Social Media Divided Over 'High On Life,' A Game Where The Player's Morty-voiced Gun Goes 'Ah Jeez' In Response To Everything
Squanch Games' High on Life, a comedy shooter conceived by Rick and Morty creator Justin Roiland, got a new gameplay trailer at yesterday's Gamescom event, showing off what will almost certainly be its defining feature — talking weapons.
The premise of High on Life finds the player as a bounty hunter fighting off aliens with a talking gun and talking knife, both of which are voiced by Roiland. As social media discovered after yesterday's trailer, the two guns sound essentially indistinguishable from Rick Sanchez and Morty Smith from the Adult Swim show. They also seem to never stop talking.
Most of the action showcased in yesterday's trailer showcases the Morty-esque gun "ah jeez"-ing through comebacks at an equally quippy boss. The face of the gun faces the player, meaning all of these lines are essentially screamed at the camera.
This was not everyone's cup of tea, as many found it unbearably cringeworthy, particularly on the heels of the Forspoken trailer that was roasted for its Marvel-esque dialogue.
Still, as Rick and Morty's enduring fandom has proven, there is certainly a market for Roiland's voices and writing, and several commenters expressed that they found the premise and gameplay trailer hilarious.
high on life is going to be a 10 #gamescom pic.twitter.com/iMj9c24CSx
— Gav (@GavinUK86) August 23, 2022
High on Life's writing is so great! The profane comedy is on point, but also there's SO MANY contextual, constant lines that it feels like your entire armory is invested in your success. Really fun idea to have this kind of reactive VO in an action game's scripted scenes.
— Mitch Dyer (@MitchyD) August 23, 2022
All games should have talking guns!😅 Love the look of this. #highonlife #gamescom2022 #Gamescom pic.twitter.com/L66HKNvMjF
— ScaredyMat (@ScaredyMat) August 23, 2022
High on Life was recently delayed to December 2022, so it will be some time before players can see if the quippy dialogue gets more bearable in context, but right now, it appears a large amount of gamers are not high on High on Life.
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TFC Medic is my Husbando
I'm getting bizarre Prey 2 vibs from the game, and I hate that with a passion cause it makes me kinda want it, but the cringe is just so unbearable.
Mistress Fortune
It's coming to Game Pass day 1 so I'll be playing it that way. Could be great, could be "meh," but hey I'll essentially be playing it via a rental first (that's sorta become my view on Game Pass, I view it as the modern equivalent of a Blockbuster or local video rental store membership).
Nyazilla
At least the weapon wasn't called the Joss Whedon Quips Gun.
Sanakan_ht
It's like Borderlands 3 but every character has the personality of claptrap
Rynjin
I remember a long time ago I sent in an application to join the writing team for this game. The end result almost makes me glad they never got back to me.
wisehowl_the_2nd
Mechanically I think the idea has merit but dialog-wise it looks like Borderlands level of insufferable.
Triplem
Literally too.
mandrac
Spaztastic Man
You'd think after 12 years Justin Roiland would've wizened up and realize that people are getting absolutely sick of the ONE voice he applies to everything. It was novel back when it was Oscar, Lemongrab, and Blendin Blandin, but now as we near a decade and a half it's beyond stale.
King Crimson
Trover Saves the Universe was one of the funniest games I've ever played so I'm optimistic about this. Maybe it was just a bad trailer.