Free Lives and Devolver Digital are getting into the gladiator business, and our first look at Gorn has us pretty curious about the upcoming VR project. Its potential audience will be much smaller than the average Steam release, given the number of Rifts and Vives in the wild at this point, but Gorn looks refreshing different from the shooting galleries and ultra-linear narrative experiences that currently dominate the VR landscape. And the minds behind Genital Jousting and Broforce can probably be counted on to deliver plenty of laughs amidst the gladiatorial chaos.
Free Lives describes Gorn as a “a ludicrously violent VR gladiator simulator” on the game’s official website. Players will be able to bash, chop, club, stab and throw a plethora of weapons at a never-ending stream of gladiators. Free Lives says combat is completely physics-driven. That tends to be PR speak for “our animations look really good” but probably also explains the destructible armor and weapons in the Gorn trailer. And physics engines are always good for a strange bug or two. So we’re looking forward to seeing Gorn players strike an opponent and send them flying further than any human not named Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson (aka The Mountain) could ever achieve.
From what we can tell, there’s no campaign in Gorn and it doesn’t sound like Free Lives has any current plans to add one. The accompanying description on the game’s Early Access page says the studio would like to add a boss encounter (singular) to Gorn at some point. Whether or not that matters to consumers likely depends on how long the standard experience is (and how much it costs). But it sounds like Free Lives is relying on players to find their own fun when Gorn heads to Steam early next month.
For an early look at Gorn, take a minute to watch the gameplay trailer published this week. Then head down to the comments section and let us know if you’re still enjoy arena-based VR games or if you’re counting the days until the games industry gets past its fascination with such projects.
Gorn hits Steam Early Access on July 10.
