Gorn 2 | Review | 6DOF Reviews (2025)

Gorn is an oddity to me. An elder statesman of VR, Gorn has a history of wild popularity. With its tongue-in-cheek ultra-violence, the zany brawler has been a crowd favourite for years. But I need to share a secret with you…

I have never been able to understand why.

When Gorn landed on Quest in January of 2021, I happily jumped aboard the hype train, prepared to finally enjoy one of VR’s hallmark experiences. Twenty minutes later, I was left completely bewildered, wondering how that, of all the games available at the time, had somehow become everyone’s darling. Needless to say, my refund request was submitted swiftly and without mercy.

Now, some 4 years later, we have an unexpected sequel on our hands as Gorn 2 dick-punches its way onto the Quest. Can I shake off my prior disdain and approach the next instalment of Baldy McRubber-Sword and the Arena of Inuendo with some sense of objectivity?

I’ll let you decide…

In Your End-O

Let’s not beat around the bush here. At its core, Gorn 2 is a physics-based arena brawler nestled gently inside a fart joke.

From a narrative point of view, things are pretty simple in the land of Gorn. The game casts you as a warrior resurrected in the afterlife, tasked to restore the power of a disembodied God. This can be achieved by defeating his five bastard children, each of whom will appear as a boss once you fight your way through their distinctive arenas.

The story is light and primarily serves to justify the combat, but it gives the game a touch of context and sets up its tone well enough. From the first instance where you set about reclaiming the fallen God’s “Butt guts”, you get a sense of what to expect. Gorn 2 leans heavily into this sense of silliness that borders on the absurd. It employs a sense of humour that one could generously say is “aimed at a younger audience” if one was really trying to avoid using the word infantile, so be warned – if this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea, then perhaps you may wish to steer clear.

All in, the campaign takes somewhere between 2- 3 hours to complete, but fans of the gameplay will be able to keep enjoying the frivolous fighting with custom games and endless modes on offer throughout.

Are You Not Entertained!?

The combat is similarly toned. Unlike more serious VR combat titles like Undead Citadel, Blade & Sorcery or Hellsplit Arena, Gorn 2 embraces a tone of cartoon ultraviolence and juvenile humour. It revels in it. In fact, the entire point is giggling at things like pushing pint-sized adversaries into an oversized blender or juking it out with a chicken with human arms.

The gameplay loop is simple: enter an arena, survive waves of enemies, and defeat a boss. Combat is physics-driven, however there is an interesting “bendiness” to the weapons that further matches the ludicrous tone that permeates the game. Spears and swords have solid collision detection but flex as if made of rubber.

Outside of the farts and the physics, Gorn 2 is an arcade-style brawler insofar as the depth of the combat is, at best, ankle-deep.

You’ll be swinging, flailing, and smashing enemies in slapstick fashion, but you won’t be stringing together combos or defeating any particularly challenging foes. While a basic parry system is in place, enemies aren’t particularly tactical or well-animated, so defensive strategy is rarely needed. Opponents shamble toward you on their tiny little legs and flail at you with all the grace and precision of a newborn giraffe.

While well-placed stabs and head bashes can be satisfying, there is an unfortunate leaning towards the dreaded wiggle sword that cheapens the thrill of dealing a mighty blow to your enemies. It’s obviously more fun to take wild swings that send your opponent flying, but once you realise that you can just gently wobble two spears in someone’s face and effectively turn them into carpaccio, the last elements of tension disappear. In fact, once you get the giant hammer, almost every enemy is only a swat or two away from oblivion.

Fisting for Fun

Given the game’s tone, this lack of combat depth can broadly be forgiven, but what really holds it back from being fun is the movement. Or rather, the lack thereof. There’s no sprinting, no jumping, no dashing – nothing—just a steady plod around the arena. For a game that seems to be all about the possibilities of anything-goes, over-the-top style mayhem, it seems such a miss not to include anything that jazzes up the movement.

There are also bonus objectives in each level that add some replay value. These often centre around using environmental hazards or particular methods of brutality to get some slightly more creative kills. You might be encouraged to kill x number of enemies by skewering their hearts, ripping off their heads, or leading them into the path of a charging bull. Some levels introduce twists, like gravity distortion or changing the player’s size. These shake up the gameplay a little but are too few and far between to really offer any meaningful depth.

Saturday Morning Mayhem

Gorn 2 embraces a bright, crisp, and highly stylised cartoon aesthetic that fits the game’s otherwise exaggerated tone. The art direction is deliberately simple yet effective—character models are bulky, rubbery, and expressive, which suits the slapstick nature of the combat. Environments are varied enough across the five arenas to stay visually interesting, even if they are not overly detailed. The use of vivid colours and clean visual design also means that the game runs smoothly on standalone hardware like the Quest, with very few noticeable drops in performance.

Like most physics-based brawlers, there is some jank, but because of the intentional humour of the game, it feels fitting in Gorn 2. Watching a character model distort out of shape while you bop it on the head with an oversized novelty lamp chop is hardly high-brow comedy, but it’s not not funny.

Animations are intentionally goofy: enemies wobble, flail, and ragdoll in amusing ways that work with the game’s humour. Blood sprays and dismemberments are presented in such an exaggerated, cartoonish way that they feel more ridiculous than disturbing.

The sound design is also decent, complimenting the game’s overall tone nicely. There’s some good use of spatial audio to help you keep track of approaching threats, and weapon impacts have a satisfyingly hefty clang that gives some weight and resonance to the otherwise rubber-chicken rumble. The voice acting is delivered with genuine energy and character, helping to sell the game’s irreverent tone.

Overall, the graphics and sound aren’t just functional—they’re fundamental to Gorn 2‘s identity, helping to create a cohesive world that feels intentionally absurd.

Final Whack

Gorn 2 is a chaotic, ridiculous, and unapologetically dumb arena brawler. It’s not for everyone—certainly not for players seeking depth, narrative, or strategic combat—but it delivers precisely what it promises. While I didn’t enjoy the first Gorn AT ALL (and quite frankly hated my first half hour in the sequel), I did end up having some fun, despite myself.

This game is undeniably geared toward a `less mature’ audience, and I feel like your enjoyment will increase in line with your proximity to the age of 12. Despite the several things that work well (in context) and my own well-documented immaturity, I still can’t recommend the Gorn franchise. The most telling conclusion is that once this review is done, I will uninstall Gorn 2 and likely never feel compelled to play it again.