Recently I’ve been playing story based games on my Xbox Series X and I ended up stumbling across “High on Life.” It is a really funny game especially because of the goofy alien characters that say random things that make no sense. 

“High on Life”(ESRB Rated M) released on Dec. 13, 2022. It was developed and published by Squanch Games. The company Unreal Engine runs it, which is utilized by the popular games “Ark Survival Evolved,” “Little Nightmares,” “Fortnite” and “Gotham Knights.” The M rating is because of blood and gore, crude humor, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, use of drugs and violence. 

“High on Life” is a single player first person shooter game where you play as a human whose planet was invaded by aliens while their parents were away. The main character stumbles across a Gatlian that got left behind by a dead alien which tells him how to escape the planet. A Gatlian is a living, speaking weapon that becomes your partner throughout the entire game. Them and their sister escape and the main character becomes a bounty hunter to recruit all the Gatlians to help them take down the alien that took over Earth. “High on Life” is an Xbox exclusive. It’s only available on Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S and Microsoft Windows.

What makes this game unique to me is the Gatlians. There are a total of five Gatlians that each have their own unique abilities and unique personalities. The first Gatlian you find in the tutorial is Kenny. Kenny is voiced by Justin Roiland who voices the famous “Rick and Morty” (TV-14) characters Rick and Morty. Roiland created “High on Life.” Kenny is a semi automatic pistol with an ability where he shoots a ‘Glob Shot’ which explodes and launches nearby enemies into the air giving players a chance to deal more damage to opponents that are in the air. The second Gatlian Knifey, voiced by Michael Cusack, who voiced Lucas in “YOLO: Silver Destiny” (TV-MA). Knifey is a blood hungry knife that can link himself to objects and serve as a grappling hook. Gatlian Sweezy, voiced by Betsy Sodaro, also played Danny in the movie “Golden Arm.” She has an aggressive personality with a very high ego, her main fire is a fully automatic barrage of crystals which explode when players use her charge shot on the enemies. Her unique ability allows her to create a bubble which slows down time for all the enemies inside, this allows the player to shoot as many crystals into the enemy to deal more charge shot damage. Gatlian Gus, voiced by JB Smoove, plays Percy in the Netflix original comedy TV series “Blockbuster” (TV-14). Gus is a friendly Gatlian whose main fire is a shotgun blast and his unique ability shoots a disc that players can shoot at walls to create platforms or players can shoot at enemies to decapitate them. Gatlian Creature, voiced by Tim Robinson, is a writer of the famous “Saturday Night Live” (TV-14). Creature has a very unique ability compared to the other Gatlians, instead of shooting bullets he shoots his kids which scatter about and kill enemies.

The free roam aspect that “High on Life” has is very fun. Each Gatlian has different personalities and abilities allowing players to choose their favorite one to use for the entirety of the game if they choose. Players get full access to every place they complete a bounty hunting mission. Each location has puzzles and side quests that give players loot to use to buy upgrades for their Gatlian. “High on Life” contains many different puzzles in each bounty quest that may be too difficult for some players to get past. If you or a friend get stuck on one of these puzzles IGN provides information on how to pass every quest.

I’m about halfway through the story and I’ve had a blast playing this game. I recommend this game for anybody that enjoys constant humor and nonstop action.