Highguard burst onto Steam like a magical storm with it peaking at 97,249 concurrent players just hours after its January 26th, 2026 launch yesterday. However it's already been dog piled within hours of its release with overwhelmingly negative reviews from over 7,000 users on steam. This new FPS from Wildlight Entertainment (ex-Apex Legends/Titanfall devs), is a free-to-play PvP raid shooter with arcane gunslingers raiding mythical lands in 3v3 crews. The mysterious TGA 2025 reveal sparked hate, but curiosity drove some pretty massive day one numbers (45k+ live at the time of writing). After a few hours grinding matches, it's clear: Highguard's a delicious cookie dough of ideas with the ideas of CS:GO bomb plants, fluid Apex movement, Valorant-style agents but it needs some serious oven time before it's fully baked.
The tutorial sets a strong first impression, smoothly onboarding you into the core loop: mount up with your 3-player Warden crew, ride vast landscapes looting gear (upgraded guns, armor, saddles, amulets), hunt the Shieldbreaker sword spawned in magical storms, then raid and demolish the enemy base. It teaches attacking/defending sites, base interactions, and ability synergies without hand-holding overload which is better than most FPS intros. Gunplay snaps with Apex-esque slide-jumps and aim-down-sights precision, while the plant/defuse evokes CS tension. Agents (called Wardens) add hero flair: abilities for site holds, flanks, or pushes, customizable via scavenged cores/implants that evolve kits dynamically, not locked like Overwatch.
On paper, it's a fresh raid shooter twist with persistent loadouts across deaths reward smart looting, and the ever-shifting storm meta keeps maps dynamic. Pro previews praise its esports potential and replayability as a "special Apex mode" with unique foundation. You feel the vision: PvP shooter action where territory control via base raids creates stakes beyond kills.
However the reality of the game bites harder. Solo queue is a nightmare where matchmaking throws you into premade stacks, turning raids into steamrolls. Even paid streamers are dipping early, venting frustration on Twitch (hundreds of thousands watched launch streams). Balance is rough: the imp-summoning agent and flame lobbing character Slade feel like they dominate as S+ tiers, Condor the scanning warden can drop a scan every 3-4 seconds that forces you to stop moving for 6 seconds, allowing teams to snowball sites effortlessly. However as time goes on and skills improve I could see Condor and some of the other agents being versatile and strong as well. Guns vary wildly with some that pop heads buttery smooth, others clunky with floaty recoil or muffled audio. Performance stutters on high-end rigs too, despite optimization claims.
The game feels a bit twisted in how large the maps are and how many players there are too, I think that a great change would be for the game to have teams of 4v4 or even 5v5 to fill in the large spaces a bit more. Who knows maybe they adjust it or shrink the maps later down the line. Also the rules and how you raid bases is not very well thought out or executed well. It rewards people just grabbing the objective and never pushing.
Wildlight's shadow-drop strategy with minimal previews post-TGA, no big beta seems to have backfired. Players craved feedback loops to tune these kinks; instead, launch feels a bit undercooked. Secure Boot/EAC locks out Linux users, and the roadmap hints LTMs but no core overhauls yet. Devs downplay needing "super huge" peaks, chasing core fans over charts, but with ARC Raiders waning and Marvel Rivals thriving, Highguard risks DOA if patches don't ignite retention.
Day one verdict: Promising raw talent in a crowded shooter space, but solo-unfriendly design, imbalances, and polish gaps make it tough to recommend without a squad. The game feels like it needs to be 5v5 or 6v6 as well. It really seems like they did not do a lot of play testing or get feedback on their game before releasing it. I would give the game at its current state a solid 7.0/10. It is not a bad or terrible game by any means, but it is greatly lacking in many critical areas. Grab it free, squad up, and pray for hotfixes. the dough's got flavor, but right now, it's underbaked.
What are your thoughts on the game? Have you played it yet? Let us know what you think they should do with the game to make it better in the comments section down below!