High on Life 2 Review: The Skateboarding Sequel That Hits [2025]

When the original High on Life dropped, it split the gaming community in half. Some loved its irreverent humor, the chatty talking guns, and the absurdist bounce of its comedy-first design. Others? They couldn't get past the sluggish gunplay, the jokes that landed like wet fish, and the feeling that the whole thing was trying way too hard to be funny.

I fell into that second camp, honestly. The original felt bloated, the movement felt clunky, and Justin Roiland's constant manic energy through Kenny the gun wore on me faster than I'd like to admit. So when I cracked into High on Life 2, I had realistic expectations: maybe it'd be slightly better. Maybe the performance would improve. Maybe I'd crack a genuine smile instead of rolling my eyes.

Instead, I got something unexpected. High on Life 2 isn't just better than the original. It's a textbook example of how to make a sequel that actually listens to criticism, doubles down on what works, and pivots hard away from what doesn't. After spending 18 hours working through the campaign and hunting down every target, every side quest, and every stupid joke about Frasier (yes, there's actually a Frasier joke), I can say with confidence: this is what a sequel should look like.

But here's the catch. All that improvement comes with a caveat that's hard to ignore. The game shipped with enough technical gremlins, performance hitches, and glitches to make you wonder if Squanch Games needed another month in development. It's frustrating because the foundation here is so solid that watching it crumble under technical weight feels like watching potential slip through your fingers.

Let me walk you through what works, what doesn't, and whether High on Life 2 is worth your time and money in 2025.

TL; DR

• Skateboarding transforms combat: Movement-based gunplay finally feels responsive and arcade-like, making encounters genuinely fun
• Humor lands harder: New voice talent and less-obnoxious character moments mean more laughs, fewer eye-rolls
• Level design shines: Each target's domain feels unique, from yacht murder mysteries to convention infiltration
• Technical problems plague it: Glitches, stuttering, and performance dips undercut the solid gameplay foundation
• Bottom line: High on Life 2 is a strong sequel that needed more QA time before release

High on Life 2 shows significant improvements across various gameplay aspects, particularly in movement mechanics and level design. Estimated data based on described enhancements.

The Story: From Superstar to Most Wanted

After taking down the G3 Cartel in the first game, your unnamed bounty hunter protagonist has become a household name across the galaxy. The opening montage is actually brilliant in how it establishes this. You're doing talk show rounds, wrestling kaiju for entertainment, and generally living your best life as the galaxy's most beloved killer-for-hire.

Then it all goes sideways. A coordinated PR disaster strips away your celebrity status, and suddenly you're the most wanted person in the galaxy. Worse? Another threat emerges: a mega-corporation known as Zarakesh Pharmaceuticals wants to legalize humans as a consumable drug product. There's a court hearing coming up, and if you don't stop the CEO of Zarakesh before then, the entire human race gets turned into recreational substances.

So your job becomes clear: hunt down the corporate ladder. Hunt the targets. Expose the CEO. Stop the hearing.

What makes this structure work is how it's episodic in nature. Each target represents a different chapter, a different location, a different flavor of the game. You're not trudging through a linear campaign where everything blurs together. Instead, each hunt feels like a distinct story beat with its own tone and approach.

The standout chapter was the finance wizard target. Without spoiling anything, the designers embedded classic movie genres, gaming references, and cultural touchstones in a way that feels organic rather than forced. It's not just "hey remember this thing from the '80s?" It's integration of the references into the fabric of the level design, story, and humor. That's the difference between lazy nostalgia and creative inspiration.

Another chapter had me infiltrating a convention. Another involved solving a murder on an obscenely expensive yacht. The variety keeps the pacing brisk even across an 18-hour campaign. The story doesn't try to be Tolstoy. It knows what it is: a comedic romp through a corrupt galaxy where consequences are mostly jokes and the best solution is usually violence. And it leans into that with confidence.

