{"id":438088,"date":"2026-01-28T06:54:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438088\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T06:54:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T06:54:08","slug":"highguard-launches-to-big-steam-concurrents-but-its-getting-absolutely-destroyed-in-user-reviews","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/438088\/","title":{"rendered":"Highguard Launches to Big Steam Concurrents, but It’s Getting Absolutely Destroyed in User Reviews"},"content":{"rendered":"

Highguard launched last night as planned, and met with big Steam concurrents but also a flood of negative user reviews.<\/p>\n

The free-to-play \u201cPvP raid shooter\u201d was the big new game reveal at the end of last month\u2019s The Game Awards, but developer Wildlight then went dark until the game\u2019s January 26 release date. Highguard hit a peak of 97,249 concurrent users on Steam \u2014 a significant number for any new game launch on Valve\u2019s platform \u2014 but Wildlight will be particularly concerned by its \u201cmostly negative\u201d user review rating.<\/p>\n

Currently, just 32% of the 14,500 user reviews are positive. While some of the negative reviews revolve around PC performance problems, most criticize Highguard\u2019s game design, and question some of the decisions made by the developers.<\/p>\n

Chief among the criticisms is that the size of the map feels too big and empty for a 3v3 competitive shooter. You\u2019re able to summon a mount to get about faster (the mounts are one aspect of Highguard that players seem to universally like), but some players believe a 4v4, 5v5, or even 3v3v3 mode would have been a better fit.<\/p>\n

There are complaints about the resource-gathering phase of each map, too, which involves what some are calling boring mining and loot farming. The gist here is there is too much downtime and a lack of excitement, although players seem to be enjoying the raid phase of each match, where combat is concentrated. There is also criticism of the playable characters, which are differentiated only by two abilities each on a cooldown. Some are calling Highguard\u2019s visuals bland, too.<\/p>\n

Indeed, the top post on the Highguard subreddit<\/a> reinforces this sentiment. \u201cI\u2019m sorry but this is boring as f**k,\u201d it reads. \u201cGathering is boring as f**k, looting is boring as f**k, 3v3 with short TTK is boring as f**k. No PVE is boring as f**k. The only good thing in this game is the f***ing horse mount. What were they thinking?\u201d<\/p>\n

Highguard Screenshots\"\"<\/p>\n

The Steam portion of Highguard\u2019s release doesn\u2019t tell the whole story, of course. It also launched as a free download on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and S, but neither Sony nor Microsoft make player numbers public.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s how Highguard works. You play a Warden in a team of three, and select a base to fortify. You then ride out into the map to loot and harvest resources, upgrading your gear along the way.<\/p>\n

Teams end up fighting over what\u2019s called the Shieldbreaker, which can be used to trigger a raid of the enemy base. This phase \u2014 certainly the most exciting in the match \u2014 forces teams to attack and defend. Usually, one raid isn\u2019t enough to destroy the enemy base, which triggers a new loot phase, a new Shieldbreaker to spawn, and the potential for a new raid to finally end the match. Check out IGN\u2019s Highguard review-in-progress<\/a> to find out what we think.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, Wildlight talked about Highguard\u2019s first year of content already being in the works<\/a>, and outlined its roadmap for updates. It\u2019s making all the right noises about being in this for the long haul. As a free-to-play game, Highguard\u2019s success will rest on its ability to get as many people as possible to continue to play the game, fueling revenue from its live service. As we\u2019ve seen, live service is a particularly brutal space to be in right now, so it will be interesting to see if Highguard can improve this launch sentiment and maintain interest in the months ahead.<\/p>\n

Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Highguard launched last night as planned, and met with big Steam concurrents but also a flood of negative…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438089,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[49,48,61],"class_list":["post-438088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438088"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438088\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438089"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}