Necromunda: Hired Gun Review

Necromunda: Hired Gun
Streum On Studio / Focus Home Interactive

Back in the day, I used to play very fast-paced area shooters such as in the Quake and Unreal Tournament series. Then I graduated to more tactically paced games such as the Tom Clancy Rainbow Six and Ghost Recon titles (back when Ghost Recon was actually good). I guess the fast-twitch type stuff kind of bored me as I got old and more mature—plus I started enjoying gaming experiences that allowed me to strategize instead of constantly having orange fireballs exploding all around me and having to respawn every ten seconds.

So, when I first watched videos of Streum On Studio’s Necromunda: Hired Gun, I was a little perplexed. Although I really dig the Games Workshop series called Necromunda (and think it’s been sorely neglected), I didn’t get the ultra-frantic pacing the game seemed to offer. I mean, aren’t we in 2021?

In Necromunda: Hired Gun, you step into the boots of a nameless bounty hunter who descends into one of the colossal hive cities, actually the largest one in Warhammer 40k’s Imperium—yes, you guessed it: Necromunda. Hive cities are horrible places where slave workers toil away within the many layers of manmade strata that compose them, in order to build the weapons for the Imperium of Man. No, this isn’t a glamorous place at all.

The story consists of something about the protagonist being paid to avenge the cold-blooded murder of one of Necromunda’s most notable Guilders. You’ll also become involved in a gang war to control the darkest recesses of the impossibly brutal place.

What I loved about the game right away were the environments. A lot of Warhammer 40K games try to capture the IP’s distinct grimdark vibe but rarely do. There are a handful of exceptions, such as Warhammer 40,000: Gladius – Relics of War, Warhammer 40,000: Inquisitor – Martyr, and the other main Necromunda game out there: Necromunda: Underhive Wars—all great games in their own right.

In Necromunda: Hired Gun, you’ll leap between beautifully rendered skyscrapers, dreary mines, and desolate junkyards to blast through the vast steel walls of an Imperial Generatorum.

Weapon-wise, this game has all of the weapons you’d expect of a Warhammer 40K game—everything from shotguns and assault rifles, to badass bolters and heavy bolters. When you want some serious firepower, you can also wield plasma rifles and even a cool gun that shoots out gravity vortexes that explode on enemies.

The action is over the top. The weapons feel weighty and solid, as do whatever rounds you’re firing. When you place some well-aimed shots, you’ll see your enemies get destroyed in various ways—many over the top in terms of gore. I haven’t seen this many gibs flying since some of the shooters from the 90s and early 2000s.

Overall, if you like shooters that give a nod to the hyper-violent games of the 90s and have that grimdark, Warhammer 40K vibe, you can’t go wrong with Necromunda: Hired Gun. Give it a shot (pun intended).

SCORE: 7.5/10

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