High on Life (2022): The Review
Overview
High on Life is an unapologetically absurd, anything-goes shooter that thrives on its chaotic sense of humor, bizarre world, and a cast of foul-mouthed, chatterbox guns that somehow hold the whole madness together. Not every joke sticks the landing, but between the standout boss fights, creative alt-fires, satisfying exploration, and an unexpected stash of hilariously bad in-game movies, this offbeat ride ends up being well worth the trip.
Score: 7.5 out of 10
The Positives ✅
High on Life wastes absolutely no time telling you what kind of ride you’re in for. Within minutes you’ve got a talking gun roasting your aim while you blast disco-dancing aliens, and it becomes clear this isn’t just a shooter with jokes sprinkled in, it’s a full-on comedy that happens to have guns.
The real stars are the Gatlians themselves. Each weapon is basically a walking, swearing sidekick strapped to your hand, constantly chatting, arguing, or oversharing mid-firefight. Kenny’s neurotic rambling, Sweezy’s bite, Creature’s weirdness, and Gus’ oddly wholesome charm give the whole thing a buddy-comedy vibe that carries you through the entire campaign. Spending hours with them never really gets old.
The writing, for the most part, lands. It’s packed with dumb bits, surreal gags, and throwaway jokes that feel like they were made just because someone thought they’d be funny. From pointless detours like Space Applebee’s to entire TV screens playing nonsense shows, or even full movies, the game is constantly tempting you to stop progressing and just soak up the chaos.
Exploration is surprisingly rewarding too. New abilities double as traversal tools, opening up old areas in that light Metroidvania way that makes backtracking feel worthwhile. Hunting for collectibles, upgrades, and hidden paths gives the worlds more texture than you’d expect from what initially looks like a pure joke game.
And when everything clicks, combat becomes a playground. Juggling enemies into the air, mind-controlling them, sucking them into a shotgun vortex, or blowing them apart with weird alt-fires makes every encounter feel like you’re messing around in a toybox. It’s messy, sure, but intentionally so, and that energy fits the tone perfectly.
The Negatives ⚠️
For all its charm, the shooting itself isn’t exactly tight. Weapons feel a bit sloppy and inaccurate, and enemies mostly just flail around spraying projectiles. Even on higher difficulties, it’s rarely demanding, which drains some tension out of fights.
Enemy variety is also pretty thin. You’ll start noticing the same handful of alien goons over and over, which makes the back half of the game feel a little samey once the novelty wears off.
There are also some baffling design decisions. Default crouch on the d-pad? Really? Stuff like that, combined with awkward controls and cluttered encounters, makes the action feel rougher than it needs to be.
Then there’s the technical side. Performance dips, minor bugs, characters freezing mid-conversation, enemies getting stuck in walls, none of it is catastrophic, but it’s frequent enough to be annoying. The game even jokes about its own glitches, which is funny… until you hit one that forces a reload.
And yeah, not every joke lands. A good chunk of the humor leans heavily into toilet gags or shock-value cursing. Sometimes it’s hilarious, sometimes it just feels lazy. If that style isn’t your thing, this whole experience could get old fast.
The Experience 🎮
Playing High on Life felt less like grinding through a campaign and more like hanging out in a bizarre late-night cartoon. I’d set out to do one mission and somehow end up watching aliens riff on an old movie or listening to my gun argue about something completely irrelevant for five minutes.
I kept getting distracted, in the best way. Instead of rushing objectives, I found myself poking into every corner just to see what ridiculous bit the game might throw at me next. Half the fun came from not knowing whether I’d stumble into a boss fight or a dumb sketch.
Over time, I weirdly grew attached to the guns. As ridiculous as they are, the constant chatter makes them feel like actual companions. By the end, holstering them after the credits rolled felt like saying goodbye to some loud, foul-mouthed friends.
Combat never really pushed me to my limits, but it didn’t need to. The joy came from experimenting, finding the dumbest, most over-the-top way to clear a room just because it made me laugh. It’s less “precision shooter” and more “chaotic sandbox of nonsense.”
In the end, High on Life isn’t polished or refined, but it absolutely nails one thing: it’s fun. The kind of silly, carefree fun that games don’t chase often enough. Bugs and all, I walked away grinning, and honestly, that’s a pretty rare win these days.
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