There isn’t just one secret ending in High on Life 2, but several. Unlike the first game, where there was just one, there are at least three known secret endings in the sequel, with most of them, naturally, being missable.
The traditional ending, where you just play through the story normally, is considered the Bad Ending, so you may well be interested in seeing the other ways in which the story comes to a close, especially if you’re an achievement hunter. However, it’s likely you’ll need to plan ahead, because the prerequisites for the secret endings in High on Life 2 are missable. Of course, full spoilers for every possible ending to Squanch Games’ sequel will follow, so be warned.
Where to Find All Fishing Spots in High on Life 2
To fill up your aquarium in High on Life 2, you’ll need to visit every fishing spot in the game’s three main hubs.
How to Get Every Secret Ending in High on Life 2
The Bad Ending
This is the conclusion to the game you get just by playing through the game in the normal way. You complete bounties, follow the game’s quest instructions, which culminates in the court hearing and boss battle with Super Nipulon in the final main mission.
Once you’ve defeated Rhea Pharma and its villainous CEO, you’ll be sent back to the Spaceforest Café — you may have played Hide and Seek with Jeppy outside the entrance here — to hang out with the characters you met over the course of the game’s main story.
If you’re interested in seeing the game’s secret endings for yourself, ensure you don’t skip the missable steps you need to take. You cannot manually save in High on Life 2, so missing certain prerequisites may mean you need to repeat hours of progress if you haven’t progressed much in your other two save slots.
At this point, if you haven’t completed certain side activities, you’ll get the credits once you’ve decided to leave the bar area. After this, you’ll have the opportunity to go back into the world and complete any still-available side objectives and exploration you still want to do. You’ll also get the Trial of the Century achievement.
The Good Ending
The first ending you can get is, strangely enough, during the first mission of the game. This mission involves you finding your sister Lizzie as she’s being hunted by bounty hunters. However, as you shouldn’t attack other bounty hunters — doing so would contravene the bounty hunter code — you’re placed in a bit of a bind when you find your sister surrounded by some of your own, with guns pointed at her.
At this point, you have the opportunity to shoot and kill Lizzie. That said, since she’s an integral part of the rest of the game’s story, you get the Good Ending achievement, the post-game credits, and are then promptly booted back into the showdown in the Aviary. With your first secret ending in High on Life 2 in-hand, all you need to do is shoot the bounty hunters to continue the game.
The Paperwork Ending
In a similar vein to the Good Ending, this is another secret joke ending that gives you the post-game credits before launching you right back into the game to finish it normally. It’s also pretty time-consuming and doesn’t result in an achievement, but here are the details in case you’re still curious.
You can get stuck into a stack of paperwork if you visit the Bureau of Drug Control in Circuit Arcadia, Downtown. This place is found on the south side of the map, between the center and southwestern corners, not far from where you discover the fight club in High on Life 2. It may not always be open, so keep checking back here between bounties if you’re interested. It will not be open once you’ve started your final bounty mission targeting Nipulon.
Many players have reported the game crashing often during this section, so rest assured that there’s no harm done by skipping it: seeing the paperwork sequence through to the end doesn’t change the main ending or give you any sort of reward or achievement.
Inside, there’s a counter with a blue teddy bear behind it. Here, you can file a complaint against Rhea Pharma and endeavor to defeat them in a non-violent way, via bureaucratic means. This can take around half an hour to finish, but you can set it to auto-complete. If you persist with this, the person behind the counter tells you the complaint can take between three and ten months before any action takes place, and Gene calls to commend you for your honorable actions.
The Escape Room Ending
This ending requires you to have completed the escape rooms found in the southwestern corner of the Pinkline Harbor map. You’ll need to have acquired Travis — unlocked during the Larry Pinkstock murder mystery bounty — so you can use his ability to raise the platform to get up to Twilly’s No Escape!
The three puzzles are very simple, but our High on Life 2 escape room guide is there if you get stuck. For the secret ending to trigger, however, make sure you sign up for Twilly’s newsletter on your way out. For more, you’ll need to complete the game and reach the point where you’re hanging out with the game’s characters in the Spaceforest Café.
It is the point at which you ask to leave the bar area that the game changes, as long as you have completed the previous steps. Now, one of the Ankh door keys you needed to leave each escape room can be seen on the floor, with Twilly standing opposite you. It’s at this point you realize the entire game has been one long escape room.
Now, you get the chance to leave another review of this much more ambitious escape room, and you’ll get a second post-credits sequence with everything attributed to Twilly. For this, you’ll get the Ankhs for the Memories achievement, and you’ll be free to head back into the world to complete anything available you might have missed.
