High on Life 2 Preview – Squanch Games Faux Skater

High on Life seemingly had one guiding question that fueled every design decision: What's the funniest thing we can do here? It's the kind of over-the-top, wildly left-field humor that's in line with Rick & Morty, as you'd expect, and High on Life 2 takes those ideas to new heights. 

I played it a few weeks ago at a Microsoft event during PAX West weekend, where we also chatted with Squanch Games COO Matty Studivan about this sequel that takes things to more radical places (in more ways than one). 

In High on Life 2, you must use your intergalactic hitman abilities to take down a sci-fi-comedy metaphor for big pharma. The talking weapons from the first game return, though some new ones have joined the fray. Most interestingly, however, is that you can't sprint in this game. Instead, you skate.

High on Laughs

If you played the first game or have watched Rick & Morty, you'll know exactly what to expect with High on Life 2 in terms of its narrative and character moments. A prime example from the demo I played is when I was infiltrating an area to assassinate my target. 

Of course, the front door was guarded, so I had to sneak in through some other means. In most other games, you'd find that vent or elevator shaft and simply use it. Congratulations, you reached the next checkpoint. 

In High on Life 2, I just went slightly to the right and found an elevator being worked on by maintenance. I approached the worker, heard a little of his spiel, and then walked past him to get in the elevator, which immediately broke. 

From there, he asked if I could help him fix the elevator by hitting some buttons inside. At some point, he asks me to hold one button for 20 seconds, then while holding it, hit another button. Astute gamers might realize that there's only, in fact, one interact button.

So even if you follow the charade of counting to 20, you can't do it. And the worker says something that points out that you don't really have the capacity to hit two interact buttons.

In other words, it's meta comedy all the way down. That meta humor comes into play during a boss fight in the demo. I won't spoil it too much, but let's just say that it surpassed my expectations in terms of just how much Squanch Games is dedicated to obliterating the fourth wall. If this wouldn't risk legal trouble, I'm sure they would joke about deleting system32 to solve a puzzle.

Even the premise of High on Life 2 lives on the line between absurd and ridiculous. My mission was to hunt down a fictional senator named Muppy Doo, who was giving a speech at a convention. So I had to go to the Convention Planet and go through Parking Con and Con Con (again, meta) to get to his convention. Of course, it was impossible to find parking at Parking Con.

Love It or Skate It

This kind of humor can be pretty polarizing; often it's either incredibly your thing or absolutely not your thing. Regardless, what's hard to deny is that the core gameplay itself is fun, amid all the jokes and jabs.

This first-person shooter feels more energetic and frantic than its prequel, and what really contributes to the frenetic pace is the new sprint mechanic. Instead of running, your character whips out a skateboard, immediately changing the trajectory of how you move.

It takes a bit to get used to just because it really does feel like riding a skateboard instead of sprinting in something like Call of Duty. Once you get the hang of it though, you can also leap onto walls and ride them for a bit. Rails can be grinded on, adding another option for cruising around an arena.

The talking weapons make a return here, as expected. They're arguably the heart and core of High on Life, providing both comedic relief and narrative advancement. Each has an alternate fire mode as well, which can doubly be used to solve certain puzzles in the environment.

The new weapon I found in the demo was a three-shot burst rifle named Sheath, and he's voiced by the buttery-brutal tones of Ralph Ineson. His alternate fire shoots out a giant spike, and you can chain it to multiple enemies to make them all collide into each other. It adds a nice amount of crowd control that comes in handy, especially when you get a little overwhelmed.

High on Life 2 Preview | Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, I think a lot of people interested in High on Life 2 already know exactly what they're signing up for. This is a comedy game first and foremost, which is both its greatest strength and greatest weakness. If you like quirky meta humor, you'll like this, but the equal and opposite is also true. At the very least, the tone seems consistent in the demo, and it will always stand out from the pack regarding all the first-person shooters out there.

Over the long term, I'm curious how well the narrative will land. Joking the entire time can potentially get old, and I personally ran out of steam partway through the first game. But with more exciting gameplay, maybe High on Life 2 will have enough juice to keep things radical all the way to the end. 

High on Life 2 was previewed at an Xbox event in Redmond, WA, courtesy of Microsoft.