HighGuard

Highguard is a fresh take on the multiplayer hero shooter, featuring balanced gunplay and thrilling raid mechanics that had me saying, "Just one more match." Throw in strong art direction with a high fantasy setting, and it gets an easy recommendation from me.

At launch, Highguard has five maps, eight Wardens, and one game mode. Highguard's flagship Raid mode is a lot of fun, but there is so much potential here to expand into other modes that perhaps cater to other gaming tastes. There's no reason why Highguard's action and characters can't shine on smaller, more traditional multiplayer maps like those seen in Call of Duty and Halo. A mode that completely eliminates the looting and armor aspect would also be interesting.

Not every game clicks instantly. Highguard was released with little prior fanfare and even less explanation of its novel systems; my early games left me confused and frustrated. But with each match I played, I warmed to the flow of the action, the feel of movement and weapons, and the unique playstyle developer Wildlight Entertainment is trying to introduce. The game has a long way to go to be at its best, but for competitive shooter players looking for a departure from expectation, there’s...

However, issues like high cosmetic prices, lacking game modes, and overall feeling of a lack of polish, weigh heavily on the game as it stands. None of these problems feel insurmountable, but they do prevent Highguard from reaching its full potential at launch. Highguard is a good game with flashes of greatness and the possibility of becoming something truly special if its developers continue to build on its promising core.

The bones of Highguard are solid: the gunplay feels crisp, traversal is slick, and the rounds can be incredibly tense. But at launch, myriad balance issues, overcomplicated round structure, and repetitive-feeling matches dampen the game. Wait for a few months until it's been chiseled into shape.

Highguard's central mode is genuinely cool, but it's overstuffed with FPS trends that should go away for a while.

Highguard is an unusual combination of first-person shooter trends from the last decade or so, making for a game that is hard to define and somewhat confusing to get into. But, put in the time to master its core loop and you'll find a competitive and varied hero shooter that plays to Wildlight Entertainment's clear FPS expertise. It has some foundational flaws, from pointless looting to a lack of a strong identity, but Highguard shows promise, provided it gets the refinements it sorely needs.

There's a real dissonance between Highguard the idea – gearing up to duke it out over an artifact for the chance to assault the enemy's stronghold – and Highguard the game. It's executed quite well, and I've been enjoying my time with Highguard, but I can't help but feel there's a significant lack of gravitas in practice. Nothing feels wrong with Highguard, necessarily; it's not trying to put a square peg in a circular hole. It's more like putting a circular peg in a larger circular hole – it works perfectly fine, but it's not quite right.

Have you ever played a game that has a nugget of something special in there, but just isn’t quite hitting the mark? That basically sums up our time with Wildlight Entertainment’s Highguard.

Whether you're judging it on its own merits or comparing it to the very best on the market, Highguard has little to offer, and even less to keep you hooked.

Sometimes, you do have to wonder what’s wrong with people on the internet. Wildlight Entertainment’s Highguard sure has come in for a cavalcade of online hate, because… erm… it was the final trailer shown at The Game Awards? Or was it because it wasn’t Half Life 3? Maybe because it was just a bit different? It’s hard to tell sometimes.

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