Highguard is Scratching an Itch I Didn't Know I Had

Potentially the latest in a long line of unfortunate high-profile multiplayer disasters, Highguard is officially out, and things aren't looking too hot. A 3v3 "raid shooter" from former Respawn Entertainment developers, Highguard was revealed as The Game Awards 2025's 'one more thing' announcement. In the past, this spot has traditionally been used to showcase new entries from popular franchises/developers like Monster Hunter Wilds or Naughty Dog's Intergalactic: The Heretic Prophet, so showing a new free-to-play hero-shooter-adjacent game rubbed some people the wrong way.

Highguard went radio silent following its Game Awards reveal, with no additional trailers, gameplay deep-dives, or interviews releasing throughout January, leaving people to speculate on its status. Highguard's January 26 launch date rolled around and, to the surprise of some, the game was released, and an embargo lifted on press reactions, many of which were very positive. According to tracker site SteamDB, Highguard reached almost 100,000 Steam players on launch day, but it immediately fell victim to review-bombing. Highguard is currently sitting at a 'Mostly Negative' score on Steam with over 19,000 user reviews, 7,000 of which are from players who put less than an hour into it. But I seem to be one of the few who's genuinely enjoying Highguard.

Important Things Highguard Understates Or Doesn't Tell You

Highguard's gameplay loop is fairly straightforward, but the game features a few understated or unhighlighted mechanics and tricks.

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By Ollie Tuscarny

Highguard Isn't a Perfect Game...

It's very important to state right off the bat that Highguard is not a perfect game. It certainly has issues, and anyone who's actually played the game is, of course, allowed to express their criticisms. One of the most common complaints I've seen floating around online over the last few days is that Highguard's maps and core game mode don't fit its 3v3 structure, and I can definitely see where those critiques are coming from. You can go quite a few minutes without seeing another player during Highguard's gear-up phase, and the general layout of the game's bases feels more suitable for a team of four or five to be defending/attacking.

Another common complaint I've heard is that Highguard's art direction and overall aesthetic is somewhat jarring. While characters, bases, and environmental structures take inspiration from medieval fantasy, there's a Sci-Fi tinge to Highguard's world, and the two distinct styles aren't blended effectively. Highguard's weaponry is also at odds with those two distinct styles, with many weapons appearing too realistic, such as the Dynasty assault rifle which is essentially just an AK-47 with some curved edges.

...But I'm Having a Blast With It

Highguard launches to mostly negative reviews

That all said, those issues haven't really gotten in the way of my enjoyment of Highguard. A bit of context about my usual gaming habits; I mostly play single-player games, often ones with a focus on story and tight gameplay. But every so often, a multiplayer game will come around that I suddenly decide to devote my entire life to, or at least a few months of my spare time. This happened back in the day with Overwatch, it happened with Apex Legends and Fortnite, and it's happened several times over the last few decades with Call of Duty. The last multiplayer game I became unhealthily obsessed with was Marvel Rivals, which had me under its spell for about four months.

After playing around 10 hours of Highguard, I feel myself being drawn in once again. For those unaware, Highguard's core gameplay loop borrows key features from multiple popular titles. Players begin by fortifying their base, similar to Rainbow Six Siege. They then head out into a large map to find new gear, like Apex Legends, and purchase new equipment at a vendor, like in Counter-Strike. A Shieldbreaker weapon then appears in a central location and the two teams of 3 rush to grab it and use it on the enemy's base, turning the match into a chaotic bloodbath that reminds me of classic Halo CTF, albeit with Overwatch-like hero abilities.

It's this blending together of multiple genres that's scratching an itch in my brain I didn't know I had. While I've loved Rainbow Six Siege, Apex, and Overwatch, I've put hundreds of hours into these games, and I've experienced their specific gameplay loops countless times. Though Highguard is arguably just stitching together those same mechanics I already know and love, it's presenting it in a novel way that's really working for me. Going from Siege defending to Apex looting to Overwatch combat in quick succession is making those tried-and-tested experiences feel exciting and new again, like I'm being given a rotating carousel of all my favorite comfort foods.

The Million Dollar Question: Will I Be Playing Highguard in a Month?

But even the juiciest burger can lose its appeal after too many bites. 10 hours is more than enough time to tell whether you like a video game or not, but in the grand scheme of things, it's just a fraction of the playtime fans put into their favorite games. I've got over 200 hours in Marvel Rivals, almost 300 in Overwatch, and almost 400 in Fortnite, for example. It's very possible that Highguard's honeymoon phase will wear off soon, and I'll simply go back to playing the games it's taken inspiration from. But I'm cautiously optimistic about Highguard's future.

Mere moments after its launch, Highguard's developers released a detailed roadmap for the year ahead. The rather ambitious plan will see a new 'Episode' come to the game every two months, being split into two parts so that new content is guaranteed to drop every month. Here's just some of what Highguard is set to offer in 2026:

February and March — New Warden, new base, new map, new raid tool, new mount, Ranked Mode
April and May — New Warden, new base, new weapon, new loot items
June and July — New Warden, new base, new limited-time mode, new map, new weapon
August and September — New Warden, new base, new weapon, new mount
October and November — New Warden, new base, new map, new weapon, "Surprise"
December — New Warden, "Surprise"

The notion of getting a new playable Warden every two months is quite exciting, especially as I still feel I'm only scratching the surface of the eight already in the game. New maps also sound intriguing, as do new weapons and base layouts. On top of all that, Highguard's devs have already started to roll out updates addressing some of the feedback. At the time of writing (January 28), Highguard is set to receive an update either today or tomorrow that will add FoV sliders for consoles and more graphical options for PC. This update obviously won't fix many of the issues some have expressed with the raid shooter, but it's a good start, and one that has me hopeful for Highguard's longevity.

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