High On Life 2

High On Life 2 is an absolute blast, and I dare you to find a funnier game to play this year.

74%Game Brain Score

humor, story

optimization, stability

71% User Score Based on 1,621 reviews

Critic Score 77%Based on 10 reviews

Platforms

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About

High On Life 2 is a single player action game with a comedy theme. It was developed by Squanch Games, Inc. and was released on February 13, 2026. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

An intergalactic conspiracy threatens the fate of humanity! Team up with a wide cast of talking alien guns as you shoot, stab, and skate your way through the exotic locales to take down the bad guys and save your favorite species (humans)!

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

71%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,621 reviews

humor365 positive mentions

optimization131 negative mentions

Strong humor and creative, absurd comedy with improved writing and engaging dialogue.
Improved and fun gameplay including more dynamic gunplay, better combat pacing, and the addition of a unique skateboard mechanic for traversal.
Vibrant, detailed, and immersive world design with multiple diverse levels, interesting side content, and well-integrated story elements.

Significant performance and optimization issues on PC, including frequent crashes, stuttering, frame drops, and extremely long shader load times.
Numerous bugs, glitches, and game-breaking soft and hard locks that require frequent reloading or restarting the game.
Shorter story length and less content compared to expectations, with some feeling the sequel lacks the charm or humor of the original.

