Gorn 2 (PSVR2) Review
Summary: A solid sequel to one of PSVRs best games
4
Are You Still Entertained?
Gorn 2 finally makes its way to the PSVR2 after launching on PC and Quest earlier in the year.
The original on the PSVR remains one of my favourite VR games of all time.
It’s violent and silly in the same way that a good comedy horror movie is, or that classic Kenny Everett skit where he accidentally chops his arms off while trying to demonstrate woodworking.
A little blood makes you flinch, buckets make you roar with laughter.
Gorn 2 takes the already grizzly original and turns up the dial so it looks like an accident in a ketchup factory.
This latest bout of overblown gladiatorial adventures starts with our hench hero ascending to the afterlife. However, eternal rest and feasting are off the menu after the ruler of this ethereal realm is butchered by his five ungrateful children.
Thus, it’s up to you to bash, brutalise ,and braise the followers of this crazed pantheon, and eventually
Over the four(ish) hour campaign, you’ll battle a wide variety of foes through five distinct realms.
facing a wide variety of foes from hulking great gladiators to vicious chickens and thrashing tentacles, before facing off against the realm’s chosen deity in a boss battle that also acts as an end-of-stage set piece.
Before that, you’ll battle through a series of challenges in each deviously constructed colosseum packed with tricks and traps, including spiked pendulums, massive spatulas ready to press you into the dirt, flailing tentacles from an unseen eldritch nightmare, and much more besides.
Just like dodgeball practice, you’ll need to dodge, duck, dip, dive, and dodge if you want to survive each round, but there’s also a lot of fun to be had abusing the AI. Your opponents have zero sense of awareness or self-preservation, other than doggedly swinging their weapons at you. If there’s a trap between them and their quarry, they step right into it, and smile as some awful contraption tears their body limb from limb.
It’s almost creepy how eager the burly boys of Gorn 2 are to be brutalised. Thankfully, the game provides a wide variety of swords, bows, maces, and axes to oblige these masochistic macho men. What’s more, each implement used to carve your way through each fight feels distinct to wield, and responsive in your hand, allowing for a wide variety of playstyles.
Every well-placed strike, severs limbs, skewers organs, and tops up your health. Meanwhile, every hit taken will swiftly drain your life. This creates a frantic back-and-forth where you’re encouraged to be as aggressive as possible, bathing yourself in buckets of blood and viscera.
Combat is savage and ridiculous. One minute, you’re wildly swinging a giant wobbly mace and watching your opponents ragdoll across the arena, the next you’re tearing their heads off with your bear hands and throwing them in a meat grinder to make snacks for the baying crowd of cannibals, or barbecuing fallen foes in a gladiatorial griddle then eating their remains, so you grow up big and strong.
There’s also optional challenges scattered throughout each chapter that has you attempting to kill several enemies with a particular weapon in a certain time, or punting them into a trap; it’s simple stuff, and you’re rewarded with a stronger weapons for your troubles, but it never feels like you’re missing out if you don’t bother.
There aren’t many reasons to return to Gorn 2 once the credits roll, save for attempting an arena challenge you might have missed or having a crack at Hardcore mode.
Though there is always Endless mode, which makes for a nice workout if you fancy something a bit more blood-soaked, but only slightly less homo erotic than Ring Fit.
There’s also a custom mode that lets you tinker with the horde you have to face and what you’ll dispatch them with, how many musclebound monster are cheering their inevitable dismemberment, and the state of the coliseum, as well as what goodies and pitfalls it contains.
Gorn 2’s presentation, much like its predecessor, is simple yet effective, using the same exaggerated cel-shaded art style that sees hordes of goofy-looking gladiators grunting and gurning as they swing their huge wobbly axes and bounce around the place. This keeps the tone light and the action comical, despite the extreme levels of violence.
Final Thoughts
Gorn 2 is a decent sequel that takes the simple fun from the original Gorn and tweaks the formula just enough with even more traps, power-ups, and a decent cast of fleshed-out foes to battle.
Fans of the original are bound to eat it up, while those new to the series will find a compelling comedy brawler with buckets of charm and chum to spare.
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