What is High on Life 2? 

It’s hard to follow up games that resonated with players, even if their reviews weren’t all that flattering. However, Squanch Games was able to do that with the release of High on Life 2. The game builds on its predecessor and firmly stays within its own lane, making it a joy to play from start to finish.

Developer & Publisher // Squanch Games
Platforms // PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Game Pass
MSRP & Release Date // $59.99, February 13th, 2026
Reviewed On // PC

PC Specs:
CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5700x
GPU: AMD Radeon RX6950 XT
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 3600Mhz

High on Life 2 – Well-Paced Narrative with Tons of ’90s Easter Eggs

• Lead a revolution against a corrupt pharmaceutical giant in a fast-paced sequel to the original campaign.
• Hunt bounties in any order across diverse locations, from luxury space cruises to cult communes.
• Explore a world filled with 90s Easter eggs, millennial pop-culture references, and the return of fan-favorite sentient weapons.

Defeating the G3 Cartel catapults our faceless hero, a bounty hunter, into galactic fame. Everywhere they go, they are crowded by adoring fans. However, little does our bounty hunting hero know that reuniting with his/her sister, Lizzie, pits them deep into a revolution against an evil corporate pharmaceutical company to turn human beings into synthetic drugs approved for galactic medical use. 

High on Life 2 will take players across a diverse universe of locations filled with worlds of upscale space cruise ships to cult communes. The game always keeps things fresh with new biomes to explore. Similar to its predecessor, High on Life 2 gives players choices to tackle bounties in any order they see fit.  

The game takes some bombastic turns with some familiar faces making a return, but overall, the game’s narrative is interesting and quirky, suiting the game’s overall themes. The pacing was on point and never let up, or more importantly, never bored me during my playthrough. The game had a solid payoff at the end and was a joy to play from start to finish.

It also helps that there are a lot of millennial childhood references, such as a famous gift store in a retro mall, arcades with a Dr. Fraser Crane, erm… crane machine nestled in your home base called Quarters. There are plenty of easter eggs to make you nostalgic for your inner 90s kid’s soul.

The humor does take a slight hit. There are some comedic moments for sure, with Knifey’s compulsive nature to kill all on sight, but it does feel like a slight step down from the first game. No doubt the weapons account for the lion’s share of the game’s comedy, especially Knifey insatiable love for murder.

Metroidvania Roots Still Intact

• Master returning movement abilities like the “double dump” and dash to unlock new areas.
• Enjoy a “cozy” and intuitive Metroidvania-lite design that makes exploration and combat feel natural.

The game continues its Metroidvania-lite approach to game design. New abilities unlock new areas for players to explore. Abilities like the double dump, dash, and double dash make their safe and triumphant return. In particular, air dashes help dodge incoming projectiles, which is always useful. It definitely is a comforting game approach that makes High on Life 2 feel cozy without overwhelming players. The same goes for the game’s simple, yet effective combat setup as well.

Space Combat for the Ages

• Fight with a diverse arsenal of six sentient weapons, each featuring unique feedback and secondary fire modes.
• Solve environmental puzzles using weapon abilities, though your gear’s OS frequently chimes in with hints.
• Use DOOM-style finishers to regain health and trigger a powerful ultimate of Jeppy’s laser-focused assault.

Combat in High on Life 2 is a blast. Picking up what the first game established, combat remains robust and feels tight. Each weapon has its own distinctive feel when it comes to feedback. For example, Gus, the shotgun, has a very different feel compared to Travis, the more powerful pistol weapon. There is also a greater variety when it comes to the weapons. My personal favorite was Bowie; it was a blast taking out enemies Rambo-style, and his time-dilated portal ability was just a joy to use. 

In addition, each of the six weapons has its own secondary fire mode and abilities. In particular, abilities are used for puzzle solving. For instance, the assault rifle’s secondary mode shoots an electrically powered spear that is used to connect power nodes to open locked gates. Though one annoying aspect is that if you get stuck for even a little bit, the guns will or suit OS will automatically give you hints to solve the puzzle. That level of hand-holding and distrust for players to solve puzzles irks me; just let me solve it at my own pace.

High on Life 2 even has glory kill-style finishers, à la DOOM, providing some health after executing downed enemies. Though it’s not as violent as DOOM, it’s a nice nod to the influential and long-time shooter. Additionally, grenades come in the form of an ultimate by way of Jeppy that launches the rather slow (cognitively slow that is) alien that shoots a laser rifle at nearby enemies. 

Skaters Paradise

• Master a responsive new skating system that lets you grind and jump through half pipe environments.
• Use grind rails and grapple points to stay mobile during combat, or launch your board to knock out enemies.
• Navigate tricky platforming sections and customize your board with parts found in hidden chests.

A lot of the High on Life 2 media hype focused on the new skating mechanic. Initially, it could be brushed off as a gimmick to differentiate the sequel from its predecessor. While that assessment on the surface level seems right, there is no shame in admitting that skating in the game is fun. Players can jump, grind, and jump off quarter and half pipe environments seamlessly.

