Planning your intergalactic bounty hunting schedule? High on Life 2 delivers a faster-paced adventure than the original with larger open zones, skateboard traversal, and optional content scattered throughout Circuit Arcadia. Whether you’re rushing through the main story or hunting every collectible, here’s exactly how long High on Life 2 takes to beat.
Main Story Length: 10-12 Hours
If you focus exclusively on the main missions and ignore optional content, High on Life 2 takes approximately 10-12 hours to complete from start to finish.
What Main Story Includes:
- Six primary bounty missions
- Essential skateboard and weapon upgrades
- Core platforming sections
- Main narrative beats and story twists
- Boss encounters required for progression
- Mandatory puzzle sections
The game features tighter pacing than the original High on Life, cutting excess fat while delivering a focused narrative. Reviewers completing main story runs reported finishing between 10-15 hours depending on skill level and how much dialogue they listened to during gameplay.
Pro Tip: Even main story runs benefit from grabbing a few side upgrades—they make combat significantly easier in later missions!
Main Story + Side Content: 13-15 Hours
Adding optional activities to your playthrough extends High on Life 2 to roughly 13-15 hours total playtime.
Side Content Includes:
- Skateboard races in Circuit Arcadia
- Optional puzzles for pesos (currency) and upgrades
- Character customization hunts (costumes at Spirit Halloween store)
- Skateboard deck customization (colors, designs)
- Exploration of previous mission locations
- Hidden comedy bits and NPC conversations
- Mini-games and activities scattered throughout hubs
Circuit Arcadia serves as the massive central hub where most optional content lives. Between main missions, you can freely explore previously visited areas to find hidden activities, puzzles, and upgrades that weren’t accessible earlier.
The game hides side content more than the original’s Metroidvania-style approach. You’ll need to actively search rather than having everything marked clearly on your map.
100% Completion: 18-20+ Hours
True completionists hunting every achievement, collectible, and Easter egg should budget 18-20+ hours minimum for full completion.
Completionist Requirements:
- All skateboard races completed
- Every costume unlocked from Spirit Halloween
- All skateboard deck customizations purchased
- Retro games discovered and played
- Achievement/trophy list completed (31 total)
- Murder mystery solved
- Secret ending unlocked
- All Crane games won
- Every movie watched on Gene’s couch
- All toy and video game commercials viewed
- Hidden dialogue exhausted with NPCs
- Optional platforming challenges completed
Time Wasters Return: Classic activities from the original return, letting you waste dozens of hours goofing off. Watch entire movies on the couch with Gene, play old video games, view hundreds of commercials, win Crane games, and discover “games within the game.”
One reviewer spent 15 hours on their first playthrough and plans to spend “far more digging through every nook and cranny” for full completion. Another emphasized the game rewards exploration with “hundreds, if not thousands, of comedy bits” hidden throughout Circuit Arcadia.
Factors That Affect Your Playtime
Several variables influence how quickly you’ll beat High on Life 2:
Skill Level:
- Good at FPS games? Expect faster completion
- Struggle with platforming? Budget extra time
- Console deadzone issues may slow aiming slightly
Comedy Engagement:
- Love absurdist humor? You’ll stop and listen to everything
- Prefer action over jokes? Skip dialogue for faster runs
- Ad-libbed NPC conversations can extend playtime significantly
Exploration Style:
- Completionists naturally take 2x longer than rushers
- Skateboard races and puzzles are entirely optional
- Side content focuses on cosmetics rather than power
Platform Performance:
- Xbox Series X runs smoothly at 60fps
- PC performance varies by specs
- Handheld devices may slow platforming sections
Is High on Life 2 Longer Than the Original?
High on Life 2 actually feels shorter yet denser than the original game. The sequel cuts excess padding while adding larger, more explorable zones packed with optional content.
Comparison:
- Original High on Life: 9-13 hours main story
- High on Life 2: 10-12 hours main story
- More focused mission structure
- Less Metroidvania backtracking required
- Larger central hub (Circuit Arcadia)
- More hidden optional content
The game gives you more freedom to engage with optional content at your own pace rather than gating progression behind collectibles.
Frequently Asked Questions
The main story of High on Life 2 takes approximately 10-12 hours to complete. Adding side content extends playtime to 13-15 hours, while 100% completion requires 18-20+ hours depending on how thoroughly you explore Circuit Arcadia.
High on Life 2 runs roughly the same length as the original (10-12 hours main story), but feels more focused. The sequel cuts excess padding while adding larger explorable zones and more optional content hidden throughout the world.
Full completion of High on Life 2 including all achievements, collectibles, skateboard races, costumes, hidden games, and Easter eggs requires approximately 18-20+ hours minimum. Completionists can easily spend 25+ hours finding everything.
Yes! Between main missions, you can freely revisit any previously explored location in High on Life 2. This lets you hunt for optional content, puzzles, and upgrades you couldn’t access earlier with your current abilities.
High on Life 2 features extensive optional content including skateboard races, character customization, hidden puzzles, retro games to discover, movies to watch, commercials to view, and hundreds of hidden comedy bits throughout Circuit Arcadia and mission areas.
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