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Squanch Games’ High on Life wasn’t a video game that spoke to me the first time around. Even before his issues, I wasn’t a huge fan of Roiland’s brand of humour, and the idea of having an ocker knife running its mouth at me didn’t strike me as a fun time. And so I approached its sequel, unsurprisingly dubbed High on Life 2, without a great deal of context for what the first game was about, although this follow-up does a fine enough job of catching the player up, and with a similar trepidation that, much like a James Gunn film, the whiplash, laugh-per-minute approach might be more miss than hit.
Thankfully, it turns out I am a juvenile piece of shit, and I found surprising joy in not only the writing’s piss and shit jokes, but with how, despite having a pretty focused narrative through line, the story would veer tonally off-course with wild, off-beat tangents. There’s an early beat that sees the player surrogate as someone’s wife aboard a luxury cruise, only to get caught up in an elaborate murder mystery where you, along with the fedora-clad gun you’re accompanying, assume the Benoit Blanc archetype, launching an investigation, drawing conclusions, and fingering the culprit. The game, which is full of off-the-wall asides like this, doesn’t take itself seriously at all and, if you can cope with the brand of humour, you’ll have a great time.
The story itself picks up after the original High on Life, where, after gaining renown as a bounty hunter, the player betrays the code by crossing one of their own in an effort to rescue their sister, Lizzie. Not only does this leave the player with a bounty on their head, but they quickly find themselves embroiled in Lizzie’s eco-terrorist plot to bring down Rhea Pharmaceuticals, the evil corporation harvesting humans to synthesise a dangerous, recreational drug. Despite being set firmly within an alien universe, the game is unabashedly liberal in its politics; with its approach to big corporations and the billionaires that run them, High on Life 2 screams, in no uncertain terms, “eat the rich”.
The gameplay’s core pillar, its gunplay, is a little rough around the edges, housing a few imperfections within its mechanics. Aiming is snappy enough, and it’s hard to fault hit detection; however, there’s something about the shooting that struck me as kind of sloppy that I can’t quite quantify. I do love the Gatlians, the living guns that are central to the game’s world, and how varied their powers are. It feeds nicely into both combat variety, exploration, and the game’s light puzzle craft, although I do think their presence and value to the humour is a little more prevalent.
Perhaps the developer is their own worst enemy in that they, similar to Hazelight, poured countless ideas, far beyond the Gatlians themselves, into this sequel to keep things moving without going stale. It likely left them unable to ensure polish across the board; however, what’s here remains fun and accessible.
I do think that perhaps skateboarding, a mechanic added to assist with locomotion throughout this game’s bigger hub areas, has also ended up hamstringing the combat to a degree. Getting through the game’s world quicker is clearly beneficial within the right contexts, and grinding rails is a lot of fun; combining it with combat leaves things feeling rushed and frenetic in a way that doesn’t necessarily improve upon the combat’s tempo. I also felt a bit of a push-pull between managing the almost on-rails movement whilst aiming, and it did turn out to be a bit finicky. But again, as a means of getting around, it’s an inspired addition to the franchise, especially when coupled with the RV-centric fast travel system that never leaves you grounded for long.
I also adore how the game’s humour manages to fold into character customisation, there are tongue-in-cheek skate decks to pick from, but I also loved the outfits I found myself in throughout the story, especially the one inspired by Prince. Right at the beginning, the game asks you to sketch your own portrait, using a rather clumsy control scheme that, in all of the worst ways, reminded me of writing on the walls with shit in Duke Nukem Forever. To see that same crude drawing pop up an hour later on my character’s reward poster had me actually howling, as not only had I never expected a throwaway gag like that to rear its head again, but my artwork was expectedly shit.
As with the first game, the use of colour is vibrant and explosive; it looks as though everyone in the game’s world has jogged through The Color Run. Everything is caked in beautiful pastels, and I do think the game’s utterly alien aesthetic owes a lot to its art direction and colour choices. The level design and attention to detail run the gauntlet, to a degree, with its broader, more open spaces feeling a bit more bland and forgettable when compared to carefully-designed, although less-interactive, bespoke moments such as the aforementioned murder mystery.
The game doesn’t shy away from uncomfortable visuals either, although it’s careful as to where it oversteps for shock value, opting to tastefully blur enormous cock monoliths while letting the blood run free in combat with some insanely violent deaths; but what can you expect when one of the game’s co-leads is a bloodthirsty knife named Knifey?
The Gatlians themselves are undoubtedly the game’s heart, whether you’re a fan or not. Although I didn’t have that pre-requisite connection to the returning cast, I quickly found favourites among them. I do think the new additions, like Sheath, brought to life by the booming bellows of Ralph Ineson, and Travis, our lonely companion for the aforementioned luxury cruise, bring plenty to the game, in terms of both mechanics and entertainment. Sheath shoots electrical rods, which can be transformed into rideable ziplines, while Travis can discharge a goop that causes items to spring into the air. The game makes clever use of both of these abilities, in particular, when it comes to traversal. As a big fan of I Think You Should Leave, Detroiters, The Chair Company, and his work on Saturday Night Live, I was rapt to hear the dulcet tones of Tim Robinson, who returns as Creature, a fan favourite from the first game.
While I can’t compare it to the first, I get a real sense that the aim with High on Life 2 was escalation and going bigger than before. I think everything the original built its house on, its humour, its gunplay, and a welcoming world to explore, was still clearly an enormous priority for the team. I do think great effort has been made to improve upon these areas; for example, the new Gatlians and the skateboard, in tandem, make exploration an out-and-out joy, even if it’s to the detriment of the combat and arenas, which have now been designed with this enhanced mobility in mind. All in all, it’s a game that knows its audience, and it turns out I’m among the many who enjoy the unpredictable moment-to-moment of the story, all the while gobbling up the dick and balls jokes from the trough that is High on Life 2.