Warhammer 40000 Boltgun 2 is newer than my training data, so every fact below comes from the official Steam page, the developer’s patch notes, and player reports from the first two weeks after launch. I mark anything I could not confirm with. You get a full mission order, boss plans, the launch errors that actually happened, and the small decisions that stop a run from stalling.
You drop into the Shattered Station with a chainsword and a handful of grenades. Ten minutes later, a door needs a key, a balcony hides a switch, and a room full of heretics wants you dead. The game does not hold your hand. This guide gives you the order of early missions, the two boss fights that stop most players, and the fixes for the crashes and softlocks that hit the launch build. After reading, you should be able to finish the campaign without opening another tab. Gears of War E-Day
Boltgun 2 setting the Arkifane, hive city, and route split
The sequel picks up after the first Boltgun. Chaos activity is rising in an isolated star system, and the demigod Vashtorr the Arkifane is behind it. You travel from a broken space station to a hive city, a jungle, and the Ark of Omen itself. The goal is simple: cleanse the corruption on each world and push Vashtorr back into the Warp.
What separates Boltgun 2 from other retro shooters is the branching route. After the opening chapter, the game shows you two mission sets and lets you pick one. The route you skip stays locked for that playthrough. A full run covers around 10 missions, not all 30-plus levels in the game. That design choice matters more than any weapon stat. It means your first run is a route, not a full clear. Explore More






Boltgun 2 characters: Malum Caedo vs Nyra Veyrath
You pick one hero at the start, and that choice lasts the whole campaign. You cannot swap mid-run.
Malum Caedo is the returning Ultramarine. He has higher durability, a Chainsword Lunge that pulls him toward a single enemy, and an Obliterating Charge that knocks enemies back and damages anything in his path. His weapons include the Boltgun, Shotgun, Plasma Gun, Grav Cannon, and Missile Launcher. Pick Malum if you want to learn enemy attacks without dying to every mistake. He is the slower hero, and he is the recommended first pick for most players.
Nyra Veyrath is a Sister of Battle. She moves faster, and her Fervent Slide chains into a Leap that can slow time while you are airborne. Her weapons include a Bolt Pistol, Power Sword, Flamer, and Meltagun. Pick Nyra if you want to reposition constantly and shoot from above a crowd. Her slide is not a free escape button. Sliding through a pack of enemies still costs health if you land in the wrong spot.
Boltgun 2 mission order and campaign route lockout
The campaign opens with The Arkifane Emerges. It has two missions: Shattered Station and Dauntless. After you finish Dauntless, the game opens a campaign screen. You choose between Nurgle Nightmare and There Is Only War. Picking one locks the other for that run. This is the first place players get stuck, not because the fight is hard, but because they do not realize the choice is permanent for the save.
Each chapter follows a pattern: move through a linear level, find a key, open a door, trigger a Purge section, and kill every enemy in the arena. The Purge is where most deaths happen. A Purge locks the doors, spawns waves, and does not end until the arena is clear. The game does not tell you how many waves remain.
Players usually get stuck in three places. The Forgefiend boss at the end of Dauntless has a shield that ignores bullets until you break it with grenades or shoot the shield beams. The Lord of Skulls fight has a neck weak point, and saving and loading right after shooting that weak point could make the boss unkillable in the launch build. That specific softlock is fixed in the October 20 patch. The last Purge of The Trenches had a Daemonette that could phase out of bounds and become unreachable. That is also fixed in the same patch.
Boltgun 2 walkthrough: mission order, bosses, and Purge rooms
This guide follows the route most players take: Malum first, then the Nurgle Nightmare path. The steps are the same for Nyra, but her movement tools change how you approach each room.
Stage 1: Shattered Station key and Purge walkthrough
- Open the door with the panel on your right. Walk through the hallway until enemies appear. Hold right-click to charge the chainsword lunge, then release it on a single target. A simple right-click is a quick slash. The charge matters because it closes distance without spending ammo, and you have very little ammo at this point.
- Use the Obliterating Charge when a line of enemies blocks the corridor. The charge knocks them back and damages everything it touches. Do not charge into the center of a group. Aim for the edge so you end beside one enemy, not inside five.
- Jump over the broken balcony on your left after the two key-guard enemies. Inside, pick up grenades. Hold G to throw. Throw one into the group below before you drop down. If you drop first, you take damage from enemies you cannot see yet.
- Pick up the Boltgun. This is your first real gun. Use it on every enemy from here to the red door. Climb the balcony, shoot the switch to open the door, then drop down and grab the key.
