Genre: Action. Publisher / Developer: Wildlight Entertainment, Inc. Platforms: PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, PS5. Release date: January 26, 2026. Age rating: 12+. Localization: none.
Minimum PC requirements: Intel Core i5-6600K 3.5 GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 1600 3.2 GHz, 8 GB RAM, DirectX 12–capable GPU with 6 GB VRAM (for example NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 / AMD Radeon RX 580), 25 GB on an SSD, Windows 10 / 11 with Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 enabled, and an internet connection.
Recommended PC requirements: Intel Core i5-9600K 3.7 GHz or AMD Ryzen 5 3600 3.6 GHz, 12 GB RAM, DirectX 12–capable GPU with 8 GB VRAM (for example NVIDIA GeForce RTX 2080 / AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT), Windows 11.
Highguard could easily be used as a case study for how not to present and launch a game. The project accumulated a near-perfect bingo of launch issues: murky marketing, an unfortunate debut slot that provoked backlash, and a raw, under-polished technical state at release. Given the already cautious attitude of many players, the least the team could have done was ensure the game actually runs reliably. They did not delay the launch, and more testing and polishing either did not happen or was insufficient. Worse, some players don’t even get the game to start.
The first roadblock is literal: the very first thing many players see is an instruction to enter the BIOS and enable Secure Boot. The procedure itself is not complicated, but asking users to tweak their BIOS before they can try a game is off-putting for many. You should also make sure TPM 2.0 is enabled.
Beyond that, a number of regional launch problems emerged. Some players experienced a broken or incomplete main screen instead of the proper launcher menu. Community members discovered workarounds — editing a system file or running the game via VPN — but these are far from ideal solutions. In response to reports from affected regions, the developer initially restricted access for certain accounts and then later restored it; the episode left a bad impression regardless.
If you overcome the setup headaches, you will still meet a long list of technical obstacles: graphical stutters, mid-session crashes, frequent disconnections, unimpressive performance on many rigs, and generally poor optimization. Even when a match starts, teammates or opponents can be booted mid-game, which kills momentum and makes the experience frustrating.
It’s no surprise that the player count collapsed after launch: what began as a healthy evening spike of several tens of thousands dwindled to a few thousand concurrent players within days. It’s hard to stay engaged with a project that resists simply letting you play it. And after surviving the launch gauntlet, you want the game to reward your effort with something memorable.
The core of Highguard is a raid‑shooter in 3v3 format where teams attempt to destroy the opponent’s base. Matches can be single-round or multi-round depending on how the siege unfolds. Each round is divided into phases: the opening phase sends players across a fairly large map to find chests with gear or to collect 'vesper' — an in-match currency used to buy weapons and armor from a local vendor.
During the first phase teams can clash early, but the focal point is the Shieldbreaker, a powerful artifact that one team must seize and carry to the enemy base to break its defenses. The fight for the Shieldbreaker is intense both when it spawns and while it’s being carried. The carrier is highlighted by a visible power dome, making them an obvious target for ambushes. A carrier can attempt to trick the defenders by avoiding the enemy base: if the artifact was in a team’s possession when the stage timer expires, that team still initiates the siege.
Once the siege begins the match becomes asymmetrical: attackers press to plant explosives on key objectives, while defenders try to prevent detonations by disarming bombs and eliminating intruders. Attackers need only successfully blow up one or two critical points to win the round. Meanwhile, defenders have a limited respawn resource during the siege — six revive slots shared across the entire team — which forces careful play.
If the Citadel survives the initial assault, the cycle repeats with improved loot in shops and chests, and special supply containers may fall from the sky during the early phase, creating fresh hotspots for skirmishes. The arsenal in Highguard is not huge — nine weapons in total: assault rifles, submachine guns, revolvers, shotguns and sniper rifles. Players carry two primary weapons and a third slot is reserved for heavy siege tools, such as a rocket emplacement or an explosive hammer, useful for breaking walls and fortifications.
Shooting in Highguard generally feels satisfying on paper: weapons have distinct character and advantages, and many guns are pleasant to fire. However, recoil behavior and hit registration are not as tight or responsive as they should be. Complicating matters, enemies can be difficult to pick out from the environment at range, which undermines firefights and frustrates players who expect clearer visual readability.
