The High on Life release date is here, and Squanch Games’ latest oddball title has arrived under a barrage of mixed reviews. In High on Life, Justin Roiland, the co-creator of hit animated series Rick & Morty, takes players to a strange future full of talking guns and “an alien cartel that wants to get high off humanity”. As you can probably tell, this is certainly not your typical FPS game.
Since the wacky FPS game‘s reveal during the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase 2022, expectations were split wildly between fans of Roiland’s divisive cartoons and, well, everyone else. Now that the game is here, nothing has changed, but if you take it on face value, High on Life is just a bit of light-hearted fun. If you’re unsure whether it’s for you, take a look at our High on Life review, or read on for information about the game itself.
High on Life release date and time
The High on Life release date is December 13, 2022. Initially, the game had an October 2022 release window, but Squanch Games delayed it by a few months shortly after.
The release time for the game varies depending on your platform, with players on Xbox consoles able to play from midnight local time. On PC, the High on Life release time is as follows:
- 11pm PST, December 12
- 2am EST, December 13
- 7am GMT, December 13
- 8am CET, December 13
- 6pm AEDT, December 13
- 8pm NZDT, December 13
High on Life trailers
Squanch Games has released a number of trailers for High on Life, with more gameplay appearing at events. The initial reveal trailer was short, showing off a few locales and a number of the talking guns on offer, while gameplay shown during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2022 detailed a boss fight against the bounty target 9-TORG.
The Squanch Games YouTube channel has also been sharing short videos featuring some of the weird characters that may (or may not) appear during High on Life. They might even sound pretty familiar.
High on Life story
Though it is a shooter, there is still a linear plot to High on Life. You play as a nobody, having just finished high school with no future prospects or goals to work towards. Your boring life is interrupted by an alien cartel who want to use humanity as a drug to get high.
To escape from the cartel on Earth, a talking alien weapon named Kenny gives you the power to teleport anywhere. In an effort to escape quickly, you end up teleporting your house (including your sister) to Blim City. Taken under the wing of ex-legendary bounty hunter Gene — who just wants you to die so he can take your house — you’ll travel the galaxy, meeting a cast of colourful aliens along the way.
The end goal in the story game is to take out Garmantuous, the leader of the alien cartel, and his gang. To do so, you’ll collect a number of Gattliens, talking guns that each have their own abilities. The Gattliens make up a lot of the dialogue in High on Life as they chatter away during gameplay.
High on Life gameplay
Despite the less-than-conventional plot, High on Life is still an FPS game at its core. The Gattliens work as your weapons, with your roster expanding over time. To start with, you only have access to Kenny, whose primary fire acts like a basic pistol. All guns also have a secondary fire, with Kenny’s being a slimy long-range grenade. Secondaries fires are locked behind cooldown timers, though they make up for this in firepower.
Other weapons shown include one that functions similarly to a shotgun, and a Gattlien that launches creatures towards enemies. Even your melee option takes the form of a talking knife, which doubles up as a grappling hook for extra movement options both in and out of combat.
High on Life isn’t a fully open-world game, though you can explore a number of varied locations. Most of this exploration comes in the form of different planets, ranging from a jungle paradise to a city built within an asteroid. New planets means new bounties to hunt, more side quests, and potentially extra Gattliens to acquire.
With Justin Roiland having described High on Life as an “action-adventure comedy Metroidvania first-person shooter”, we may have some insight into how progression works. Using the term “Metroidvania” as a descriptor implies that, rather than a linear adventure through a set list of planets, you’ll instead be required to revisit previous areas after acquiring new tools. This can already be seen with your knife, since the grapple function lets you reach higher areas and clear gaps that wouldn’t be possible on foot.
High on Life PC Game Pass
High on Life is be available on PC Game Pass. For those with Game Pass Ultimate, you’ll also be able to play the game on Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and via the cloud.
High on Life DLC
Currently, no DLC has been announced for High on Life. However, Squanch Games executive producer Matty Studivan mentions during an interview with TheGamer that future downloadable content might be on the cards. Studivan states that the team is “thinking about DLC, as always”, with Squanch Games wanting to support High on Life in a similar way to their VR title, Trover Saves the Universe. In the case of Trover, this came in the form of a large free update three months after launch.
And that’s everything you need to know about High on Life. Check out some of the best PC games while you wait for its release, and make sure your PC can run the game properly ahead of its release, don’t forget to check out High on Life’s system requirements page, and check out the High on Life runtime so you know how long to set aside come December 13.