- Pick up the Warhammer emblem in the middle of the red room to start the first Purge. Kill every enemy. The doors open when the room is clear. Walk the hallways to the battleship to end the mission.
You know you did it right when the mission complete screen appears and the campaign screen opens.
Stage 2: Dauntless Forgefiend boss walkthrough
- Fight your way down to the red key. Your base is overrun, and enemies will ambush you from above near the key panel. Shoot the upper walkway first. If you activate the panel while enemies are alive above you, you take free damage during the platform ride.
- Ride the rising platform to the purple elevator. Fight the two Chaos Terminators. Terminators take a lot of bullets, so use the Boltgun and keep strafing. Climb the platform above them and shoot the switch to get the purple key.
- Activate the jump pads and grab the yellow key. Return to the first jump pad and go right to the yellow door.
- The yellow door starts the Forgefiend fight. The Forgefiend starts shielded and ignores bullets. Use grenades to break the shield. When its health drops to a threshold, three shield beams activate. Shoot the panels below the beams to destroy them, then shoot the Forgefiend again. Kill the Forgefiend first. The remaining enemies die when it dies. If you shoot the boss while the shield is up, you waste ammo and the fight takes twice as long.
Stage 3: Nurgle Nightmare, The Bastion secrets and Purge
- Move through the rotting deathworld until you reach the bastion. The path is linear, but the level hides secrets behind destructible walls and side rooms. You do not need every secret to finish, but one Purity Seal sits below a yellow key area inside a hollow tree trunk. Dash and jump into the opening on the right side of the trunk.
- Clear the Purge sections by killing ranged enemies first. Plague Marines and Noise Marines shoot from the back. If you leave them alive while you fight melee enemies, you take damage from two directions.
Stage 4: Nurgle Nightmare, The Vile Root final arena
- This is the final mission on the Nurgle path. The level has four Secrets and one Purity Seal. The Seal is easy to miss because it sits off the main path.
- Before the final arena, check your grenade count. The boss room spawns waves, and grenades break groups faster than the Boltgun. If you are low, look for grenade pickups in the side rooms before you trigger the Purge.
Boltgun 2 beginner mistakes: route lockout and boss shield
- Picking a route without knowing it locks the other. The campaign screen does not shout that the choice is permanent for the run. Read both mission names before you click. If you want to see everything, use the accessibility menu option that unlocks all levels, then use Level Select.
- Treating the slide or charge as a damage button. Nyra’s slide and Malum’s charge both move you into enemy space. Plan the landing spot before you press the button. A slide that ends inside a crowd costs more health than it saves.
- Shooting the Forgefiend while its shield is up. The shield absorbs bullets. Use grenades or shoot the beam panels. Players who empty a full Boltgun into the shield then have nothing left for the damage phase.
- Ignoring the vertical space. Many arenas have upper walkways with ranged enemies. If you stay on the ground, you fight two layers of enemies at once. Look up before every Purge.
- Saving and loading during a boss weak-point window. The Lord of Skulls softlock in the launch build happened when players saved and loaded immediately after shooting the neck weak point. The October 20 patch fixes it, but the habit is still worth avoiding: let the boss animation finish before you save.
Boltgun 2 first two hours: settings and early missions
Spend the first 20 minutes in the settings menu. Set the aim sensitivity before the first crowded fight. The game has a separate vertical aim multiplier, so check both values separately. Lower the sensitivity if your crosshair keeps overshooting the target while you strafe. Then pick Malum. His extra durability gives you room to learn the Purge rhythm.
In the first hour, finish Shattered Station and Dauntless. Do not rush the Forgefiend. Break the shield with grenades, shoot the beam panels, then unload. In the second hour, pick Nurgle Nightmare and clear The Bastion. Use the weapon wheel instead of carrying one favorite gun. The Boltgun is good against cultists, but the Shotgun and Plasma Gun handle armored enemies faster.
Boltgun 2 level unlock shortcut: how to see both routes
The accessibility menu has an option that unlocks every level. If you finish one route and want to see the missions you skipped without a second full campaign, turn that option on and use Level Select. This is not a cheat that ruins progression. It is a menu toggle the developers included for route lockouts. It works in the current version.
Boltgun 2 crashes, softlocks, and low FPS fixes
Fatal error crash on launch with an Intel Core Ultra CPU. The game closes before the main menu, often with no error message. The cause is an outdated Intel NPU driver on Core Ultra hardware. The October 20 patch includes a fix that should work without the driver update, but the official advice is to update the Intel NPU Driver for Windows first. If the crash continues, verify the game files in Steam, then launch again.
