High On Life review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

What it feels like to be high. You don't really want to know what the creators of High on Life were on when developing the game. The title turned out to be one of the funniest and most creative first-person shooters in the past few years. But is the engine just as optimised as the wit on display?

Florian Glaser, 👁 Florian Glaser (translated by Zhiwei (Peter) Zhuang), Published 01/26/2023 🇩🇪 🇸🇪 ...

Technical review

High on Life is made by Squanch Games, a previously lesser-known studio, and is built on the popular and highly successful Unreal Engine 4. You'll find a few weaknesses in its graphics upon a closer look (for example, facial animations are quite crude). That said, the first-person shooter is definitely a good looking game.

At medium settings and above, High on Life has rather impressive visuals characterised especially by an extremely colourful presentation, high contrast and wacky weapon design. The game also has some very thoughtfully designed areas with nice details (see screenshots). In general, the game stands out with its zany and self-deprecating vibe as well as its laid-back game- and gunplay that you have come to known from games such as the Serious Sam and Borderlands series.

The graphics menu is similarly impressive. Even though many triple-A games provide more options by comparison, the number of settings in High on Life is adequate for a PC game. At the top of the menu, users can change settings like window mode, resolution, gamma, FOV and render scale. There are also toggle switches for VSync, motion blur and chromatic aberration. Below, you'll find the advanced options section with eight quality settings, which can be changed at one go without restarting by adjusting "Graphics Quality".

The game feels reasonably sophisticated from a technical standpoint. When loading, however, the game and its main menu stutter a little on some systems (especially those with Intel and AMD GPUs). Loading times are thankfully nice and short. High on Life takes up around 50 GB of storage space (the Steam version was used for our benchmarks).

Benchmark

For the benchmarks, we used the stylish alien city where the main character arrives shortly after the introductory section and tutorial. We recorded the game's performance over a predefined route for roughly 30 seconds using CapFrameX. You can take a look at the section in the video below. In our opinion, High on Life is playable if the average frame rate is at least 40 fps. But ideally the game should run at 60 fps or higher.

Results

FHD (1,920 x 1,080)

There are very significant performance differences between the various graphics presets. Whilst Intel iGPUs are at most only good enough to run the game at 1,280 x 720 and the lowest settings, more powerful iGPUs from AMD (e.g. the Radeon 680M) can handle the game at 1,920 x 1,080 and medium settings. A GeForce RTX 3050 Ti or better is required to run the game at high to max settings at Full HD.

