Excessive On Life 2 is doing the belongings you’d count on this sequel to do – it’s greater, extra full of jokes, much more experimental than the primary recreation, and now has a skateboard you need to use at any time (naturally). Nevertheless it’s additionally doing one thing we didn’t count on: altering the primary recreation’s construction essentially. Excessive On Life 2 is taking cues from Metroidvania video games, however utilizing them to its personal ends.
In an episode of the Official Xbox Podcast, Squanch Video games’ COO & Govt Producer, Matty Studivan, and Inventive & Artwork Director, Mikey Spano defined – amongst many different issues – about how the group modified their considering to supply a complete new hub-based design for the sport.
“Our Design Director, Erich Meyr, and I early on determined we wished to do one thing that had Metroidvania parts to it, however we additionally wished to assist telling actually tight tales,” defined Spano. “So, this time round, we tried to maintain all the Metroidvania parts within the hubs.”
Whereas the unique Excessive On Life was constructed round a single hub, Blim Metropolis, the sequel will take you to 3 completely different hubs, every with much more to them and, in traditional Metroidvania type, providing increasingly more interactions the extra you play and earn.
“It’s a giant step up for us from the primary recreation,” mentioned Studivan. “For those who performed it and you recognize Blim Metropolis, it’s a very cool spot, however fairly small geographically.”
“We’ve three decent-sized hubs in [High On Life 2],” provides Spano, “and every a type of hubs has quite a lot of little aspect issues you are able to do, NPCs you could find, tons of collectibles, tons of unlockable issues. And clearly with the skateboard; there’s quite a lot of cool stuff associated to the skateboard that you are able to do within the hubs.”
The change is successfully about letting Squanch have their cake and eat it – the brand new construction implies that the group can pack within the stupendously bizarre moments that made Excessive On Life beloved, without having to derail the core story to get non-sequitur jokes in there. It’s a chic combine:
“By way of the way it all flows collectively, you’ve acquired your own home base that you simply’re all the time returning to,” defined Spano. “And in there, you’re speaking to your crew about what you’re going to do subsequent. After which, you’ll be dropped down into the hub. After which from there, you’re navigating to a goal that you simply’re following. However when you get to a sure level, it triggers a extra linear expertise the place we will inform the story in a tighter means. We nonetheless all the time have selections that you simply’re making and stuff like that.
“However when it comes to ending a stage after which coming again with new power-ups, we attempt to maintain all that within the hub in order that we will inform an entire story without having gamers to come back again and listen to the identical issues over and over.”
The upshot is that Squanch can inform the story they wish to, however give gamers the liberty to step away and discover simply how odd the encircling world is at their leisure. To assist create all that aspect content material, Squanch took a really enjoyable strategy:
“One of many methods we had been in a position to do this is that we do recreation jams on the studio, as a result of your entire group is so artistic,” added Studivan. “And so, we had eight or 9 groups [jam] for per week – and I feel like seven of the sport jams are within the hubs on this recreation.”
It ought to make exploring the hubs rewarding in itself – with complete different recreation sorts hidden away, each discovery can turn into one thing new. We’ll get extra of what we discovered to count on from the primary recreation, too – Excessive On Life included complete, real-life motion pictures to observe, and that may return (with a movie show to observe them in). We additionally know that Squanch has licensed full video games (NES recreation Bible Adventures fashioned a pivotal a part of the demo we not too long ago performed) that may seem alongside the way in which.
“We’re spending much more assets and time on [side content]. It actually makes the world really feel such as you’re someplace lived-in,” mentioned Studivan.
The large adjustments to construction are additionally about catering to completely different sorts of gamers. Those that simply need the story can bounce from important mission to important mission with out friction. Those that wish to do the whole lot can accomplish that with out having to repeat missions, and at their very own tempo. And there are additionally those that would possibly waver between fast blasts and marathon periods:
“So, with the missions, we attempt to maintain them at a sure size in order that should you’re like, ‘I’m going to go take down this bounty,’ you really can end it in an evening after which get again to placing your youngsters to mattress or no matter it’s that you must do,” mentioned Spano. “After which for the avid gamers that need a extra free-form expertise, they know they’ll simply hand around in the hub for some time and do no matter they need and tackle missions each time they need.”
For a recreation that presents itself as unabashedly dumb, there’s a core of sensible, traditional recreation design considering sitting beneath all of the insanity. With that design in place, it permits Squanch to go as wild as they need with the concepts we, as gamers, will work together with.
Even within the earliest seems on the recreation, we’re seeing how far they’ll push this – one boss combat out of the blue sees your enemy hack your recreation, sending you navigating your individual menu screens to combat him off. And, better of all:
“That’s one of many extra regular components of the sport,” Spano mentioned. “This demo is early within the recreation. By Act Three it’s simply so off the rails and insane. I feel persons are going to be actually shocked.”
I’m very a lot trying ahead to seeing how a lot weirder this could get – Excessive on Life 2 arrives for Xbox Sequence X|S and Xbox on PC on February 13, 2026, and will probably be out there on day one with Recreation Go Final.
If you wish to hear a lot, rather more in regards to the recreation, be sure that to take a look at the total Official Xbox Podcast episode, which dives into how Squanch rotated a sequel so rapidly, the troublesome artwork of writing comedy for video games, the advantages of switching to Unreal Engine 5 and… the marvel of Microsoft Excel.
Excessive On Life 2
Squanch Video games, Inc.
You’ve accomplished it. You’ve taken down an intergalactic cartel, introduced humanity again from the brink of extinction, and hunted harmful bounties to the far corners of the galaxy. Bounty looking has introduced you fortune, fame and love; however when a mysterious determine out of your previous reappears and places a value in your sister’s head, your soft life will get thrown into chaos.
Do you might have what it takes to threat all of it and produce down an intergalactic conspiracy that when once more threatens your favourite species (people)?
Excessive On Life RETURNS as you and the one you love rag-tag group of alien misfits shoot, stab, and skate your means by way of beautiful, harmful worlds all throughout the galaxy to explode the EVIL pharmaceutical conglomerate hell-bent on placing value tags on HUMAN LIFE!
