Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 demo adds Battle Sister protagonist on Steam

Boltgun 2’s demo does the one thing a sequel like this has to do for 40k fans: make the setting feel bigger, stranger and more specific. Putting Sister of Battle Nyra Veyrath into the fight instead of only leaning on Malum Caedo gives the game a different kind of heresy-hunting fantasy, one that feels closer to the Ecclesiarchy’s fire-and-fury logic than the first game’s straight Astartes power trip.

The playable demo landed through Steam Next Fest as part of Warhammer Skulls Showcase 2026, alongside a new trailer from Auroch Digital and Big Fan Games. Steam lists Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2 for 2026, and Warhammer Community says it is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. That broader push matters because Boltgun 2 is no longer just “more Boltgun.” It is a branching, single-player campaign that lets you choose between Ultramarine Malum Caedo, a Sternguard Veteran, and Nyra Veyrath, who Steam describes as swift and nimble.

That distinction is the real story here. Malum Caedo keeps the franchise’s classic armored-kernel fantasy intact, but Nyra changes the rhythm. A Battle Sister in a retro FPS invites a more mobile, aggressive style, and the demo’s new weapons and new systems for purging heretics suggest Auroch Digital is building around that difference rather than treating her as a cosmetic swap. For 40k, that means the sequel can lean into the Sororitas’ zeal, speed and purity as a faction fantasy, not just bolt pistols and bigger explosions.

The setting is widening too. Steam says the sequel will move through never-before-seen worlds, including a hive city and jungle mangrove swamps, with enemies that include Bloodletters and daemonic Juggernauts. Auroch Digital also said in February 2026 that Slaanesh forces would appear in the full game, adding another Chaos flavor to the mix after the original Boltgun’s more straightforward carnage. That is the kind of faction spread that can keep a boomer shooter from feeling like a single-note slaughterhouse.

Auroch Digital, the Bristol-based studio founded in 2010, has reason to be bold. The original Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun launched in 2023 and reached an all-time Steam peak of 7,561 concurrent players on May 23, 2023, a solid mark for a game built on nostalgia and clean, brutal execution. Boltgun 2’s demo suggests the sequel is trying to do more than go louder. With Nyra Veyrath in the frame, it is aiming to feel more authentically 40k, and that is the smarter kill shot.