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| High On Life 2 turns neon alien streets into skate parks full of hostile creatures and talking guns. |
High On Life 2 doesn’t waste time getting you settled. You wake up in a crowded house full of alien guests, step out into busy streets, and you’re pushed toward your next contract almost right away. Your guns never stop talking, and every missed shot or bad jump gets some kind of comment.
The sequel is built around “more.” Cities stretch higher and wider, with rails and ramps hanging over traffic. A skateboard replaces sprinting and turns long streets into lines you can ride from one end of a hub to the other. Between jobs you can jump into races, quick errands, and odd side activities that sit between the main bounties.
Under all of that, High On Life 2 tries harder to give you a story that matters. You’re not just cleaning up after the old cartel again. A giant pharma company treats humans like product and hides behind friendly ads. That pulls your family, your home, and every chatty gun you carry into a mess that keeps getting bigger.
High On Life 2 Details
Platforms: Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, PC, Nintendo Switch 2
Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Developer: Squanch Games
Publisher: Squanch Games
Genre: First-Person Shooter, Action Adventure
Game Modes: Single-player
Back In The Bounty Hunter Spotlight
High On Life 2 picks up after the G3 cartel story, and your earlier work is now treated like legend. Your place turns into a hangout for strange visitors, and that reputation brings eyes you don’t want. It only takes one visit from the past to put your family back on the line and shove you into another hunt.
The new problem runs straight through Rhea Pharma. This company is massive, turns human lives into product, and hides that behind smiling adverts and buzzwords. You’re not just chasing targets for a quick payout anymore. You’re following the money, calling out who looks away, and seeing how deep that hole goes with politicians and rich backers who treat people as numbers on a report. The writing doesn’t get subtle, but it makes the main enemy clearer than the first game and gives you a straighter path from bounty to bounty.
Your family and crew also matter more. Your sister moves past a single gag and becomes part of the story in a more direct way. Your mother has her own choices that set up stranger twists later on. Your home fills up with new faces, and the way they talk to you shifts as you move through key chapters.
The flip side is pace. High On Life 2 almost never takes a breath. Jokes, arguments, and quick comments stack on top of the pharma plot. It can be funny, but it also means some important moments slide past under constant chatter and busy hubs that keep pushing you to the next big scene.
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| High On Life 2 links its pharma plot to loud, violent encounters where jokes and danger sit right on top of each other. |
Guns, Boards, And Crowded Arenas
High On Life 2 is still a first-person shooter at heart. This time it stacks more toys and moving parts on top. You swap between Gatlians that each have a basic shot, a special move, and a utility skill. Your setup can cover wide blasts, piercing shots, and trick tools that hold targets in place. One shotgun shoves enemies back. One rifle drills through armour or cover. Another gadget lets you control a group long enough to line up clean follow-ups.
Once you unlock enough upgrades and later weapons, you start to see what the game is aiming for. At that point you’re weaving between foes, swapping guns mid-run, and using special moves to set up bigger hits. The problem is getting there.
Early combat feels flat. Enemies soak up shots, several alt fires don’t feel worth using, and fights blend together in a way that doesn’t ask you to think much about which gun you’re using. Some arenas feel like circles where you just clear waves until the last target drops. Later bounties improve things with tighter layouts and stronger tools like a second pistol or bow-style weapon that finally cut through tougher groups. The issue is timing. Those upgrades arrive late, so a big chunk of the campaign never hits the promise of that flexible loadout.
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| High On Life 2 stacks talking weapons, aggressive enemies, and skateboard movement into busy arena shootouts. |
Skateboard Streets And Sprawling Hubs
Movement is where High On Life 2 pushes hardest to change how you play. The skateboard replaces sprinting almost everywhere. You slide along rails, flip off ramps, and hop between platforms while still firing. When an arena is built around that idea, you can carve through the space in long lines, bounce from a grind into a midair shot, and slam into a grunt before swapping back to your favourite gun. Those runs show what this sequel is trying to do.
You also hit plenty of spots where the board turns into more of a problem than a toy. Tight hallways and cramped rooms make movement awkward. Some rails don’t catch you cleanly, and certain enemies can knock you outside the playspace. When that happens you end up staring at a reload screen instead of feeling slick. It’s a big swing that needs stronger support from level layouts than it gets.
Outside straight firefights, bounties and hubs follow a more layered routine. Each contract now starts with a small trail to follow. You poke around, listen for leads, and track your target before the game drops you into a more traditional arena run.
Between those contracts you can test yourself with races, skateboard challenges, and quick odd jobs. You can hunt for glowing chests tucked away on side paths and rooftops. There’s even a fishing distraction with its own running joke. Some of this side content unlocks suit upgrades or new parts for your board. A few paths lead to extra endings or longer scenes if you want to pick over every corner.
