Retro first-person shooter Warhammer 40k Boltgun is only a week old, and there’s already a professional academic response to its fantastic sci-fi firearms. A Gamespot video published on Saturday stars weapons expert Jonathan Ferguson, breaking down the game’s over-the-top Space Marine arsenal.
Boltgun released on May 23; Wargamer’s Boltgun review praised its fast moving firefights and the incredible heft of its firearms. Gamespot made it the subject of the most recent “Firearms Expert Reacts” video, a series in which Ferguson gives his professional insight into videogame guns and their real-world equivalents.
Ferguson is the Keeper of Firearms & Artillery for the Royal Armouries museum, UK, based out of the Leeds National Firearms Centre. He’s worked for several museums, chaired conferences, and appeared in TV documentaries, as well as collaborating with Gamespot on this video series. Ferguson has already featured in videos about the Warhammer 40k videogames Darktide and Necromunda Hired gun.
Even though there’s no real world analogue for something like a plasmagun or a volkite, he states in the video “I can’t help but think about how this would work if it was real – it’s an affliction, what can I say”. He does have a real-life equivalent to a boltgun, and shows off a pair of 12mm gyrojet pistols, each one “a launch rail for miniature, caseless rocket projectiles”.
Looking for more great 40k videos on YouTube? Check out Wargamer’s interviews with Mikey Herbert of Hellstorm Wargaming and former-GW presenter Louise Sugden, both running their own YouTube channels.