Like plenty of of us, I didn’t have a lot to say after Highguard’s underwhelming reveal at The Recreation Awards final month. One more hero shooter that I couldn’t select of a lineup from the handfuls of different choices which might be obtainable? Not precisely riveting stuff. However as I’ve discovered over a pair many years of gaming, you by no means actually know what you’re in for till you’ve obtained the controller in your palms – and after doing simply that, it seems Highguard has a lot going for it. I spent about 5 hours studying the ropes and enjoying matches at a pre-release hands-on occasion final week, and what I’ve seen to this point had polished gunplay, a compelling roster of characters, and a trailblazing sport mode that serves as its killer characteristic.In fact, that restricted play session means it’s nonetheless exhausting to inform if it’s going to have endurance past the preliminary novelty, however with a promising roadmap for the following yr already charted out, I’m shocked to say that I like Highguard’s possibilities.
This aggressive shooter has elements from plenty of FPS video games, like playable characters with particular skills which might be very a lot drawn from hero shooters and a simplified loot system that’s paying homage to battle royale video games, however it units itself aside with a novel multiplayer gametype: Raid Mode. On this mode, two opposing groups of three gamers battle it out to invade and completely destroy the enemy base in extremely chaotic sieges. Impressed by the builders’ expertise attacking participant bases in survival video games like Rust, Highguard seems to be to condense that high-stakes assault/defend showdown into minutes-long matches, fairly than serving because the climax to hours of preparation in a sport with much less structured PvP. After a number of hours operating matches, my first impression is that this system each stands out as a contemporary shooter expertise and is plenty of enjoyable to play.
Raids are well damaged into just a few phases: a brief defensive section the place gamers decide their beginning weapon loadout and reinforce their very own base, then an exploration and looting section the place groups go away their base in the hunt for weapons, armor, and different upgrades to make use of in battle. However the true enjoyable begins in the course of the Intercept section when a sword known as the Shieldbreaker spawns on the map for one workforce to assert, making battle between the 2 groups inevitable and showcasing Highguard’s stellar gunplay (extra on that later). Whichever workforce is ready to declare the Shieldbreaker and carry it to the enemy’s base then begins the ultimate section, known as the Raid section, the place the invading workforce briefly tears down the protect defending the opposite workforce’s base and assaults it in an try to destroy defensive constructions and plant bombs to destroy mills – by far essentially the most thrilling and excessive stakes a part of every match. Relying on the end result of the raid section, this course of can repeat itself as much as 4 occasions throughout every match, making video games final wherever from eight to half-hour, relying on how heated the competitors is.
I actually dig the structured, phased strategy used on this sport mode, because it affords a really clear goal each step of the best way, the place I by no means felt like I had a bunch of issues competing for my consideration. I might very simply see a model of those matches the place I’m having to decide on between including defenses to my base, looting higher gear, or attempting to invade an enemy base, which seems like method an excessive amount of to juggle directly. Having my crew all the time be on the identical web page about how we have been alleged to be spending our time was nice, and helped construct suspense as we inched ever nearer to absolutely the mayhem that’s the Raid section, no matter which facet of that confrontation we ended up on.
That stated, I additionally noticed areas that might possible use some tweaking, like how the loot system limits you to lower-tier gadgets earlier than the primary raid however will increase the rarity that may be present in chests or purchased from the seller throughout every subsequent spherical. Whereas it’s a pleasant feeling to get extra highly effective for every new raid in a match, it felt a bit underwhelming to know that virtually all of the loot on the map had been upgraded, making each groups roughly equally geared always. If each groups are growing their energy on the identical charge persistently, it sorta makes it really feel much less impactful – like degree scaling in an open world RPG. It’d be good if there was a method for gamers to realize entry to higher loot by performing higher in raids or by making higher use of their time in the course of the exploration section the place they’re looking chests. As of now, it’s simply too simple to search out all of the loot you want, and being capped on the rarity of loot obtainable throughout every spherical means you’re nearly by no means ready the place you’ve obtained a shiny toy your opponents aren’t prepared for.
It’s no large shock that developer Wildlight Leisure has constructed a shooter that instantly feels nice, as this new studio is made up primarily of people that labored on Titanfall and Apex Legends. Whether or not I used to be sniping enemies at a distance or getting in shut for a cheeky submachine gun or shotgun kill, fight was crisp and instantly jogged my memory of my days sweating it out in Apex Legends lobbies (particularly the extraordinarily recognizable really feel of the sliding). The choice of weapons is sort of small, with simply one in all every sort obtainable, however the upside of that slim arsenal is that every feels extremely properly tuned – and if you begin to discover larger rarities, you’ll see little modifiers and buffs randomly rolled on every that barely tweak issues like reload velocity, journal dimension, or stability. These develop into extra fascinating at larger ranges, the place you would possibly discover issues like a totally automated model of the usually slow-firing hand cannon, which may present that sport altering energy I used to be searching for. I didn’t have sufficient time to essentially dig into what number of variations there are in the course of the preview occasion, however to this point all the pieces was a blast to deliver into battle.
Just like the small however mighty variety of weapons, Highguard is launching with eight playable characters, known as Wardens, who will really feel fairly acquainted to anybody who has hung out in a hero shooter like Overwatch or Apex Legends. Every character fulfills a selected magic-based fantasy, like Atticus, the flying, lightning bolt-chucking DPS machine, or Kai, an ice magic person who can flip into a large frost oni and is unmatched in his potential to defend an space. Following within the custom of most hero shooters, all of them have two skills on a cooldown, plus an final that can be utilized just a few occasions per match. These is likely to be useful little methods, like one character’s potential to briefly make partitions intangible so your workforce can cross by means of them discretely, or highly effective fight skills, like one other character who can lob balls of lava over an space, making the entire zone impassible. There’s nothing notably unique to this system, however Highguard does a extremely good job at making every character somebody I’m wanting to grasp. Seeing somebody type a large ice wall after which magically push that wall proper at my workforce as we tried to cross a slender bridge satisfied me to right away attempt that character out within the subsequent match.
