•Legendary composer Mick Gordon has explained how he created the climactic boss fight music for Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun 2, working with developer Auroch Digital to score a final battle that “is on a scale that did not appear in the first game.”
Ahead of the sequel’s release this week, IGN spoke with Gordon about how his contribution came about. The Australian composer said he reached out to the team after playing the original Boltgun, praising their blend of pixelated boomer shooter gameplay with the Warhammer 40K universe.
I sent the team an email after the first Boltgun, and I said, “Hey, this game is really cool. There are a lot of boomer shooters out at the moment, but I think what you guys have done with it feels really good.”
Mick Gordon
Gordon became involved when Auroch Digital emailed him about the sequel’s ending.
“You know what? We’ve got this giant boss battle at the end, and it’s on a scale that did not appear in the first game, and we want to have some music for it that kind of matches that scale, something that’s really big and bombastic and silly. Would you like to do it?”
Mick Gordon
The composer said he accepted immediately, noting his long-standing desire to enter the Warhammer universe.
“I’ve always wanted to stray into that territory, but I’ve never been given an opportunity to until this one came along. So, there’s the first-person shooter aspect, there’s the Doom-inspired first-person shooter aspect, there’s the pixelated aspect, there’s this giant evil-looking demonic battle boss thing, and then there’s the Warhammer thing.”
Mick Gordon
Gordon said he never relies on pre-existing material. “My job on every single project is to try to come up with a unique voice that suits that project and that project only,” he explained, describing each score as occupying its own space in the universe.
To create his track, titled Ascent of the Arkifane, Gordon relied on capture footage assembled by QA testers rather than playable builds. He watches videos on his television while holding an unplugged controller, using a metronome app to identify tempos that match gameplay pace—recording figures such as 99, 138, and 216 beats per minute.
“If the music I make is too fast, it becomes overwhelming and annoying to the player. At that point, players go into the options menu and they turn the music down or off. And if they’re doing that, I have completely failed.”
Mick Gordon
Gordon said scoring the game’s climax taps into his desire “to walk into a room and be the absolute most arrogant bastard in the place,” adding: “When we’re in the final boss battle, I can walk in and be the loudest, most obnoxious bastard in the room.”
He also embraced the fact that only a fraction of players reach the finale. Referencing Steam data suggesting around 6% of people complete to the boss fight, Gordon said he loves the idea of creating something “specific and unique” for those who discover it.
“I love that feeling that I had when I was playing games as a kid of finding a hidden area or finding something secret. It made it feel like I had a closer relationship to the game.”
Mick Gordon
Gordon also discussed his approach to interactive scoring, describing video games as unique in their “direct link between the audience and the art form.” He explained that a game’s music functions as one continuous song broken into segments, rearranged based on player actions.
“They are literally in control. They’re the conductor. So, there is always going to be that relationship between what I’m doing and the player.”
Mick Gordon
Warhammer 40K: Boltgun 2 is available now on PlayStation 5, PC, and Xbox Series X|S, with a Nintendo Switch 2 version coming later.
review of the retro-styled first-person shooter sequel here
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