Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Boom brings the hit retro shooter to mobile

• Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun Boom sees the hit retro FPS come to mobile
• Set to release later this year, it features the same fast-paced action as the original
• Step into the shoes of an Ultramarine and enjoy the glorious, over-the-top ultraviolence

With Warhammer Skulls well underway, it shouldn't surprise you that this week has seen plenty of big announcements for mobile. But one that really blindsided us (well, me at least) was the announcement that Nitro Games is porting Auroch Digital's Boltgun to mobile!

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun will be recognisable to longtime boomer shooter players. Putting you in the shoes of Ultramarine Malum Caedo, it ditched the third-person combat and RTS translations of the setting in favour of meaty, high-octane action. You'd shoot your way through vast environments and battle pixellated enemies, rather interestingly rendered using the actual physical miniatures as the base.

Boltgun Boom looks set to faithfully translate that experience to mobile. Set to release later in 2026 for iOS and Android, it does oddly specify that it features 'chapters from the Boltgun series.' Although by all accounts it'll offer all the same thrills as its mainline version.

Bolted

Now, as much as Boltgun is divisive for me (it's not a Doom-like, it's obviously a Quake-like, obviously), I thoroughly enjoyed playing it. I think it'd help if Warhammer 40,000 once more embraced that 80s action instead of the bizarre melodrama it seems to nowadays.

At the same time, my excitement is tempered slightly by that 'chapters from the Boltgun series' line from the release. Hopefully, that just means a shareware model of release, where you can try it and then buy additional chapters. But it would be a shame if we only got a few parts of Boltgun initially. Still, I'll be keeping a close eye on this one!

If you need to scratch your itchy trigger finger ahead of this launch, however, why not check out our list of the best shooters on iOS to see what we think is worth playing? Featuring both multiplayer and single-player action for training that killer instinct.