Pressing the sprint button brings up your skateboard, and it feels good to control and move around. This creates a distinctive feel compared to running around. Luckily, it doesn’t feel floaty, but solid the moment the board spawns under your feet. For the most part, you can ride your skateboard in most areas, but in certain environments, you’ll be restricted to on-foot travel. 

There are plenty of platforming sections that will test your skating abilities. This includes using abilities such as double jumps, dashing, and grappling. The platforming sections can get tricky at times, but they help break up the combat sections. 

Most combat zones in High on Life 2 are specifically designed for skateboard use. There will be grapple points, grind rails, and quarter pipes that players can traverse to keep shooting while on their board. You can even release your boards to knock out some enemies, which is always amusing. 

Players can also customize their skateboards for cosmetic purposes. This includes changing up decks, trucks, wheels, and grip tape. Some of these items can be purchased at the vendor in your Quarters HQ. In comparison, other items can be collected during levels through secret chests, which are not too difficult to find by just veering slightly away from the golden path.

Fantastic Boss Fights in High on Life 2

• Battle a diverse lineup of Rhea Pharmaceutical leaders, featuring unique mechanics and high-energy showdowns.
• Fight memorable bosses like Senator Muppy Door that break the fourth wall in ways reminiscent of Metal Gear Solid.

Like its predecessor, High on Life 2 has a ton of boss fights, especially for the initial Rhea Pharmaceutical bosses and their allies. Each one is unique and is a joy to play. My personal favorite was Senator Muppy Door. Without going into spoilers, this particular boss fight broke down the 4th wall hard. It gave me similar vibes to the infamous Psycho Mantis boss fight from the original Metal Gear Solid and just left my jaw on the floor. 

Mini-Games for Days

• Play full arcade mini-games like Gourmet Warriors and Bible Adventures both in your home base and during the game.

Since your base in High on Life 2 is a retro-style arcade, expect some mini-games. Here, you can play arcade games such as Bible Adventures, an actual NES Bible game from gaming’s lesser-known archives, and Gourmet Warriors. The latter of which is a simple beat ‘em up that provides a nice break from hunting down evil corpo aliens and politicians. It’s these moments that really shine in High on Life 2.

High on Life 2 Graphics & Art Style 

• High-fidelity Unreal Engine 5 graphics that blend “Rick and Morty” character designs with photo-realistic, exotic alien environments.
• Pristine character models and dynamic reflections, from Knifey’s eyes to the expressive and highly detailed sentient weapon designs.
• Bombastic art style where twisted locations, like the human zoo, showcase the game’s unique and dark creative vision.
• The use of upscalers may occasionally impact texture clarity.

High on Life 2 is a visually stunning game. From the Ricky and Morty-style characters to the futuristic cities and exotic alien world, and more retro-style environments, the game has some of the best graphics on offer. That shouldn’t be too surprising since the game is built on Unreal Engine 5.

Continuing the high fidelity from the first game, High on Life 2 continues to show off what the controversial engine can pull off. At the same time, the engine still complements Squanch Game’s creative direction. 

Though the contrast between cartoony space and an almost photo-realistic environment culminates and breaks out of the mold of the typical UE5 games, which are increasingly becoming difficult to pick apart. 

Lighting and reflections truly shine in High on Life 2. Most notably, you can see different locals dynamically reflect off Knifey’s eyes, which is impressive. Character models and the animated weapons look pristine is overall highly detailed. Especially the weapons look phenomenal, my particular favorite was Travis, his signature alien mustache just radiates with personality. 

Environments look clean and are the most obvious Unreal Engine aspect of High on Life 2’s overall look, but the exaggerated surroundings remain consistent within the game’s bombastic art style. The human zoo in particular is an early reminder how twisted the game’s universe is early in the game.  

However, using an upscaler will periodically pixelate textures, a common cost when dealing with such technologies. It’s a shame that modern titles have to rely on such tech to run optimally. While some games do not justify such a graphical tax, at least in High on Life 2 ‘s case, the game is looker and is understandable. 

High on Life 2 PC Performance

• Pre-Day 1 patch achieved 80+ FPS at 1440p using AMD FSR Quality mode on high settings, though Global Illumination remains a significant performance tax.
• Experienced a substantial performance boost following the Day 1 patch, with frame rates climbing to a more stable 120 FPS.
• Noted that while the Day 1 patch addressed many initial technical shortcomings, some optimization hurdles typical of Unreal Engine 5 titles remain.

For the entirety of this current generation, Unreal Engine 5 continues to be a thorn in the side of optimization efforts across the industry. During my review period, sticking to AMD FSR tech set to quality mode with most graphical options set to high and Global Illumination set to low, I was averaging around 80+ FPS on 1440p resolution. Setting GI to medium would reduce FPS average to around high 50s to 60s, so I prioritized a higher and more stable framerate average.

Before the all-too-commonly-relied-upon massive Day 1 patch that the developers noted should fix a bunch of technical shortcomings, which frustratingly means that initial reviewers’ feedback will be outdated and unreflective of the product customers receive in their digital hands. However, I am happy to report that the day one patch immensely fixed the game’s performance. Now, I am averaging around 120 FPS with the same settings mentioned above. Though not everything is peachy in this department. 

