Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Forges of Corruption Review
Summary: A fantastic reason to return to the grim dark future of the 41st Millennium.
4.1
Unto the anvils of war!
Forges of Corruption is essentially more Boltgun, and that is no bad thing at all.
If you enjoyed the visceral 40k-themed doom clone and wanted a decent excuse to return to the chaos-tainted Forgeworld of Graia, then here it is. Just be sure to measure your expectations, as it’s more of an epilogue than a full-fledged expansion.
But if you keep your expectations in check Forges of Corruption is essentially the icing on the metaphorical cake and well worth the pleasantly low price of entry.
Forges of Corruption adds an additional five new levels to Boltgun that’ll take you about four hours to blast through, though 100%ing the entire thing will take a little longer, and finding all the secrets is another challenge on top of what are some of the trickiest levels in the game.
The place is also crawling with hordes of chaos space marines and demons, that is, the tougher enemies from the main campaign, as well as a handful of additions, including havoc marines complete with missile launchers, Chaos Terminators with lightening claws, and the monstrous hell brute, a twisted mechanical abomination packing some serious firepower and the thickest armor in the game.
Combine that with the game’s penchant for throwing dozens of enemies at you, especially during set pieces and its larger arena fights, and it’s very easy to find yourself overwhelmed and trying to find the nearest container to hide in or an awkward spot to cheese the AI.
Thankfully, everyone’s favorite Stenguard Veteran, Malum Caedo, has been blessed with some fantastic new toys to smite the enemies of the imperium with. The missile launcher is one of the most satisfying I’ve ever had the pleasure of using in a first-person shooter (and I’m including Unreal tournament in that list) There’s a nice balance of heft and speed to every shot, and the huge devastating explosion that fills the screen with every hit is just *chefs kiss*
The devs at Auroch Digital also clearly decided to give the Multi-Melta retro stats to go with the game’s faux 90s presentation. It’s an absolute beast the likes of which the world of 40k hasn’t seen since Second Ed, spewing forth fiery clouds of molten petrol that obliterates anything that it touches, be it man, marine, or great unclean one.
The story is also simple. Caedo is sent back to Graia to destroy a manafactorum forge that has been corrupted by the forces of chaos and is now spewing out twisted demonic weapons and armor for the heretical cult that’s taken over the planet. That’s basically it: seek and destroy.
Alongside, the DLC Boltgun has also received a free update at the same time that includes a very welcome quality of life improvement that erases my one complaint from my otherwise glowing Warhammer: 40,000 Boltgun review from last year – a sense of direction.
With a tap of a button, the game now shows you a handy objective marker, and if that is not enough, if you tap it again, there’ll be a dotted line on the ground, literally telling you which cliff you need to dive off next.
No longer will you find yourself walking around in circles, only to find that you missed a turning. There’s a reason people like objective markers. Getting lost sucks.
There’s also a new horde mode that’s a fun little extra if you’re into that kind of thing. You know the drill: See if you can gun down every wave of enemies before they take you out.
However, in Boltgun, you battle hundreds of baddies during a run, and by the end, the aptly named Sanctum of Slaughter is littered with the bodies of nearly a thousand heretics and their demonic buddies that cover every surface to the point where it can be hard to see whose left to shoot through all the cultists you’ve dropped. It’s a sight to behold and a hell of a lot of fun as you build up your arsenal, unlock new parts of the map, and gun down the equivalent of the population of a small Welsh village.
Final Thoughts
If you’re a 40k fan with an itchy trigger finger and a hatred for heretics, chances are you already own Boltgun, and if you don’t, well, you really should.
But If you already have Boltgun, Forges of Corruption is a decent epilogue to a superb shooter for those of us who can’t get enough of one of the best 40k games since Space Marine.
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