High On Life
1920x1080 Low Preset 1920x1080 Medium Preset 1920x1080 High Preset 1920x1080 Very High Preset
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	369 (21.5^min, 112.5^P0.1, 216^P1) fps ∼53% 298 (75.3^min, 105.1^P0.1, 157.6^P1) fps ∼46% 273 (87.7^min, 112.7^P0.1, 157.6^P1) fps ∼47% 222 (79.7^min, 113.5^P0.1, 139^P1) fps ∼39%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	348 (86.5^min, 165.6^P0.1, 235^P1) fps ∼50% 275 (89.4^min, 128.8^P0.1, 168.4^P1) fps ∼43% 206 (61.4^min, 102.3^P0.1, 129.9^P1) fps ∼36% 170.9 (56.5^min, 88.5^P0.1, 108.8^P1) fps ∼30%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	324 (92.8^min, 149.8^P0.1, 207^P1) fps ∼47% 219 (56.8^min, 105.7^P0.1, 134.9^P1) fps ∼34% 171.5 (52.3^min, 77.7^P0.1, 106.4^P1) fps ∼30% 136.2 (61.1^min, 66.2^P0.1, 88.7^P1) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	252 (59.7^min, 88.3^P0.1, 142.7^P1) fps ∼37% 204 (30.2^min, 71.1^P0.1, 104.9^P1) fps ∼32% 154.1 (48.9^min, 59^P0.1, 84.8^P1) fps ∼27% 129.7 (51.5^min, 62.5^P0.1, 73.8^P1) fps ∼23%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	168.5 (23.1^min, 50.5^P0.1, 73.9^P1) fps ∼24% 122.9 (39.8^min, 44.1^P0.1, 63.2^P1) fps ∼19% 108.1 (36.2^min, 47.6^P0.1, 56.4^P1) fps ∼19% 95.3 (19.7^min, 42.3^P0.1, 53.1^P1) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-12700H Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	223 (54.2^min, 93.3^P0.1, 144.4^P1) fps ∼32% 156.7 (31^min, 72.1^P0.1, 98.8^P1) fps ∼24% 109.3 (32.8^min, 43.3^P0.1, 69.2^P1) fps ∼19% 86.9 (18.1^min, 31^P0.1, 57.6^P1) fps ∼15%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	164 (53.7^min, 68.6^P0.1, 91.2^P1) fps ∼24% 120.3 (39.2^min, 55.5^P0.1, 67.3^P1) fps ∼19% 100.8 (43.9^min, 47.5^P0.1, 57.7^P1) fps ∼17% 79.7 (35.5^min, 43.3^P0.1, 48.4^P1) fps ∼14%
AMD Radeon RX 6800S, R9 6900HS Asus ROG Zephyrus G14	170.1 (24.8^min, 65.1^P0.1, 118.5^P1) fps ∼25% 125 (54.4^min, 62.7^P0.1, 76.2^P1) fps ∼19% 101.6 (44.5^min, 48.6^P0.1, 61.6^P1) fps ∼18% 76.1 (30.1^min, 44.6^P0.1, 53.2^P1) fps ∼13%
AMD Radeon 680M, R9 6900HS Asus ROG Zephyrus G14	63.1 (32.4^min, 33.1^P0.1, 36.6^P1) fps ∼9% 45 (21.7^min, 23.4^P0.1, 25.9^P1) fps ∼7% 33.8 (18.1^min, 18.1^P0.1, 19.8^P1) fps ∼6% 25.7 (12.2^min, 12.7^P0.1, 14.8^P1) fps ∼4%
Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs, i7-1165G7 Zotac ZBOX CI665 Nano	31.8 (13.3^min, 14.6^P0.1, 18.2^P1) fps ∼5% 19.3 (7.45^min, 7.54^P0.1, 8.74^P1) fps ∼3% 18.3 (6.12^min, 6.21^P0.1, 6.87^P1) fps ∼3% 12.8 (4.46^min, 4.52^P0.1, 6.45^P1) fps ∼2%

QHD (2,560 x 1,440)

To play the game at 2,560 x 1,440 and Ultra preset, you should at least have an upper mid-range graphics card, such as a GeForce RTX 3060 or a Radeon RX 6600M.

High On Life
2560x1440 Very High Preset
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	151.8 (73.4^min, 80.2^P0.1, 90.7^P1) fps ∼33%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	108.5 (53.5^min, 55.3^P0.1, 65.9^P1) fps ∼24%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	84.8 (37.8^min, 42.7^P0.1, 55.8^P1) fps ∼19%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	82 (35.4^min, 41^P0.1, 52^P1) fps ∼18%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	63.1 (35.2^min, 35.7^P0.1, 39.5^P1) fps ∼14%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-12700H Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	52.1 (23.5^min, 24.5^P0.1, 30.2^P1) fps ∼11%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	46.1 (22.7^min, 23.3^P0.1, 26.8^P1) fps ∼10%

UHD (3,840 x 2,160)

Once we get to 3,840 x 2,160, not only does the game become way more graphically demanding, but this increase is also disproportionately large compared with other titles. At this resolution, even high-end desktop CPUs, such as the GeForce RTX 3080, have their work cut out for them.

High On Life
3840x2160 Very High Preset
AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	72.1 (31^min, 36^P0.1, 42.1^P1) fps ∼17%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	44 (20^min, 20.2^P0.1, 22.9^P1) fps ∼10%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070, i9-12900K Desktop-PC	35.9 (14.9^min, 15.8^P0.1, 19.2^P1) fps ∼8%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 Ti Laptop GPU, i9-12900HX MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	34.6 (14.8^min, 15.6^P0.1, 19.1^P1) fps ∼8%
AMD Radeon RX 6800M, R9 5900HX Asus ROG Strix G15	26.8 (13.5^min, 14.5^P0.1, 16^P1) fps ∼6%
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, i7-12700H Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	21.2 (9.32^min, 9.73^P0.1, 10.8^P1) fps ∼5%
AMD Radeon RX 6600M, R7 5800H Lenovo Legion 5	19.5 (7.94^min, 8.08^P0.1, 8.67^P1) fps ∼5%

Note

Because gaming tests are very time-consuming and are often constrained by installation or activation limits, we are only able to provide you with part of the benchmark results at the time of publishing this article. We will be adding more graphics cards over the coming days and weeks.