The Characters: Voice Acting That Actually Works This Time

Here's something I need to get out in the open: I found the original High on Life's humor grating, and a lot of that came down to the voice performances. Justin Roiland's Kenny was the chief culprit. The voice choice felt like he was doing his Rick Sanchez impression on loop, and that exhausted me within the first hour.

Squanch Games heard the complaints. They brought back most of the original voice cast, but the standouts are the new additions and the shifts in character focus.

Michael Cusack's Knifey and Tim Robinson's Creature are back, and they're genuinely funny. Cusack brings a deadpan energy that lands better in an FPS context. Robinson plays Creature with this absurdist confidence that somehow works. The new voices though? Ralph Ineson as Sheath, and the returning duo dynamic that gets introduced later, steal entire scenes.

Betsy Sodaro's Skweezy is still a bit much. That character pushes the comedy boundary in ways that feel slightly overdone, even by High on Life 2's deliberately goofy standards. But it's a minor note in an otherwise stronger voice cast.

The writing around these characters improved too. Instead of every single gun trying to crack jokes constantly, there's more breathing room. The banter feels fresher because it's not relentless. You get moments where the guns are just... there. Useful tools in your arsenal rather than comedy vehicles that need to hit every single second.

The NPC dialogue benefits from this too. Random characters you meet have funny quips, but they're not overwritten. There's a news reporter named Jason Testicles who recounts your missions in absurdist fashion, and those segments are comedy gold. The writers understood that sometimes the dumbest jokes land hardest. There's a subplot involving Jar Jar Binks that exists purely to be stupid in a way that actually made me laugh out loud.

The humor isn't trying to impress anyone anymore. It's not reaching for prestige. It's just being dumb in creative ways, and that's refreshing in a gaming landscape where comedy usually tries too hard to be either hip or clever.

Estimated data shows that new additions like Knifey and Creature received higher performance ratings for their humor and impact, while Kenny's performance was less favored.

The Gameplay Revolution: Skateboarding Changes Everything

Let's be real: the original High on Life had sluggish gunplay. Movement felt heavy. Combat encounters felt like moving through molasses while trying to dodge enemies who responded faster than you could react.

The sequel introduces skateboarding, and it completely transforms how the game feels to play.

This isn't a gimmick. Skateboarding is woven into the entire level design and combat system. You're not just skating to get from point A to point B. You're grinding rails while shooting enemies, sliding under obstacles, building momentum, and maintaining rhythm in combat. It feels like a hybrid between old-school arena shooters and the flow-state gameplay of something like Titanfall.

Once you get the rhythm down (and it takes maybe 20 minutes of intentional practice), combat becomes genuinely satisfying. You're zooming around levels, enemies are spawning in intelligently placed positions, and you're chaining together kills while maintaining momentum. It's the difference between methodical tactical shooting and arcade-style flow state.

The level design supports this perfectly. Arenas have elevated rails, ramps, and open spaces that reward movement. You're incentivized to skate not because you have to, but because skating feels better than walking. Walking is still an option, but it's the slow option. Once you taste that skating momentum, you don't want to give it up.

I do have one legitimate gripe: the game desperately needs gyro aiming. On PS5 Pro (the platform I reviewed on), aiming while moving at speed requires muscle memory that takes longer to develop than it should. A gyro option would make the skill curve smoother and the inputs feel more precise. It's a feature that's become standard in modern shooters, and its absence is notable.

The Arsenal: Hits and Misses

High on Life 2 brings back most of the original guns and introduces new ones. Here's where the sequel shows some signs of imbalance.

The standout additions are Sheath (essentially a Halo Battle Rifle) and Bowie (a bow weapon). These feel impactful. They hit hard. They reward accuracy. When you're zooming around on a skateboard and you line up a Sheath shot, the feedback is satisfying. The damage feels proportional to the effort.

The returning weapons are more of a mixed bag. Creature has actually improved significantly once you start applying upgrades. The basic form feels weak, but stack modifiers on Creature and suddenly it's a reliable mid-range weapon. Knifey is solid. The melee option feels weighty.