Getting around the hubs can be frustrating. Hubs are packed with rails, side streets, and raised platforms, but the route you’re meant to take isn’t always clear. Markers sometimes stall because a trigger doesn’t fire or an enemy gets stuck behind a wall. A murder mystery stretch sounds great at first and then ends up feeling like a short detour instead of a real change of pace. When everything behaves, skating through these areas and cleaning up bounties has a scrappy charm. When the game starts acting up, you end up reloading checkpoints more often than actually using your tools.
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| High On Life 2 often throws you into midair gunfights where talking weapons, moving platforms, and explosions all hit at once. |
Colourful Cities, Strong Voices, Shaky Tech
High On Life 2 hits you with bright colour as soon as you step outside. Streets are full of signs, goo, and visual jokes in the background. Rhea’s labs and offices use clean walls and harsh lighting that make the uglier details harder to ignore. Rails and ramps cut through both, so even a simple run back to a vendor can turn into a quick skate line.
Fights can look crowded, but enemy shapes are usually clear enough that you can track targets while flying past them on your board. The Gatlians sell a lot of the look. Each has its own odd design and facial ticks, from droopy eyes to twitching mouths. Those small changes in expression match their mood. When a Gatlian is annoyed, worried, or pleased with something you just pulled off, you see it on the model as well as hearing it in the dialogue. Your home also shifts over time. New clutter appears, and objects move around as the story moves forward, so it really comes across as a space people actually live in.
Audio is split between strong acting and rougher support. Performances from the guns and side characters carry a lot of scenes, and some of the funniest bits work because of timing rather than the exact line. There’s almost always someone talking. That can keep you entertained, but it also means weaker jokes are very hard to ignore.
Music doesn’t always pull its weight. Some fights kick off with a solid track and feel more intense because of it. Other times, songs arrive late or don’t start, which makes big arenas feel strangely empty. It’s jarring when a lot is happening on screen and the soundtrack just doesn’t show up.
Performance has real trouble. Texture pop-in and small hitches are common during bigger encounters. More serious problems come from scripting and level flow. Doors stay closed until you reload. Objectives don’t update when they should. Enemies disappear into walls. Vehicles or key characters only appear after you jump back to the last checkpoint. Autosaves protect progress, but sitting through that many reloads wears down the sense of place the game’s trying to build.
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| Bright alien streets, rails, and explosions give High On Life 2 a loud, crowded look that matches its talking guns and humour. |
High On Life 2 Is Packed With Fun Ideas And Plenty Of Headaches
High On Life 2 tries to give you more of everything that made the original a cult favourite. You get Gatlians that talk more, hit better punchlines, and feel better matched to the pharma story. The main plot actually has something clear to say. The skateboard can turn the right arena into a wild playground when level design keeps up.
When the pieces line up, High On Life 2 is easy to enjoy. You skate through bright streets, swap between guns on the fly, and listen to bizarre aliens argue about every bad choice you make. It still has a strange pull you don’t see in many other shooters.
The reality is that you don’t get those moments often enough. Combat spends too long feeling flat before the better tools arrive. Hubs are large, and it can be hard to see where the game wants you to go next. Bugs disrupt bounties with stuck enemies, stalled objectives, and scenes that don’t trigger until you reload.
If you liked the first High On Life and mainly want more sarcastic weapons and odd sci-fi humour, this sequel covers that part. You just have to accept frequent reloads, rough combat in the early chapters, and long stretches where it feels like the game might break again at any moment. High On Life 2 is packed with ideas and has a clear voice. It’s also the kind of game you enjoy in short bursts and grumble at in between.
High On Life 2 Review Summary
Liked
- Talking guns with stronger delivery and a bigger focus on how they react to the pharma story
- Skateboard movement that can turn the right arenas into fast, playful spaces when layouts support it
- Bigger hubs with races, odd jobs, and secrets that can lead to extra scenes or alternate endings
- Story that puts Rhea Pharma, your family, and your crew at the centre instead of just another cartel
- Colourful alien cities, expressive Gatlians, and a home base that changes as the campaign moves forward
Didn’t Like
- Early combat feels flat, with spongy enemies and weak alt fires before stronger weapons arrive
- Hubs can be confusing to read, and some routes or objectives stall because triggers don’t fire
- Skateboard feels clumsy in tight spaces and can throw you out of bounds or into reload screens
- Frequent bugs, missing music in some fights, and scripting issues that break the flow of bounties
Overall Assessment of High On Life 2
Gameplay: ⭐⭐⭐½☆ (3.5 / 5)
Presentation: ⭐⭐⭐½☆ (3.5 / 5)
Performance: ⭐⭐⭐☆☆ (3.0 / 5)
Story / Narrative: ⭐⭐⭐⭐ (4.0 / 5)
Fun Factor: ⭐⭐⭐½☆ (3.5 / 5)
Overall Value: ⭐⭐⭐½☆ (3.5 / 5)
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