Gaming: New Highguard Review

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What is it A free-to-play hero shooter with a funky raid mode.Release date January 26, 2026Expect to pay Free-to-playPublisher Wildlight InteractiveDeveloper Wildlight InteractiveReviewed on RTX 5090, Ryzen 7 9800X3D 4.7 GHz, 64GB RAMMultiplayer Up to 10 playersSteam Deck UnsupportedLink Official site

I have found myself in the inconvenient position of being a Highguard moderate. I don't love it, and it's not what I'm looking for in an FPS these days, but I can't deny it's often fun.

Overcomplicated? Yes. Artistically tacky? You bet. But Highguard's marquee Raid mode is genuinely unlike any other FPS mode out there, at least in the sense that nobody has ever constructed this particular FPS sandwich before: Two slices of Rainbow Six with a battle royale center. I also appreciate that it's a free-to-play shooter that doesn't bombard players with ads (at least for now) or sell battle passes that expire. It's doing the regular live service things as right as you can without simply not doing them, which honestly, would be preferable.

Highguard's bigger problems—at least, the ones it can still control—come from the consequences of its strange mixture. With huge maps occupied by six people, bases that you can only raid in small chunks, and a looting phase that's almost entirely pointless, I wonder if developer Wildlight has overbaked the loaf. Highguard matches are too directed to surprise, too small to feel grand, and too sweaty for those other things not to matter. It takes the chaotic spirit of Rust or Minecraft Bed Wars and sands it down until it's frictionless and bland.

Highguard's rules are quirky. Matches take place on a large map with six total players—two teams of three. Teams spend the opening minute reinforcing the walls of their home bases before setting off to farm resources, loot better guns, and scrap with enemies. The thrust of this first phase is fighting over possession of the Shieldbreaker, a big glowy sword that lowers the enemy base's shields when plunged into its gates.

This is the part of Highguard that's almost always great: Mounting up on bears and horses and outmaneuvering the other team to either slip past their ambush or wipe them long enough to trigger a siege is unequivocally awesome. It's "reverse capture the flag," as Wildlight

Source: PC Gamer