Like lots of folks, I didn’t have much to say after Highguard’s underwhelming reveal at The Game Awards last month. Yet another hero shooter that I couldn’t pick out of a lineup from the dozens of other options that are available? Not exactly riveting stuff. But as I’ve learned over a couple decades of gaming, you never really know what you’re in for until you’ve got the controller in your hands – and after doing just that, it turns out Highguard has plenty going for it. I spent about five hours learning the ropes and playing matches at a pre-release hands-on event last week, and what I’ve seen so far had polished gunplay, a compelling roster of characters, and a trailblazing game mode that serves as its killer feature.Of course, that limited play session means it’s still hard to tell if it will have staying power beyond the initial novelty, but with a promising roadmap for the next year already charted out, I’m surprised to say that I like Highguard’s chances.
This competitive shooter has components from lots of FPS games, like playable characters with special abilities that are very much drawn from hero shooters and a simplified loot system that’s reminiscent of battle royale games, but it sets itself apart with a unique multiplayer gametype: Raid Mode. In this mode, two opposing teams of three players battle it out to invade and utterly destroy the enemy base in incredibly chaotic sieges. Inspired by the developers’ experience attacking player bases in survival games like Rust, Highguard looks to condense that high-stakes attack/defend showdown into minutes-long matches, rather than serving as the climax to hours of preparation in a game with less structured PvP. After several hours running matches, my first impression is that this formula both stands out as a fresh shooter experience and is a lot of fun to play.
Raids are smartly broken into a few phases: a short defensive phase where players pick their starting weapon loadout and reinforce their own base, then an exploration and looting phase where teams leave their base in search of weapons, armor, and other upgrades to use in battle. But the real fun begins during the Intercept phase when a sword called the Shieldbreaker spawns on the map for one team to claim, making conflict between the two teams inevitable and showcasing Highguard’s stellar gunplay (more on that later). Whichever team is able to claim the Shieldbreaker and carry it to the enemy’s base then begins the final phase, called the Raid phase, where the invading team temporarily tears down the shield protecting the other team’s base and assaults it in an attempt to destroy defensive structures and plant bombs to destroy generators – by far the most exciting and high stakes part of each match. Depending on the outcome of the raid phase, this process can repeat itself up to four times during each match, making games last anywhere from eight to 30 minutes, depending on how heated the competition is.
I really dig the structured, phased approach used in this game mode, as it offers a very clear objective every step of the way, where I never felt like I had a bunch of things competing for my attention. I could very easily see a version of these matches where I’m having to choose between adding defenses to my base, looting better gear, or trying to invade an enemy base, which sounds like way too much to juggle at once. Having my crew always be on the same page about how we were supposed to be spending our time was great, and helped build suspense as we inched ever closer to the absolute mayhem that is the Raid phase, regardless of which side of that confrontation we ended up on.
That said, I also saw areas that could likely use some tweaking, like how the loot system limits you to lower-tier items before the first raid but increases the rarity that can be found in chests or bought from the vendor during each subsequent round. While it’s a nice feeling to get more powerful for each new raid in a match, it felt a bit underwhelming to know that practically all the loot on the map had been upgraded, making both teams roughly equally geared at all times. If both teams are increasing their power at the same rate consistently, it sorta makes it feel less impactful – like level scaling in an open world RPG. It’d be nice if there was a way for players to gain access to better loot by performing better in raids or by making better use of their time during the exploration phase where they’re searching chests. As of now, it’s just too easy to find all the loot you need, and being capped on the rarity of loot available during each round means you’re almost never in a position where you’ve got a shiny toy your opponents aren’t ready for.
It’s no big surprise that developer Wildlight Entertainment has built a shooter that immediately feels great, as this new studio is made up primarily of people who worked on Titanfall and Apex Legends. Whether I was sniping enemies at a distance or getting in close for a cheeky submachine gun or shotgun kill, combat was crisp and immediately reminded me of my days sweating it out in Apex Legends lobbies (especially the extremely recognizable feel of the sliding). The selection of weapons is quite small, with just one of each type available, but the upside of that slim arsenal is that each feels incredibly well tuned – and when you start to find higher rarities, you’ll see little modifiers and buffs randomly rolled on each that slightly tweak things like reload speed, magazine size, or stability. Those become more interesting at higher levels, where you might find things like a fully automatic version of the normally slow-firing hand cannon, which can provide that game changing power I was looking for. I didn’t have enough time to really dig into how many variations there are during the preview event, but so far everything was a blast to bring into battle.
Similar to the small but mighty number of weapons, Highguard is launching with eight playable characters, called Wardens, who will feel quite familiar to anyone who has spent time in a hero shooter like Overwatch or Apex Legends. Each character fulfills a specific magic-based fantasy, like Atticus, the flying, lightning bolt-chucking DPS machine, or Kai, an ice magic user who can turn into a massive frost oni and is unmatched in his ability to defend an area. Following in the tradition of most hero shooters, they all have two abilities on a cooldown, plus an ultimate that can be used a few times per match. These might be helpful little tricks, like one character’s ability to temporarily make walls intangible so your team can pass through them discretely, or powerful combat abilities, like another character who can lob balls of lava over an area, making the whole zone impassible. There’s nothing particularly original to this formula, but Highguard does a really good job at making each character someone I’m eager to master. Seeing someone form a giant ice wall and then magically push that wall right at my team as we tried to cross a narrow bridge convinced me to immediately try that character out in the next match.
