – Forges of Corruption for $4.99. After that there is nothing else — no ads, no energy, no premium currency, which GamingOnPhone and DroidGamers both confirmed at launch, and Google Play shows no Contains ads badge. Apple's privacy label is short: no data used to track you and nothing linked to your identity, with a user ID, device ID and crash and performance diagnostics collected unlinked. The download is about 2.6 GB on either platform, and the game is English-only, rated 18+ on the App Store and Mature 17+ on Google Play. Prices are regional and may change.