optimization
509 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
61%
26%
The game suffers from widespread poor optimization, causing frequent crashes, stuttering, inconsistent frame rates, and performance drops even on high-end hardware. While some players report smooth experiences after patches or with specific setups, many recommend waiting for further optimization updates before purchasing, as current technical issues significantly hinder gameplay enjoyment.
- “Great game, the performance could've been better but after the patch fix there are no major bugs. Hopefully in future they'll add some more patches and the game will get the love it deserves.”
- “Performance has been smooth and stable for me with this setup.”
- “I upgrades some specs since then and now have a 5070ti, and I have no issues with performance at all, at max graphics.”
- “Worst optimization I've ever had for a game even after the 'hotfixes'.”
- “The game is so poorly optimized and untested that I constantly found new bugs and performance issues every hour during my playthrough.”
- “This game could have been a 10/10, but it misses out due to some bad optimization choices and some areas of the world feeling static.”
humor
367 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
99%
1%
The humor in the sequel maintains much of the original's quirky, chaotic, and absurd style, delivering numerous funny moments and witty dialogue, especially through the talking guns. However, many note it is less sharp, less spontaneous, and less memorable than the first game, partly due to the absence of Justin Roiland's influence and iconic characters like Kenny. Despite some jokes landing well and the humor still being enjoyable to fans of the tone, others find it more forced, toned down, or uneven, with issues of repetitiveness and less impactful world-building humor.
- “The humor is dialed up even more compared to the first game; it’s sharper, more absurd, and lands more consistently.”
- “High on life 2 builds on the quirky first-person shooter formula that made the original stand out, delivering a louder, weirder, and often genuinely funny experience.”
- “The humor is sharper, funnier, and more consistent throughout the entire experience.”
- “Cause it's not funny.”
- “Not funny without Kenny, same experience as Hof1 but with a skateboard instead of a jetpack. It is not as funny as the first game. I wouldn't recommend it for the sense of humor, but I would recommend it as a relaxing game and playing experience. Personal opinion: it lacks the sense of humor compared to the first game with Kenny.”
story
341 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
64%
3%
The story in this game is widely praised for its humor, engaging characters, and continuation of the first game's narrative, offering a bizarre, wild, and entertaining sci-fi comedy experience. Many enjoy its well-paced progression, unique missions, and witty writing, though some find it somewhat short or repetitive. However, numerous players report game-breaking bugs and performance issues that disrupt story progression and detract from the overall enjoyment.
- “That said, it is a perfect successor to the first game, the story is just as entertaining, if not more, than High on Life, and it's had some great moments so far.”
- “Characters and the overarching storyline are surprisingly well developed for a goofy game like this, escalating the threat from black market cartel to big pharma is smart, as is turning your character into a fugitive on the run from other bounty hunters makes for a great twist.”
- “The missions are creative and genuinely funny — I won’t spoil anything, but the writing is still absolutely wild.”
- “Story was easily the worst part; I could see 99 percent of that coming from the start.”
- “Story could be better and longer; feels very rushed and things don't feel like they fit correctly story-wise.”
- “The game also feels like they had 2-3 missions ready to make an initial pitch to an investment group, with a storyboard for the rest. And once they got their investment they had to rush to finish the rest of the game, with mission length decreasing, bosses getting reused (4 times), and long cutscenes that lock player input.”
gameplay
275 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
50%
3%
Gameplay in this sequel is widely praised for its improvements in gunplay, movement, and the addition of a fun and satisfying skateboard mechanic that enhances traversal and combat variety. Players enjoy the dynamic combat, creative boss fights, and the mix of minigames and unique mechanics, which keep gameplay fresh and engaging. However, widespread technical issues—such as frequent crashes, bugs, and performance problems—often disrupt the experience, preventing the gameplay from reaching its full potential despite solid design fundamentals.
- “The shooting/combat feels great, the mission design, the dialogue/writing, the movement etc. The skateboard mechanics feel really good to move with, almost addicting.”
- “They've added quite a few new mechanics, such as skateboarding and fishing, which makes the combat much more exciting and versatile, and it adds so much to the overall exploration and gameplay itself.”
- “The skateboard mechanic was a nice touch.”
- “The skateboard mechanic is more a pain in the ass than does good.”
- “I've had like 5 softlocks so far; the game runs like ass without frame generation enabled and sometimes even with it. Wait a bit for more bug fixes or you'll have to deal with a ridiculous amount of jank. My last softlock occurred when I went to talk to an NPC right as my guns started talking, locking me out of the dialogue and trapping me in talking to NPC mode. Gameplay is pretty solid if you can run it, but the humor isn’t quite as good as the first game and it has its charm. I just can't recommend it in its current state/price. Another thing: hard mode is insane in some areas, there's a boss fight towards the beginning that spawns enemies in a small arena that will almost one-shot you for peaking. It’s not impossible but very frustrating considering you don’t have any of the high DPS guns yet. At least most of the levels are cool with a lot to explore. I give it like a 5/10; could easily be 8/10 if there weren’t bugs, crashes, or softlocks every 30 minutes of gameplay.”
- “It’s filled with so many bugs that it makes it impossible to have a consistent flow of gameplay without having to restart sections.”
graphics
189 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
72%
3%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their improved art style, vibrant environments, and detailed design, marking a clear step up from its predecessor. However, persistent performance issues such as frame rate drops, stuttering, crashes, and poor optimization—especially on medium to high settings—significantly detract from the experience for many players, even on high-end PCs. While the visuals are striking when stable, the game requires further patches and optimization to deliver smooth, consistent performance across systems.
- “The graphics are a big step up, with richer lighting and environments that feel more alive.”
- “Graphics are fantastic and movement is really fluid and awesome.”
- “The art style pops, the lighting is clean, and the worlds feel more alive than in the first game.”
- “For a UE5 game, it actually runs pretty decent... however, there are lots of dips in frame rate and the optimization is bad as you'd expect... zero noticeable difference in visuals or performance going from high settings to low settings aside from shadow quality, for example.”
