High on Life pairs perfectly with Game Pass

The Highest in LifeSquanch Games’ latest release, titled, is hard to recommend. That has nothing to do with the game’s quality — instead, it’s a result of the game’s hyperspecific humor. Like other comedy games like Portal 2 — which is filled with a variety of characters, each with their own style of humor — The Highest in Life strongly pulls from the comedy stylings of the studio’s co-founder and CEO, Justin Roiland of Rick and Morty fame.

But the game isn’t so specificallyRick and Morty that you can boil a recommendation down to a “yes” for Rick and Morty fans and a “no” for people who haven’t seen it. People who tend to be ambivalent towards it can still enjoy the show. Rick and Morty — like myself — might find something to love (or hate) in The Highest in Life’s jokes.

How do you find out if? The Highest in LifeIt will be a good investment before you spend 60 dollars on it. What way can you be sure that your friend will love it if it is given to them? You don’t, and you can’t. But that’s where Xbox’s Game Pass service can really work its magic.

Game Pass is known for being a great place to find darlings or gems that you may have overlooked. These columns are, in part dedicated to them. These are small, but beloved games. Death’s DoorYou can prosper there and in niche titles such as Signalis Can become big hits. And it’s obviously the best spot to get your fix of Xbox-owned games like the latest Gears of War or Halo Infinite. Game Pass, however, is the best destination to find games like The Highest in Life.

The Highest in Life is a game that will either make you cringe so hard that you turn it off in the first 10 minutes, or laugh your ass off all the way to the game’s first boss. Game Pass is a great way to make both of these outcomes possible. Either you’ll find a new game that you’re excited to see through to the end, or you’ll delete it off your hard drive forever and never think about it again — no harm, no foul.

Squanch Games

If you decide to keep with The Highest in Life, you’ll find a comedic mix between Metroid Prime Doom (2016). The shooting is a bit loose, and prolonged combat isn’t my favorite part of the game (although it gets better the more upgrades you get), but it works well enough that it doesn’t actively drag down the experience. You’ll find the best fun here. The Highest in Life’s gameplay is the exploration. Roaming around planets and looking for the bounty you’ve been assigned offers some cute environmental puzzles where you can use one of your talking guns to help reach a new area and, probably, open a chest.

The funniest characters and jokes are the real lifeblood of the game. Roiland voices Kenny (your first gun) and sounds exactly like Morty. Rick and Morty. He’s constantly jabbering and spewing awkward jokes that swing wildly between charming and mildly obnoxious. Gus is the second gun that I discovered. He is voiced and acted by J.B. Smoove. Gus is delightfully chill compared to the frantic Kenny — although he still fits into the game’s irreverent, random, and frequently dirty sense of humor.

You can also be very meta with the game. If you stop it at specific points, or attempt to shoot innocent people bystanders, your gun will make comments. The game even has a multiplayer option. pokes fun at “lazy game design” and specifically mentions Polygon. The Highest in LifeThere are also many unexpected and bizarre interactions that surprise me quite often. A non-violent NPC was shot by me early in the game. It gained an enormous health bar. Kenny was proud of me killing a mysterious boss after I killed him. I didn’t get any tangible in-game reward — I just got the joke. And that’s OK, because the jokes are what I’m here for.

Smaller games excel on Game Pass because they’re relatively unknown until players find and adore them — like people scrolling through Netflix only to discover a hidden gem. The Highest in LifeYou have no excuse to play this Game Pass game. It is not your typical Game Pass game. It is not You can try it.

Gamers are often willing to spend a lot of money to enjoy something they love — just look at how costly some MMO subscriptions are — but when a game you’ve paid for spurns you, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. You can now take chances on some games that may surprise you if you have removed all financial risks. No game can be more enjoyable this holiday season thanThe Highest in Life.