It’s time to get squanchy up in here, as Justin Rolland’s and Squanch Games’ High on Life has finally arrived! Is it everything you would expect from the masters of dark humor? Read on to find out in our High on Life review, where we talk about the humor, the game’s story, gameplay, and more.

Ah Jeez!

Set in an alternative universe where earth gets invaded by an alien drug cartel, High on Life sees players take on the role of an unnamed dimension-hopping bounty hunter. The goal? Hunt down members of the space cartel, kill their boss and save your race and planet from destruction.

While not the most original of stories, the comedic, crude, and offensive approach that Justin Rolland and Squanch Games bring to High on Life makes for an enjoyably fun and engaging experience — for the most part, at least.

Right from the very start, you’re introduced to an alien race that is, no joke, talking guns. Rolland himself voices the first gun you get. He’s a pistol who goes by the name of Kenny with a voice that resembles Morty of the Rick and Morty series.

Probably not an accident either, as even his personality is best summed up as a Morty, in that he comes off cowardly, only to show later acts of bravery and momentary outbursts like Morty himself. He would be the Mortiest of Morties amongst talking guns if that were an actual thing.

For a good chunk of the game, he’ll be your main companion, though you rescue a few other guns that fit the standard archetypes of guns in a shooter. Each weapon is voiced by someone different and brings their unique personality. A smart move, considering that the game’s general tone amongst Kenny, the mob bosses, and even the world’s NPCs all come off as overly sarcastic. You’ll instantly know this is a project by Justin Rolland the moment a character opens their mouth, so it’s nice to hear some fresh voices every now and then.

But if you aren’t a fan of Rolland’s humor, High on Life probably isn’t for you. 

While I’ve grown to it, I’ll admit that High on Life may take things a bit too far. And I don’t mean this in the sense that they’re pushing the boundaries of controversy, but rather the level of self-awareness and how far the game will go to try and get a joke to land. Seeing two characters go from a civil discussion and slowly descend into a non-stop exchange of F-bombs is funny at first, but then I began to get a feeling of deja vu shortly after as I found yet another pair bickering. It doesn’t help that outside of the main cast, literally everyone almost sounds like Morty, and seeing two similar voices arguing amongst each other got old and tiring quick.

It’s fun in small doses, but the extent the game will go to barrage you with it does get ridiculous. At one point, a random NPC blocked my screen and went on a non-stop rant. I just wanted it to be over so I could enjoy the world I was exploring. I didn’t need a five-minute talk explaining why a joke was actually funny, because it wasn’t…it fell flat, so let’s move on.

Looking past that, I do love the deeper story that Squanch Games are telling with High on Life. It’s not supposed to be taken serious at first glance, but you’ll realize there are layers to these characters and the world they inhabit. At one point, I genuinely felt for the characters and even a bit sad at times. That’s one of the charms Rolland brings to the writing, making us care for some of the most unbearable characters and I think High on Life does a great job at doing that.

When you aren’t hunting down bounties, you can freely explore levels and take on side missions. Side missions aren’t the craziest and most elaborate ones we’ve seen in a video game, but they certainly lead up to some of the coolest set pieces in the game. Plenty of hidden Easter eggs are scattered throughout, with even some very unexpected cameos. At one point I found myself in an abandoned theatre, perhaps the last one in existence in this universe, with an entire full length movie (that’s an hour and thirty minutes) playing. There are three characters sitting front row, providing commentary as the film plays and if you listen closely you may recognize who the trio are. It was a pretty surreal moment, but certainly one that paid off. 

Did My Gun Just Give…Birth?

In addition to each gun having their own personality, as mentioned before, they also fall into the standard weapon archetypes. However, with them being living organisms, there are some added twists in how their secondaries operate. Take the shotgun, who is named Gus and voiced by JB Smoove. He functions much like a shotgun, shooting out pellets of bullets that deal massive damage. His secondary however is pretty gross, where he’ll open up his legs and begin sucking in enemies to shorten distance. 

Creature, who is voiced by Tim Robinson (and strangely looks a little like him) has tiny creatures growing inside of him that can be shot out, clinging and biting nearby enemies. His secondary allows him to take control of an enemy, causing them to attack others. 

There are more guns with other abilities, such as freezing time, and grappling. All in all, I really enjoyed the weapon selection, even if they were a little gross in their presentation. 

On top of being a shooter, High on Life is also somewhat of a platformer. I say somewhat, because despite giving players a decent amount of puzzles, and ways to traverse, I think the platforming is the weakest part of the game. You’ll find that you’ll be doing a ton of jumping, and if you aren’t careful you could easily come up short and instantly fall to your death. Luckily the checkpoint system sets you back only a tiny bit from where you died. 

You get a cool bounty suit that gives you abilities like dashing and a jet pack, but otherwise little else. Maybe a sequel could expand on it more, giving upgrades paths to improve those functions.

High on Visuals

Looking at High on Life, it’s an odd looking game, because it looks like a cartoon, while at the same time looks, real? If you’ve watched shows like Adventure Time, Amazing World of Gumball, and even Spongbob SquarePants, you may recall instances where they randomly cut to closeups of characters with the art style changing completely to appear as realistic as a cartoon can be. Those gross closeups are probably the best way to describe the visuals of High on Life and I freaking love it. 

Environments all look gorgeous, with plenty of variety in them as you hop from one world to the next. There are cyberpunk-like cities, rundown slums, western towns in deserts, futuristic labs, lush filled forests, and plenty of other locations that feel plucked right out of someone’s dream, especially when looking at the skyboxes. 

In the latter half of the game, things get crazy with some insanely impressive effects that blend beautifully with the game’s visuals. And while I can’t attest for the Xbox version, the PC version of High on Life runs superbly smooth on a 3080Ti GPU. 

To my surprise, High on Life is running on Unreal Engine 4. I mean, I see it now in retrospect as the world has a “plastic” look too it, but it uses that to its advantage to give some of the best visuals in a video game. Squanch Games makes impressive use of the engine.

Verdict

Having played through the entire 8-12 hour long campaign, I’m pleasantly surprised by what Squanch Games accomplished with High on Life. Sure, it’s the not the greatest game out there, and yeah, the humor isn’t for everyone. However, in a year where we have gotten quite a few triple AAA games that have played like utter poo, seeing a small studio such as this deliver an experience like this one, it’s rather refreshing. 

The game serves as an excellent foundation for (what is hopefully) the start of a franchise. The gameplay is fun, though with flaws, and the writing and story are hilarious, despite overstaying in some parts. And visually speaking, I think this might be one of the best-looking games I’ve played all year, thanks to its unique art direction. As a title that is part of this month’s Game Pass offering, I cannot recommend this anymore. And if you aren’t a subscriber and fancy the dark humor Rolland is known for, it’s well worth the price of admission. 

Score: 8.5/10

Pros

• Great gunplay. Guns are unique and fun to use.
• Story is hilarious and entertaining, but only if Rolland’s dark humor is one you like. 
• Visuals are stunning. Perfectly fits the humor.

Cons

• Music is lacking, especially the battle music.
• Plenty of jokes don’t land, which is fine, but the game tends to shove it in your face when they don’t, so it becomes more annoying.
• Platforming sections could used more work and complexity, with gameplay bing polished to work with them better.

High on Life review code provided by publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.