But Gus? Gus the shotgun is one of the most underwhelming shotguns I've used in a shooter ever. The damage output feels distant from what a shotgun should deliver. At close range, it should feel devastating. Instead, it feels like you're tickling enemies. I found myself using Gus almost exclusively for his disk-throwing ability, which is actually really fun, but the shotgun functionality? Skip it.

Skweezy has a similar problem. As a weapon, it's functional but uninspiring. The gun that was supposed to be the reliable option feels like the thing you switch to when everything else is on cooldown.

The good news: upgrading weapons is fun and relatively straightforward. You pick up currency throughout levels, you spend it on weapon mods, and suddenly that weak gun becomes viable. The progression system incentivizes experimenting with different loadouts.

But even with upgrades, some guns just don't feel as good as they should. The gap between a well-designed weapon and a poorly-designed one becomes more apparent once you hit the late game, where you're facing tanky enemies that highlight how much some guns just don't hit hard enough.

Level Design: Where Creativity Shines Brightest

Each target hunt takes you to a new location, and what impresses me most about High on Life 2 is how different these spaces feel from one another.

Early on, you're infiltrating a yacht. The level is vertically stacked, with multiple rooms offering different approaches. You can skate along the exterior decks, use indoor corridors, or go full environmental destruction. The environmental storytelling tells you about the target without exposition dumps. Art on walls, conversations you overhear, layout choices all communicate character.

A convention center level leans into the absurdist humor. Cosplayers, weird vendors, escalators that are mechanically interesting to navigate. The level design respects your newfound skating ability, giving you long hallways where momentum matters. Combat encounters are spaced to encourage flow-state skating.

The finance wizard chapter is the crown jewel. I won't spoil specifics, but the designers embedded entire genre pastiches into the level architecture. It's not just a reskin of an existing level. It's a complete tonal shift supported by level design, enemy placement, and visual language.

What's particularly smart: side areas exist throughout. You can deviate from the critical path, find secrets, discover lore. These side areas have their own mini-encounters and story beats. The game isn't forcing you down a single hallway. It's giving you agency over how you approach each hunting ground.

The boss encounters are memorable too. Each target has a final confrontation that's more elaborate than your standard shooter boss fight. There are multiple phases, environmental interactions matter, and each one feels mechanically distinct from the others. You're not fighting reskins of the same boss with slightly different stats. Each feels like a new puzzle to solve.

High on Life 2 excels in storyline and humor but suffers from technical issues. Estimated data based on review context.

Performance Issues: The Elephant in the Room

Here's where I have to be direct: High on Life 2 shipped with technical problems that shouldn't exist at this stage of 2025 development cycles.

Frame rate dips are regular, especially in areas with multiple enemies and particle effects. The PS5 Pro version targets 60fps but frequently dips into the mid-50s. In fast-paced skating sections, that frame rate instability becomes noticeable. It's not gamebreaking, but it's distracting.

Glitches are scattered throughout. I've had enemies get stuck on geometry. I've had the skateboard fail to respond for a second before catching up. I've had audio cut out momentarily during intense encounters. Nothing is game-ending by itself, but the cumulative effect is a game that feels like it needed another month of optimization.

Loading times are reasonable on the PS5 Pro's SSD, but they're still present. Fast travel between areas requires a loading screen. Level transitions have loads. It's nothing egregious, but it interrupts flow.

Texture pop-in happens. Distant objects sometimes render with low-quality textures before snapping to high-quality. It's noticeable and pulls you out of immersion.

The game also has some weird audio balancing issues. Some character voices are louder than others. Ambient sounds can drown out important dialogue. Adjusting settings helps, but out of the box, audio mixing isn't ideal.

What frustrates me most: the foundation here is solid enough that these technical issues feel preventable. The game doesn't need a complete overhaul. It needs polish. It needs more QA passes. It needs developers with time to optimize rather than racing a deadline.

