On the evening of January 26, Highguard — a free-to-play raid shooter by Wildlight Entertainment — was released on PC and consoles, causing controversy after its announcement at The Game Awards 2025. The game had a mixed reception upon its launch on Steam.
Highguard
By the time of this news report, the Steam version of Highguard had gathered 16,500 reviews, yet only 28% were positive. As a result, it received a "mostly negative" rating.
Early gamers have actively complained about the technical condition of Highguard, particularly issues with server access, suboptimal performance, and critical bugs preventing the game from launching. There are other concerns as well. For instance, many are dissatisfied with the overly large maps for three-on-three battles and how the shooting mechanics have been implemented.
Nonetheless, the wave of criticism did not prevent Highguard from achieving a high peak of active players on Steam. According to SteamDB, the shooter had 97,249 concurrent players at its peak.
Highguard concurrent player dynamics on Steam
In addition to Steam, Highguard is also available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series.