Low FPS on the Nurgle Nightmare chapter. Frame rate drops hard in the rotting outdoor areas, especially during Purge sections. A major performance issue on that chapter was fixed in the October 20 patch. If you still see drops, lower the pixelation setting one step. The pixel look changes how readable the screen is, and the highest setting costs more performance than it looks.
Softlock on the Level Complete screen after deleting autosaves. The screen freezes and the Continue button does not respond. This was fixed in the October 20 patch. The Continue button now loads Campaign save files only. If you are on an older build, update the game before you delete autosaves.
Lord of Skulls becomes unkillable after saving and loading. You shoot the neck weak point, save, load, and the boss stops taking damage. The October 20 patch fixes the save-and-load softlock and a second bug where the boss’s arm lands on you when it dies. If you are on the launch build, do not save immediately after hitting the neck. Wait for the animation to end.
The last Purge of The Trenches does not end. A Daemonette phases out of bounds and becomes unreachable. The October 20 patch fixes the out-of-bounds softlock. If the Purge still stalls on the current build, reload the last checkpoint and clear the arena again. The bug was tied to that specific Daemonette spawn.
Continue button loads the wrong save. Before the October 20 patch, Continue could load a Level Select save instead of your campaign. The patch changes the button to load Campaign saves only. If you are on an older version, open Load Game and pick the campaign file by hand.
Boltgun 2 settings and playstyle tips for better runs
Set the crosshair to a dot and lower the opacity after the October 20 patch. The default crosshair is large, and the pixel art makes it harder to see small enemies behind it. A dot crosshair keeps the center of the screen clear.
Play one route with Malum and one with Nyra. The campaign is short enough for two runs, and the movement tools change how each arena plays. Malum wants you to charge through a gap. Nyra wants you to slide past the front line and shoot from above.
Use the Automap. The sequel adds an Automap for navigation, and it marks the path forward without turning the game into a corridor. Check it after every key pickup. The levels have a lot of side rooms, and the Automap shows doors you have not opened yet.
Is Boltgun 2 worth it? Who should play and who should skip
Play Boltgun 2 if you want a fast shooter with a clear finish line. The campaign does not waste your time. The weapons feel heavy, the pixel art reads well in motion, and the branching route gives you a reason to replay without forcing a 30-hour commitment.
Skip it if you want a full campaign in one run. The route lockout is a real weakness. You cannot see every mission on a single save without turning on the unlock option in the accessibility menu. The game is also single-player only, so there is no co-op or multiplayer to extend the life of the campaign. If you need every level in one playthrough, this design will annoy you.
Boltgun 2 FAQ: length, routes, crashes, and low-end PC
How long does Boltgun 2 take to finish?
A single route runs through around 10 missions and takes most players 6 to 8 hours on Normal. The game has more than 30 levels total, but one playthrough only covers one branch of the campaign.
Can I play both routes in one save?
No. Choosing a mission on the campaign screen locks the other path for that run. You can replay the other route on a new save, or turn on the level unlock option in the accessibility menu and use Level Select.
Is Malum or Nyra better for a beginner?
Malum is the better first pick. He has more durability and a chainsword lunge that helps you learn enemy attacks without dying to every mistake. Nyra is faster, but her slide commits you to a landing spot, and that is harder to manage in the first few Purges.
Why does my game crash on launch with an Intel CPU?
The launch build had a fatal error on Intel Core Ultra CPUs with outdated NPU drivers. The October 20 patch includes a fix, but the official support advice is to update the Intel NPU Driver for Windows. If the crash continues, verify the game files in Steam.
How do I fix low FPS on Nurgle Nightmare?
Update the game. A major performance issue on the Nurgle Nightmare chapter was fixed in the October 20 patch. If you still see drops, lower the pixelation setting one step in the display menu.
Does Boltgun 2 work on a low-end PC?
The minimum requirements name a GTX 980, 8GB of RAM, and 13GB of storage, with a Low preset targeting 1080p at 60 FPS. The recommended card is a GTX 1650, which is older than the minimum card in Nvidia’s lineup. The game is not heavy by 2026 standards, but it wants a dedicated GPU.
Is the game worth $24.99?
Yes, if you want a focused single-player shooter. The campaign is short but dense, the weapons are distinct, and the October 20 patch fixed the launch softlocks. Skip it at full price if you only play games with co-op or a long progression system.
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