High on Life 2 by Squanch Games was released on PC, Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 back in February 2026. Now, in July 2026, the game has arrived on Nintendo Switch 2. While the game had pretty strong reviews on other platforms, High on Life 2 on the Nintendo Switch 2 initially burns bright but fades fast.

Following on from the original High on Life, the sequel has you basking in the glory of your past victories, living it up as a famed bounty hunter, yet having a reputation has a price, and it tends to be a heavy one. The ultimate bounty is a massive pharmaceutical company looking to turn humans into “medicinal products”. As expected, Big Pharma’s intentions aren’t quite as clear-cut, tending more toward financial gain and power.

High on Life 2 cranks up the content from the original. The sci-fi setting, packed with weird worlds and wacky characters, keeps each planet you visit feeling unique. From city zones filled with shops selling questionable items to a luxury cruise line and a zoo where you can visit a “Human Exhibit”, every area is well-thought-out, colourful and quirky. The planet-specific tunes add a little extra too, synthy or more subdued and banger boss tracks. All NPC’s are fully voice-acted, with only your own playable character being mysteriously mute. With the company of my weapons, there was plenty of chatter for company.

Gameplay has been taken several notches higher; the fast-paced first-person shooter is at the forefront. Stab-happy Knifey returns, ready to slice through enemies alongside returning and new Gatlians, the sentient alien guns our unnamed human character uses. New guns can mix up combat and traversal, leading to expanded environmental puzzles, platforming, and more satisfying gameplay.

By far my favourite upgrade is the Skateboard, which makes travelling around zones super swift with the option of grinding on rails or kicking the board into other Bounty Hunters’ faces, effectively “decking” them often in one hit. However, I felt myself losing momentum halfway through the game, with a pretty rinse-and-repeat approach to tackling bounties and drawn-out additional steps to completing missions.

The boss fights and worlds had quite a bit of variety and some fun interactions. Witty humour only went so far in keeping me entertained. All the ideas to make a good story-driven adventure are there, though it doesn’t stick the landing at times.

Where High on Life 2 on the Nintendo Switch 2 ranks lower for me is in the performance on the console. At 1080p resolution and a target of 30 FPS, I still experienced significant graphical and performance issues. The game didn’t look great handheld or docked, with worlds and models looking low-res.

The Nintendo Switch 2 version dialled back on elements within the environments; the gameplay wasn’t as smooth as I would like, and the visuals weren’t crisp, with objects looking rough around the edges at times.

In dense environments, I experienced noticeable frame-rate drops; they were relatively infrequent, usually occurring in heavily populated areas and during combat encounters. Load times, both when travelling and at some doors leading to progression, were much longer than desired.

I struggled to play handheld as it was difficult to see all elements of my surroundings. It was better docked on a big screen, though, on both options, I often felt motion-sick with the fast-paced movements while shooting and skating. Down the line, I expect more optimisation patches to be released; for now, performance isn’t at its peak.

High on Life 2 plays well on Joy-Cons, with standard FPS-style controls. I preferred to play on a Switch 2 controller for ease of use; both methods are serviceable. As a shooter, the Joy-Con 2 mouse mode is usable for gamers preferring the point-and-click feedback of a mouse; it does require some coordination to operate both the mouse and the other Joy-Con 2 for movement.

For accessibility, I wish there were more options for better visibility, with motion blur off, camera motion reduced, and sensitivity toned down; it was still uncomfortable during fast movements. I struggled as someone relatively motion-sensitive. The new Gyro aiming is a nice little bonus in the Nintendo Switch 2 version, letting players tilt or rotate the controller for certain movements, which may be preferred by some.

High on Life 2’s Nintendo Switch 2 port has all the ingredients for a winning formula, but I wasn’t hooked. At release, I would expect games to be fully optimised, with only minor fixes as needed. There have been bug and performance patches; more is needed to hit the highs I expect for a fully released game. Fans of the first game might enjoy getting back to Bounty-Hunting, and others may find the game’s world-building and gameplay less addictive. For this one, it may be better to explore the galaxy on PC, PlayStation 5, or Xbox Series X|S, or wait until more patches fix the faults.

Written by: Yasmin Noble