High on Life Is Xbox Game Pass Biggest 2022 Launch, and the Biggest 3rd Party Game Pass Launch Ever

High On Life is the biggest Game Pass release of 2022, the biggest 3rd party launch in Game Pass history, and the biggest single-player game launch on Game Pass ever.
High On Life is out now for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and Windows, and is available as part of Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass.
Today, we’re happy to announce that High On Life — the comedy-shooter featuring charismatic talking guns from Rick and Morty co-creator Justin Roiland’s Squanch Games — is Xbox Game Pass’ biggest launch of 2022, the biggest 3rd party Game Pass launch of all time, and the biggest release of a single player-only game in the service’s history. Those stats are measured in terms of engagement, based on the number of hours played in the first five days of release.

[Jin_Sakai]

Yes the majority of reviews were mediocre. Guess reviewers can’t take some humor in games.

[Fishy Fingers]

Not sure thats fair.

Im enjoying it as a R&M fan. But I can still see why its not everyones cut of tea. Humour is subjective. I can easily see some of my friends giving it 5/10 and some giving it 10/10 (or anywhere in between). Thats "jokes", its individual.

Like it or not, i commend them for being decisive and sticking with the direction.

[Lifexline]

I agree comedy is a very underrepresented genre in gaming and it’s great to see developers take a risk and do something like this a game that’s full on comedy not just jokes here and there. It’s a fantastic amazing game. But comedy is subjective it’s a hard thing to really get a good general consensus of.

But it seems like this is the sleeper hit of 2022 it’s super popular and has great word of mouth. This is one of those games where users and some critics differ vastly.

[-Foxtrot]

I don't think it's the humour, maybe they personally just didn't like it.

I mean I think it sounds like my type of humour but if everything else is average then it won't make me go "Oh I'll ignore the flaws, 9/10"

[CBaoth]

yes it is the humor. I can't stand neurotic comedy, ergo I hate the constant ramblings in Rick n Morty. I tried the game but couldn't stand the banter of the guns after awhile. I know in the menus I can tone down/turn off the dialogue, but then I'm left with a mediocre FPS with a stupid plot. It is the humor. IF you like R & M give it a shot. If you don't.....well I hope you tried it on GP

[wiz7191]

But besides the jokes the games is pretty good , combat feels good and the replay ability is there … you can also tone the jokes down in the menu

[porkChop]

I'm having a good time with it but I recognize the humour won't be for everyone. One thing I really love though is the COLOUR everywhere. It's so nice to sit back and play a shooter that doesn't look bland or hyper realistic.

[GotGame818]

Splatoon 3 is better if that is what you're looking for.

[porkChop]

I wouldn't say "better". Splatoon and HoL are totally different games.

[badz149]

I'm not siding with any party here but myself personally can't get into R&M no matter how much I tried. so the jokes here most probably would elude me too

[Lexreborn2]

Oh I thought you guys were experts on compelling dialogue… you telling me you don’t understand/empathize with their gripes?!

[Bathyj]

Really?
I think humour is the only thing saving this game.

If it wasn't for Rick and Morty would this game even get a second look? Would it stand on its own shooter legs?

[Flawlessmic]

Yep I'm with you, humour was the only good thing about it, every thing else was bang average.

You got people put here acting like it some master piece and the only reason people don't like it is cause of the humour lol.

Its a 7 out 10, 7.5 at bestt, shows you the desepration the blind fans propping up the discourse around a game that isn't even good.

Plenty of copium going on around here.

[ChubbyBlade]

I just don’t find the game very funny. But I also don’t find it funny when characters just ramble on for a while or announce the obvious. It’s not for me.

[CrimsonWing69]

I just don’t think they know how to critique a game, that or they don’t know what a good game is from a mediocre one.

[itsmebryan]

Have you watched the movie on the TV at your house. They are supposed to have 4 full length movies you can watch. The Paul Walker and Denes Richards movie is awful. Lol

[FinalFantasyFanatic]

I thought part of the souring towards the game was because of the AI artwork/voice-work.

[Christopher]

This is a bad take as an argument as to why reviewers called the game mediocre. Same as saying reviewers can't take progressive storytelling or conservative ideology. It's purely subjective.

I'm not sitting here asking for more Claptrap comedy, personally, but certainly there are people out there who want more. Comedy isn't just one thing.

[gurp]

the game is actually a fun fps, humor requires getting used to, and the graphics are good and very colorful, the only problem is 4k very high is hit/miss with an RTX 3090, the optimization is poor

[darthv72]

Started playing it the other day. It takes certain liberties and influences from many other games and that is really cool to see. I dont know which is funnier, the knife or the gun. both have their moments.

[Orchard]

It’s the knife for me, he’s a total maniac and it’s hilarious.

And I’m not gonna lie - being Australian just makes him even funnier 😂

[-Foxtrot]

Isn't it because people would rather have Gamepass to try it rather than hearing it about the mixed reviews and buying it full price.

I mean cool I guess, but it feels like a little bit of a spin to hype Gamepass....you know the service they played down to Sony just a little while ago.

