Hírek
Here’s seven ridiculous things you can do in High On Life 2
J
Jordan Oloman
Invigorated by the response to the first game, Squanch Games has now delivered a sequel (the aptly named High On Life 2) which ups the ante considerably, folding in more esoteric world-hopping, dynamic gunplay, a skateboard, and, of course, plenty of utterly ludicrous set pieces for players to engage with. In the spirit of this sensationally silly series, here’s a run-through of seven ridiculous things you can do in High On Life 2.
Draw your own wanted poster
The plot of High On Life 2 picks up immediately where the first game left off. You, the player, are a human who successfully defeated the G3 Cartel, a nefarious alien group that invaded Earth with the intent to process the populace into smokable drugs. By evading capture and taking down the bad guys with the help of your talking guns, you have gained unintended notoriety as a helmeted celebrity bounty hunter, leading to brand deals, baying fans, and talk show appearances.
One of the first things you’ll do in High On Life 2 is sign an autograph of sorts for an excited fan, by drawing a picture of your face with a box of "Human Facial Feature Crayons." Ironically, this act of Crayola kindness is soon flipped on its head when your sister unravels yet another pharmaceutical human processing conspiracy, and you are forced to defeat the bounty hunters on her tail, breaking the code of your profession and turning that once-playful picture into a wanted poster that the galaxy is hoping to collect on.
Do a kickflip (and follow it up with a headshot)
The unlucky bounty hunter who wins the race to try and murder your sister is a chain-vaping, skateboarding lizard called Reptical. After stealing his preferred mode of transportation, you are introduced to one of High On Life 2’s defining new mechanics: skateboard traversal. By sprinting, the player can ride Reptical’s rig around combat arenas, grinding on rails and riding across walls to flank the sequel’s faster, more formidable enemies.
By dodging in mid-air and layering in a double-jump, you’ll perform tricks to maintain your momentum and hover into a position that allows you to pull off accuracy-testing trickshots that stop the opposition in their tracks. Across the campaign, you’ll master the art of skateboard gun-fu in order to assume your final form: Tony Hawk’s Pro Bounty Hunter.
Visit a human petting zoo
The intergalactic inhabitants of High On Life 2 have a newfound appreciation for humans after you unintentionally saved the world and introduced your kind to the cosmos. With that in mind, it’s only right that aliens would begin to dedicate exhibits to mankind in an attempt to understand the galaxy’s newest species.
After putting a price on your head, you’ll be led through a curious exhibit about human culture, complete with dioramas of our Stone Age origins and sedentary contemporary living room lifestyle. To cap off this journey of discovery, you’ll be introduced to a vest-wearing man called Griffin, who is "just chilling" in a pen and surprisingly happy to have his head scratched by all manner of visitors. You can pet Griffin too, if you like, and decide how far you want to develop this transactional relationship before you leave to continue your journey.
Play the 1995 Super Famicon game Gourmet Warriors
Once High On Life 2 fully kicks into gear, you’ll find yourself at the home base of the revolution, where you and your sister must devise a plan to stop an evil group of aliens from codifying and selling a swallowable version of the human experience to the rest of the galaxy. But before you start hunting down the evildoing elite associated with Rhea Pharmaceuticals, you can take a break and play an entirely different game without even hitting Alt+F4. Downstairs, you’ll find a slate of arcade machines, and, out in the open world, you can find and collect games to install and play back at home base.
To begin with, you’ll have access to the quirky 1995 Super Famicom game Gourmet Warriors, a Japan-only side-scrolling beat 'em up where you wallop jerks and clones as modified humans. The version you can play inside High On Life 2 is the 2018 localized re-release from Pico Interactive, so you can periodically work through a piece of gaming history while saving the galaxy.
Watch a spooky horror movie with the guys from Red Letter Media
Before you leave the hub world safe haven of Circuit Arcadia and embark on your first bounty-hunting mission, you should explore the metropolis as much as possible, and take a break and snack on some popcorn at the Krust Theatre. Like the first game, there is a set of real-world feature films for players to enjoy in their downtime from all the shooting and skating. As well as a screening of the 2011 Canadian sci-fi movie Manborg, you can walk in on the 1986 horror film Spookies, which is about an abandoned mansion inhabited by an evil warlock.
After grabbing your popcorn at the counter, you can head inside Screen 2 to find a trio of familiar-sounding aliens voiced by Mike Stoklasa, Jay Bauman, and Rich Evans of the film critique YouTube channel RedLetterMedia, who you can sit behind as they provide a hilarious commentary track to a cult movie that you almost certainly haven’t heard of.
Fight for a space at ParkingCon
If Senator Muppy Doo (voiced by Richard Kind) ends up being your first bounty-hunting target in High On Life 2, you’ll head to ConCon, the convention convention, which is a brilliant excuse for the writers at Squanch Games to throw a series of aberrant, convention-adjacent satirical scenarios at the player. Before you develop a conscience at PoliCon, you’ll have to first find a space at ParkingCon which, quite rightly, involves fighting fellow space invaders to the death in order to secure a comfy spot for your planet-hopping RV.
The sheer chaos of avoiding snipers and angry fathers in this zone of danger is a wonderful way for you to get to grips with the game’s hyperbolic combat system. Particularly, it’s a helpful opportunity to understand how Sweezy’s Time Bubble Trickshot ability can be used to slow down groups of enemies, which then combines well with Gus’s Trickshot, which fires out razor discs that can dice through spot-stealers like a knife through butter.
Perform bootleg cosmetic surgery on an alien played by Ralph Ineson
On your way to dispatching Muppy Doo at PolitiCon, you’ll be interrupted by an assassin from the nearby MurderCon, who also has their sights set on the tiny senator. This is Sheath, played by Ralph Ineson (Finchy from The Office, and Cid in Final Fantasy XVI). Sheath will become a permanent part of your arsenal as a battle rifle that evokes the Halo games, but not before you’ve bested him in battle, and, er… cut his head off and attached it to his gun?
Ineson’s gravelly tones will lead you through the cowboy surgery which salvages the assassin’s life, and allows him to join your growing troupe of talking Gatlians. Sheath’s Trickshot special ability is mighty useful, too—you can use the dart like a crossbow to chain together electrical currents, which aid in solving puzzles and destroying clumps of enemies. Naturally, this comes in handy across the rest of the enemy-filled campaign, and is merely the tip of the iceberg as far as High On Life 2’s gun-based hijinks are concerned.
High On Life 2 is out now on Epic Games Store.