Highguard (Xbox Series X)

On March 12th, 2026, the first-person hero shooter Highguard will have its servers taken offline, the multiplayer only online game rendered unplayable after less than two months of existence. There will be talk of this live service fumble for some time no doubt, another unfortunate warning about developing games dependent on catching fire immediately to avoid catastrophic failure, but it’s not hard for even an armchair analyst to pick up on the big issue. When you release a free to play game that needs to sustain itself on selling optional cosmetics, you are gambling on attracting the big spenders who can sustain such a model, and having a trailer cap off The Game Awards isn’t necessarily going to draw in such a specific lucrative crowd. At The Game Hoard though, the business side of gaming is not my preferred focus, the ideas a game presents and how well they realize them what draws me to a title. Of course, such ideas are also what could have drawn in a playerbase that could have saved Highguard from such a quick demise, but the only way to see if Highguard was underappreciated or lacking in a powerful draw would be by picking up the game before its server closure, so I plunged into the unfortunately ephemeral experience to see what we were about to lose.

Your initial welcome to Highguard will be through a fairly effective tutorial but not one that puts too much of the setting’s nature forward to build up its somewhat unusual world. Highguard is actually the name of the continent the game’s multiplayer matches take place on, the five different major maps usually featuring large expanses of grassy and craggy landscapes pockmarked with meaningful structures that serve either as potential flashpoints for action when the objective appears there or spaces to collect the resources needed to keep up with the game’s focus on acquiring stronger and stronger weaponry and loot over the course of a battle. The land of Highguard feels a bit at odds with the level of technology it wants to present, most of your weapons comprising of traditional shooting game firearms like assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, and a rocket launcher, but the hero you choose to play as at the beginning of the match can utilize magical attacks like turning into a huge frost demon or summoning little spirits to guard areas. While in-game lore is often found on the item menus you can view when not in a match, the game’s various store pages try to spin this as the heroes, known as Wardens, being “arcane gunslingers”, these fights meant to determine who gets control of Highguard and its somewhat magical but occasionally technological resources.

In the game’s Raid Mode, playable in a 3 versus 3 or 5 versus 5 format, matches are splits into three phases that will repeat until a victor is decided. The first phase is focused on gathering useful loot, the five expansive maps giving a good amount of space for both teams to adequately search an area uncontested for treasure chests with randomized goodies. For the most part, this arming up period tends to be about how you’ll devote your time, the player having a few items they’ll likely want to find. Better armor, helmets to protect somewhat against headshots, amulets that can help with things like increasing how often you use abilities or how healthy a downed ally will be if you revive them in time appearing alongside the various guns. The player can carry two regular guns as well a utility weapon such as a zipline launcher, quake hammer, or the rocket launcher, and as the match goes on and the gathering phase is repeated, you’ll be able to find improved versions of all these loot items and weapons. If you want to lean a little less on luck, Trader Flynn has a few trading posts set up in reliable areas where you can trade in Vesper for goods, although which specific weapons and amulets he has are still random but armor at the current expected strength level is at least always present. Vesper can be mined from crystals around the map but you hardly need to invest time in acquiring it if you don’t want to, the player earning Vesper after specific points in the match and checking treasure chests can be done rather quickly in a less tedious way.

The collection phase is certainly Highguard’s slowest period and one of the reasons matches can take between 20 to 40 minutes, the game even giving you mounts to ride around to try and speed up crossing the expansive locations as you hunt for useful goodies. Gathering is not something that can be ignored either, because when the battles do start, there will likely be a fair few skirmishes where you and an opponent will be aiming dead-on at each other with the victor decided by things like your armor quality and if you’ve acquired a better version of your preferred gun. Despite being a hero shooter, Highguard’s Wardens are not as differentiated from each other as one might expect, most of them playing fairly similarly for 90% of the match. Each Warden has a tactical ability that is their main option to use in battle with any frequency. The game’s poster child Atticus can throw a spear that embeds in a surface and shocks anyone nearby for a little damage at a time, the hotshot Slade can coat the ground in front of him with a line of fire, and the masked spirit binder Una is the one who can deploy forest wisps to automatically attack nearby opponents they spot, but not everyone gets an attack. Condor, for example, deploys a bird of the same name to mark nearby moving targets for a short period, while Scarlet gets the rare ability that truly changes how she can play since hers turns her mostly invisible and allows for sneak attacks to an extent. For the most part, many of the characters will just launch their tactical ability on occasion in a fight in the same way you might deploy a grenade, the focus certainly more on the guns you’re wielding rather than these unique tricks that sometimes feel a bit humble in how they effect the fight.

