There is a specific kind of jank that hits a sweet spot for RPG fans. It’s that rough, unpolished charm found in games like ELEX, Two Worlds, or the original Fable. After spending the weekend with Gedonia 2 – specifically to test out the massive “Revamped Journey” update—I can confirm this game is the poster child for that feeling.
It is simultaneously frustrating, broken, and incredibly hard to put down.
The first thing that grabs you isn’t the graphics (which are a nostalgic mix of World of Warcraft and Breath of the Wild), but the sheer freedom. In an era where modern RPGs desperately try to balance everything for esports or streamlined accessibility, Gedonia 2 just hands you the keys and says, “Go nuts.”
I spent my first hour paralyzed in the character creator, not because of visual sliders, but because of the classless build system. You want to be a plate-wearing necromancer who rides a bear? You can do that. The new Husbandry skill tree added in this patch finally fleshes this out, and careening around on a mount feels chaotic in the best way.
The writing has that classic, tongue-in-cheek adventurer tone. It doesn’t take itself too serious. Finding random camps and hidden secrets feels genuinely rewarding, reminding me of the golden age of MMO exploration where you didn’t have a GPS marker for every single loot chest.
However, the “first impression” takes a nosedive the moment you enter combat. If you are coming from Elden Ring or even The Witcher 3, this is going to be a rough adjustment. The combat is incredibly floaty. There is almost no sense of impact when you swing a sword; you’re often just watching health bars decrease while your character skates across the terrain.
The platforming is equally volatile. The update boasts a smoother new player experience, but I found myself fighting the controls more than the enemies. The mantle mechanic- intended to let you climb ledges – failed me about 75% of the time, leaving my character awkwardly sliding down cliff faces. And the hitboxes? They are a suggestion at best. I was “one-shot” by enemies that clearly missed me, while other times I decimated groups without really understanding what I did right.
The devs are clearly trying to fix the early game “bounce” rate. The new intro feels much better paced than what I’d seen in older gameplay footage. It explains the systems without treating you like an idiot.
I also managed to peek at the new Berkmer Ravine zone. While I’m not fully at the endgame faction war yet, the scale of the world is impressive. Seeing the potential for a dynamic war system where my choices actually matter is a huge carrot on the stick, keeping me grinding despite the combat issues.
Gedonia 2: Gedonia 2 is a soulful love letter to 2000s RPGs that captures the magic of that era, right down to the game-breaking bugs and floaty physics. – Tom Henry
If you miss the days when RPGs were about breaking the game with weird builds rather than perfect balance, this is absolutely worth checking out. But if you need polished animations and tight, responsive combat to enjoy a game, you should probably let this one cook in Early Access for a while longer.
