Whereas it isn’t the subsequent recreation from the studio that introduced us the likes of Titanfall 2 or Apex Legends, Highguard is coming from many former members of the Respawn team–developer Wildlight is about 100 staff and greater than 60 labored on Titanfall 2 and/or Apex Legends. Highguard doesn’t look something like these video games, although. The reveal trailer for Highguard noticed you driving a horse, not piloting a mech, and casting fantastical magic as an alternative of using sci-fi tech. However the trailer didn’t do a lot to inform us what the sport really is. So for about two months now, I’ve been in search of the reply to 1 query: What’s Highguard?
Having now lastly performed Highguard, I’m nonetheless uncertain if I can really classify it. If placed on the spot, I’d most likely describe Highguard as a first-person shooter that follows each the attacker-versus-defender construction of Rainbow Six Siege and the lane-focused bomb-planting format of Valorant, however throughout the a lot bigger objective-focused, base-destroying scope of the area battles of Star Wars Battlefront 2. And on prime of that, the sport options an upgradable armament system that mixes how looting works in Apex Legends with the “purchasing” mechanic of Name of Obligation’s Zombies mode, in addition to hero-character archetypes seen in a ton of various shooters. You may have performed or skilled items of Highguard in different video games, however I really feel very assured in saying that you’ve most likely not performed this precise chimera of items earlier than.
You do not forget that sensation the primary time you ever performed a battle royale, or looter shooter, or extraction shooter? There are items of these genres we will establish in many alternative video games that got here earlier than them, however with the earliest video games in every of these genres, there was this sensation of novelty and inventiveness. They may not simply match into the established packing containers of the prevailing genres that impressed them.
Taking part in Highguard looks like that. I’ve just a few qualms about its stability (which I’ll get into in a bit), however there’s something thrilling and recent concerning the general expertise. I’m not positive if Highguard will thrive within the already crowded live-service shooter market that’s dominated by juggernauts with loyal fanbases, however I get the sensation that the idea of Wildlight’s shooter will not less than persist and encourage extra prefer it. I believe different studios are going to emulate the very best elements of Highguard over the subsequent decade.
So all that stated: What even is Highguard? Wildlight describes the sport as a “raid” shooter, which does little to let you already know what it’s. I’ll do my finest to explain what Highguard is and the way it works, however I’m saying this all with the caveat that it is best to simply go attempt the sport. It is free-to-play, and every match is just eight to half-hour long–you will rapidly decide up what the sport is making an attempt to place down. It’s possible you’ll not prefer it (after which you may simply uninstall it!), however you’ll perceive it.
Highguard’s matches are three-versus-three.
In Highguard, you play as one among eight totally different Wardens on a crew of three. When a match begins, your crew votes for which of the 4 bases you need to defend (randomly pulled from a complete checklist of six distinct bases), every of which has a novel construction. The one opposing crew does the identical, and the 2 bases kind both endpoint of a map, with the 2 selections informing how the panorama between them is shaped. This creates a reasonably sizable battleground–bigger than Halo Infinite’s Excessive Energy however smaller than Apex Legends’ King’s Canyon. Initially of a match, you’ve a few minute to work collectively to strengthen partitions and arrange defenses in your base. After that, you set out into the map.
Whereas exploring, your crew can resolve whether or not they need to stick collectively or unfold out. A mineral known as Vesper might be mined to buy armor and weapon upgrades, each of that are additionally present in chests scattered throughout the map. Care packages with extra highly effective gear drop from the sky as effectively, and you may kill members of the opposite crew to earn further Vesper and cease them from grabbing the loot you need.
After a couple of minutes, a magical sword known as the Shieldbreaker spawns on the map. Whichever participant grabs the Shieldbreaker is marked on the map for everybody, and the sword frequently provides off a faint blue pulse that makes it straightforward to search out its wielder when you get nearer. With this weapon in hand, you may lower open the protecting defend that guards the enemy base. In case you are killed whereas holding the Shieldbreaker, you drop it, permitting one other participant to seize it.
Highguard is extra excessive fantasy than Apex Legends, however the sci-fi components stay.
Every base begins with 100 well being. Breaking a base’s defend offers 30 harm. Inside every base are two mills and one anchorstone. While you invade a base, your crew can plant a bomb at a kind of three factors for those who handle to succeed in any of them–it takes about half a minute for a planted bomb to destroy a generator and about twice as lengthy for the anchorstone. Destroy a generator and the bottom takes 35 harm, however break the anchorstone and the bottom robotically explodes, it doesn’t matter what.
The base’s defenders can disarm the attackers’ bombs, and the attackers have a restricted variety of respawns per attack–if the defenders efficiently maintain the road and stop the attackers from destroying any a part of their base, the attackers’ base takes 30 harm for a failed assault. Each assault ends with each groups returning to their aspect, and the method begins over again. The first crew to destroy the opposite crew’s base wins.
There may be much more depth to the general circulation and back-and-forth of a match–while Highguard is approachable to leap into, its talent ceiling feels very high–but that is the gist of it. Highguard is a tug-of-war that encapsulates each the tense exploration and pot capturing of battle royales and the frantic close-quarters fight of tactical shooters. Whereas it is extremely doable to get steamrolled and destroyed in a matter of minutes, my expertise with the sport noticed matches being a lot nearer and sometimes neck-and-neck over the course of a tense half-hour. It was repeatedly very stressful–way greater than a typical match in Titanfall 2 or Apex Legends. And as taking out the opposing crew’s anchorstone is all the time an immediate win, the ebb and circulation of a match can change on a dime with a wise and well-executed play–you can by no means sit again and calm down, irrespective of how far forward your crew has pulled.
