GORN 2 Hands-On: Absurdly Hilarious Combat Builds Upon The Original Game Well

GORN 2 expands upon the original game well so far, delivering absurdly hilarious combat in our preview while remaining distinctly familiar.

Nearly a decade after Free Lives’ brutal gladiatorial hit GORN first appeared in early access, last week’s GORN 2 announcement took many of us by surprise. Co-developed by Cortopia Studios (Escaping Wonderland) and the original studio, this upcoming sequel has a clear goal of delivering “everything GORN was but more.” After spending 45 minutes with a preview build, I’d say it’s currently doing a fine job.

Having ascended to the afterlife following the first game, GORN 2 now finds you in a heavenly realm where we’re killing the gladiators we previously killed yet again. You’d almost feel sorry for them, were it not for the whole “repeatedly trying to kill you” deal they’ve got going on. Our main task involves assisting the deposed God of the Afterlife as we stop his five bastard sons across five realms.

This demo only featured the second realm alongside a small hub area, our only companions being the God of the Afterlife and the gladiator ghosts sometimes spawning from a soul pool. Learning that access to each realm is gated by your ‘epicness’ meter tells you what to expect with GORN 2’s humor, to say nothing of the fact you can give enemies the middle finger.

Levels are fittingly selected by skewering a gladiator’s head on a pike, though you can’t freely choose your weapons. Finding new ones across realms unlocks them in a Custom Mode that I couldn’t access. Ranged options like bows are my usual choice in VR games, though a strong selection of bendable melee weapons like cleavers, maces, axes, and swords back this up. One sword even grows as you earn more kills, letting you wield your ridiculously oversized weapon (behave) in full glory. Frankly, it puts Cloud Strife’s Buster Sword to shame.

There’s something much more satisfying about getting up close for the cartoonish violence over ranged strikes. Dismemberment, decapitations, watching the fallen fighter’s eyes pop out would normally make for a grim spectacle, yet GORN 2’s stylish cel-shaded visuals do this bloody spectacle justice. On Steam, the presentation looks gorgeous and while there’s a bit of jank currently – some weapons jitter a lot when being used – the performance ran smoothly.

Each event is split into four different rounds that culminate with a trickier fight, starting by raising your fists. This formulaic structure is broken up with bonus objectives in round three that can be easy to miss if you aren’t paying attention. That’s usually some variation of “kill x number of enemies” with a particular weapon, so I’d love to see some more creative objectives.

Each arena comes with its own distinct traps and for the second realm, this lava-filled domain is big on cooking. Watching giant spatulas swatting people below keeps me on my toes, whereas pushing enemies into the lava creates some hilarious ragdoll moments. Using a Warhammer-like weapon that’s honestly just a leg of meat, slapping opponents into these fiery pools and watching their corpses bounce away to the after-afterlife (let’s call it that) is hilarious.

My biggest criticism so far relates to the AI behavior, which isn’t typically a concern until traps emerge. These foes have no self-preservation instincts, and enemies will blindly walk into obvious traps just because I’m in the direction they’re heading towards. That made some fights all too easy, so I hope that gets adjusted in the full release.

Speaking of difficulty, anyone after a challenge should turn on the hardcore mode from the settings for less health and to make enemies appear faster. The standard setting is a bit easy, and I only died once on the default settings. Killing enemies restores health, as does killing the chickens that are also out to hurt you. Defeating these fowl-tempered foes quickly roasts them into an edible snack.

If you’re interested in seeing more gameplay directly, check out Don’s recent livestream below.

As for me, GORN 2 promises the sequel I never realized I wanted. What I’ve seen so far is delivering satisfying evolutionary changes that should appeal to fans of the original game. The comedic over-the-top brutality ties together well, the visuals look great, and a strong sense of humor ties it all together. There’s still plenty more to try and right now, I’m optimistic about the full game.

GORN 2 launches in 2025 on the Meta Quest platform, Steam, and PlayStation VR2.