Overview

Test systems

Device	Graphics card	Processor	RAM	Operating system
Laptops
MSI Titan GT77 12UHS	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 Ti @175 W TGP (16 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-12900	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Lenovo Legion 5 Pro	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 @140 W TGP (6 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-12700H	2 x 8 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Asus ROG Strix G15	AMD Radeon RX 6800M (12 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Lenovo Legion 5	AMD Radeon RX 6600M (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 7 5800H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Asus ROG Zephyrus G14	AMD Radeon 680M	AMD Ryzen 9 6900HS	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Desktop PCs
Custom I	AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX (24 GB GDDR6) MSI GeForce RTX 3080 (10 GB GDDR6X) MSI GeForce RTX 3070 (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i9-12900K	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Custom II	Palit GeForce RTX 4090 GameRock OC (24 GB GDDR6X) Nvidia GeForce RTX 3090 FE (24 GB GDDR6X) Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 Ti (8 GB GDDR6X) Nvidia Titan RTX (24 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Super (8 GB GDDR6) Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060 Super (8 GB GDDR6) KFA2 GeForce GTX 1660 Super (6 GB GDDR6) PNY GeForce GTX 1660 (6 GB GDDR5) KFA2 GeForce GTX 1650 Super (4 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6800 (16 GB DDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6700 XT (12 GB DDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 6600 (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5700 XT (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5700 (8 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5600 XT (6 GB GDDR6) AMD Radeon RX 5500 XT (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 7950X	2 x 16 GB DDR5	Windows 11
Custom III	Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Super FE	Intel Core i9-11900K	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Mini PCs
Zotac ZBOX CI665 Nano	Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 (96 CUs)	Intel Core i7-1165G7	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Morefine S500+	AMD Radeon RX Vega 8	AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Minisforum NUCXi7	Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 @125 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	Intel Core i7-11800H	2 x 8 GB DDR4	Windows 11
Minisforum HX90G	AMD Radeon RX 6600M @100 W TGP (8 GB GDDR6)	AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX	2 x 16 GB DDR4	Windows 11

4K monitors	Nvidia driver	AMD driver
Asus PB287Q, Philips Brilliance 329P9H, Gigabyte M32U	ForceWare 528.02	Adrenalin 22.11.2

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Editor of the original article: Florian Glaser - Managing Editor Gaming Laptops - 615 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2009

I discovered my interest in computers in my childhood, growing up with MS-DOS and Windows 3.1 in the early 1990s. I was especially fascinated with computer games, even from an early age. From Monkey Island through Lands of Lore to Doom, I tried every game I could get my hands on. I have been working for Notebookcheck since 2009 with my focus mostly being on high-performance gaming laptops.

Translator: Zhiwei Zhuang - Translator - 147 articles published on Notebookcheck since 2022

After graduating with a bachelor’s degree in environmental engineering, I moved from Singapore to Cologne in 2014 and began pursuing a career as a freelance translator. Much of my translation work focuses on science, engineering and technology. My fascination with computers and mobile electronics began when I was young. And I have fond memories reading countless tech and gaming magazines. Working with Notebookcheck gives me the opportunity to incorporate my personal interests into my professional work.

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> Expert Reviews and News on Laptops, Smartphones and Tech Innovations > Reviews > High On Life review: Laptop and desktop benchmarks

Florian Glaser, 2023-01-26 (Update: 2023-01-26)

Legend
5	Stutters – This game is very likely to stutter and have poor frame rates. Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, average frame rates are expected to fall below 25fps
	May Stutter – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, stutters and poor frame rates are expected.
30	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 25fps
40	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 35fps
60	Fluent – Based on all known benchmarks using the specified graphical settings, this game should run at or above 58fps
	May Run Fluently – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game. Based on interpolated information from surrounding graphics cards of similar performance levels, fluent frame rates are expected.
?	Uncertain – This graphics card experienced unexpected performance issues during testing for this game. A slower card may be able to achieve better and more consistent frame rates than this particular GPU running the same benchmark scene.
	Uncertain – This graphics card has not been explicitly tested on this game and no reliable interpolation can be made based on the performances of surrounding cards of the same class or family.
The value in the fields displays the average frame rate of all values in the database. Move your cursor over the value to see individual results.