- “Judging on the first game, I don't like giving this sequel a negative review, but seriously, UE5, mixed with the style of how things are modeled, characters, etc., pushing high-end graphics is not necessary. Especially given the price of computer components, nobody can upgrade their computer to run this. I'm sat with my Ryzen 5 5600X, Radeon 7600, 24GB RAM, trying to run the game at minimum graphics, 720p, 30fps. I'm going all the way over here, and it still won't last 4 minutes, even using Radeon Chill, which has pulled me out of crashes in several other top-end games. Meanwhile, the first game can run with full medium graphics, except textures being high, 1080p native to my monitor, 60fps, the game ran for 8 hours straight without issue.”
- “It crashes all the time, the graphics constantly bug out with some models just becoming transparent or causing absurd screen tearing for seemingly no reason (the most recent I found actually made the game unplayable and is the reason for this), and if anything interrupts any audio, the game just soft-locks.”
stability
154 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
92%
The game suffers from significant stability issues at launch, including frequent crashes, softlocks, graphical glitches, and game-breaking bugs that often force players to reload or restart. While the developers are actively working on patches, the current experience is marred by poor optimization and numerous bugs, making the game frustrating and borderline unplayable for many. Players with high-end hardware sometimes report smoother performance, but overall, waiting for updates is recommended.
- “Game runs great on Arch Linux and Legion Go's SteamOS edition.”
- “Runs great on my 9070 XT on Windows and Cachyos (Proton hotfix).”
- “Looks good, and runs great even at maxed settings.”
- “Falling through the map, freezes, crashes, softlocks, or NPCs getting stuck mid-dialogue can force you to reload a save.”
- “This game is almost in an unplayable state with the amount of glitches that happen; hopefully with time they can improve it but as of right now I cannot recommend purchasing this game.”
- “However after that last update the game has crashed multiple times or freezes leaving me out of progress made and being forced to go back to the last checkpoint so many times that replaying the same moments over and over again has become a chore.”
music
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
45%
15%
The music in the game is widely praised for its energetic, futuristic, and vaporwave-inspired soundtrack that enhances the sci-fi atmosphere and gameplay experience, especially during boss fights and exploration. While most players find it fitting and enjoyable, a few describe the music as grating or bland, reflecting personal taste differences. Overall, the soundtrack is seen as a strong, memorable aspect that contributes positively to the game's charm and tone.
- “So many awesome hallmarks of the great days of my youth for when games "felt" different: terrific futuristic music, some of the most fun FPS gameplay with tons and tons of different ways to dispatch enemies.”
- “Everything I liked about the first game is here: colourful visuals, great humour, voice acting and a chill vaporwave soundtrack (plus the combat music is much less grating than in the first game).”
- “The soundtrack supports the sci-fi atmosphere well, especially during boss fights and exploration segments.”
- “Zero music (it's the worst part, will seriously hurt you in the long run, brain damage).”
- “Music is occasionally grating but not enough to turn it down or off.”
- “Music is bland.”
emotional
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game evokes a nostalgic and occasionally heartfelt emotional experience, blending wholesome and quirky moments with light satire. While it doesn't aim for deep emotional impact, it consistently entertains and creates a fun, weirdly sincere atmosphere. Some moments may feel uncomfortable or annoying compared to previous entries, but overall it engages players through enjoyment rather than emotional depth.
- “Man, this game actually made me feel like a kid again.”
- “It celebrates slime, satire, spectacle, and stupidity - and somehow binds it all together into something weirdly heartfelt.”
- “It's a bit heartbreaking.”
replayability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
Replayability in this game is mixed, with some players appreciating the endgame content and hidden collectibles that encourage multiple playthroughs, while others find the experience limited due to sparse NPC interaction and lack of consistent engaging activities. Updates have improved playability, but certain features, like recurring events, are desired to enhance long-term engagement.
- “Endgame content adds replay value.”
- “Very fun and enjoyable with a good amount of replay value.”
- “I really liked how hidden many Lux boxes were in the first game and hope that is available in this one as it does add a lot of replayability, despite being pretty intense to grind; especially for achievements.”
- “Lack of replayability.”
- “I'm refunding, and I totally intend on buying it again in a few months once they make the game more playable.”
- “There are entire playable areas without a single NPC to interact with.”
grinding
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
80%
Grinding in the game is a central mechanic heavily inspired by Tony Hawk's series, involving rail grinding and skateboarding tricks. However, it can feel repetitive and tedious, with some users encountering bugs during grinding sequences. Overall, the grinding content is seen as somewhat limited and lacking depth.
- “Courtroom sequences are extremely long and tedious.”
- “Mouse movement bugged when I first got the skateboard; the issue occurred when I was grinding on a rail and pressed the button to skate faster.”
- “The game feels very light in content when not grinding to 100% completion of known side quests.”
monetization
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization is criticized heavily as an extreme cash grab, with users feeling the developers prioritized profit despite known issues and bugs in the game. Technical problems and repetitive content compound frustration, leading to a perception that the game was rushed to market to exploit players financially.
- “Extreme cash grab and sadly if it stops others from wasting their money until the devs get their head out of their ass hope this review helps.”
- “The devs had to know there were issues and pushed it out anyway for a cash grab.”
atmosphere
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game's atmosphere is praised for its immersive sci-fi vibe, enhanced by a fitting soundtrack and engaging world design. Its humor and overall tone create a fun, relaxed experience, making it enjoyable both for returning fans and new players.
- “The soundtrack supports the sci-fi atmosphere well, especially during boss fights and exploration segments.”
- “The humor, atmosphere, and overall vibe make it perfect for chilling rather than taking things too seriously.”
- “The atmosphere, the world, and the music is everything you'd want as someone who enjoyed the first game.”
character development
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users praise the character development for its strong writing and design, highlighting Travis as a particularly cool and likable character.
- “I loved Travis though, such a cool and likeable character, great writing and character design on that part.”