Boltgun Stream Summary - 04/04/24

 

Well it has been a while hasn't it? Truth be told I have been meaning to write up this stream summary for almost a week, however unfortunately I have a small human child who has been shockingly let off of her education for two weeks and I've had to keep her fed and entertained, which has meant less writing time for these stream summaries (and these articles take a while to write!). But, we are here now so let's venture into the last level of Boltgun's first episode as well as a couple from it's second episode too. I remembered to take screenshots this time!

So if I remember correctly, the night before this stream I just finished off a Lord of Change, expecting that to be the end of episode boss and thus moving on to the next episode... but I was wrong. The true final mission took place in what I can only describe as a cathedral in the middle of what I can only assume to be the warp?

Oh yeah... this doesn't scream Eye of Terror at all...

As I made my way through the warp-like palace, I was assailed by mostly Daemons; Tzeentch Daemons specifically so the typical Pink Horrors, Blue Horrors, Flamers, Exalted Flamers, Screamers... you name it, they were there. The level design was mostly built around the idea that the path most commonly travelled had been completely removed as an option for me to take, usually because it was a bridge that had crumbled away or an archway that had caved in. Either way, the fine people at Auroch took this opportunity to flood the alternate routes with, surprise surprise, Daemons, Space Marines, Terminators and my ever increasingly hated Chaos/Aspiring Champions. It became an onslaught of such proportions that I cannot begin to put into words how relieved I was when I came across a container full of health and contempt.

So desperate for health was I that I stopped to take a screenshot!

Anyway after much Daemon blasting and jumping through trippy warp gates that were littered all over the level, I ended up in a room full of the damn things. I'll be honest, I saw the room with all the topsy turvy walkways that were not unlike the Escher's Relativity Lithograph and thought to myself "just how maddening could Tzeentch's maze truly be?", but after spending a good 20-30 minutes in this room I got but a taste of how insanity inducing such an evil concept could be. It took me ages but I finally cracked the puzzle and was able to move on with a huge sigh of relief.

The most disorienting experience I've had in a while

I'll quickly blast through the write up for this episode so we can all move on with our lives and just skip to the part where I stepped into the penultimate room where even my servo skull companion stated that there was a "concerning quantity of ammunition and supplies" in there, something I often said myself and my viewers on stream. I then faced off against a horde of, you guessed it, all the Daemons backed up with Marines, except this time they were led by the Sorcerer causing all the problems on the planet - Emperor damn him! Worse of all, the Sorcerer kept teleporting around the huge, multilayered chamber which made hunting him down quite tedious and also meant fighting my way through yet more enemies, but I got him in the end!

The Sorcerer was more annoying than difficult

Once the Sorcerer was defeated... and I use the term "defeated" loosely as the slippery sod just disappeared into the ether, the level finished and I was treated to more pixelated, retro cutscenes that Boltgun does oh so well, which bridged the narrative gap between the first and second episodes.

Wait, is that a Land Speeder?? Didn't they get discontinued?

And so it is with this that I moved from the snowy/urbanised levels of the first episode into the arid, almost desert like levels of episode 2 and... what's this? Where have my weapons gone!? You mean I have to start again with just a Boltgun? Pah, fine!

Anyway, enough of the whining. It became very apparent from the off that this episode was going to have a higher focus on the Nurgle side of things. Sure, I bumped into the odd Horror now and then, but the first level came at me swinging with swarms of Nurglings, a handful of Plague Toads and... is that a Bloat Drone?

Death Guard units being a single Bloat Drone

There was very little to note for the first level and a bit, the scenery was mostly bland with the arid valleys and metal pill boxes for the most part, and it has to be said it was in this episode where the enemy AI really showed its lack of polish as I happily stood on top of a rock pile at one point, sniping out every enemy in the planes below me without any of them reacting at all. Whilst it was quite good for testing my sniping skills, even DOOM enemies were more reactive back in the early 90's which is a real shame because, up until now the enemy AI, whilst somewhat predictable, still made sense and were somewhat reactive.

Moving onto the second level of episode 2 (and the final one of the stream) I had, by this point rebuilt my arsenal of weapons and had my beloved Shotgun, Plasma Gun and Heavy Bolter back at my side where they belonged. I had grown so accustomed to Heavy Bolters becoming my anti Chaos Champion weapon of choice I was panicking when they showed up and all I had was a Boltgun!

Anyway, the second level was themed around mag platforms that took me from one place to another. Predictably I would get assailed by enemies as soon as I was on them and had nowhere to run, and this is where Auroch decided Screamers were a particularly fun thing to throw at me. Interesting fact, if you plummet into the depths of hell in this game you don't die, but rather you respawn somewhere back on the level, but it does not reset the position of the incredibly slow mag platform that is likely on the other side of said valley by now. I, no joke, waited about 10 minutes for a platform to return to me when I fell off said platform. It was so boring and tedious that even Malum Caedo pulled out the Codex Astartes to read whilst he waited, which was a hilariously amazing touch!

Always an idea to brush up on battle strategy during down time!

That's really it for the stream, shortly after this particular bit was the exit and thus the end of the stream. Unfortunately I'm not sure when I will get the time to continue my adventures with Malum Caedo as my current Random Sel-X game is a pretty long one so I'm having to do more streams just to make sure I get through that in decent time. I may reserve Saturdays for Boltgun but I will mull this idea over before I finalise that decision. Either way I'll see you guys again on stream soon!

- D J Driver