Omnipotent Global Illumination & High Spec Requirements

• High performance overhead due to mandatory Global Illumination, which remains untoggleable and highly taxing on mid-range hardware.
• Demanding recommended specifications, suggesting an RTX 4080 or RX 7900 XTX to achieve optimal visual fidelity.
• Heavy reliance on upscaling and frame generation technologies to manage the intensive Unreal Engine 5 graphical load.
• Steep hardware entry point that may limit the game’s accessibility for players without top-tier PC components.

The always-on Global Illumination is disappointing. The fact that this very taxing lighting feature cannot be turned off means that millions of PC players will not be able to enjoy the wacky universe of High on Life 2. Give players the option to turn off, especially since the game is not exactly going for a grounded, realistic look.

Surprisingly, High on Life 2 has incredibly high recommended specification requirements. Citing an RTX 4080 or AMD RX 7900 XTX, and CPUs in line with Ryzen 9 7900x/Intel i7 13700KF, High on Life 2 is a tech-hungry beast. That is why upscalers and frame gen are in place to do the heavy lifting. But the game delivers on the visual front, it’s a shame that more PC players won’t be able to enjoy its quirky adventure due to tech-gated spec requirements. 

Glitches

• Experienced occasional clipping issues during painting-travel segments that caused the character to fall into a void.
• Encountered minor visual glitches with quest items clipping through character hands during crafting animations.
• Rectified most technical hitches through simple checkpoint reloads without any game-breaking progress loss.

It is worth noting that during a section where you had to jump into paintings to reach different planes, I had major clipping issues. My character would float endlessly in a void. However, this issue was easily rectified by reloading my last checkpoint.

Another strange glitch I encountered during my playthrough involved using tools to craft a story item to progress the game. The tools would awkwardly clip the character’s hand and would be in an upright position during the entire time, which just looked silly. It wasn’t game-breaking at all, but worth reporting on.

High on Life 2 Excellent Audio Department

• Features a star-studded comedic cast, including JB Smoove and Ken Marino, delivering the same charm and personality as the original game.
• Provides high-quality audio design with organic, “squishy” alien weapon sounds and responsive skating effects.
• Delivers a polished audio experience free of glitches, maintaining the high production standards of the series.

Once again, Squanch Games outdoes itself in the audio department. The star-studded comedic cast continues to shine and gives the game its charm and personality that defined the first game. Gus (voiced by JB Smoove) just brings me back to the deranged sit-com world of Curb Your Enthusiasm. While newcomers such as Travis (Ken Marino) beautifully recreate their ever-present struggle to get over his ex-wife, Jan. 

Gunfire and skate sound effects resonate well and sound on point. The plasma and alien-based weapons sound organic, squishy, and very much on point. There were no awkward audio glitches during my review playthrough, building on the predecessor’s already stellar audio work. 

Accessibility

• Includes robust difficulty and shooting settings, with multiple adjustable accessibility options for color blindness and text size.
• Lacks accessibility features for skateboarding segments, which require high dexterity and precise timing to progress.
• Misses an “opt-out” or bypass toggle for platforming sections, potentially gating progress for players with limited motor coordination.

High on Life 2 accessibility is indeed a tale of two cities. On one hand, the game does a decent job of providing different difficulty and shooting mechanic options. This includes the normal difficulty being the second-highest option available and not the default difficulty. Moreover, there are a ton of adjustable shooting accessibility options and the tried-and-true color blind and text sizes options as well. However, there was one clear omission when it came to accessibility.  

Since skateboarding is a big part of how the game was designed, it was shocking to learn that the game fell short on accessibility options for skateboard platforming sections. Some of our very own LOGNET team members faced difficulties with skateboard platforming sections and cited their frustrations. Especially since those sections require quite a bit of dexterity in terms of button presses and timing. There should be an option to opt out of these sections so more people can enjoy this quirky and fun game. 

Final Thoughts on High on Life 2

High on Life 2 takes everything we loved about the first game and cranks it up to 11. Weirder, bolder, and just a better game overall. Skateboarding isn’t just a gimmick but a fun way to traverse around the game’s wacky universe. Though it falls a bit in the humor, accessibility, and some technical hiccups, the game is just enjoyable from start to finish. It’s no surprise that High on Life 2 won Lords of Gaming’s most anticipated game of 2026. 

Final Score: 8.2 / 10

Note – A key was provided for the purpose of this review.

Pros:

• Phenomenal Graphics and Art Style
• Witty and Simple Story
• Fantastic Voice Works 
• Solid Pacing Throughout the Game
• Good Shooting, Diverse Abilities, and Decent Puzzles
• Great PC Performance Following Day 1 Patch
• Doesn’t Overstay its Welcome
• Boss Fights are a Blast, Especially the Ones that Break the Fourth Wall

Cons

• Very High Recommended Specs
• Can’t Turn Off Global Illumination
• Auto Puzzle Hints Are Annoying
• Lack of Platforming Accessibility Options
• Some Weird Clipping Glitches Here and There