One bright spot: mounted travel is genuinely fun. Riding across the landscape is one of the more joyful and well-realized moments in the game.
Highguard is not without potential. Its original cycle — run, equip, contest an artifact, then siege — is conceptually interesting and can produce a handful of truly adrenaline-fueled matches. But after a dozen rounds (if your sessions aren’t interrupted by disconnects) you will likely have exhausted what the game currently offers. There are no ranked modes at launch, and progression mainly grants cosmetics, which raises the question of long-term engagement.
At the start players can choose from eight heroes split across five rough archetypes: defenders, scouts, support, breachers and assault. The division is loose — three assault heroes, two defenders, and one representative for the remaining roles. While aiming accuracy often decides fights more than abilities, hero skills do matter when used well.
Abilities include defensive tools like Kay’s ice wall, Scarlet’s temporary invisibility for slipping behind enemy lines, Atticus’s shock spear for zoning and periodic area damage, and Mara’s team shields. Passive perks offer a range of advantages, from increased movement and reload on kill to utility benefits such as access to hidden rooms, extra loot, or alerts about approaching enemies.
Each hero also has an ultimate: Una summons a massive forest spirit, Redmaine emits a roar that can destroy nearby structures, and Slade rains magma over an area. In theory these ultimates should swing engagements, but in practice they rarely have the decisive impact seen in other hero shooters. Reasons include level layouts that make it easy to avoid big abilities, the overall low time‑to‑kill that allows ultimates to be interrupted quickly, and middling visual and mechanical potency of the abilities themselves.
Hero designs and the game's visual language feel derivative and unfocused. The art direction is an uneasy collage of stylistic elements — futuristic weapons, disparate magic schools, fantasy landscapes and monumental architecture — without a unifying vision. The result is an eclectic but visually flat mix that lacks a distinct identity.
That same lack of editorial clarity is apparent in many gameplay decisions. The developers seem to have included almost everything and then not refined the whole. Where polish is usually earned during QA and playtesting, Highguard shows signs of insufficient iteration: technical roughness, bland visuals, uneven pacing that alternates between high-octane sieges and dull late‑game buy phases, unnecessary mechanics, and maps that feel oversized for just six players.
The community flagged the problems with the 3v3 format early on, and the developers responded by adding an experimental 5v5 mode. In the opening days after launch the team released several patches and publicly acknowledged community feedback. Patches have been frequent, though in my experience the game remained prone to crashes and instability during testing.
All that said, the studio has not abandoned the project. They are actively communicating with the community, testing changes like the larger team mode, and iterating on technical fixes and balance. If the team follows through, Highguard could become a competent and enjoyable title. For now it plays and feels like a beta with promise rather than a finished retail product.
Pros: a conceptually interesting siege loop, very fun mounted movement, genuinely thrilling siege moments when systems click.
Cons: poor technical polish at launch, visually indistinct art direction and lack of a clear identity, an unfinished feel in multiple areas, subpar hit registration and visibility choices that make enemies blend into environments, and the awkward requirement to tweak BIOS settings just to run the game.
Graphics: one of the weakest aspects — the visual style is overly eclectic, muted and unremarkable. There is nothing that grabs the eye in environments, character designs, effects or weapons.
Sound: also underwhelming — gunfire lacks punch, abilities lack clarity and impact, character and world sound design fail to convey life. There is a serviceable orchestral soundtrack that occasionally hits an emotional note, but audio presentation overall is not a standout.
Single‑player: only a basic training mode is available.
Estimated playtime: roughly a dozen matches or six to seven hours will expose most of what the current build offers. After that you’re largely waiting for further development or playing for the sake of practice.
Multiplayer: an occasionally lively raid shooter with a few interesting mechanics, but hampered at present by execution problems.
Overall impression: Highguard contains fresh ideas and some enjoyable mechanics but, in its current state, looks and feels like a beta rather than a finished product. It has potential if the developers keep iterating with the community.
Score: 5.5 / 10