In December last year, Squanch Games released High on Life, its hotly-anticipated first-person shooter created in part by Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland. Since then, Roiland’s name has been the subject of some controversy, but High on Life has proven popular among players, even as it’s divided game critics.
Those who like High on Life praise its humour and presentation, while those who take against it generally feel the comedy is lacking and that the gameplay itself isn’t particularly compelling.
Of course, until recently, if you’re a PS5 gamer, you may not have had the chance to experience Roiland and Squanch Games’ shooter for yourself, so you might not know on which side of the fence you sit.
Luckily, things have changed recently, so we’re here to definitively answer the question: is High on Life on PS5?
High on Life is available on PS5 now
High on Life wasn’t released for PS5 at the same time as it was released for Xbox Series X/S and Xbox One; it was what’s known as a timed console exclusive, whereby a game appears on a console before that console’s competitors.
Other timed console exclusives include Final Fantasy XIV and Stray, both of which you may have played on PS5 but which are also eventually coming to other platforms as well.
Roiland and Squanch’s game is just the latest example of this phenomenon; it was released on Xbox and PC in December 2022, then subsequently given a PS5 release on July 22nd.
As such, happily, the answer to the question “is High on Life on PS5?” is a resounding yes. You can buy and play High on Life on PS5 right now if you wish; it’s freely available via the PlayStation Store, so get stuck in if you haven’t already!
Does High on Life have any special PS5 features?
Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like High on Life takes advantage of any of the special PS5 features available via the DualSense, nor does it appear to support any of the PS5’s advanced audio functionality.
According to High on Life’s PlayStation Store page, the game, which costs £49.99 in the UK, supports the PS5’s “vibration function”, which means you will get rumble feedback while you’re playing.
However, there’s no mention of the DualSense’s trigger effect, which is the way Sony refers to the controller’s adaptive triggers, and there’s also no mention of the PS5’s 3D audio feature.
As such, it looks like you’re getting a pretty barebones port of High on Life if you decide to pick it up on PlayStation 5. That’s no bad thing, of course; the game is perfectly functional without the PS5’s additional features. It’s just a shame that we won’t get to enjoy this offbeat adventure with the extra bells and whistles afforded by the PlayStation 5.
Can you play High on Life on PS4?
Happily, the answer to this question is also yes. High on Life is available on PS4 as well, so if you’re still playing on Sony’s last-gen machine, then you can still enjoy this wacky journey.
This means that at time of writing, the only platform on which High on Life is not available is the Nintendo Switch (unless you count mobile platforms as well).
A Switch port of the game is highly unlikely, though, given its visual fidelity and performance demands. As such, it looks like we’ve probably seen the last release of High on Life with the PlayStation versions.
What is High on Life, anyway?
There’s a chance you’ve gotten this far into our article without even knowing exactly what High on Life is and whether you should play it. If you have, then here’s a quick recap so you can bring yourself up to speed.
In High on Life, you play a faceless, nameless protagonist who also doesn’t speak. You’re living your regular suburban life, when suddenly, aliens invade, intent on consuming humans as drugs.
Teaming up with a talking weapon (who sounds eerily like Roiland’s Morty voice) by the name of Kenny, you must sally forth in order to put a stop to the alien invasion and destroy the leaders of the alien cartel who are threatening your planet.
The story is essentially an excuse for a series of jokes and comedy setpieces, so if you’re expecting Rick and Morty-style intellectual depth and philosophical musings out of left field, you’re going to be disappointed by High on Life.
However, if you love the Rick and Morty “Interdimensional Cable” skits and you want to play a whole game that essentially encapsulates that style of humour, then High on Life is definitely for you.
In gameplay terms, High on Life is perhaps best compared to Metroid Prime, although it also incorporates elements from the underrated 2005 Xbox shooter Oddworld: Stranger’s Wrath.
You’ll explore a series of semi-linear environments, dispatching alien enemies with a variety of talking guns and upgrading those guns as you go.
You’ll also unlock new platforming abilities and traversal powers, allowing you to revisit older levels in order to find secrets and collectibles you couldn’t get the first time around.
Whether or not you should buy High on Life will depend largely on how you feel about its humour. Our advice is to check out one of the game’s trailers and see if the jokes make you laugh. If they do, you’ll probably enjoy the full experience, and if they don’t, it’s safe to assume that High on Life is not for you.