The spotlight of Highguard, and the factor that basically units what I noticed of it other than all the opposite shooters on the market, is the raid mechanics, the place one workforce brings down the total drive of their squad’s harmful capabilities on a closely fortified base, whereas the opposite makes use of their superior positioning to deliver their advance to a halt. There aren’t many issues cooler than a fortress siege, and Highguard channels the battle of Helm’s Deep because the meat and potatoes of its one and solely sport mode. At the start of every match, your workforce votes on which fortress to name their very own, every of which comes with its personal set of strengths and weaknesses. For instance, one volcanic base known as Hellmouth is a basic fortress surrounded by a lava moat, with harmful choke factors for invaders to cross and lengthy strains of sight for defenders to shoot from. The draw back is that in the event that they handle to get by means of these slender entryways, there’s not loads stopping them from blasting by means of your interior partitions and planting bombs in your all-important mills. Or you could possibly as a substitute select to name Smuggler’s Den your house; a multi-leveled base that lacks slender chokepoints, however has layers of defensive partitions to get by means of that may be robust for invaders to navigate earlier than getting ambushed by a defending squad.
Because the attacking workforce throughout a raid, you’ll make use of some fascinating raid instruments along with your commonplace weapons and skills. The zipline means that you can create shortcuts and new pathways when assaulting a base, whereas the rocket launcher and blast hammer have a extra simple resolution to sieging by permitting you to blast by means of strengthened partitions, killing enemy gamers within the course of. Preventing your method by means of the enemy’s ranks to plant and defend a bomb deep inside their territory is strictly as thrilling and tense because it sounds, however watching the enemy panic and despair as a large explosion rocks their base and their defensive partitions crumble round them makes it properly well worth the effort.
Holding the road in opposition to the enemy whereas on the defensive finish of a raid might be extremely aggravating, but in addition extraordinarily rewarding, like one time the place I strengthened a collection of partitions to field the invaders right into a choke zone, then used a well-placed ice wall to chop their workforce in half, then ambushed them earlier than they might reorient themselves. I do want there have been extra alternatives to set traps and go full House Alone together with your base, although – as of now, the one technique to make your base tougher to assault is by making a choose variety of partitions tougher to destroy. There are just a few methods, like deliberately breaking by means of flooring and partitions to create new strains of sight when the enemy steps into your area, however except for that it actually comes right down to your potential to outplay the invaders by yourself turf, utilizing the static benefits and downsides of whichever base your workforce finally ends up with. Nonetheless, managing to stave off an enemy assault and kick them out on their ass is extraordinarily satisfying.
Whenever you’re not defending or attacking a base, you’ll spend your outing within the a lot bigger areas of the map the place you’ll end up tremendously in want of a quicker technique to get round, and that’s the place mounts are available in. Whereas they don’t have a task in raids, as they aren’t permitted throughout the bounds of a base, they’re completely important out on this planet, the place you may immediately mount or dismount them at any time to shut lengthy distances rapidly, in addition to leap to usually out of attain areas. When you begin combating in opposition to the enemy workforce for the Shieldbreaker, you’ll discover them extraordinarily necessary within the seize the flag model of that section, the place victory typically comes right down to having the ability to outmaneuver the enemy. Using your mount isn’t with out dangers although, because it turns you into an enormous goal, and in case your mount will get killed, you’ll lose entry to it for some time which makes you a sitting duck to your enemies and leaves you susceptible for a small time frame as you fall to the bottom and decide your self again up.
One factor that feels prefer it’s lacking from Highguard in the intervening time are PvE opponents, which there’s an entire lack of even in the course of the section the place you’re simply exploring the map in the hunt for gear. I’d assume there could be baddies attempting to cease you or bosses to seek out to assert rarer loot alongside the best way, however as a substitute you’ll discover the map full devoid of life except for the enemy workforce, who as a rule I didn’t stumble upon till the following section the place we ran to the identical location in the hunt for the Shieldbreaker. The dearth of NPC enemies is mitigated considerably by provide drops that spawn in the course of the gear up section, supplying you with a motive to interact in PvP earlier in every spherical, however I nonetheless really feel like it will be good to have extra to do earlier than the massive battle on the finish.
Wildlight has clearly discovered some different classes from the assorted lumps within the street that Apex Legends confronted, notably with regards to the live-service mannequin. After taking a peek at Highguard’s roadmap for the following yr, which incorporates new content material each single month, I’m fairly impressed by how a lot is supposedly coming down the pipe. That roadmap contains 5 new playable characters, in addition to a number of new bases, maps, and weapons, all throughout the first yr, with seasonal content material coming each two months. I’m certain at the least a few of this received’t go in accordance with plan, as even one of the best intentioned roadmaps can typically get got rid of course, however it’s at the least nice to see Wildlight has come ready for long-term help.
I nonetheless have many extra hours of matches to play with Highguard now that it’s out within the wild, however my first impressions are significantly better than the reveal trailer left me with. As soon as I’ve had an opportunity to spend time with with each class and found out the ins-and-outs of each base (in addition to see how the dwell servers maintain up), I’m certain I’ll have a lot extra to say and a rating to go along with it. For now, it’s again to the lobbies with me!
