I played the new demo for the upcoming Starship Troopers boomer shooter and accidentally wiped out 6 of my own guys when I bounced a grenade off someone's head

I sometimes have trouble keeping track of all the different Starship Troopers games out there, but the upcoming Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War stands out for a couple reasons. One, it's being made by Auroch Digital, developer of the very excellent Warhammer 40,000: Boltgun, and two, there's now a demo on Steam so you can get into the bug hunt action (and take your first step toward citizenship) for free, right now.

In some ways, Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War—based on the little bit I've played of the demo—bears some resemblance to its Boltgun cousin: It's got that blocky boomer shooter visual style, and violence is wet and plentiful. But even with just a few minutes, some big differences immediately leap out.

For one thing, you're not a lone death machine kitted out with the best weapons and armor the Imperium's money can buy: You are a simple trooper in the Mobile Infantry, so much more mobile (it's right there in the name) but also soft, squishy, and very delicate. (I learned very quickly that 'stand and throw' is not an effective tactic here.)

You are also not alone, at least not at the outset of the fight, and your fellow troopers are even more easily breakable than you are. Friendly fire complicates the situation: Yes, it's on, and in the chaos of big bug fights it is very easy to mow down your fellow troopers.

I couldn't find a way to turn friendly fire off, but honestly I don't think I'd want to anyway: Having to be careful around your mates (or not, depending on how you feel about these things) adds to the character of the game, and it doesn't seem to matter anyway because even after extensive, uh, testing, nobody yelled at me for doing it except the people I was shooting. (And they didn't complain for very long, if you know what I mean.)

The level I played also feels a lot more open than the very linear Boltgun. I was dropped into a large, open outdoors area with three objectives—secure two outposts under attack, retake a resort (the level is set on one of the galaxy's most luxurious getaway destinations, which I imagine will play into the game's broader themes at some point), and help with the evacuation of wounded. Markers for all of the above were placed on my HUD but I was otherwise left to tackle the jobs as I pleased—all while fighting off hordes of attacking bugs.

I'm also obligated to note a few obvious similarities with Helldivers, including the presence of supply drops and the need to blow up bug nests with high explosives in order to stop respawns. But since Helldivers 2 is "basically a videogame take on Paul Verhoeven's Starship Troopers" anyway, as PC Gamer's Shaun Prescott put it when the HD2 movie was announced in 2025, that sort of thing is basically inevitable and I don't think anyone's going to complain.

And even though Ultimate Bug War is strictly a singleplayer game, it's got a bit of that Helldivers 2 chaos mojo going on: During an attack on one large bug, I threw a grenade that unfortunately bounced off a squadmate's head (he ran in front of me, I swear) and landed amidst the rest of my buddies, who were immediately turned into paste by the blast. It didn't matter much—within seconds, replacement troopers charged in to take their place—but it was very funny.

Starship Troopers: Ultimate Bug War also got a release date today: It's set to launch on March 16.