Gameplay fluctuates between wide-open skirmishes and close-quarters firefights.
Highguard performs a bit slower than Apex Legends (which is itself a barely slower tackle Titanfall 2’s gameplay), however it maintains the identical pedigree of high quality in terms of motion. Getting from one level to a different is quick and fluid, whether or not you might be working on foot, galloping on a mount, or dashing alongside a zipline–it is fairly straightforward to understand the trivia of motion in a match or two and rapidly fall into a pleasant circulation within the moment-to-moment. This sense of rhythm extends to different mechanics, too. My favourite is how completely timing the swings of your melee weapon helps you to use your axe to reap minerals or break down partitions extra effectively, in addition to unleash a supercharged blow in your fifth swing.
Gunplay feels fairly good, for essentially the most half. A number of the firearms–like the sniper, revolver, and lightweight machine gun–feel balanced, whereas others–like the full-auto submachine gun–already really feel a smidge too highly effective. In the meantime, the shotgun and assault rifles really feel like they’re in a little bit of a bizarre place, not fairly hitting with the extent of punch anticipated, given their aggressive kickback.
Firearms falter essentially the most in terms of the auditory and visible suggestions of hitting your goal. Clearly, the Wildlight crew couldn’t simply copy Apex Legends, however the measly dissolution of an enemy’s physique defend in Highguard doesn’t come anyplace near the satisfying crack of breaking an opponent’s armor in Apex. Within the frenetic chaos of a Highguard firefight, you may generally miss whether or not you’ve efficiently destroyed an enemy’s defenses, and shedding a firefight as a result of you aren’t 100% positive how wholesome your opponent is–leading you to drag again when it is best to have pushed ahead or vice versa–is irritating.
Kai looks like he might be probably the most well-liked picks within the recreation in the course of the first week.
Equally, a few of the playable Wardens really feel too necessary to disregard, whereas others lack the mandatory utility to be viable picks. The stealth-focused Scarlet is my absolute favourite Warden to date (and it isn’t even shut)–she controls sand to show invisible and cross by way of partitions. The support-focused Mara can be superior, utilizing darkish globules and tendrils to buff allies’ shields and create a spawn level for her crew anyplace on the map (even the enemy’s base). The defense-focused Kai could be the best choice from the beginning roster (he was the meta for the preview occasion not less than), utilizing his ice powers to create cowl and lower off the enemy’s development, in addition to remodel right into a damage-soaking yokai that may completely wreck your day for those who run into him in shut quarters.
However then you’ve the likes of Condor, the recon specialist. Her potential to passively observe each time the enemy crew is close by is not tremendous helpful in maps as massive and open as those in Highguard. And whereas the power to scan for enemies and see them highlighted by way of partitions could be very helpful, her final potential is awful–you forgo management of Condor to as an alternative command her slow-moving hawk and drone strike the battlefield with smoke bombs. It is an especially precarious potential to make use of in a shooter as fast-paced as Highguard.
Too usually, once I tried to make use of Condor’s final potential, the enemy would already be racing away or capturing my unguarded and unmoving particular person. On paper, a personality that marries Apex Legends’ Bloodhound, Crypto, and Bangalore sounds cool, however in follow, it’s clear that an information-gathering Warden must be as proactive and aggressive as the opposite Wardens, or they’ll too simply be left behind or sniped in a combat. Redmane equally feels much less succesful than his friends. His expertise are geared in direction of destroying the defenses of enemy bases, however since all characters can carry wall-breaching bombs, base-breaking rocket launchers, or defense-cracking hammers, his toolkit might be simply replicated by anybody else.
I like Condor’s design and persona, however her potential equipment feels prefer it might use some work.
However Redmane has one factor going for him not less than. In actual fact, virtually all of the Wardens do–pretty a lot each single playable character in Highguard is ridiculously f**king scorching, and the Wildlight crew appears to realize it if the legendary skins that you could unlock for just a few of them are any indication. I’d threat all of it for Scarlet, Kai, or Condor. Sure, I do know that Highguard is a first-person shooter, so any unlockable pores and skin wouldn’t even be seen throughout gameplay. I’ve an issue. It is just not below management. And that’s fantastic.
Plus, whether or not they’re scorching or not, each Warden has one thing attention-grabbing to say. Initially of every match, your crew’s Wardens will converse about their current relationships or previous adventures with one another, dropping attention-grabbing nuggets of lore and story regarding the in-game fantasy world that Wildlight has created. I need to know extra about this cool-sounding world, particularly relating to the implication that this was a once-thriving technology-dependent society that now must depend on lately found magic to outlive. Often, fantasy settings have magic predate tech, so I’m intrigued to see it occur the opposite manner round.
Whereas I beloved Titanfall 2’s multiplayer, I most loved its single-player, and my peak adoration for Apex Legends coincides with the sport’s story taking off in Seasons 2 by way of 13. A lot of the parents who make up the Wildlight crew have a observe report of eager to prioritize story and utilizing the evolving nature of a live-service recreation to inform a serial drama akin to a tv present. In the event that they resolve to do this once more with Highguard, I might be seated for its first yr of content material, no matter my misgivings involving the stability of the sport’s firearms and Wardens.
Highguard is offered proper now. You possibly can play it on Xbox Collection X|S, PlayStation 5, or PC.