High on Life / YMMV

Critical Dissonance: There is a small but noticeable divide between players and critics on this one. While there is a general agreement that there is a decent shooter wrapped with a lot of Rick and Morty-style comedy, and whether you love it or hate it depends on how much you like that particular style of comedy. Critics review tend to be middling, pointing said comedy as tiring and even grating, while general fan reception is that they welcomed the comedy. That said, even among people who do like the comedy, wonder if it is used too much to the point of being grating.
Funny Moments:
- When you first find Kenny if you take a while to shoot the enemies he'll admonish the player telling them to just hit buttons and asking if it's their first game, if you hit the pause button he'll do a double-take in disbelief.
- In a parody of RPGs tending to have that one irritating NPC that can't be killed for some arbitrary reason, you encounter an extremely annoying kid on your way to kill 9-Torg who insults you over and over, pushes you every time you try to walk past, and tells you that he knows he's annoying you and you should just go ahead and shoot him. If you do eventually decide to shoot him despite Kenny's protests, you get an achievement named "Fallout Doesn't Let You do This".
- In one level later on in the game you find a moplet that's torn in half and is supposedly who asks you to stay with him, then after it looks like he's dead if you walk away he'll chastise you for going away after you promised to stay by his side. If you go back to him Kenny express disbelief that he's not dead yet and says he's doing again and if you walk away he does it again and his keeps going with Kenny getting more and more annoyed until he finally appears to die for real, then if you shoot him afterwards Kenny says it was like putting a really annoying horse out of its misery.
- The Mackincheese brothers, a group of loud obnoxious construction workers in Port Terrine who get in your way on the path to Old Town and they get even louder if you start shooting them to get them out of the way. If you go around them they'll taunt you while you're platforming on the way to old town.
- Suit-O, your almost completely useless detective mode A.I., who taunts you over your numerous failed investigations.
Harsher in Hindsight:
- During one of his idle conversations, Kenny muses that, if they become famous for taking down the G3, they'll have to watch their behaviour because the public will scrutinize their every move. About a month after the game's release, Justin Roiland's own career permanently imploded when news of his arrest record and general workplace misconduct went public.
- The ending sacrificing Lezduit has Kenny joyfully hoping Lez can join in on the sequel, and possibly some DLC. It can be really hard to hear knowing that while there was DLC, neither Kenny or Lezduit returned for it.
Heartwarming Moments: When the Bounty Hunter reaches their Rage Breaking Point upon hearing a alien express joy over the suffering of humans being used as drugs, while Kenny and Sweezy support them in killing them all, Creature expresses sympathy towards the Bounty Hunter and their species and Gus tells the Bounty Hunter that he and the other gatliens have their back.
- The relationship with the player's sister Lizzie, it starts out strained but gradually gets more close as the game goes on, when she goes off in an R.V. with her new alien boyfriend Tweeg, Gene(who's been fighting with her pretty much since the start)even admits he's worried about her and prioritizes finding her above doing other bounties.
- Taking a trip to the Human Haven will reveal that the sanctuary that Magistrate Clugg has set up, while woefully unaware of how humans live, is trying its absolute best to make the humans as comfortable as possible given the situation. Said comforts include a dedicated communal sex room they only allow one person at a time into, they offer free medical checkups, even though the doctors have no understanding of human anatomy, they give the humans free ear massages, even though it's not really a thing humans like, and they offer the humans 12 meals a day. The humans don't have the heart to tell the caretakers that that's way too much.
One-Scene Wonder: Lezduit, the final Gatlien. He only properly appears in the game for the finale but between his excited look, incredibly powerful weapon, and his Pokémon Speak he is a very memorable end game character.
Spiritual Adaptation: The premise on a Bounty Hunter with Living Weapon in a setting drawn in zany art style had many reviewers comparing it to Oddworld: Stranger's Wrath.
Tainted by the Preview: The game's sneak peeks were very criticized by users on Twitter for showing a lot of unimpressive and low hanging improv from Justin Roiland, with said negative reception on its style of humor still something the game struggles to shake off.
The Woobie: Kenny. All the poor guy wanted was to see the rest of the cosmos and do something with his life. And what does he get? Enslaved by the universe’s most ruthless intergalactic drug cartel and accidentally brought the downfall of his whole people’s civilization and saw the light leave his best friend’s eyes. Thankfully the other guns eventually start to forgive him thanks to an enemy-induced drug trip and he learns Lezduit’s still alive and Gene is able to bring him back to a working state. Of course that doesn’t change the fact that Gatlus is still a poisoned wasteland and it’s unknown how many other Gatlians are still out there...
- It somehow gets worse in the DLC as it's revealed that Kenny was lost in the intervening two years since the first game, with Suspiciously Similar Substitute Hunter taking his place. It's revealed by Gene that the Bounty Hunter dropped him at one point, so he didn't even get to enjoy the heroic redemption arc that he earned from the first game.

YMMV / High on Life

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