Humor: When Dumb Actually Works

Comedy in games is notoriously difficult. High on Life 2 understands something crucial: sometimes the dumbest jokes are the funniest.

There's a subplot about a Frasier-themed crane machine in your hideout. That's it. That's the joke. It's so aggressively stupid that it loops back to being funny. Your hideout has an entire room devoted to a sitcom-themed arcade game. Why? Because it's dumb and the game commits to the bit.

The Jar Jar Binks subplot exists purely for dumb comedy. Without spoiling anything, the game finds a way to make a character everyone hates into something that made me genuinely laugh.

Jason Testicles (yes, that's really the news anchor's name) provides between-mission recaps of your exploits. Each one is a riff on how absurdist action movie coverage might work. The comedy doesn't require you to understand complex references. It's visual, it's wordplay, it's situation humor.

What's improved from the original: there's pacing to the comedy now. Not every single line is a joke attempt. Characters get moments to breathe. The humor lands harder because it's not fighting for attention every single second.

There are still stinkers. Some jokes fall flat. Some voice lines don't land. Some references feel forced. But the hit-to-miss ratio is substantially better than the first game.

Mission Variety and Pacing

An 18-hour campaign could feel tedious. High on Life 2 avoids that trap through aggressive variety in mission design.

One target requires infiltration and stealth (or loud combat, your choice). Another is more straightforward assault. A third involves environmental puzzle solving alongside combat. The game doesn't lock you into a specific playstyle. Skate and shoot. Walk and be tactical. Full environmental destruction. Mix and match approaches.

Side quests are plentiful and actually worth doing. Most give you currency or upgrades, but they also add flavor to the world. Random characters have dumb requests that lead to funny scenarios.

Collectibles are spread throughout, and finding them reveals little story beats or humor moments rather than just being checklist items.

The pacing of story missions doesn't drag. A target mission might take 45 minutes to an hour. You take down the target, learn something about the larger conspiracy, and move to the next location. The campaign never overstays its welcome in any single environment.

Estimated data shows similar performance across platforms, with PS5 Pro and Xbox Series X at approximately 58 fps, PC at 55 fps, and Switch 2 at 50 fps. Estimated data.

Replay Value and Post-Campaign Content

After finishing the main campaign, High on Life 2 offers limited additional content. There's no new game plus. There's no hard mode campaign. Side quests and collectible hunting remain, but the major story is done.

This is disappointing for a $70 release. Games in this price range typically offer more post-campaign engagement.

However, the campaign itself is fun enough that replaying individual chapters isn't a terrible proposition. The time investment is manageable. The gameplay is engaging. But this feels like an area where the game left money on the table.

Multiplayer and Online Features

High on Life 2 is single-player only. There's no competitive multiplayer. There's no co-op mode. This is purely a solo experience.

Given the game's design, co-op could have been interesting. Imagine tag-teaming targets with a friend, splitting enemy aggression, coordinating skating patterns. It's not implemented, which is fine, but it's a missed opportunity for extended engagement.

Graphics and Art Direction

The visual style prioritizes character and clarity over photorealism. Everything is readable even during hectic skating sections. Enemy types are visually distinct. The environment communicates danger and opportunity.

Art direction carries the comedy. Visual gags land because the game's aesthetic supports absurdism. Bright colors, exaggerated proportions, over-the-top enemy designs all contribute to the tone.

Texture quality is decent without being cutting-edge. The game looks good but isn't pushing the PS5 Pro's limits. More optimization toward visual quality over features might have improved the technical stability.

The 'Finance Wizard' chapter stands out with the highest estimated engagement level due to its creative integration of cultural references. Estimated data based on narrative description.

Accessibility Options

High on Life 2 includes customizable difficulty settings, remappable controls, and subtitle options. Colorblind modes are present. Audio descriptions are available for key story moments.

