The wait is finally over for the survivors of the ‘Gorn’ arena, ‘Gorn 2’ has officially arrived for PSVR2. The original developer’s Free Lives have returned, and this time, they’ve brought fellow developers Cortopia along with them to deliver the blood-soaked, adrenaline-fueled sequel ‘Gorn 2’, published by Devolver Digital. With a fist raised to the sky, it’s now time to head into the arena once more and get reacquainted with the “poorly-animated” Rokibe. 

‘Gorn 2’ is the ludicrous sequel to the hit VR gladiator simulator from Free Lives. Back bigger, wilder, and stronger than ever before, with mighty new weapons to wield, treacherous new traps to avoid, and new power-ups that imbue you with supernatural abilities. ‘Gorn 2’ is everything ‘Gorn’ was but more. More weapons, enemies, arenas, traps, power-ups, and more hilariously over-the-top combat. Now, let’s find out if my blood thirst has been sated or if ‘Gorn 2’ leaves me thirsting for more.

Playing as a lone Rokibe warrior, the story campaign will have you piecing the God of the Afterlife back together after his five bastard sons had torn him apart and stolen all that made him whole. Unlike the level I experienced during the early hands-on access in April, progression through the campaign is slightly different.

Rather than playing through each stage and then facing off against the boss like I did in the demo, players must earn enough epicness to progress to the next level. While I didn’t mind this style of progression, I did find that the story being told became a little harder to follow because of being forced into the next arena. 

The only downside to this quirky story campaign is that it can be completed in under three hours of runtime. Thankfully, the addition of the Endless mode will keep you swinging until your heart is content. Still not enough to quench your thirst for blood? Then, you should try creating your own battlefield of destruction in Custom mode.

This mode has more options than you can poke a spear at, allowing players to get creative and crush the Rokibe in any way they choose, no matter how outlandish. I love this mode, as it allows me to go full God mode and unleash all manner of chaos. Want to punch with the force of Superman? You’ve got it. Want to have giant hands the size of The Hulk? Consider it done.

Many improvements have been made regarding the combat experience while retaining all of the easy-to-use controls of the original ‘Gorn’. Giving the Rokibe fighters the beating of a lifetime is more satisfying than ever before. The gratuitous violence has been dialled up to eleven this time around, from bare-knuckle bruises to lopping off limbs and tearing heads off. There is more of everything that made ‘Gorn’ so much fun.

What could make this even better? That’s right, even crazier weapons to unleash your chaos with. Is a regular flail not cutting it for you? Then perhaps you’d enjoy laying your hands upon a flail that has explosives attached. Talk about more bang for your buck right there. Boss battles are incredibly satisfying to conquer. They deliver the right amount of tension and challenge to the fight. Beating the crap out of one of the five sons and delivering uber-violent justice feels incredible. 

‘Gorn 2’ retains all of the visual charm of its predecessor, though it does fall upon its own sword at times. I love that the team kept the same art style as the original and blessed us with new otherworldly arenas that still retain their colosseum-like nature. New enemy additions, such as the exploding barrel Rokibe and what I dub the terror chickens, are welcome additions.

Where the visuals seem to fall short is the visual tearing, which is very noticeable when using smooth-turning motion controls. Thankfully, this can be negated by using the snap turn controls. I would prefer to see this issue addressed because smooth motion is just far nicer to play with. 

Unleashing all manner of chaotic violence sounds as incredible as ever. Hearing the crowd cheering from above is always a delight as the sounds of steel meeting steel ring out from the arena below. The soundtrack helps to highlight the intensity in the arena, though this time around, it can sometimes get a little drowned out when using explosive weaponry. Overall, it is still a very serviceable audio experience. 

‘Gorn 2’ delivers more of everything that made ‘Gorn’ a must-play for VR enthusiasts. Although the campaign is way too short for my liking, there is endless fun to be had playing with the Custom and Endless modes. Expressive combat, increased variety of weaponry, over-the-top violence, challenging boss battles and kicking the crap out of many Rokibe. What’s not to love about that?  With only a couple of minor issues ‘Gorn 2’ is a solid entry and well worth adding to your PSVR2 library.

Written by: Gary Nielsen