A space trip beyond lysergic 

High on life is a comic space shooter where aliens want to use humans to get high and in which the protagonist's weapons are all the time making irreverent, acidic comments of dubious nature.

Quite out of the box, isn't it? But how can you expect anything different when one of the creators of the game is Justin Roiland, responsible for creating the animated series Rick and Morty? If you don't know the series, I strongly recommend that you watch at least a few episodes before you even start playing High on life. The game translates a lot of the frenetic and surreal energy of the series and for this reason manages to deliver an innovative and very entertaining product, despite some technical problems. 

High on life was produced and published by Squanch Games, being released on December 12, 2022, for PC and Xbox.



On a normal day, your planet is invaded by alien smugglers 

Yes, that's right. What is comical about High on Life's narrative is surreal. 

While playing on her PC, our protagonist is confronted by her sister Lizzie, who suggests having a party since her parents are traveling. When we decide to go out to help her find what she needs, a spaceship lands near our house, and aliens start killing our neighbors.

In the middle of the confrontation, an alien is killed and as we search his body, we find Kenny, an alien of the Gatlian race, who serves us as a weapon. Kenny infects the protagonist with translator microbes, and now, understanding what he speaks, we realize that humanity is at risk because the G3 Cartel, led by the Garmantuous, has the ambition to turn humanity into a new kind of drug.

It is up to our protagonist, a teenager fresh out of high school who spends all his time playing games and getting high eventually, to travel to space cities and save humanity.



Fighting the G3 Cartel

High on life presents a gameplay style that is a little different from the traditional FPS, since its focus is much more directed to the player's interaction with characters and elements of the scenarios than with tactics and precision combat. In the end, what the game wants is for you to embark on a non-sense journey and have fun in a light way, through incessant dialogues and a not always precise, but still well-executed shooter. 



The game has a campaign of intermediate length, which lasts around 9 hours. Within this time, we are introduced to various scenarios, creatures, and bosses with unique abilities and personalities that are always very funny and creative. In addition to the enemies, we come across other alien races, such as the bureaucratic teddy bears. This variety of beings translates into a rich universe just like Futurama and Rick And Morty itself.

The gameplay is based on completing missions that take us to different scenarios in which we must kill an important member of the G3 cartel. This loop is fun, especially because at each new stage, we acquire resources to improve our weapons and skills in a small shop. 



The game also presents some elements that add a special spice, such as combat finalizations, such as those in Doom, and a kind of climbing hook that allows us to play more vertically. These two elements are presented through interactions with our melee weapon, a psychopathic knife that thinks only of stabbing, stabbing, and stabbing. 

And speaking of the weapons, they are the real spectacle of High on life. They. Don't. stop. From. Talking! From Kenny, our first gun, to The Creature, at every moment we are presented with some comment or opinion, be it coherent, acidic, or completely outside the family-friendly standards. The jokes, which are at times clever and at others very Uncle Pave style, are perfectly placed and always in accordance with the current moment we are in. However, while some games sin by default, High on life sins by excess. 

If the constant commentary on our alien arsenal were not enough, the entire game contributes to this feeling of chaos and disorientation. Everyone has something to say or makes some irritating and incessant noise. In the first hours of gameplay, this works fine, however, after some time you will get tired of the abusive amount of dialogue that exists in the game. 

Moreover, the fact that the game has no translation into Portuguese, not even in the form of subtitles, only contributes to the irritation of the player, especially if he does not have a good knowledge of English.  The game also presents some graphics, textures, and gameplay bugs that need to be solved soon, since they hinder the player's overall experience.



Alien Beauty

The graphics in High on life deliver a pleasant and very colorful experience. The weapons, as well as the other characters, are charismatic and the fact that they spend all their time looking at the player adds an extra layer of humor. The visual effects, such as the shots and explosions, are very cartoonish and convey a more relaxed and even childlike atmosphere. I felt like I was in one of the worlds of the Rick and Morty series, so I once again recommend the reader give the series a try if you have not already done so. 

Despite the beauty and graphical quality, the game has some performance issues and minor glitches that need to be addressed. As I write this review I realize that there have been updating patches that aim to fix these issues, however, I still encountered some problems, such as glitches in textures. 



When it comes to audio, High on life delivers an experience that adds to the gameplay, especially for the brilliant dubbing of the characters and weapons, and especially because of the dubbing of Kenny, which is done by Justin Roiland himself, Morty's voice actor in Rick and Morty. The other sound elements do their part in doing a good job, but I don't consider that the soundtracks and effects have surpassed the current market standard. 

For this review, High on life was played on PC, through Xbox Gamepass.