High On Life 2: Give Me More of This Revolution Story

I noticed that podcasters and streamers I follow had disdain for the Rick and Morty humor in the first High On Life game. This was unsurprising, as online commentary throughout this decade has been quick to call messy humor "cringe" or "edgy." I don't mind it; different styles of humor should be allowed to exist as long as they aren't pushing destructive bigotry.

Justin Roiland, the creator of Rick and Morty, was not involved with High On Life 2, understandably, due to his multiple abuse allegations. However, there is still a crass and obnoxious humor that runs throughout the game, and it is necessary for what the story is tackling: a revolution against the corrupt rich, a story that needs to be told more often. I'd argue the premise, however, needed to be pushed further.

Squanch Games Delivers the Laughs

High On Life 2 persists as a very colorful, cartoonish, gross, and even adorable sci-fi comedy FPS in an alien galaxy. Due to the player-character's fame and chaotic events of the last game, the dialogue (told through your equipped weaponry Gatlian friends) is a bit subdued in the beginning. I was worried the story would become too serious or grounded. In High On Life 2, you're a bounty hunter on a mission to eliminate rich elites who run the pharmacy corporation Rhea Industries, which harvests humans to make drugs. Humans are also, ironically, looked at as a lesser species. Of course, both of those story plots speak to me on a personal level as a US American who sighs and rolls their eyes daily. I want more than anything for High On Life 2 to have that silly sense of humor.

Fortunately, every aspect of the game exudes humor and fun as you fight against the Big Pharma establishment and rival bounty hunters. Social commentary about humans being primitive due to their modern conservative views stood out the most, but the humor within the dialogue varies; sometimes it is dry and witty, other times repetitive, gross, very random, and so on. It's refreshing to see a world with such an urgent story not take itself seriously.

The Best Friends Hate Billionaires

You fight using your wisecracking Gatlians, who come in different forms of guns with special abilities. This includes freezing time, chaining enemies together, creating dimensional holes, and more. The weapons are all so enthusiastic about helping you murder billionaires while keeping a friendly eye on you from your FPS view, and several have their own motivations for why they shoot stuff with you on your journey.

When an enemy's health is low, you can finish them off with Knifey - you guessed it, that's your knife Gatlian - and doing so replenishes some of your health and shield. Knifey is used to swing from obstacles, too, essentially turning High On Life 2 into a Doom Eternal-esque shooter. Gatlians are also used to solve puzzles akin to Portal throughout levels. The action has a lot of options with color and personality to hunt down the elite rich and bounty hunters.

An Engaging World That Oozes Humor

You traverse through vast environments, some inspired by other video games, convention events, and more. You'll use your skateboard to grind on rails, power lines, up walls and ramps, and while in combat. When you aren't fighting rich people and bounty hunters, you can relax at the headquarters where your ragtag team of anti-corporate terrorists resides. It's a rundown arcade, and yes, you can play classic arcade games and upgrade your weapons, armor, and shield.

You'll also explore different city hubs, find hidden valuables, go on quests for the city locals, race in skateboard trials, participate in comedy clubs, and more. Speaking of locals, High On Life 2 does a nice job of visualizing the diverse alien people just hanging out. You'll see blue, orange, and purple human-like aliens of different shapes and sizes, snails, and even teddy bears watching television and eating lunch. The textured environments and colorful characters create a naturally living universe, and it's all accompanied by experimental music produced by TOBACCO.

A Celebration Of Rebellion

In High On Life 2, you help lead a revolution to save humanity, teaming up with aliens and hunting down Big Pharma, a journey filled to the brim with so much style. While the story is disturbingly relatable to Americans, the game handles it using obnoxious humor and cartoonish characters. It's an awesome way to parody modern politics and corruption, something that game developers and society as a whole should be more comfortable talking about. People can become more informed when communicating about these topics today in a genuine way, instead of taking a hands-off approach.

Gross Is an Aesthetic Choice

Part of what makes up the game's humor is gross imagery. It isn't over-the-top throughout the entire experience, but it's there for all to see nonetheless. It also caused me to stop playing the game before I got to the end.

Upon obtaining Slade, the yellow Gatlian with blue hair, I noticed he had a pulsating orifice on the side of his body. It was a bit unsightly to me, but it's covered up once you upgrade the weapon. The Gatlian named Creature gives birth to blue, grenade-sized aliens that emerge from his back. Seeing the animation for the first time grossed and freaked me out. I got used to it, however, and I found the blue babies with sharp teeth adorable.

It was the Resident Evil-inspired level, where the player character is saving their father from a cult in Wyoming, that put me over the edge. The cult members become monsters, dressed in gross, fleshy matter throughout the level. Several monsters threw flying leeches that clung to my character's face in first person. I found myself shielding my face and anticipating more of those same enemies the moment I saw anything flying in the sky. That was definitely my limit. So when it was time for me to explore the body of a dead dragon, I had to cut the journey short.

I don't consider those grotesque moments to be flaws that hold the game back, though. As in horror games, gross imagery is deliberately chosen to elicit a reaction for the sake of entertainment. I still enjoyed my experience, and one day I will venture into the carcass of that adorable blue dragon.

What Held the Game Back

I say the humor could have gone further because after defeating a boss, many of whom are billionaires, it's not that dramatic. Sometimes I saw colorful dust, other times they just fall dead on the floor somewhere, and that's it. I'd expect a billionaire or top-ranking bounty hunter to cling desperately to life, doing everything in their power to maintain their status. It would've been so satisfying and hilarious to see billionaire cartoon aliens struggle. I also expected the Gatlians to talk so much more trash to the billionaires. You already use these weapons to attack enemies in so many creative ways. I imagine Squanch Games designed High On Life 2 to be such an ambitious sequel that the dialogue between bosses and Gatlians probably took a hit.

Sadly, the PC version through Steam has the usual Unreal 5 syndrome of spec requirements being far too high. There have also been many game-breaking bugs that halted my progression, especially after patches were released. Nevertheless, I still argue that we need more stories like this in video games, especially during current times where hyper-capitalism and fascism are at their peaks.