Highguard, Wildlight Entertainment’s new free-to-play PvP “raid shooter,” has only been out for a day, but it’s already a wild ride for this new FPS. The critical response has already been glowing, but player reactions run the gamut. And perhaps worst of all, it has become a meme.
Currently, the Steam User Score is “mostly negative”, with 32% of approximately 15,000 player reviews giving the game a positive rating. Players have complained about long match queue times, being kicked out of tutorials, and other server issues. Many more said they were experiencing frame rate drops and other issues on Windows PCs, as well as poor game performance.
Of course, it’s impossible to discuss Highguard’s post-launch performance without acknowledging the review bombing. From the moment it was announced as the final announcement for the 2025 Game Awards, Highguard was in for an uphill battle. Not everyone was excited about the prospect of yet another live-service shooter entering the field, and while it featured eye-catching visuals, some were upset that an announcement trailer that gave little to no description of the game ruined the much-needed announcement of “one more.” In fact, backlash mounted on Reddit a month before High Guard’s release, with some comparing it to Sony’s infamous 2024 shooter Concord.
“Highguard mainly suffers because Concord came first,” one Redditor commented on a post discussing all the hate for a game that hasn’t even been released yet. “If Concord had been into this game and not just last year, I don’t think people would have been as into it as they were. But if I had to guess, I think people wouldn’t have liked the way the Game Awards closed out this game.”
Image: Wildlight Studio
This mixed reception is evident in Highguard’s number of recording players. The shooter reached 97,249 concurrent players on Steam in just one hour after its release. By evening on the East Coast, when many players usually finish work and start spending time on games, that number has been cut in half. As of this writing, Highguard has fewer than 20,000 concurrent players on Steam, according to the database site SteamDB.
Reviews among console players are similarly divided. On the Xbox Store, Highguard is rated 2.9 out of 5 stars, with 31% of player reviews reaching the 5-star mark and 39% of players rating it 1-star. On the other hand, things are slightly better on the PlayStation Store than on Steam and Xbox. Highguard players rate this game 3.1 out of 5 stars, with 41% of reviewers giving it a 5-star review and 37% rating it 1-star.
“Titanfall 3 died for this,” one Xbox player wrote in a one-star review. “And don’t forget that.” Another one-star review by an Xbox player reads, “You’ll see who wins in the first siege.” “The game also doesn’t seem to work very well. The kill screen says 25 hits, but there’s no real feedback whether you’re shooting or being shot. It feels like the gun’s rate of fire is outpacing the game engine.”
“This game is quite unique compared to your typical hero shooter,” reads a mild four-star review. “I like running around looting and mining before all hell breaks loose. The raiding elements are pretty crazy, and overall it’s a pretty fun game considering it’s free to play. I’m only giving it 4 stars because the art style isn’t crazy.”
A review on the PlayStation Store says, “I played about 15 games and, well, the game is boring.” “The game starts with CoD sabotage fighting over swords (bombs), then turns into sabotage when swords (bombs) are planted and shields are destroyed. Then add heroes with abilities and a real royal family to plunder, and you have the High Guard.”
“A good game that is unique in its own way,” reads a 5-star comment. “It’s fun. There’s no other game like it. The Internet hates it quickly. Something definitely needs to be added.” Reviews from other PlayStation users cite the lack of custom button mapping options and the FOV slider as issues.
Image: Wildlight Entertainment
Aside from server and performance issues, boredom seems to be a recurring complaint among High Guard players. Immediately after its release, a post declaring the game a “borefest” became the highest-rated post on the /r/HighguardGame subreddit. As of this morning, the top post was titled “This game is honestly fun and it’s not as bad as people say,” which caused mixed reviews. In response, some players responded by calling the game “fun,” “awesome,” and “one of the best releases in the F2P shooter scene in a while.” So, the situation is a bit complicated.
Highguard is still in its early stages, but critics generally seem to be enjoying the game. As of this writing, Highguard doesn’t yet have a Metacritic score (the platform requires four scored reviews from approved outlets for that), but critical reviews are trending favorably. Polygon’s Austin Manchester called it “one of the best new shooters in years,” IGN praised its “snappy gunplay,” and GameSpot called it a “fresh” combination of shooter subgenres.
But no matter how good or bad the high guard is, it still has an albatross wrapped around its neck, immortalized as a meme. In X, YouTuber Snamwiches shared a meme claiming that Highguard hit 5.3 million concurrent players at launch, mocking the game’s naive player base. (New Zealand has a population of 5.3 million people. This number also nearly doubles the record for most concurrent players for a game on Steam, an honor currently held by PUBG: Battlegrounds.) Other prominent creators shared similar memes, including Dave Oshry. Once a game gets caught up in the torrent of meme cycles, it’s hard to break out of it, especially if it happens on day one.
High Guard developer Wildlight Studios announced the game’s first-year roadmap on Monday, revealing the majority of the game’s upcoming updates on the same day as its launch. The roadmap includes plans to introduce a new playable Warden every two months, roughly mirroring the pace of popular live-service games like Marvel Rivals, but the new mode won’t be introduced until July. Will the new hero have enough appeal to attract and retain a wide audience? After all, it will be the true test of the High Guard’s power: time.
