Highguard is a Player versus Player raid shooter developed by Wildlight Entertainment where players will ride, fight, and raid as Wardens, which are arcane gunslingers sent to fight for control of a mythical continent.
Players need to team up, secure their base, then ride out across vast uncharted lands to loot, harvest resources, and upgrade their arsenal as they face off against a rival Warden crew looking to claim the territory. The gamers need to battle for possession of the legendary Shieldbreaker in the open field; fight to carry it to the enemy base to bring down their shields and then raid to destroy the rival Warden crew base before they can destroy the players.
Geoff Keighley went hands on with the game at the launch event during the summer last year. Despite he enjoyed playing the game, it didn't translate into positive feedback, overwhelming popularity and a massive player count. When the game eventually released on Monday 26th January, it was met with backlash from gamers and content creators/YouTubers.
The game was the final, high-profile reveal at The Game Awards 2025, which is a game award show typically reserved for major, highly anticipated titles (e.g. Half-Life 3 or God of War sequels). The reveal of a new, unknown free-to-play Player versus Player shooter was seen as a major disappointment and a miscalculation, which lead to immediate negative sentiment online. Many players and critics felt the game was a "mishmash" of ideas, trying to be too many different genres at once (shooter, MOBA elements, crafting/looting) without a clear identity. This led to criticism that it was a generic or a bland experience, drawing comparisons to other live-service games like Concord. Players reported significant performance issues on PC, including frame rate drops and optimization problems.
The game also lacked basic features, such as in-game chat and robust party features. Specific gameplay elements were widely criticised. The large map size combined with small 3 players versus 3 players team modes meant players spent too much time in a boring gear-up phase and there is not enough time in engaging combat. The developer, Wildlight Entertainment, which consists of veterans from games such as Titanfall and Apex Legends. Fans were hoping for a spiritual successor to these franchises, and Highguard's very different direction and art style disappointed them. The studio CEO has since questioned if The Game Awards reveal was the right move, initially planning a surprise release.
There used to be 97,000 Highguard players on Steam and the player count eventually fell. As of writing this news article, there are 11,316 players playing 17 minutes ago. There are 13,115 players which is the 24-hour peak. 15,147 players are the all-time peak. Highguard has a mostly negative reception on Steam with over 9000 reviews and only 20% being positive. The game’s launch is met with criticism for server instability, poor performance on certain systems, and the use of a controversial kernel-level anti-cheat system.
Players have expressed concerns about the game’s map size and pacing, as well as the game’s mechanics. Despite the game’s initial buzz, the game’s reception has been mostly negative with many players feeling that the game did not meet the expectations set by the developers who are veterans such as Apex Legends and Titanfall.
