Ever since I played the first High on Life and Trover Saves The Universe, Squanch Games has been a studio I’ve always kept my eye on. Their games are very entertaining, with laugh-out-loud performances from numerous comedians and some of the most unique experiences in gaming. Due to this, when High on Life 2 was announced, my hype for this sequel was very high.
Now, after all the buildup, I finally got to return to the insane world Squanch Games created, and it’s once again impressed me. I enjoyed every inch of High on Life 2, from the story to its addictive gameplay. I loved exploring the world, finding the game’s secrets and wacky encounters that I know even on completion, I’ve still got tons to look for.
High on Life 2 is available on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, with a release for a Nintendo Switch 2 version in April. You can buy High on Life 2 for $59.99/£49.99.
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Story – You vs Big Space Pharma!!!
Take down each cog that supports Rhea Pharma
Knifey’s Disneyland
Once again, Squanch Games presents us with “quality” TV
Characters – The Good, The Great, and The Pointless
With a sequel, you tend to lose a few characters from the original; some get lesser roles, and of course, a bunch of new characters breathe new life into the series. High on Life 2 is, of course, guilty of this, but there aren’t many bad examples. It really only stems towards Lizzie and Harper.
Lizzie is now the leader of a freedom-fighting group and has much less cringe dialogue. However, the game still barely does anything with her outside of one or two sections when she gets to help you fight enemies.
Harper, a Gatlian who replaced Kenny in the High on Knife DLC, is now just a character to speak to that sticks with Lizzie. This would be fine, but with this decision, we’ve lost a gun to use, and the character doesn’t do much to the point that she’s almost forgettable.
You’ll assemble new and past characters in your hideout
Speaking of forgettable characters, we’re introduced to K-SO, a robot that is a member of Lizzie’s band of freedom fighters. They’re a nicely designed robot character that has a good voice. But sadly, their character just informs the player on what Lizzie is like alone, alongside just telling jokes related to your past missions. I kept waiting for some big moment or reason for the character’s existance but that moment never really came.
Another new character that isn’t forgettable but is sadly wasted is Repticle, a knarly looking lizard alien that you befriend early in the game. I felt that his character was wasted since, after the intro, all he does for the rest of the game is become a shop for skateboards. You don’t get any cool side quests with him; he doesn’t help with the main story at all.
Such a cool character design and personality, shame he’s barely in the game
Outside of these characters, we’re reintroduced to a lot of the past cast, like Knifey, Gus, Sweezy, Creature, Gene and our helpful tutorial AI Suit-O. They’re all still top-notch characters, delivering great performances and providing hours of humour. However, the new additions to our Gatlian roster stole the show for me.
Sheath, a former assassin turned Gatlian hybrid, was a fantastic addition, bringing that dry straight man humour that absolutely cracks me up, and boy did the game deliver on that. The other new additions that were great to get to know were the dual-wielding couple, Travis and Jan, a married couple currently going through a bump in their marriage. You meet Travis first and Jan sometime later, but their back and forth was always enjoyable to listen to.
Travis is having some marital problems
Gameplay – Tony Hawk With Guns
The biggest improvement that High on Life 2 delivers exceptionally well is with its movement, particularly with the addition of the skateboard. When it was first advertised that you’ll be traversing through the Sci-Fi landscapes via the board, I wasn’t looking forward to it. However, it turned out to be one of High on Life 2‘s greatest strengths since I can’t stop grinding around its three explorable areas.
You can use the skateboard for parkour to scale the heights of each stage, and if you can find it, prove your skating skills in races and challenges. What’s even better is that you can use it in combat, which you’d think would be quite difficult, but it’s surprisingly easy to learn and master.
Sheath can use electricity to solve puzzles and cause explosive damage to foes
Speaking of combat, the numerous Gatlians you wield are once again the stars of the game. Each weapon possesses unique abilities, terrific designs and a humorous personality. Gus, Sweezy and Creature return with some changes to how their weapons work. Sweezy went through the biggest changes, with her Needler-like bullets no longer providing bonus damage on melee hits.
However, the new weapons you unlock through the story (and one bonus weapon if you can find all the pieces) are a welcome selection of heavy hitters to the cast. Notable new weapons were Sheath and Bowie. One is another Halo-inspired weapon that acts as a battle rifle, and the other is a bow that uses portals to slow down time for those easy headshots.
Sadly, even with upgrades, it made most of the roster obsolete since, after acquiring Sheath, I rarely used Gus, Creature and Sweezy outside of puzzles.
Bosses & Enemies – The Scum & The Villainy
The original game had us fighting against the G3 Cartel, which gave us a range of different enemy types. In High on Life 2, you get to see a return of those same enemy types alongside a few new foes.
The remnants of the G3 ended up joining a mercenary group called The Good Guys, who have some unique cyborg-like enemies to fight. They’re pretty easy to dispatch, but what’s cool about them is that parts of their body still try to attack you after you kill them. You’ll also fend off a few new creatures, like biker-like bounty hunters, some low-poly skeletons, ghosts, and much more.
