On December 13, the shooter High on Life was released on PC and Xbox. Just a few days later, it became the most popular game on Xbox Game Pass. That’s good for the game – but not so much for the Game Pass.
What kind of shooter is this? High on Life was first presented at the Xbox & Bethesda Showcase and was one of the highlights of gamescom 2022. The completely wacky shooter comes from one of the creators of the crazy adult cartoon Rick & Morty: Justin Roiland, the voice of Rick and Morty.
High on Life strikes the same chord as the cartoon, even though they have nothing to do with each other: Aliens are invading Earth and using humans as drugs. You play as a bounty hunter who hunts these aliens with sentient weapons.
The shooter is a mix of action-adventure and Metroidvania, where you blast your way through various levels, defeat bosses, and collect upgrades for yourself and your various weapon friends.
Our colleague Sascha Penzhorn from GameStar has already tested High on Life and says: He loves the shooter but cannot recommend it at all
High on Life beats Minecraft in Game Pass – Is it lacking hits?
The start is this good: High on Life had to deal with issues at launch, which were already resolved with the first hotfix a few days later. Accordingly, the ratings are mixed:
- On Metacritic, High on Life has a score of 67 and a user score of 7.8 in the PC version.
- The official Xbox site shows 3 out of 5 stars.
- On Steam, High on Life is doing well with a proud 90% positive reviews.
In fact, the shooter is quite popular. Since day 1, it has been playable with a subscription in Xbox Game Pass and has risen to the top of the most popular games, even surpassing Minecraft. The Vice President of Xbox Games tweeted about this success:
High on Life is now above top titles and long-running hits like LEGO Star Wars, Minecraft, and Forza Horizon 5. However, it’s hard to say how many players the shooter actually has, as insights are lacking within Game Pass.
Isn’t that a success? Definitely for the game. But for Xbox and the Game Pass, this could be a potentially negative sign, as US site Kotaku points out. Because High on Life is a new IP and not a big AAA game.
In 2022, Xbox is missing big releases of its own production, such as Age of Empires 4 or Halo: Infinite from the previous year. Next to such heavyweights, High on Life would likely have gone unnoticed.
Unlike Sony, which alone has God of War: Ragnarök and Nintendo with the new Pokémon Scarlet and Violet, Microsoft and Xbox are missing the big blockbusters this year.
That might be one of the reasons why Microsoft is currently trying to buy Activision Blizzard. The upcoming action-RPG Diablo 4 is expected to definitely be released on Game Pass but would still be an external production.
The purchase is still being reviewed, but currently, there are significant complications. Competitor Sony has repeatedly filed complaints, until finally a lawsuit came that has put the procedure on hold:
