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| Pictured - cinematic artwork from the game Highguard. |
When a studio founded by the lead designers of Titanfall and Apex Legends launches a new shooter, the gaming world pays attention. That attention, however, is a double-edged sword. Wildlight Entertainment’s debut title, Highguard, is learning this lesson the hard way, currently fighting a brutal battle for player approval on Steam. Released on January 26, 2026, the game instantly rocketed to an impressive peak of 97,249 concurrent players, fueled by immense curiosity and pedigree. That curiosity has since curdled into widespread frustration. The game is now buried under an avalanche of roughly 16,500 reviews, with a staggering 71% marking it negative.
What Exactly Is Highguard? Decoding the "PvP Raid Shooter"
At its core, Highguard is what its developers ambitiously label a "PvP Raid Shooter." It’s a 3v3 experience that attempts to fuse the hero-based squad dynamics of Apex Legends with the objective-based, base-assault strategies of a MOBA. Players assume the role of a "Warden"—an arcane-powered gunslinger—and begin each match by selecting and fortifying a literal castle.
The match structure is divided into four distinct phases:
- Fortification: A one-minute opening scramble to reinforce your castle walls.
- Scavenging: A two-minute mounted trek across a vast open map to loot superior gear.
- Clash: Teams brawl to secure a powerful "Shieldbreaker" sword.
- Siege: The team with the sword summons a massive siege tower, triggering a final, minutes-long assault where attackers must plant bombs on the enemy's power generators while defenders scramble to defuse them.
On paper, it’s a novel concoction. In practice, according to the deluge of Steam reviews, it’s a recipe for disappointment.
The Execution Falls Short: Empty Maps and Technical Woes
The central critique overwhelming Highguard's Steam page is that its promising ideas are hamstrung by flawed execution. The most common complaint targets the map design: they are far too large for a 3v3 format. This creates prolonged, lonely stretches of traversal that players are derisively calling a "horse-riding simulator," where encounters with enemy players can be minutes apart.
Technical performance is the other major battlefield. Reports indicate severe optimization issues, with frame rates struggling even on high-end 50-series NVIDIA GPUs. A heavy reliance on aggressive upscaling techniques has left the visual presentation feeling "blurry" and unpolished, a stark contrast to the crisp polish players expect from veterans of Respawn's pedigree.
You can see the real-time player count and review trends for yourself on Highguard's SteamDB page.
The Anti-Cheat Barrier and the Hype Hangover
Further compounding the launch issues is the game's kernel-level anti-cheat software, which requires Secure Boot to be enabled. For a significant portion of the PC player base, this has proven to be a formidable technical barrier, locking them out of the game entirely and fueling negative reviews before they even see the main menu.
Some analysts suggest the vehement backlash is also symptomatic of a "Game Awards hangover." Highguard had the privilege—and burden—of being the final "one more thing" surprise reveal at The Game Awards 2025, generating tremendous hype. The cryptic trailer, however, failed to clearly communicate the unusual gameplay loop. This has led to what some critics are calling a "self-fulfilling prophecy of hate," where confusion metastasized into disappointment upon release.
Wildlight CEO Dusty Welch has already acknowledged the misstep, admitting the initial trailer didn't effectively showcase the game's core premise. But with the Steam rating cemented in the "Mostly Negative" zone, the studio is now in a desperate race against time. The mission is clear: optimize performance, adjust map flow, and clarify communication before the plummeting player count follows the review score into an irreversible decline.
You can read more about Highguard, and see the evolving player response for yourself, on its official Steam store page.
The coming weeks will be a critical test for Wildlight. The studio's legacy is built on defining the shooter genre, but with Highguard, they are first tasked with the more fundamental challenge of saving their own siege from collapsing under its own weight.