The highlight of Highguard, and the thing that really sets what I saw of it apart from all the other shooters out there, is the raid mechanics, where one team brings down the full force of their squad’s destructive capabilities on a heavily fortified base, while the other uses their superior positioning to bring their advance to a halt. There aren’t many things cooler than a castle siege, and Highguard channels the battle of Helm’s Deep as the meat and potatoes of its one and only game mode. At the beginning of each match, your team votes on which fortress to call their own, each of which comes with its own set of strengths and weaknesses. For example, one volcanic base called Hellmouth is a classic castle surrounded by a lava moat, with dangerous choke points for invaders to cross and long lines of sight for defenders to shoot from. The downside is that if they manage to get through these narrow entryways, there’s not a lot stopping them from blasting through your inner walls and planting bombs on your all-important generators. Or you could instead choose to call Smuggler’s Den your home; a multi-leveled base that lacks narrow chokepoints, but has layers of defensive walls to get through that can be tough for invaders to navigate before getting ambushed by a defending squad.
As the attacking team during a raid, you’ll make use of some interesting raid tools in addition to your standard guns and abilities. The zipline allows you to create shortcuts and new pathways when assaulting a base, while the rocket launcher and blast hammer have a more straightforward solution to sieging by allowing you to blast through reinforced walls, killing enemy players in the process. Fighting your way through the enemy’s ranks to plant and defend a bomb deep within their territory is exactly as thrilling and tense as it sounds, but watching the enemy panic and despair as a giant explosion rocks their base and their defensive walls crumble around them makes it well worth the effort.
Holding the line against the enemy while on the defensive end of a raid can be incredibly stressful, but also extremely rewarding, like one time where I reinforced a series of walls to box the invaders into a choke zone, then used a well-placed ice wall to cut their team in half, then ambushed them before they could reorient themselves. I do wish there were more opportunities to set traps and go full Home Alone with your base, though – as of now, the only way to make your base harder to assault is by making a select number of walls harder to destroy. There are a few tricks, like intentionally breaking through floors and walls to create new lines of sight when the enemy steps into your domain, but aside from that it really comes down to your ability to outplay the invaders on your own turf, using the static advantages and disadvantages of whichever base your team ends up with. Still, managing to stave off an enemy assault and kick them out on their ass is extremely satisfying.
When you’re not defending or attacking a base, you’ll spend your time out in the much larger areas of the map where you’ll find yourself greatly in need of a faster way to get around, and that’s where mounts come in. While they don’t have a role in raids, as they aren’t permitted within the bounds of a base, they’re absolutely essential out in the world, where you can instantly mount or dismount them at any time to close long distances quickly, as well as leap to normally out of reach areas. Once you start fighting against the enemy team for the Shieldbreaker, you’ll find them extremely important in the capture the flag style of that phase, where victory often comes down to being able to outmaneuver the enemy. Riding your mount isn’t without risks though, as it turns you into a huge target, and if your mount gets killed, you will lose access to it for a while which makes you a sitting duck for your enemies and leaves you vulnerable for a small period of time as you fall to the ground and pick yourself back up.
One thing that feels like it’s missing from Highguard at the moment are PvE opponents, which there is a complete lack of even during the phase where you’re just exploring the map in search of gear. I’d assume there would be baddies trying to stop you or bosses to hunt down to claim rarer loot along the way, but instead you’ll find the map complete devoid of life aside from the enemy team, who more often than not I didn’t bump into until the next phase where we ran to the same location in search of the Shieldbreaker. The lack of NPC enemies is mitigated somewhat by supply drops that spawn during the gear up phase, giving you a reason to engage in PvP earlier in each round, but I still feel like it would be nice to have more to do before the big conflict at the end.
Wildlight has clearly learned some other lessons from the various lumps in the road that Apex Legends faced, particularly when it comes to the live-service model. After taking a peek at Highguard’s roadmap for the next year, which includes new content every single month, I’m pretty impressed by how much is supposedly coming down the pipe. That roadmap includes five new playable characters, as well as several new bases, maps, and weapons, all within the first year, with seasonal content coming every two months. I’m sure at least some of this won’t go according to plan, as even the best intentioned roadmaps can often get bumped off course, but it’s at least great to see Wildlight has come prepared for long-term support.
I still have many more hours of matches to play with Highguard now that it’s out in the wild, but my first impressions are much better than the reveal trailer left me with. Once I’ve had a chance to spend time with with every class and figured out the ins-and-outs of every base (as well as see how the live servers hold up), I’m sure I’ll have plenty more to say and a score to go with it. For now, it’s back to the lobbies with me!
