High On Knife Review – Stabbing Your Way to Success

Title – High on Knife

Platforms – PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft Store.

Release Date –  October 3, 2023

Developer – Squanch Games

Publisher – Squanch Games

MSRP – $9.99

ESRB – M for Mature

Disclaimer – This product is being reviewed on the PS5. A review copy was provided by Squanch Games for this review. Gaming Instincts is an Amazon Affiliate and does gain financial benefits if you choose to purchase this product on this page. 

Concept and Gameplay

High on Knife is Squanch Games’ zany first-person shooter DLC that takes place two years after the first game that had the internet by storm for a short bit. The game follows you, the bounty hunter who goes on yet another mission across the galaxy, except this time, the adventures are focused on your crazy Aussie melee weapon, Knifey, who one day receives a package from his home world; it inspires him to want to revisit his home, jump-starting an unforgettable adventure. Welcome to our review of High on Knife.

While High on Knife isn’t a large, sequel-sized DLC, it still offers players lots to enjoy. Right from the start, the game lets you know that Kenny, the game’s mascot gun, is no longer around, which isn’t much of a surprise following Justin Roilnd’s exile from several projects he worked on. The game doesn’t make his absence a big deal and just tells players the bounty hunter left him somewhere, never to be seen again but in a rather humorous way. I won’t spoil that quite on brand for the game. As a result, we were introduced to Harper Kenny’s replacement, who plays almost exactly like Kenny but is a pink female gun instead.

Another crazy DLC exclusive gun is BALL, a cool weapon that’s basically a gun with three blue incoherent aliens attached to it. The aliens put silver balls in the chamber, and as you shoot them, they ricochet off each other and to the target, dealing damage. Additionally, in this DLC, our titular character, Knifey, gets a chainsaw belt attached to him, which allows players to deal even more damage with the psychotic weapon by ripping into aliens and using the belt to zip up walls and platforms. Unfortunately, while ripping and tearing into aliens felt incredibly satisfying, the platforming in both the game and DLC felt incredibly off and sometimes was a bit unresponsive. However, it works well when it works, and zipping up platforms feels fun.

Overall, shooting feels fun and responsive, but of course, some guns are more fun and effective than others. For example, it’s easier to do damage to several enemies using the BALL gun, while players can deal more precise damage using Harper.

Story and Performance

In terms of narrative, while the DLC doesn’t feature a grand narrative, it still features several new characters and villains, all of whom still keep the game’s wacky humor alive. Many of these humor see players ripping apart but wholes, talking to womanizing slugs, and, most surprisingly, murdering an entire planet. The overall humor is a bit hit-and-miss, as many moments had me laughing, and many others did not land very well, but I did enjoy the experience nonetheless. The game also features a lot more meta-commentary than I expected, which greatly helped with the humor.

It’s also worth noting that the game is advertised as a horror game but isn’t really scary. While there are horror elements like dark, isolated areas and enemies that feature body horror, the game’s nature does not help the supposed horror elements, with constant and consistent quips and jokes often ruining that atmosphere. Said atmosphere is also greatly supported by its excellent soundtrack that fits every scene and fight.

Visually, the game has several detailed picturesque and detailed alien like environments. Performance-wise, the game ran very smoothly with no issues whatsoever and kept a consistent frame rate with a performance mode running at 60fps and a Quality at 30fps.

Unfortunately, while the game offers a lot for players, it is also incredibly short at only a couple of hours and ends just when it was getting good, but seeing as it’s meant to be a short DLC, it does its job well enough.

Final Verdict

All in all, High on Knife is a fun albeit short DLC that offers a lot for $9.99. With an all-new narrative, characters, and weapons, players have a lot to enjoy, but it may not be an experience that will last long or be memorable to some. High on Knife will be receiving a final verdict of 6.5 out of 10.