Highguard, the mysterious PvP raid shooter that was announced at the end of the Game Awards and praised by Geoff Keighley as “reinventing the Hero Shooter genre as we know it”, launched this week to overwhelmingly negative reviews on Steam.
Were these reviews accurate? Was the gaming community pre-empting its failure by comparing it to the short-lived live service shooter Concord? Well, I played the game at launch, and it really did not live up to the hype that Keighley so desperately clung to, a hype that was so profound it led to X users questioning if he had financial involvement in creating and or promoting the game.
Dipping from 95k active players to 19k and then to 10k, and then to 6, the game has received an overwhelmingly negative response from players on Steam in its first 24 hours.
The game has received an overwhelmingly negative response from players on Steam in its first 24 hours.
One of my main concerns with the game is its 3v3 format; despite the sprawling map and bases, the lack of engagement with the enemy team makes rounds boring and repetitive. The core gameplay, described by the development team at Wildlight as a PvP Raid Shooter, is, in theory, a really great concept that I think would work better in a 6v6 format with the size of the maps. Not only this, but the actual gunplay feels stiff and clunky, and so does the movement and speed of your character, which makes traversing the map unsatisfactory unless you are on your mount (who can easily be shot down by the enemy team, which does not reflect the cool, horseback fights demonstrated in the trailer).
Another large portion of the game that didn’t land with me was the design. In a Frankenstein mashup of medieval themes and futuristic fantasy, the character designs end up unappealing and bland, with no “Oddball” champs that make you want to invest time in the game. The main Warden, Atticus, who features on the promotional material, could literally be from any other shooter in the past 10 years; hell, I could’ve probably walked past this guy in the street, he’s that generic. The most interesting Warden, in my opinion, is Scarlet, as her abilities allow her to shift through the reinforced walls of the enemy base.
Hell, I could’ve probably walked past this guy in the street; he’s that generic.
Overall, it is unfortunate that this game launched in such a state, as with further development and a deeper creative and technical readjustment, this game would have given other shooters a run for their money. Only time will tell for the future of Highguard, but as for now, it’s not looking good.