High on Life 2 is a first-person shooter with action-adventure elements. As with the first game, the player has an arsenal of talking weapons called "Gatlians", and High on Life 2 introduces dialogue options for players to choose from when conversing with their weapons.[1] As with the first game, the player character is very mobile and is able to perform feats such as double jumping, dashing, sliding, and using a grappling hook to reach distant places. A new form of movement, the skateboard, can be used to aid both combat and puzzle solving.[2][3]
After saving humanity in the first game, the player character becomes a very successful bounty hunter. However, an alien pharmaceutical conglomerate kidnaps their sister, Lizzie, and the player character seeks to take them down.[4]
Development
The game was being developed by Squanch Games. The studio looked at the feedback of the original game, and identified areas for improvement. The skateboard was an abandoned idea for the first game, and was originally envisioned as a power-up in the sequel. However, as the team continued to reiterate the game's traversal options, its role was significantly expanded and it became the game's central gameplay pillar.[5][6] The game was also inspired by the Metroidvania sub-genre and it includes three large hub areas, as opposed to the first game which only had one.[7]
High on Life 2 received "mixed or average" reviews for the Windows and PlayStation 5 versions while the Xbox Series X/S version received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator website Metacritic.[12][13][14] Fellow review aggregator OpenCritic assessed that the game received strong approval, being recommended by 59% of critics.[15]
In his review for IGN, Travis Northup summarized High on Life 2 as "a fun sequel that expands on the original’s best ideas, including the absurd and memorable boss fights and charming talking guns, while also introducing some neat new concepts", despite also feeling that the game was held back by "its underwhelming story, even sloppier gunplay, and rough technical performance".[20]
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