High on Life 2

High On Life 2 sets out to make you laugh, and it does a good job of it. It also sets out to bring you stylish, fast-paced combat with cool movement, and it does a good job of that, too. This is the kind of game that you can put on, laugh at for a while, and forget what's troubling you, even though reminders might slip in through the pointed social commentary. High On Life 2, despite being a battle against Big Pharma, is just what the doctor ordered.

High on Life 2 is here and does not rest, it builds upon what was done before and aims even higher (on life).

While it doesn’t have the shock value novelty of the first game, High on Life 2 makes up for it with ambitious level design, polished movement, and a more grounded, coherent narrative. All the fun of the first game’s talking guns and wicked humor remains, entertainingly voiced and paired with engaging combat and interesting environments. There are moments when High on Life 2 feels a little over-caffeinated, and it can be exhausting over long stretches. Overall, though, High on Life 2 demonstrates that the first game’s concepts and mechanics were more than one-off novelties. High on Life 2 keeps a good thing going strong.

High On Life 2 presents such a constant barrage of ridiculous humour and memorable gameplay scenarios that it can be a great deal of fun. At the same time, its core gameplay is quite simple and not everyone will appreciate its world's cynical albeit colourful lens.

With High On Life 2, Squanch Games has created a wonderfully colorful, varied, and creative game. The gameplay is tightly structured, and the humor is absolutely captivating, but never overly crude. It's a game I can't play continuously however as it's still quite chaotic in terms of overall impressions. That said, the game is an improvement over the first installment in almost every aspect and is definitely worth playing. A short break between main missions is certainly a necessity for me.

High on Life 2 falls between too many stools to be worthy of a seat at the top table. Its humour will be divisive, sure, but provides plenty of laughs. The gameplay never quite clicks despite propelling you through the story at a fair clip. But its wonkiest pillar is the technical instability of its world, which is rife with glitches that swallow characters into walls, overlap dialogue or, unforgivably, make completing a quest impossible.

The humor, references, and gameplay of High on Life 2 match, and then exceed, that of the first game.

Even with problems that can easily be removed or changed after a few updates, High on Life 2 stands out not for its gameplay (which, even though frantic, is still a bit generic) nor for its story, but for its creativity. Memorable and creative boss battles and sharp dialogue without much exaggeration make High on Life 2 excel in its main objective: delivering fun.

High on Life 2 is bigger and louder than the first game, but it also feels more considered. Movement finally matters and feels tight while exploration feeds back into progression in meaningful ways. The humor is still relentless, but it’s paced better, and the world gives you more space to exist between jokes. It’s not flawless. I ran into performance hiccups on Xbox, and not every gag lands. Some fights still drift into visual overload. But I never felt bored, and I never felt like the game was coasting on novelty alone. If you enjoyed the first game’s energy, this gives you more of that but with better flow and stronger structure underneath. If you already hated the talking guns, you won’t last long here.

I don’t want to describe any specific beats too much, for fear of spoilers, but I’d say these stupendous moments — the payoff and the punchlines that punctuate each main quest — are worth the price of admission on their own, especially if you already have Game Pass!

Three years after Roilad left Squanch Games, the studio is now showing what it's capable of. High on Life 2 offers a narrative shooter that mixes elements of all kinds to create a unique and highly satisfying product. The frenetic combat on skateboards, the hilarious dialogue, and the thousand crazy situations we'll experience make this sequel a great game that hooks you and works well for all kinds of shooter genre lovers. A 90s-style space opera that you'll love to have in your game library.

Overall I had a blast with High On Life 2 from start to finish. With improved gameplay and in my opinion improved writing as well, fans of the first game and maybe even some detractors will find a lot to like here. Although the reduced metroidvania elements are disappointing and some tech issues can be annoying, it wasn't nearly enough to bring the overall experience down. If Squanch decides to go with High On Life 3, I await it greatly.

The new title from Squanch Games is extremely ambitious, attempting to expand the original formula in every aspect. However, it clashes with production issues, resulting in a rough and imperfect experience with a repetitive gameplay loop. What truly shines is the brilliant writing, absurd situations, and memorable characters. If you seek a flawless FPS, look elsewhere; but if you want a crazy, fun adventure, High on Life 2 remains a wonderfully flawed gem.

High on Life 2, which is both helped along and hindered by the double-edged sword that is its new skateboarding mechanic, is a big, boisterous, and profoundly vulgar video game. Like the original, it’s another for the Adult Swim crowd, delivering the same boorish brand of humour as before. Luckily, I am that crowd and laughed plenty, while finding great joy in the game’s irrepressible need to move from gag to gag, and from moment-to-moment, while never being able to predict what it’d throw at me next.

While the new additions to High on Life 2 make for a more enjoyable shooter experience than its predecessor, there’s a lack of technical finesse that holds it back. Overall, however, this is a leaner, meaner, and just all-round better game than the first one.

While High On Life 2 can be an entertaining experience, it falls short in several key areas. The story isn’t as memorable as its predecessor, the gunplay doesn’t evolve enough, and the lack of optimization weighs heavily on the overall experience. If you enjoyed the first game, the humor still lands—just not with the same impact. Our recommendation is clear: wait for additional patches before considering a purchase. Beneath the technical issues there’s a solid game that, with more polish, could deliver plenty of laughs and fun.

High on Life 2 is an improvement on the first and one hell of a time. The humor shows just how much in-tune the writers at Squanch game are with their players and that speaks volumes… making it a good time even through its complications.

High on Life 2 capitalizes on what made the original interesting with its guns and boss fights and falls apart on almost everything else. It feels like it isn’t quite finished when it comes to performance and image quality, and a lot of the humor falls flat. I really loved the original game, but the sequel is much harder to recommend. Thankfully it is on Game Pass, so if you subscribe the barrier to entry is low. Otherwise, I have a hard time recommending this one at full price.

High On Life 2 is a fun sequel that expands on the original’s best ideas, including the absurd and memorable boss fights and charming talking guns, while also introducing some neat new concepts, like the skateboarding mechanic (even if that doesn’t do combat any favors). Unfortunately, it also takes a step backward in plenty of other areas, like its underwhelming story, even sloppier gunplay, and rough technical performance. I was still happy to return to this goofy, completely foul world of offensive creatures and irreverent antiheroes the likes of which we simply don’t get enough of these days – but like any joke you've heard multiple times before, this second stab just doesn’t land quite as well as the original.