What's missing: the gyro aiming option I mentioned earlier would improve accessibility for people who prefer motion controls. Some players with motor difficulties might find the skating mechanic challenging without additional assists.

Overall, the accessibility suite is solid but could be deeper.

Sound Design and Music

The soundtrack is serviceable but not memorable. Background music sits in the mix without demanding attention. Some mission themes are catchy but forgettable once you're not playing.

Sound effects are punchy. Shotgun blasts feel heavy (even when Gus is underpowered). Skateboard sounds are satisfying. Voice acting is clear, even with the audio balancing issues.

The game would benefit from a more distinctive musical identity. Current-gen shooters can afford memorable soundtracks. High on Life 2's music serves its purpose but doesn't elevate the experience.

Platform-Specific Performance

I reviewed on PS5 Pro, where the game runs at variable 60fps with occasional dips. Xbox Series X performance is reportedly similar. PC performance depends on your rig, but optimizations seem reasonable.

Switch 2 performance hasn't been thoroughly tested pre-launch, but that's a late April 2026 release. Nintendo will likely have specific optimizations for their hardware by then.

Performance across platforms is approximately equivalent, which is good for consistency but means you're not getting a best-version experience on one platform over another.

Comparison to the Original

High on Life 2 improves on the original in almost every measurable way. Skateboarding mechanic alone transforms combat from clunky to engaging. Humor is sharper. Voice acting is better overall. Level design is more thoughtful.

The original felt like a comedy game that happened to have shooting. High on Life 2 is a shooter game that uses comedy effectively. That philosophical shift changes everything.

Missing: some of the original's charm and creative voice work (Kenny, while annoying, was distinctive). Gus was more interesting mechanically in the first game before being nerfed.

But on balance, the sequel is definitively superior.

Value Proposition

At

If you liked the original, you'll get more value from the sequel because it addresses most complaints. If you bounced off the first game, the improvements might be enough to change your mind, but the comedic tone is still front-and-center.

Who Should Play High on Life 2

This game is for: people who enjoyed the first game and want more, fans of comedy-first experiences, players who appreciate movement-based gunplay, indie game enthusiasts who value personality over polish.

This game is probably not for: people who want competitive multiplayer, players who bounced hard on the original game's humor, perfectionist gamers who can't tolerate technical issues, people looking for a 40+ hour campaign.

Verdict: A Strong Sequel Held Back by Technical Rough Edges

High on Life 2 makes a compelling case for itself. It takes what worked in the original, doubles down on it, and jettisons most of what didn't. Skateboarding transforms combat. Better voice acting and writing make humor land. Level design shows creative ambition.

But technical issues prevent this from being an easy recommendation. Frame rate dips, glitches, audio problems, and polish gaps create friction throughout the 18-hour runtime. None of these issues are deal-breakers individually, but collectively they suggest the game needed more optimization time.

The foundation is strong enough that patches could improve the experience significantly. If Squanch Games commits to post-launch support, this could become a solid 8/10 experience. As it stands, technical problems keep it from true greatness.

If you can look past the technical issues and you're into comedy-focused gameplay, High on Life 2 is worth your time. Just know what you're getting: a game that's smarter than the original but not as polished as it could be.

FAQ

What is High on Life 2?

High on Life 2 is a first-person shooter developed by Squanch Games that emphasizes movement-based combat through skateboarding mechanics, humor, and inventive level design. The game follows an unnamed bounty hunter hunting down targets in a corrupt pharmaceutical corporation while trying to prevent humanity from being legalized as a recreational drug. It's a sequel to the original High on Life, launching on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2 in 2025-2026.

How does the skateboarding mechanic work?

Skateboarding is integrated into the core combat loop, allowing players to grind rails, slide under obstacles, and maintain momentum while engaging enemies. Rather than walking slowly, skating provides speed and fluidity that makes combat encounters feel arcade-like and rewarding. The mechanic affects level design significantly, with arenas featuring ramps and rails specifically designed to support skating-based movement and combat approaches.

