Boltgun 2: PC Specs, Steam Deck Verdict, and Crossplay Status

Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 is out tomorrow, October 14, 2026 on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a Switch 2 version still to come. The good news for PC players: the requirements are modest, the installation is small, and Valve has rated the game Steam Deck Verified. There is no co-op, no crossplay, and no progression to sync, because the campaign is a strictly single-player retro-FPS run through the Warhammer 40,000 setting.

Quick answer:
1. Minimum PC (Low 1080p, 60 FPS): Intel Core i5-8600K or AMD Ryzen 5 2600, 8 GB RAM, GeForce GTX 980 / Radeon R9 Fury / Intel Arc A580 (4 GB VRAM), Windows 10 64-bit, 13 GB of free storage.
2. Recommended PC (High 1080p, 60 FPS): Intel Core i7-7700K or AMD Ryzen 5 1500X, 8 GB RAM, GeForce GTX 1650 / Radeon RX 570 (4 GB VRAM), Windows 11 64-bit, 13 GB of free storage.
3. Steam Deck: Valve rates the game Verified, so it runs out of the box on Steam Deck LCD and Steam Deck OLED at the deck’s native 1280×800 resolution without Proton workarounds.
4. Crossplay, co-op, Game Pass, PS Plus: none of the above. The campaign is single-player only on Windows, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, and the game is not on Game Pass or PS Plus at launch.

Minimum and recommended PC specs

The Steam store page lists two presets. Both target 60 FPS at 1080p; the minimum is a Low-quality preset, the recommended spec a High-quality preset. The game ships with no ultrawide or 4K preset on the store page, so most 2020-era GPUs and newer will push past 60 FPS at higher settings without effort.

Two practical notes for PC players:
– The minimum GPU list includes the Intel Arc A580, a budget Alchemist card. If you have an Arc A380, you will likely still be fine at Low 1080p, but the A580 is the officially listed floor.
– The 8 GB RAM floor is unusually low for a 2026 Unreal Engine title. Auroch Digital, the developer, has clearly designed the experience to be friendly to older mid-range gaming PCs and Steam Deck.

Mac and Linux are not supported at launch. The Steam page shows Windows-only, with empty minimum and recommended fields for macOS and Linux.

Will it run on Steam Deck?

Yes. Valve has rated Boltgun 2 Steam Deck Verified, and the developer Auroch Digital confirmed the rating in a Bluesky post on October 13, 2026. That means:
– The game launches in the default Steam Deck UI without Proton workarounds.
– The text is readable on the 7-inch screen at 1280×800.
– The on-screen controls and Full Controller Support are properly mapped.
– Performance is smooth for the full single-player campaign.

The Steam store page lists Full Controller Support in its features, plus Camera Comfort, Custom Volume Controls, and Adjustable Difficulty. That last one is useful on a handheld: the campaign mixes Bloodletter and Juggernaut hordes that close distance fast, and being able to tune damage intake down on the bus or the couch is a quality-of-life win.

ProtonDB does not yet have player reports for Boltgun 2 because the game has not been released. Once players start uploading Proton results on Linux desktop hardware, that community data will fill in. For now, Valve’s Verified rating and the Windows-only spec sheet are the official answer.

Preload, file size, and the demo

The Steam store lists 13 GB of free storage as both the minimum and the recommended requirement. There is no separate day-one patch called out on the store page, so the day-one build should land at roughly 13 GB.

The launch is global and simultaneous across PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S. The release-time post (#790) has the full time-zone table; the short version is:
– 9:00 AM PDT / 12:00 PM EDT on October 14
– 5:00 PM BST on October 14
– 6:00 PM CEST on October 14
– 2:00 AM JST on October 15

There is a free Boltgun 2 demo on Steam (appid 4338410), available since May 21, 2026. If you want to verify performance on your own hardware before committing, the demo is the cleanest stress test. It uses the same engine and the same rendering pipeline as the full game.

Crossplay and co-op at launch

Neither. The campaign is single-player only, with no online co-op, no asynchronous multiplayer, and no progression to sync. That makes the crossplay question moot: there are no other players to sync with, and the Steam page lists only the Single-player category (no Online Co-op, no Online PvP, no Shared/Split Screen).

The two playable characters are Malum Caedo (Sternguard Veteran, the original game’s protagonist) and Sister of Battle Nyra Veyrath (introduced in this sequel). Both are entirely AI-controlled companions or solo runs through the branching campaign, not networked teammates.

If you are looking for a co-op retro-FPS to play alongside Boltgun 2, the broader boomer-shooter catalog is in a strong place right now (DUSK, Prodeus, Ion Fury, Cultic, AmEvil, Selaco, Wrath: Aeon of Ruin), but Boltgun 2 itself is a solo experience.

Editions and pre-order pricing

There is one edition on Steam. The game costs $24.99 USD, with a 10% pre-order discount that drops the price to $22.49 through launch. Steam will lock the price at the pre-order rate the moment you pay, so the discount is automatic if you pre-order before release. After launch, the price reverts to $24.99.

There is no Deluxe Edition, no season pass, and no in-game cosmetic pack listed on the Steam store. Auroch Digital and Devolver Digital are not running a DLC pre-order pipeline at launch; any post-launch content will show up as separate store entries when it ships.

PlayStation and Xbox pricing is the same $24.99 / £19.99 / €24.99 tier on the major storefronts, with the 10% pre-order discount applying to PS5 and Xbox pre-orders as well. There is no upgrade charge if you move from one platform to another later, but there is also no cross-buy.

The Switch 2 version is announced for “later in 2026” per the existing release-calendar entry. Auroch Digital has not shared a Switch 2 release date or a Switch 2 trailer. There is no pre-order for the Switch 2 build yet.

Game Pass, PS Plus, and subscriptions

Boltgun 2 is not on Xbox Game Pass at launch and not on PS Plus Extra/Premium at launch, as of October 13, 2026. Neither Microsoft nor Sony has listed the game in their subscription catalogs, and Devolver Digital titles rarely launch day-one on Game Pass.

The original Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun (2023) has appeared in Humble Bundles and has been discounted on Steam in past sales, but those were publisher-specific promotions, not subscription deals. For Boltgun 2, the only path to the game on day one is to buy it.

What to do before launch

If you want to be ready to play at 9:00 AM PDT on October 14, here is the checklist:
1. Pre-order on Steam, PS5, or Xbox to lock in the $22.49 / £17.99 / €22.49 pre-order price. The discount expires at launch.
2. Free up 13 GB of SSD space. The Steam installation is small enough to fit on a 128 GB SATA SSD with room to spare; on a Steam Deck LCD with a 64 GB eMMC, you will need a microSD card.
3. Try the demo on Steam (appid 4338410) to validate performance and controller mapping on your own hardware. The demo’s first mission uses the same rendering pipeline as the full game.
4. Set your Steam Deck to launch Boltgun 2 in Desktop Mode only if you need to remap controls. The Verified rating means the default SteamOS controller layout is already configured for handheld play.
5. Read the campaign primer: the game picks up directly after the original Boltgun, so finishing the 2023 release first is recommended but not required. The branching campaign means you can play either Malum Caedo or Nyra Veyrath first and still see both storylines.
6. Plan for the Switch 2 build later in 2026 if you prefer the Nintendo version. There is no pre-order for it yet, and the cartridge listing is not live on the eShop at this writing.

Edited by Kerwin Stewart, Editor-in-Chief · How we report