As I used to be sitting right down to play the ultimate demo of High on Life, Chief Creative Officer Mikey Spano mentioned the magic phrase: Metroid.
Nintendo’s traditional sequence was invoked in a easy approach, as Spano defined that the upcoming comedy shooter has a gear-gating component to it that lets gamers unlock extra of the world as they acquire abilities. Just 20 minutes into taking part in, I couldn’t assist however discover that the connection was even stronger because of its distinctive first-person journey elements. I took my headphones off and turned again to Spano, asking if the sport was taking design cues from 2002’s Metroid Prime. He lit up, seemingly excited that the DNA was clear.
“It’s like Metroid Prime, but funny!” he mentioned.
HIGH ON LIFE – Official Game Trailer – Xbox & Bethesda Games Showcase 2022
That element made me see High on Life in a wholly new gentle throughout my one-hour demo of it. While a lot of the dialog across the sport has been centered on its polarizing comedy, onlookers have but to know the complete scope of it from a gameplay perspective. That component might make it one among December’s most stunning releases.
Prime time
When I first demoed High on Life at Gamescom, I used to be largely centered on its comedy. The shooter had simply debuted a joke-filled trailer at Opening Night Live, which landed flat for some, so I needed to see how that side labored in follow (for the report, I discovered it to be a lot funnier than that trailer recommended). This time, I needed to maintain my consideration on the precise gameplay, so I used to be a little bit extra tuned out when it got here to the jokes. A couple of stood out — I’m a sucker for a superb pants-peeing gag –, however I used to be extra shocked by the sport’s construction.
We sort of fell into doing extra of a construction like Metroid Prime 2: Echoes …
The first demo had me satisfied High on Life was a reasonably linear sport, however that’s not the case. Every act provides gamers the selection to simply accept one among two bounties, which can take them on a unique quest. They’ll solely be capable of play by way of one, which signifies that their second playthrough may very well be a wholly completely different sport. In my snippet, I used to be shipped off to a desert planet and tasked with searching down a hard-ass navy drill sergeant named Douglas.
I shortly discovered that the world had far more optionally available, explorable area than I noticed in my first demo. At one level, I sauntered right into a saloon crammed with random NPCs that I may discuss to, together with a flute-playing alien with a really wiggly butt. Spano famous that I used to be the primary participant in two days of demos to stroll into the saloon in any respect. At one other level, I discovered a “warp” level that opened up a aspect scene the place a miniature metropolis appeared earlier than me and a tiny NPC invited me to discover it. Naturally, I utterly destroyed it like a kaiju as I walked by way of it. It was a wholly optionally available second that didn’t yield any particular rewards apart from some hearty laughs.
The planet I explored was compact, however crammed with little secrets and techniques like that. That made it really feel a lot greater than it was, which is particularly the place the sport’s Metroid affect exhibits itself in a much less apparent approach.
“Metroid Prime is the overall theme we were going for,” Spano tells Digital Trends. “We had the limitation of a smaller team, so we thought we couldn’t do this huge interconnected world. So we kind of fell into doing more of a structure like Metroid Prime 2: Echoes where you have a hub — which in that one is your ship and in our game is the house. So from there, you can go to different planets that are all connected through the house, but they’re not connected to each other.”
The Metroid Prime affect is straight away clear in its gameplay too. This slice was far more traversal heavy, as I used my pal Knifey to grapple over gaps and resolve platforming puzzles utilizing my globshot (a charged shot that may knock down metallic platforms, typically requiring you to bounce it off of adjoining partitions to get the angle proper). Its most-involved puzzle had me connecting a pipe pathway by taking pictures the right junctions into place. Calling it a shooter is a bit deceptive; it’s a first-person journey sport.
Shine and mix
What actually stood out this time round was the depth of its techniques. While I solely had one gun and my knife within the first demo, which felt a little bit fundamental on the time, the brand new speaking weapon I had right here broke fight huge open. Gus, voiced by J. B. Smoove, acts like a inexperienced shotgun with its highly effective major blast. That’s solely one among his capabilities, although. By urgent the left set off, I can vacuum enemies towards me, permitting me to drag them in shut sufficient to obliterate them.
It’s his different particular skill, although, that sells me on what High on Life is doing with its fight. By urgent the best bumper, I throw out a kind of metallic boomerang that smacks enemies earlier than returning in my path. If I time it excellent, I can melee it when it’s near me and ship it again out. It doesn’t completely return to me, so I’ve to get myself into the best place to thwack it like a volleyball participant shifting on the courtroom. It’s an extremely satisfying transfer while you pull it off, particularly when combining it with different Gus’ different capabilities.
That thought is the actual coronary heart of High on Life’s fight, and even its common traversal too. Part of that imaginative and prescient was impressed by Doom Eternal (you’ll see some acquainted execution animations right here that just about parody that sport’s ugly kills), however Spano says that the workforce at Squanch was shifting towards that concept even earlier than that sport launched.
“One of our initial pillars was ‘shine and combine,’” Spano says. “The idea was: to play the game well, you need to combine all these moves together. And that went through a lot of different iterations, and what we settled on was a sort of opt-in system. If you can figure out the combos, that’s awesome, but you don’t have to use them to play through. I hope people figure out stuff we didn’t even think of.”
I get an actual really feel for that concept on the finish of the demo once I lastly go face-to-face with Douglas in a conventional boss combat. I’ve to shoot at him whereas he leaps round a sq. room, all whereas avoiding an electrified flooring. Using all the abilities I’d honed, I’m bouncing my boomerang at him thrice to place a dent in his well being bar, beautiful him with the globshot, and following up with a stab for good measure. It’s a tricky combat (Spano jokes that High on Life is “Elden Ring, but hard”), however I’m capable of climate it by taking full benefit of that “shine and combine” philosophy. Spano instructed me that I used to be the primary particular person throughout the demo days to beat it in a single strive, leaving him to joke — or possibly not — that Squanch ought to make it even tougher.
At the tail finish of the demo, I get a 3rd gun that actually will get me excited to take that concept additional. Sweezy is a design parody of Halo’s Needler – when Spano says they thought it will be humorous to spoof Halo’s worst gun, I’m fast to defend its honor — that may shoot a time -slowing bubble at enemies. Theoretically, right here’s one thing you might do in fight: launch an enemy into the air with a globshot, freeze them in midair, knock them a couple of occasions with Gus’ boomerang, vacuum them towards you, and end them off with a shotgun blast. And that’s with out even having the entire sport’s weapons.
While the humor looks as if it’ll be a polarizing level for gamers, what Squanch is doing with its core gameplay philosophy must be a bit extra universally interesting. The slice I performed confirmed off a well-built first-person journey sport with sturdy gunplay that may go as deep or informal as you need. Its Metroid Prime, Doom Eternal, and Sunset Overdrive (two key workforce members labored on the latter) influences all mesh collectively in ways in which would possibly shock the skeptics. If that seems like your velocity, however you haven’t been bought on its jokes to this point, keep in mind that the amount button is your buddy.
High on Life launches on December 13 for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It’ll be accessible through Xbox Game Pass.
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