High On Life 2: Why Squanch Added a Whole New Hub-Based Design
High On Life 2 is doing the things you’d expect this sequel to do – it’s bigger, more packed with jokes, even more experimental than the first game, and now has a skateboard you can use at any time (naturally). But it’s also doing something we didn’t expect: changing the first game’s structure fundamentally. High On Life 2 is taking cues from Metroidvania games, but using them to its own ends.
In an episode of the Official Xbox Podcast, Squanch Games’ COO & Executive Producer, Matty Studivan, and Creative & Art Director, Mikey Spano explained – among many other things – about how the team changed their thinking to offer a whole new hub-based design for the game.
“Our Design Director, Erich Meyr, and I early on decided we wanted to do something that had Metroidvania elements to it, but we also wanted to support telling really tight stories,” explained Spano. “So, this time around, we tried to keep all of the Metroidvania elements in the hubs.”
While the original High On Life was built around a single hub, Blim City, the sequel will take you to three different hubs, each with a lot more to them and, in classic Metroidvania style, offering more and more interactions the more you play and earn.
“It’s a big step up for us from the first game,” said Studivan. “If you played it and you know Blim City, it’s a really cool spot, but pretty small geographically.”
“We have three decent-sized hubs in [High On Life 2],” adds Spano, “and each one of those hubs has a lot of little side things you can do, NPCs you can find, tons of collectibles, tons of unlockable things. And obviously with the skateboard; there’s a lot of cool stuff related to the skateboard that you can do in the hubs.”
The change is effectively about letting Squanch have their cake and eat it – the new structure means that the team can pack in the stupendously weird moments that made High On Life beloved, without needing to derail the core story to get non-sequitur jokes in there. It’s an elegant mix:
“In terms of how it all flows together, you’ve got your home base that you’re always returning to,” explained Spano. “And in there, you’re talking to your crew about what you’re going to do next. And then, you’ll be dropped down into the hub. And then from there, you’re navigating to a target that you’re following. But once you get to a certain point, it triggers a more linear experience where we can tell the story in a tighter way. We still always have choices that you’re making and stuff like that.
“But in terms of finishing a level and then coming back with new power-ups, we try to keep all that in the hub so that we can tell a complete story without needing players to come back and hear the same things over and over again.”
The upshot is that Squanch can tell the story they want to, but give players the freedom to step away and explore just how odd the surrounding world is at their leisure. To help create all that side content, Squanch took a very fun approach:
“One of the ways we were able to do that is that we do game jams at the studio, because the entire team is so creative,” added Studivan. “And so, we had eight or nine teams [jam] for a week – and I think like seven of the game jams are in the hubs in this game.”
It should make exploring the hubs rewarding in itself – with entire other game types hidden away, every discovery can become something new. We’ll get more of what we learned to expect from the first game, too – High On Life included entire, real-life movies to watch, and that will return (with a movie theater to watch them in). We also know that Squanch has licensed full games (NES game Bible Adventures formed a pivotal part of the demo we recently played) that will appear along the way.
“We’re spending a lot more resources and time on [side content]. It really makes the world feel like you’re somewhere lived-in,” said Studivan.
The big changes to structure are also about catering to different kinds of players. Those who just want the story can jump from main mission to main mission without friction. Those who want to do everything can do so without having to repeat missions, and at their own pace. And there are also those who might waver between quick blasts and marathon sessions:
“So, with the missions, we try to keep them at a certain length so that if you’re like, ‘I’m going to go take down this bounty,’ you actually can finish it in a night and then get back to putting your kids to bed or whatever it is that you have to do,” said Spano. “And then for the gamers that want a more free-form experience, they know they can just hang out in the hub for a while and do whatever they want and take on missions whenever they want.”
For a game that presents itself as unabashedly dumb, there’s a core of smart, classic game design thinking sitting beneath all the madness. With that design in place, it allows Squanch to go as wild as they want with the ideas we, as players, will interact with.
Even in the earliest looks at the game, we’re seeing how far they can push this – one boss fight suddenly sees your enemy hack your game, sending you navigating your own menu screens to fight him off. And, best of all:
“That’s one of the more normal parts of the game,” Spano said. “This demo is early in the game. By Act Three it’s just so off the rails and insane. I think people are going to be really surprised.”
I’m very much looking forward to seeing how much weirder this can get – High on Life 2 arrives for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC on February 13, 2026, and will be available on day one with Game Pass Ultimate.
If you want to hear much, much more about the game, make sure to check out the full Official Xbox Podcast episode, which dives into how Squanch turned around a sequel so quickly, the difficult art of writing comedy for games, the benefits of switching to Unreal Engine 5 and… the wonder of Microsoft Excel.
High On Life 2
Squanch Games, Inc.
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