I loved the first High on Life, but I wasn’t sure what a sequel could do to really build on its humour and narrative. High on Life 2 clearly answers this by saying “not much!” The game isn’t as funny as the first one, and the story is an obvious retread of the main characters trying to stop the rest of the universe from using humans as drugs again. But where the game improves upon its predecessor is clearly in the gameplay, scope of its world, and exploration, making for an experience that actually feels much more compelling for its game elements as opposed to leaning on humour like the first game did.
Despite what I said, High on Life 2 is still pretty funny. I just didn’t find myself laughing as much as I did the last time around. I do wish the game had tried to go for a notably different story structure, too, as doing more bounties to take down an organization in order to save humanity is just too familiar. But this is simply a more fully developed game in most ways. There are now three hubs with tons of collectibles to find, puzzle chambers to complete, and challenges to take part in. In addition to the mostly excellent story mission levels, I had a hard time putting the game down.
The hubs themselves are a blast to explore, doubly so considering one of High on Life 2‘s best new additions is the skateboard. I assumed this would be a glorified sprint function, but it’s so much fun to use and makes traversing the world far more engaging. It doesn’t actually feel like a skateboard, per se, but you can use it to grind on so many surfaces while wall riding and boosting that it’s simply a joy to experience. Combined with double jumping and even double air-dashing, this is some of the best movement I’ve seen in a first-person shooter in some time. Adding races and skating challenges, where you collect letters, just seals the deal.
The combat has also been given a big boost, as some new weapons go a long way toward making the shooting a lot better. Standouts include dual pistols, a burst-fire rifle, and a bow and arrow, all of which I really enjoyed making use of. There are still some puzzles that correspond with each weapon’s unique ability, too, but the best of these are located in puzzle chambers that you actually have to use your head to solve. There aren’t many of these, but they really hammered home just how well-rounded High on Life 2 is.
Even the levels themselves have seen a big step up. From a sinking cruise ship to a low-poly fantasy world, there’s some genuine creativity on display here. Some set pieces really steal the show, too, such as solving a murder mystery or exploring a giant convention centre. One boss battle in particular made a surprisingly meta use of the menu that I don’t think I’ve ever seen a game do before. So much of the game simply oozes creativity in terms of level design, theming, and gameplay. Even exploring is just a hoot on its own, and the dialogue is still always amusing at the very least.
It took me a couple dozen hours to get to the end, and I didn’t even do absolutely everything, such as finding all of the chests or completing the fishing minigame (which is so gross and uncomfortable that I did it as little as possible.) There’s a great feature here that lets you pay to collect chests that you missed in the levels, too, which is greatly appreciated. Plus, there are lots of great upgrades to find, as well as modifications for your skateboard. If you’re so inclined, there are multiple arcade games to find, along with six entire movies to watch in the game’s movie theatre. The game is simply packed with stuff.
But there are some issues, of course. Performance isn’t very good, which isn’t all that surprising considering this is an Unreal Engine 5 game. The way the save system works (one slot that autosaves) can lead to many softlocks, although I was fortunate not to experience any of these. Following the Steam forums makes it clear that too many people are running into these, to the point where someone made a save modifier to let other players actually complete the game. Also, as much as I enjoyed the game, there’s nothing extra once you beat it, despite the fact that some enemy wave challenges or a new game plus would have been very welcome.
I’m still very surprised by just how much I loved High on Life 2, and I sincerely hope the devs act quickly to alleviate some of the performance issues and fix the softlocks, as these are a black mark on what I consider to be a really fantastic game. I know I’m going to miss the skateboarding traversal next time I fire up an FPS, but I can also just jump back into this one to get S-ranks on all the challenges if I feel like it.
High on Life 2: High on Life 2 might not be as funny or novel as the first game, but it's bigger, bolder, and more enjoyable, thanks to superior mobility and better overall gun variety. – Andrew Farrell
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