From the mind of Justin Roiland and Squanch Games comes High on Life, an FPS action-adventure that is absurd and creative in its design choices. Unveiled at the Xbox and Bethesda Ganes Showcase this June and with the pedigree of Rick and Morty and Solar Opposites behind it, High on Life could be a comedic hit on PC and Xbox.
With everything the reveal trailer has shown for the upcoming game, arguably one of High on Life's best features is its strange choice of weapons that all have unique personalities and voices of their own. By making the weapons have distinctive identities and turning them into characters, not only can this provide a wealth of comedy through in-combat dialogue and cutscenes with different guns equipped, but it could also help circumvent game design hurdles such as tutorials.
High on Life's Weapons Breakdown
Based on early footage, it seems there are four main weapons used in the player's right hand, with an additional two tools in the left hand. There could be more that haven't yet been revealed, but the showcase presented enough on High on Life to get the general idea behind its premise. It seems the initial gun players will receive is a blue-colored pistol creature that also appears in promotional artwork for the game. In addition, there are other weapons whose firing style is somewhat unclear, from a green-colored gun that can seemingly form ledges to another reddish-pink gun with crystalline spikes, but others are straightforward to understand like a grappling tool or run-of-the-mill knife.
However, the big selling point behind all these weapons (or tools, dependent on how players want to define them) is they are sentient and alive. Developer Squanch Games revealed these "guns" are actually a species of aliens called Gattliens. From the premise explained in its reveal trailer, the game will revolve around a scenario where the protagonist, in an effort to stop a drug cartel, will team up with the Gattliens while rescuing them from captivity. Voiced by prominent actors and Internet personalities including Roiland, J.B. Smoove, Tim Robinson, Zach Hadel (best known as psychicpebbles), and Michael Cusack, these guns are portrayed with their own distinctive personalities.
The Benefits of The Gattliens
The greatest advantage that the Gattliens can provide High on Life is solving one of game design's biggest challenges. Drawing players into a game world is a careful balancing act for developers, since they also need to ensure players are aware of gameplay mechanics such as how much health they have or their ammo levels. Tutorials can often make or break a game, where bad tutorials ruin a game's immersion and irritate players while good tutorials are still helpful but unobtrusive.
It's such a challenge for development that many gamers will celebrate examples of good tutorial design which serve as a positive endorsement of the game itself. High on Life's trailer demonstrates how it has solved this, with an orange grenade launcher-styled Gattlien explaining to the player how they and their "kids" work as a gun. It's a seamless but effective way of making the tutorial part of the game's natural charm.
High on Life's Gattliens can be both informative and humorous at the same time. Beyond just being tutorials, Gattliens could also provide dialogue during in-game events, whether to provide helpful tips or deliver a punchline. For instance, Gattliens have already been shown to have some influence into the game's cutscenes when speaking to other characters, but while this may just be scripted, Squanch Games' style could mean it extends further.
Combining this with the breadth of voice actors and their backgrounds in comedy could be very promising for the overall humor of the game. While the concept may not be specifically unique to High on Life, as other upcoming games like The Entropy Centre will also feature talking guns, the fact that High on Life carries the ongoing creative legacy of Justin Roiland will hopefully elevate the concept. Between now and October, fans are hoping that more details about the biopunk FPS will be revealed, with more footage showcasing the guns and their personalities.
High on Life is set to be released in October on PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.