[Orchard]

Does it really matter why though? They launched a game, people are loving it, engagement is high, their game is a success. That’s all that matters.

And GP doesn’t need hype, it already has hype, just talk to anyone who’s been using it for the past few years.

There’s a reason why Sony copied it - if it didn’t have hype they wouldn’t have.

Hopefully the success of the game means we’ll get a sequel.

[badz149]

Sony copied Gamepass how??

[Orchard]

@badz Check out the new PS+ sub.

[shinoff2183]

Sony actually had psnow first before gamepass. Gamepass actually copied Sony and tweeked it. Being a trillion dollar company they can put day one games on their from their studios. It wont last forever though. Especially when they still can't keep up with Sony. Mind you they haven't released any ms studio games but like 3. Halo, forward, and pentinment(another 10 out of 10 bs score)

[Redemption-64]

@Orchard
Seriously were you born recently? You do know both PS+ and PS Now have all existed long before GamePass right? Maybe in whatever world you come from GP came first. But combining two existing services into 3 tiers (Which GP doesn't have) is not copying GP

[Orchard]

I’m aware that PSNow existed, but let’s be honest, it was dead, old games and a different model. In the time it existed it only managed about 5-10% of the subs that GP had mustered in far less time.

So Sony saw the popularity of GP and took the opportunity to copy GP, merge the services and offer PS+ premium tiers.

While it still doesn’t have 1st party day 1 titles, it has some day 1 titles.

[Traecy]

The game may be played by a large amount of GP subscribers but was it a success far as retail digital sales only?

[Orchard]

@Tracy

Does that matter? Dollars are dollars - it doesn’t matter if they came from sales or from GamePass.

If anything, for a new IP, visibility is the most important thing. So they were also smart to get this into GP.

[Traecy]

Money from GP & retail sales are different,the very reason newly released AAA multiplat games never really land on subscription services. PS Now doesn't even put their newly released first party exclusives on their service. The game may be a hit on GP because people didn't have to pay retail price but did a slew of people buy the game at retail price on PC & Xbox consoles where it really counts. I'm for one who didn't pay & I'm quite sure you & many others didn't either.

[Orchard]

“ Money from GP & retail sales are different”

Is it? Do we know that? How much did they pay for HoL?

Unless we have that info, you can’t make such a statement.

[EvertonFC]

Sony didn't copy it, psnow came out way before GP

[MrNinosan]

Where in the story did you find that people are loving it?
I'm sure a few does, I even liked it the first two hours, but that's not what the story is about, is it?

The story is about GamePass subscribers have downloaded the game.
Most likely because there haven't been that many great games lately on GamePass, except Plague Tale.

[wiz7191]

@Tracey just because a game is on gamepass doesn’t automatically make it a success .. lol it’s obvious you don’t have gamepass so why are you even speaking on it lol High on Life is just a good game and it’s a shame you can’t enjoy it

[KillBill]

"you know the service they played down to Sony just a little while ago." you mean the service that Sony hyped up just awhile ago? lol

[Orchard]

Having a blast with it so far. Highly recommend picking this up if you haven’t already - it’ll make you laugh more than any other game.

[a7madRyan]

man thay waited for a year to play any new HD game, grats for the fans hopefully they enjoyed it and got there 120-180$ worth of games.

[The Wood]

Yikes..... thats gunna leave a scar. The levels of the output of xbox vs the ps and Nintendo is vast. Imagine championing games like this as a must haves to demonstrate why the worlds most powerful console trumps what the other boys release. It really is a thing that xbox fans set higher standards for others than they do their own.

[Lightning77]

I'm still pissed at MS lack of output and they still need to prove to me that the games they got are real with release dates. But what your saying Here is really not that serious. It's just a bunch of Rrick and Morty fans playing the game. Or anyone thats curious about it.

This doesn't set some new standards on Xbox or anything like that.

[babadivad]

Cope

[Traecy]

I tried the game this weekend & it's not bad. I give it a 7.

[HeliosHex]

Bro the knife is absolutely hilarious. If not for the knife I probably would not have liked this game as much as I do.

[Crows90]

Its a shame it crashed instantly on me when i tried launching it. Trying to reinstall it and give it a go...but ill do that next time im subbed.

[Lightning77]

This game had no marketing behind nor did anyone review it. Word of mouth helped the game.

There's a few reasons for that. I think MS had no faith behind the game. They probably thought the game wasn't gonna be that great and never bothered to market it before launch. It wasn't until after the game released they did some marketing.

As for reviewers, most our taking a vacation for Christmas break and New Year's. Releasing in December is generally suicide for a game.

My thoughts. The game lost me a few times because of the basic PS2 gameplay and Static world. The game doesn't have me dying laughing but it's tolerable with some funny quirks and dialogue. I'm yet to beat it but gameplay is Long to me and it's hard to truly invest in the game.

With that said, especially with these gamepass Stats. They'll definitely make a High On Life 2 in a few years most definitely. In this case, MS doesn't care about reviews but they care about numbers so expect a sequel.

