- Primary Subject: Highguard (Launch Version 1.0)
- Key Update: Despite a controversial "one more thing" reveal at The Game Awards and critiques of its large-scale 3v3 pacing, Highguard features unique siege mechanics that suggest a promising foundation beneath the social media backlash.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: February 2, 2026
- Quick Answer: Highguard is a free-to-play "Raid Shooter" that is currently polarizing players due to its controversial TGA reveal and slow 3v3 map pacing, despite solid core mechanics.
Highguard officially launched last week, and oh boy, things are not looking great. Scrolling through social media, it’s easy to assume that the only thing High about Highguard is the number of complaints. Which is weird, because I feel that I’ve seen more haters than actual people who’ve played the game.
Through all the uproar of hate that Highguard has received over its release week, I believe this may be another case of the internet echo chamber. Social media says the game is bad, so the game is automatically awful.
After gathering public opinion and watching and playing through a few matches myself, I can safely say the hate is overblown.
Not a Good Start
Take a quick scroll through any social media echo chamber, and you’ll notice that the hate isn’t just directed towards Highguard but also towards Geoff Keighley. Geoff, journalist and presenter of the Video Game Awards, strikes me as a man who is genuinely enthusiastic about video games, but is often at the butt-end of jokes because of his influence in the gaming world.
The Game Awards is on the calendar of every gamer and fan in the world because it is one of the greatest neutral platforms developers use to announce or present some highly anticipated titles. Games like Resident Evil 9 and even the latest entry in the Divinity series are what you’d come to expect from The Game Awards, with the most hyped reveal always coming at the end.
Or at least, that’s what everyone thought.
It was recently revealed that Geoff Keighley pushed for Highguard to be presented as the final big reveal trailer for The Game Awards, and oh boy, was it a mess. Viewers were expecting something mind-blowing like the Fallout New Vegas Remaster (I know I was), but instead were met with Highguard.
A class-based, multiplayer, live-service free-to-play game that almost looks like a tax write-off. To put it simply, the game immediately felt like another Concord waiting to happen. Only time could tell if the game was going to be good, and that time is now.
Bland Setting
So now that we have all the drama out of the way, it’s time to look at the actual game. Some would argue that video games these days are all the same copy-pasted keyword slop, and I agree to an extent.
Ever since Fortnite and Overwatch came out as massive financial successes, every studio has been hoping to capture lightning in a bottle to achieve that same success. What differs among most of them, though, is their aesthetic. Which is why I feel so much disdain over how much Call of Duty Warzone has diverged from their art style just to sell some skins.
Highguard’s setting is…difficult to swallow. The game is presented as a medieval fantasy shooter mixed with sci-fi elements. Basically, knights and wizards with guns. On paper, this sounds like a concept that I’d pour hundreds of hours into just for the vibe alone, but in practice, it looks very different.
The game does a horrible job of mixing both high fantasy and sci-fi, making its design feel like an afterthought. One critique I have for Highguard is that, if it decides to abandon gunplay entirely and focus on medieval spells and archery, then the game would be much more enjoyable.
Gameplay Tweaks
Highguard hate is overblown, but underneath the chorus of gamers screaming that it sucks, there are a few valid criticisms. One of the main complaints I’ve found is that it is a 3v3 game with mounts…on a giant map.
Massive maps are often saved for games that want to achieve the illusion of massive warfare, something that the Battlefield games excel at. But obviously, this involves more than just 6 people in a lobby at once. Instead of massive medieval warfare, you’re just going from point A to point B.
But aside from the bad pacing, I can see what the developers were going for. Zipping across the map with your mount to siege an enemy base while you protect your own base is exhilarating. Sure, building up and fortifying your base does feel tedious right now, but the buildup of a full-blown siege on your enemy's base (complete with a siege machine) is one thing that Highguard does well.
Right now, Highguard is sitting at 9,000+ players globally. For comparison, Team Fortress 2, a game that came out close to two decades ago, is at a 41,000+ active player count. I do not want to write off the game this early in its lifespan because I see the blueprint of what the developers are trying to achieve.
I believe that with a few major tweaks to the gameplay and aesthetic, the game could be enjoyable. Hopefully, the corporations behind these games don’t kill their servers prematurely. Looking at you, EA.
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