An early boss, Kreg, delivers an intense fight aboard a sinking ship
Bosses in High on Life 2 have received an upgrade, with almost every fight being a unique and memorable experience. Almost every target mission contains 1-2 boss fights that can either be an intense shootout or an absolute trip.
Prominent bosses I faced included fighting through a murder arena, skateboard battles, and one terrifying experience through a cornfield. My favourites were the Senator Muppy Doo battle that definitely had an Iron Man vs Ant-Man vibe. The other is the final boss, where it puts everything you’ve learnt to the test alongside just some hilarious writing.
Side Activities – Classic Video Game Shenanigans
Like the first game, High on Life 2 is filled with random encounters with NPCs that will either be a funny conversation or an actual activity of sorts. I met quite a few wacky characters, like a taxi driver who gave me a crazy taxi-like activity, a strange fellow offering me money if I pressed a red button, and someone trying to sell me a sandcastle as real estate.
There are many more that I’d love to talk about, but it’s best experienced firsthand. There are many you’ll miss on your first playthrough. I logged in over 25 hours, and I’m still learning new encounters and secrets.
You’ll see a bunch of odd locals in each map
Similar to the first game, there are many collectable chests scattered around the maps, providing currency, upgrades and some fashionable accessories for your weapons. There are wanted posters to hunt down with Knifey, which include a selection of enemies to fight. They’re fun distractions, but thankfully, they’re not the only thing you can collect.
High on Life 2 presents you with fully playable classic arcade games that can be found throughout the game and installed into your hideout’s arcade. These were fun to collect, though not particularly fun to play. Though one fun arcade game I did find was the amazing Frasier Crane Crane Game. Sadly, not voiced by Kelsey Grammar; however, you get to hear some iconic lines from the show and earn some lovely memorabilia from the game.
It’s beautiful
Some other side activities available come in the form of skateboard challenges and races. They’re fun and pay homage to Tony Hawks Pro Skater; however, I ended up just ignoring most of them since I quickly realised I could just enjoy using the entire map as my skateboarding playground.
Other activities I gave a go at were the escape room experience (highly recommend it), fishing for new residents in my aquarium, and solving puzzles in Infestation sites. There are a lot more things to do outside of the main story this time around, though I do miss the warp disks from the first game that gave us wacky experiences.
When you’re done facing Big Pharma, take a break in the finest escape rooms around
Bugs & Other Annoyances – From Hilarious to Game Breaking
So sadly, High on Life 2 was not spared by the tragedy of a buggy launch week. There were many occasions where an NPC would start speaking and either their audio would cut out or their mouths would stop moving.
One hilarious example of this was during Travis’ introduction, where we partied with him to get access to the luxury yacht. Right at the end on the beach, Travis is lying down on the sand looking like a dead fish, his lips are meant to be moving to show that he’s talking, but alas, to no avail. We also got a few runaway NPCs, especially in the hideout, where a character will just randomly start walking away from you while talking to you.
What’s worse than bugs? Paperwork!!!
Now, unfortunately its not all sunshine and rainbows with these harmless bugs. I sadly experienced a few areas of the game where the game would either crash or I’d get softlocked from progressing. This would happen in some side activities like filling out paperwork in the complaints paperwork, which of course, would make me start again after rebooting. I ended up not bothering with the activity after the third crash.
I only encountered one example of a softlock with the boss fight on Earth, where I was thrown out of a boss area and fell through the world. Once I respawned, the game started the boss fight, but I was located outside of the area and was only able to continue by getting the boss to grab me through a wall. Regardless of these bugs that will most likely be fixed in the coming weeks, High on Life 2 remains an entertaining adventure.
Graphics & Audio – Updated Visuals But Needs More Elbow Grease At Times
The visuals for High on Life 2 have mostly been updated with a very nice new coating. Many new environments look gorgeous and are filled with Sci-Fi goodness. My favourite places to visit were the Pinkline Harbour, the Convention Planet, and City Arcadia.
Some issues do occur with some environments, like when close to the shopping mall in City Arcadia, the brightness suddenly increases, as if someone had smeared vaseline on the screen. I also noticed that the game would reload NPC designs sometimes after reloading a checkpoint, which I found odd.
Regarding audio, as I said above, there were a bunch of audio issues, but it didn’t stop me from enjoying the game’s comedy. The performances by practically all the main actors are great. Standout performances go to Ralp Ineson (Sheath), Ken Marino (Travis), JB Smoove (Gus) and Michael Cusack (Knifey). I loved Knifey and Sheath’s interactions the most, especially during Murdercon.
A special shoutout to Alec Robbins, who plays Suit-O. They probably had the best character development, and their performance was hands down my favourite. Outside of the voice acting, the soundtrack is still as chaotic as the original game. Though sometimes the audiomixing with dialogue and music doesn’t match up, costing us some important or comedic moments.
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- The Convention Planet had probably the best visuals in the game
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- Visit the sunny Pinkline Harbor
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- Can you solve your target’s murder?
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- Probably the most safest Halo ring in the galaxy
High on Life 2 was reviewed on PS5 via a key courtesy of Tara Bruno PR.