[Nitrox]

Agreed on the gameplay being pretty basic, they didn’t take a lot of risks. The atmosphere and humor make it special though. Won’t be a goty contender but solid fun, at least for fans of Rick and Morty that like that brand of humor.

As for the sequel, I expect at least one or two DLC campaigns to come out over the next year or so. They left multiple hints at that, most obvious being the inaccessible options in the portal machine.

[DEEHULK88]

Also it was the number selling game on Steam

[CantThinkOfAUsername]

Yeah, with the majority of reviews stating it's not worth $60.

[DEEHULK88]

Okay, but it's still doing good there, so maybe they are in the minority.

[Rocosaurus]

It is also doing extremely well on Steam.

[Flawlessmic]

Considering some of the 3rd party games that have released on GP you know people have been absolutely starved this year if an average game like this is the 3rd biggest launch ever

[lellkay]

It's funny and i'm enjoying it, but gameplay wise it's ultimately quite shallow with pretty weak shooting mechanics.

[SeTTriP]

Imagine buying a $500 console just to hype mediocre games and indies.i mean indies and AA titles are supposed to be the filler for massive AAA titles and not the main course.Ms took the steak from you and gave you a bowl of string beans and that's good enough for you.im sorry but the Xbox fan base is the most compliant base I've ever seen of any consumer product.

What was the point of the series x, when you can play most if not all of this on xbone?

If your a Xbox only fan do you even know what next generation look like? It's been over 2yrs ffs.

[Orchard]

As long as they’re having fun isn’t that enough to justify their purchase to them? It’s not for us to judge how they spend their money.

Presumably anyone buying an Xbox either:
A) also has a PS
B) will pick up Sony games on PC
C) doesn’t care about Sony games.

Similarly I know people who spend $500 on a PS5 (and PS4 before that) and have never touched a Sony game and just play COD and Madden etc - would you say they’re crazy for spending $500 on it? If they’re having fun playing the games they want to play then it’s all good.

And they will have Forza, Starfield and Redfall in the coming months - all next gen only, with Forza being the first next gen racer.

That plus 99% of games are multi-plat anyway.

“What was the point of the series x, when you can play most if not all of this on xbone?

If you’re a Xbox only fan do you even know what next generation look like?”

Both of those statements also apply to PS5 though 🤷

[SeTTriP]

I stop buying Xbox after connect and the abysmal defect rate of the 360 Era, their is almost nothing to play on the thing but bargin bin games that the fanbase hype to no end.

I've always owned a Nintendo and Playstation every gen, I brought a LG c1 and a Samsung q80t just for next generation so it's not like I can't afford it but the real question is for what.

Bargin bin games are you kidding me?

And it doesn't work both ways for next generation games because I played 3 next generation games on ps5 in its first 6months. Horizon dlc is ps5 only.so no we are not the same over here.

[darkrider]

No dude, we already have next Gen games. Plural. Games.

Does forza runs only on series x? because there are pictures of the game running on the Xbox one...

99%, well maybe you should go see the charts...

[Flawlessmic]

100% agree bro!!!
Ignore orchard, one man xbox defence force lol

[darkrider]

Don't tell the truth. 12 teraflops of power, remember that talk for one year... After two years.... You can play this on the Xbox one...

[Orchard]

You can play God of War R, Horizon FW, GT7 - every PS studios exclusive from this year - on PS4.

Does that mean they are all bad games?

[Lightning77]

"What was the point of the series x, when you can play most if not all of this on xbone?"

The exact same thing can be said about PS.

Other than that you're right in your post, I agree.

[andron]

Nice. Gode game, really enjoying it.

[UltimateRacer]

Hopefully this game comes to Nintendo and PlayStation.

[Einhander1971]

Looks rubbish in my opinion, yet its getting the praise. But Calisto brilliant game getting nothing but shit.

[darkrider]

Biggest.... Damn this say it all about gp. If this is the biggest..

[Youngindy21]

Looks like a good game. I had a lot of fun with Trover on PSVR, so I will probably play this game when I clear my backlog. Good to see an Xbox game doing well.

[SPEAKxTHExTRUTH]

It’s a very good game and I’m enjoying it a lot. The humor won’t be for everyone but name a form of humor that is?

[MasterChief3624]

That is interesting to me, because it didn't seem like something that would pull those kinds of numbers. But it's a very fun game, and I'm surprisingly not getting tired of the gun dialogue yet.

[Kratos_Kart2007]

ummmmm....really?

[wiz7191]

The excessive humor can be toggled on and off in the menu , so using the humor for a lower score is nonsensical .. the game is pretty good and I’m having fun playing it the jokes are just a plus for me ..

[jznrpg]

Well if you don’t like the humor at all toggling it to lesser or more won’t matter . This game doesn’t interest me much as the gameplay looks mediocre but it is a timed exclusive game so maybe I’ll try it when it’s bargain bin priced and see if I enjoy the humor or not .

[jznrpg]

Pretty sad imo

[XiNatsuDragnel]

Congratulations