Welcome to EXPlay, (Explain & Play) the review series where we care not for scores, but tell it how it is when it comes to every game we get our hands on, all whilst including some lengthy gameplay, to give you, the reader, the chance to form your own impressions and views while reading and watching.
In this explanatory review, we’re covering High on Life 2 by developer, Squanch Games:
High on Life 2 (Nintendo Switch 2)
Developed by Squanch Games, High on Life 2 finally made its Nintendo Switch 2 debut when it released on July 1, 2026.
As the long-awaited sequel to 2022’s High on Life, a game that blended irreverent humour with talking guns called Gatlins and chaotic first-person shooting, High on Life 2 has a lot to live up to. It’s time to find out whether it succeeds or falls short.
The story picks up after the events of the first game. Having defeated the G3 cartel and saved humanity, the bounty hunter has settled into a relatively cushy life. However, peace never lasts long in this universe. When a mysterious figure from the bounty hunter’s past reappears and a bounty is placed on their sister’s head, the bounty hunter is dragged back into the galactic spotlight. What starts as a personal vendetta soon spirals into a larger conspiracy involving an evil pharmaceutical conglomerate hell-bent on putting a price tag on human life.
The narrative is pure Squanch Games: absurd, self-aware, and packed with fourth-wall breaks, crude humour, and surprisingly heartfelt moments. Your rag-tag team of alien misfits returns, each bringing their own personality and banter, adding to the game’s sharp writing. The dialogue is hilarious, and the story balances ridiculous set pieces with genuine stakes. While High on Life 2 doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it never needed to. It feels like a natural evolution of the first game’s tone — bigger in scope, but still focused on the chaotic found family you’ve grown to love.
In terms of gameplay, the core loop will feel immediately familiar to fans. As the bounty hunter, you run around colourful, dangerous worlds using your talking guns to shoot, stab, and solve puzzles. Each gun has its own personality, voice lines, and unique abilities, and the banter between them remains one of the game’s biggest strengths. The guns feel satisfying to use, with excellent feedback and a wide variety of combat options.
What’s new in High on Life 2 is the addition of a skateboard as a major traversal tool. It’s fast, responsive, and incredibly fun to use for grinding rails, launching off ramps, and chaining tricks across the game’s large, vertical levels. The skateboard adds a real sense of speed and momentum that complements the shooting nicely, making exploration far more dynamic than in the first game.
Combat has been expanded with more enemy types, larger arenas, and new gun abilities. High on Life 2 encourages creative use of your arsenal — combining gun powers, environmental interactions, and skateboard tricks to take down tough foes. Boss fights are bigger and more spectacle-driven, often requiring you to use the environment and your full toolkit in clever ways.
The game also features a healthy amount of side content. Bounty contracts, exploration challenges, and hidden collectibles give you plenty to do between main missions. Hub areas feel livelier this time around, with NPCs that react to your progress and offer new dialogue as the story advances.
Visually, High on Life 2 is a big step up from the original. The colourful, cartoonish art style pops on the Nintendo Switch 2’s screen, with vibrant worlds, detailed character models, and impressive lighting effects. The majority of the time, the game runs smoothly in both docked and handheld modes. However, there are occasional moments of stuttering when gunfights get particularly intense, and some texture pop-in can occur when moving quickly on the skateboard. Load times are also noticeably sluggish at times. These are minor annoyances rather than game-breakers, but they are more noticeable in handheld mode.
On a more positive note, the voice acting is excellent across the board. The talking guns steal the show with their hilarious one-liners and banter, but the new cast members also deliver strong performances. The soundtrack is energetic and fits the game’s tone perfectly, blending electronic beats with orchestral moments during big story beats.
As a sequel, we are delighted to say that High on Life 2 is a worthwhile follow-up that does a fantastic job of expanding on everything that made the first game special. The addition of the skateboard, expanded combat, and bigger story make for a compelling package. It’s a shame that some performance issues persist and there are a couple of pacing problems halfway through the game, but there can be no denying that the sheer creativity, humour, and fun factor of High on Life 2 make it easy to overlook these flaws.
For anyone seeking a bigger, funnier, and more polished sequel that successfully captures the chaotic charm of the original while improving on its weaknesses, High on Life 2 is an easy recommendation for anyone who enjoys games that don’t take themselves too seriously.
Game Specifications:
Developer: Squanch Games
Publisher: Squanch Games
Platform: Nintendo Switch 2 (Digital)
Genre: Action, Adventure, First-person Shooter
No. of Players: 1 (Single System)
Release Date: July 1, 2026
Price: $39.99
File Size: 39.4 GB
Nintendo.com Listing
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