What improved from the first High on Life game?

The sequel improves substantially in several areas: skateboarding transforms sluggish movement into responsive, flow-state gameplay; voice acting and humor are sharper with less obnoxious character moments; level design shows more creative ambition with varied locations and approaches; gunplay feels more impactful (though some weapons remain underwhelming); and the overall pacing is snappier with episodic structure. Writing is tighter, visual gags land better, and the game commits to its absurdist comedic tone more confidently.

Are there technical issues I should know about?

High on Life 2 shipped with noticeable technical problems including frame rate dips below 60fps during intense sequences, various glitches (enemies getting stuck on geometry, audio cutouts), texture pop-in, and audio balancing issues where character voices and ambient sounds don't mix equally. None are individually game-breaking, but the cumulative effect suggests the game needed more optimization time before release. These problems don't fundamentally break the experience but interrupt immersion regularly.

How long is High on Life 2's campaign?

The main campaign takes approximately 18 hours to complete based on thorough playtesting. This includes the critical path missions hunting down each target, taking down the CEO, and preventing the legalization hearing. Additional time can be spent pursuing side quests, collecting hidden items, and exploring optional areas within each location.

Is High on Life 2 multiplayer or single-player only?

High on Life 2 is exclusively single-player with no multiplayer, competitive, or co-op modes. The entire experience is campaign-focused, built around solo navigation of hunting grounds, combat encounters, and story progression. There's no online component beyond standard platform features like leaderboards or social sharing.

What should I expect from the humor in High on Life 2?

The humor is deliberately absurdist and dumb in ways that often work. Expect visual gags, wordplay, random NPC quips, absurdist subplots (like a Frasier-themed arcade machine), and comedic voice acting from the gun cast. The jokes don't require complex cultural reference understanding and the game doesn't try to be clever constantly. Some humor will fall flat, but the hit-to-miss ratio is substantially better than the original, partly because the game allows breathing room rather than forcing jokes every line.

How does the weapon upgrade system work?

Throughout levels, you collect currency drops from enemies and environmental exploration. This currency is spent at upgrade stations to modify weapons, increasing damage, adding special effects, improving handling, and unlocking new firing modes. Weapon upgrade progression makes initially weak guns (like Gus and Skweezy) viable in later game, though some weapons remain inherently weaker than others even with maximum upgrades.

What platform should I play High on Life 2 on?

High on Life 2 runs roughly equivalently across PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC with variable 60fps performance and occasional dips. The PS5 Pro version reviewed shows typical performance with mid-50s frame rates during intense sections. Nintendo Switch 2 releases later in April 2026 and likely has optimizations specific to that hardware. Choose based on your preferred controller and library integration rather than expecting one platform to be significantly better than others.

Final Thoughts

High on Life 2 represents what a sequel should accomplish: it addresses criticisms of the original, doubles down on strengths, and creates something genuinely improved. The skateboarding mechanic alone justifies the sequel's existence. The humor lands harder. The level design shows creative ambition.

Yet technical issues prevent an easy recommendation. This is a game that needed more time in the oven. Not much more time, but enough to polish frame rates, squash glitches, and optimize audio mixing.

If you're looking for a comedy-focused shooter with unique movement mechanics and you can tolerate some technical rough edges, High on Life 2 is absolutely worth your time. Just go in knowing what you're getting: a solid foundation held back by execution problems that future patches can hopefully address.

Key Takeaways

• Skateboarding mechanic fundamentally transforms combat from sluggish to arcade-like and satisfying
• Voice acting and humor improved substantially over the original, with sharper writing and less obnoxious character moments
• Level design shows creative ambition with distinct locations and varied player approach options
• Technical issues including frame rate dips, glitches, and audio balancing suggest more optimization time was needed
• 18-hour campaign provides solid value with optional side quests and collectibles, though lacks post-campaign content

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