High on Life Switch Review

High on Life Switch Review
Version Reviewed: Nintendo Switch

Rick and Morty has always been an enjoyable show for me. Its offbeat humour, ridiculous premise, and moments of heartwarming character development make it a wildly unpredictable show to follow. High on Life aims to take some of those same ideas and build a first-person shooter around them, starring the show’s voice talent. You’re dropped into the boots of a bounty hunter, armed with wisecracking talking weapons and a mission that’s part chaos, part comedy. What’s it like? Goop up, lock and load, and throw out the script as we review High on Life for Nintendo Switch.

Story and Gameplay: Swearing and Shooting

The setup is simple enough: aliens invade Earth and start using humans as drugs. You, an otherwise unremarkable protagonist, somehow end up as a bounty hunter tasked with fighting back. There’s genuine narrative intrigue buried beneath the absurdity, and the story leans hard into self-awareness and surreal humour. The talking guns are the defining feature here, each one has a distinct personality, voice, and running commentary. Sometimes, they are genuinely funny, especially when the actors nail a nuanced or unexpected line. Other times, the script devolves into a barrage of F-bombs that quickly lose their edge. It’s like watching a teenager push boundaries for the first time, shocking at first, but quickly wears thin. Thankfully, you can adjust how frequently your guns talk in the settings, which is a blessing.

Combat is surprisingly satisfying. Underneath the comedy, it’s a fairly standard shooter, but one enhanced by unique gun abilities, alternative fire modes, and varied movement options. One example of this is your knife, which… let’s just say is an odd character, but it can be used as a whip to jump and traverse areas, adding a new method of avoiding attacks and heading to high ground. Boss fights are a highlight, each introducing fresh mechanics that require a new approach. That said, the game sometimes pulls you away from the action for extended exploration or exposition, which can be frustrating when all you want to do is get back to blasting aliens.

Graphics and Sound: Stylish and Stretched Thin

Now, onto the big question most of you are here for… How does High on Life perform on the Switch? Well, visually, High on Life is a bit of a mixed bag on Switch. In handheld mode, it often looks blurry, dropping with the system’s dynamic resolution in order to maintain frames. In docked mode, things improve a little, but the texture resolution drops the overall graphics quality. There’s also the odd consistency with the character models; some look good, while others, particularly your sister, look awful. Performance mostly holds steady, but in busy combat scenarios, you can expect some noticeable dips. On the upside, the game world does a great job of immersing the player. Environments are colourful, alien, and packed with weird little touches. Characters are expressive and odd in a way that works with the overall tone of the game. There were moments when the game looked impressively detailed, and others when it looked significantly average. The art direction is doing a lot of heavy lifting to make the technical compromises easier to swallow. The soundtrack complements the world nicely, with sci-fi synths and atmospheric background tracks that help ground you in the setting. But the combat music, much like the gun banter, can become grating over time, especially during longer encounters.

Despite the visual compromises, the game is relatively stable. I encountered a few minor bugs during my playthrough, most notably melee kill animations clipping through enemies, but nothing game-breaking. Load times are mostly seamless, though entering the slums consistently triggered a brief loading icon on screen. Otherwise, the transitions between areas were smooth. Menus and controls were responsive, and the moment-to-moment gameplay rarely felt hindered by the platform’s limitations. That said, this is clearly a game built for more powerful hardware that’s doing its best to perform on the Switch platform.

For my bounty hunters looking into accessibility, I’m pleased to report that there are a myriad of options to accommodate players. There are plenty of thoughtful additions like Auto Firing, Aim Assist, Speaking Indicators, Subtitles UI and Text sizing options, Legible text options, Camera Motion and Colour correction. It’s so great to see this sort of options on a release like this, and kudos to the Squanch Games team for adding them.

Value and Final Thoughts: One for the Fans

At just over $50 AUD on the Switch eShop, it’s priced lower than most new releases. That helps soften the blow for those who might be wary of a visually compromised port. If you’re a Rick and Morty fan who missed this one elsewhere, it’s still a solid recommendation. The script leans heavily into the kind of unfiltered, self-aware comedy the series is known for, and when it hits, it really hits, but when it goes off script, it can be a bit crass. Clocking in at just over eight hours on Story Mode, High on Life isn’t a huge time investment, but it makes the most of what it offers. There’s plenty of dialogue, side paths, and oddball humour to uncover if you take your time, but even a straight run through delivers a decent hit of the game’s chaotic charm. The game also includes the “High on Knife” DLC pack for more bounty hunting humorous adventures.

With the Switch 2 on the horizon, this release feels like it could have really benefited from waiting for the new system, but it still does an admirable job running with what it has. If it gets an upgrade patch in the future, it might end up being the best of both worlds. Until then, it’s a competent, foul-mouthed shooter that brings a surprising amount of personality to Nintendo’s famously family-friendly platform.

So, What’s it Like? High on Life is like Borderlands crossed with Rick and Morty

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