A Grand Idea Without the Grand Finish
Highguard is the sort of multiplayer shooter that should have burst on to the scene kicking, screaming and swinging. Built by a team stacked with experience from Apex Legends, Titanfall and other modern classics, expectations were understandably high. A bold blend of hero abilities, large-scale maps, siege mechanics and raid-style objectives promised something genuinely different in a market drowning in safe sequels and seasonal updates.
Instead, Highguard launches as a fascinating but flawed contender. It is ambitious, occasionally thrilling and often frustrating. It feels like a game bursting with ideas yet still searching for any kind of cohesion. There are flashes of brilliance here. There are also clear signs that it may have needed more time in the oven.
The question is simple: is there enough substance beneath the surface to keep players invested?
A Three-Act Structure That Sets It Apart
Highguard’s core hook lies in its structure. Each match unfolds across perfectly distinct phases rather than relying on straightforward deathmatch chaos. Two teams of three Wardens drop into sprawling maps where the early minutes are spent gathering gear, building strength and positioning for what is to come.
The mid-phase revolves around acquiring the Shieldbreaker, a key objective that allows a team to crack open the enemy’s base. The final act sees coordinated assaults, defensive stands and desperate last-ditch pushes to plant explosives and secure victory.
On paper, it is excellent. It combines the tension of extraction shooters, the coordination of objective-based multiplayer and the almost Saturday morning cartoon spectacle of hero shooters. When everything aligns, Highguard does feel genuinely unique. A well-timed push with your squad, abilities firing in tandem and gunfire cutting through a fortified defence can be exhilarating.
This structure is easily the game’s greatest strength. It provides shape and stakes. Wins feel earned rather than incidental.
Unfortunately, the cracks begin to show between those moments, and trying to break into what is a flooded market of games like this, will become harder.
Big Maps, Small Teams
Highguard’s maps are enormous. Visually impressive, wide and layered with traversal routes, they are clearly designed to support grand tactical movement. The issue is that matches are strictly three versus three.
The result is long stretches of quiet. Early phases can feel empty, with teams scattered across vast terrain looting and preparing rather than engaging. Instead of building tension, this downtime often saps momentum. Twenty to thirty minute matches start to drag before the decisive action even begins. The early stages start to feel like waiting in the lobby of a PUBG match, just aimlessly running, picking up items to little effect.
When clashes finally occur they can be sharp and dramatic, but they are spaced too far apart. It sometimes feels like playing a large-scale mode designed for twice the number of players.
This imbalance hurts pacing. Highguard wants to be intense and strategic, but often it just feels sluggish and overextended.
Gunplay That Deserves Better
It is frustrating because the core gunplay is genuinely good. Weapons feel punchy and responsive. Shots register cleanly and firefights carry satisfying impact. Movement, too, is slick, particularly when using mounts to traverse the battlefield at speed. Even the inclusion of being able to swap out sights to iron sights on the fly is innovative.
There is clear pedigree here. The developers understand how to make shooting feel good. Duels can be tense and rewarding. Abilities complement gunplay rather than overshadowing it, at least in theory.
However, the larger structural issues undermine this strength. Brilliant gunfights are often preceded by extended periods of looting or repositioning. By the time action kicks off, some of the adrenaline has already dissipated.
Highguard shines brightest in close engagements. It just does not deliver them frequently enough.
Identity Crisis
Another stumbling block is tone and identity. Highguard blends modern firearms with fantasy-tinged hero abilities and siege-style objectives. Individually, these elements work. Together, they sometimes feel at odds, particularly when the modern firearms look dated.
The Wardens themselves are mechanically distinct but lack the personality punch of genre rivals. Visual design feels competent but not iconic. There is no immediate sense of worldbuilding that anchors the experience.
In a market where hero shooters thrive on recognisable characters and clear stylistic direction, Highguard feels slightly anonymous. It is neither fully sci-fi nor fully fantasy. It is neither gritty nor flamboyant. It exists somewhere in between. If I had to describe it without the need of being legible I would say it’s like a medieval-pirate-fantasy-Monkey Island-hero shooter with AK47’s and revolvers.
That lack of strong identity will make it harder for players to emotionally invest in a world with countless games of this type.
Technical Turbulence
A competitive shooter lives and dies by performance. Here Highguard stumbles.
Frame dips, occasional network instability and odd visual quirks dampen confidence. Even on powerful hardware, optimisation feels inconsistent. In a genre where responsiveness is king, any technical roughness becomes magnified.
None of these issues render the game unplayable. But they do chip away at trust. When a firefight hinges on split-second reactions, performance must be rock solid. Highguard does not consistently hit that mark.
It feels less like a fully polished launch and more like a live beta still smoothing out the edges.
Content at Launch
As a free-to-play title, Highguard lowers the barrier to entry. That is welcome. However, content breadth at launch is modest.
The central raid mode carries the weight of the entire experience. While it is distinct, repetition sets in quickly. A limited roster of characters and maps means players will see most of what the game offers within a few evenings.
Progression systems exist but lack depth. Unlocks and rewards do not feel especially transformative. Without varied modes or meaningful competitive ladders at launch, long-term motivation feels shaky.
A roadmap promises new characters, maps and improvements. That future potential is encouraging. But what really matters most is the present experience. Right now, Highguard feels slightly thin.
Community Reaction
Reception has been divided. Some players see the ambition and applaud the willingness to attempt something different. Others criticise pacing, balance and polish.
Interestingly, those who spend more time with Highguard often appear more positive. There is depth here once the systems click. Coordinated squads can extract real enjoyment from mastering timing and positioning.
Still, first impressions matter in the crowded free-to-play arena. Player numbers surged at launch before dropping sharply. In this space, momentum is everything.
Highguard needed a smoother debut to maintain that initial wave of interest.
Longevity Prospects
Can Highguard recover? Absolutely. The bones are strong. The central idea has a whole lot of merit. With tighter pacing, additional modes and improved optimisation, it could evolve into something special. Honestly, with the characters, world and gameplay, something of a story wouldn’t go amiss.
Live service success stories often begin imperfectly. What matters is responsiveness and iteration. If Wildlight supports Highguard with meaningful updates, trims the excess and sharpens the experience, it could yet carve out a loyal player base.
Right now, though, it feels like a promising early draft rather than a finished masterpiece.
A Contender in Training
Highguard is a game of contrasts. It delivers thrilling objective-based firefights wrapped inside numerous stretches of aimless downtime. It boasts excellent gunplay constrained by uneven pacing. It swings for innovation yet stumbles in execution.
There is genuine potential here. That may even be the most frustrating part. You can see what Highguard wants to become. You can feel it in those intense final pushes when coordination clicks and the siege erupts into chaos.
But potential is just a fancy word for ‘you aren’t good enough yet’.
At launch, Highguard stands as a brave but imperfect entry into the competitive shooter space. Worth trying, certainly. Worth committing to long term? That depends on how quickly and effectively it evolves.
For now, it remains a promising contender that has not earned champion status yet, and at this point will really struggle to stand out.
Important Links
Highguard Launches On Xbox, PlayStation And PC – And It’s Completely Free To Play – https://www.thexboxhub.com/highguard-launches-on-xbox-playstation-and-pc-and-its-completely-free-to-play/
Download from the Xbox Store – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/highguard/9MSQLRB5HNM5/0010
