If you spent a decent amount of time with developer Squanch Games’ original 2022 High on Life, you’ve likely formed a strong opinion regarding the way it presented itself. Whether we’re talking about its vibrant and cartoonish art direction, its unique brand of comedy, or even the “special” feel of its gunplay, you either mostly loved what it had to offer or dropped the game with the same intensity you would some sort of large, poisonous insect that found its way into the palm of your hand. For better or worse, the same can largely be said of the recently released sequel, High on Life 2 - although, objectively speaking, this time around almost all aspects carried over from its predecessor are more refined and expanded upon (apart from the technical side of things, but we’ll get to that mess later on).



Set some time after the events of the first High on Life, a chaotic intergalactic romp that saw our protagonist take down the nefarious G3 Cartel (a group of aliens hell-bent on turning human beings into drugs), High on Life 2 switches the script up in a familiar yet refreshing way – dropping you into the role of a righteous anarchy-fueled killer of corrupt figures (you’re still playing the same character, though). The primary “big bad” organisation linking these dastardly individuals together this time around is the medical titan Rhea Pharmaceuticals, producers of Humanzapro – a medically miraculous pill that, you guessed it, is made from sweet human-y goodness.



As you’d expect from a High on Life sequel, taking down your targets is accomplished by making use of your arsenal of both new and returning Gatlians – an alien species resembling firearms of all shapes and sizes. Gunplay between Gatlians retains that polarizing arcade-like feeling from the first game, almost as if you were firing off something pulled straight from a toy store shelf – in a good way, mostly. Some Gatlians absolutely feel punchier than others, though, and you’ll expand/upgrade your selection as you progress through the storyline. Additionally, all Gatlians feature a bonus ability that can be employed offensively while inside combat or used for (easy to medium difficulty) mid-mission environmental puzzle solving/poking around the hub areas for collectible goodies.

Gunplay between Gatlians retains that polarizing arcade-like feeling from the first game, almost as if you were firing off something pulled straight from a toy store shelf – in a good way, mostly.

Speaking of elements outside of combat, traversing the aforementioned sizeable hubs is now easier than ever thanks to the introduction of a shiny new skateboarding mechanic. Spedding across the map, hopping from rail to rail, bashing into an enemy, and grinding your way from point A to point B feels fantastic – and the accompanying crisp landing sound effects add another layer of satisfaction to it all. There’s even a time trial-style side activity you can participate in, if you just can’t get enough of that hot board action. And the exploratory shenanigans don’t stop there, either, no siree.



From the over-the-top and surreal art style to the large and highly memorable locations visited during your quest (including a luxury cruise liner and a planet solely devoted to hosting large-scale conventions), every inch of every area stands out for one reason or another. Maps feel noticeably livelier than in the original entry and are usually filled with a decent combination of NPCs to talk/listen to or objects to mess around with (producing multiple responses or lines of dialogue). Due to the sheer variety of sights, sounds and gameplay-shifting twists encountered by the player, setting out on a mission always comes with a feeling of excitement - the feeling of not knowing what manner of insanity you’ll be dropped into headfirst.

Mercifully, High on Life 2’s comedic backbone holds up a hell of a lot better than the majority of what was on display in the first game. The expected extended improvisational exchanges still show up here but they’re nowhere near as frequent and drawn-out. Humour, on the whole, feels better paced and is less reliant on beating a single joke directly into the creases of your brain – actually managing to draw more than a few bits of laughter out of me in the process. Voice acting is also mostly excellent, featuring both familiar favourites (J.B. Smoove, Betsy Sodaro, Michael Cusack) and new standouts (Ralph Ineson, Ken Marino).



The worst part of High on Life 2 easily lies in its technical performance. Rough around the edges at times, and outright broken at others, I experienced a whole host of issues both large and small during my playtime. Shadows suddenly popping into existence when you’re almost on top of the affected area, NPCs seemingly stuck walking into invisible walls in the middle of large open areas, repeated lines of dialogue when reloading checkpoints well after the line was originally played, at least one surface locking me in place after being stepped on, and stuttering when moving between certain parts of the world are just a few of the oddities I witnessed as I went about my business. It’s clear High on Life 2 needed a bit more time in the ol’ optimisation oven before launch.

The worst part of High on Life 2 easily lies in its technical performance. Rough around the edges at times, and outright broken at others, I experienced a whole host of issues both large and small during my playtime.

Additionally, the framerate was wildly inconsistent - frequently bouncing anywhere between the low 70s to hitting my personally set cap of 120fps. This is with shadows, global illumination, foliage, and effect quality knocked down to medium, (everything else on high) at a resolution of 1920x1080 and with DLSS enabled (set to performance mode) running on a 16GB RTX 5060ti, for those interested. It’s certainly far from what I’d call unplayable, but it still doesn’t exactly feel consistently great or smooth during gameplay. It’s also worth noting the listed recommended GPU here, at least according to the Steam page, is a 16GB RTX 4080.



On a more serious note, however, I also ran into a replicable crash situation during a later stage of the game which I’m not going to spoil here for the plot’s sake. Basically, the game prompted me to press a certain button to perform an action during a combat encounter and, without fail, doing so would result in the game hitting me with the one-two freeze and crash combo attack time and time again.

If you’re able to push past these problematic technical hurdles, High on Life 2 is a surprisingly enjoyable and highly entertaining journey through cartoon space, stuffed with personality and gameplay variety. You don’t need to have played the original to have a good time with the sequel, but it will obviously enhance the overall experience – one that I think many will agree comes across considerably more cohesive and fleshed out than the 2022 offering. I had my doubts going in, but I came away feeling pleasantly satisfied with the final product.

I’d advise holding off on this one until a few more patches are dropped, though.

PC Review code provided by Squanch Games | High on Life 2 is available to purchase at Nexus Hub for R1,099