Wardens also get a passive ability that can sometimes be a bit more involved than its name might imply. Scarlet again comes out with a creative one, able to shift a wall into sand briefly so she can slip through, and the frost monk Kai who can actually build a temporary ice wall with his tactical for one of the effects that can truly reshape a fight some also gets to have a passive where he can reconstruct broken walls. Most passives are simpler like the conjurer Mara who can use her armor supplying tactical more often if she takes out downed enemies, but then there are the Ultimate abilities. Some can be strong attacks, like Atticus flying into the air and launching multiple spears, and others are more defensive like the last new Warden, the cybernetic Koldo, who can place or carry around a dome shield to protect his allies. You may get two or three ultimate uses in a longer match, and some like Mara have ones that are technically interesting like placing a spawn point even though they’re not outright attacks, but there are still members who get a bit screwed over. Poor Redmane is a barbarian sort whose powers are primarily focused on breaking down structures, something useful in the game’s final phase if you’re the one attacking the opposing team’s base but his skills are often reduced to a basic leap or some weak damage if used outside of something that may only comprise 1/3 of a match if you’re doing well. His abilities are too specialized and can even be counterproductive since the walls in a fort can help funnel the action favorably whether you’re the attacker or defender, but that’s something tied only to the third phase of Highguard’s action.

Before you’ll be besieging any team bases, the second phase of action focuses on the Shieldbreaker, a large sword that looks impressive but purely serves as a tool for carving through the forcefield protecting a team’s spawn point and fort. Appearing in one of a few set locations, the Shieldbreaker must be grabbed and carried to the enemy base and will be dropped should you perish, the game drawing all players’ attentions to the highlighted carrier to now force some conflict. Despite Highguard’s maps being large and there being some inevitable chasing on the back of horses, bears, and giant wolves, this phase also leads to more standoffs and long-range battles, giving some use for sniper rifles and the more accurate burst-fire rifles. If a Shieldbreaker isn’t delivered in a certain amount of time, the game will lock respawns as well, health that recovers automatically after a bit of time away from danger meaning you can take risks during this overtime phase but it adds some extra tension to this period that can frequently involve entrenched and patient fighting. Many abilities might lightly tip things here but again don’t differentiate the cast as much as you’d hope, this style of fighting feeling closer to a battle royale in some ways which makes sense since some of the development team previously worked on Apex Legends. The 3 versus 3 actually feels more intense here because the lower player count makes a loss more meaningful here, team coordination a lot more important when each person is a more precious resource, and the 5 versus 5 format can sometimes make slipping past a bit easier when there are so many people to draw attention as distractions. Once the Shieldbreaker does crack open a barrier or the game gets tired of overly cautious players in overtime and just opens up the nearest base, you move into the siege period of a match.

The attackers who either carved open part of the barrier or were handed an entry point since the Shieldbreaker was nearest to the opposing base are granted a large siege tower to serve as their new spawn point during this stage of the fight, this finally bringing in the way a team can win a match in Highguard. Each team’s fort, as selected at the start of the match from a few varieties like Hellmouth with its lava moats to centralize approaches or King’s Lair with its small boxy rooms with an easily accessible flat ceiling to break through, has 100 health at a match’s start. To wear it down to zero and win, you either need to successfully use a Shieldbreaker to chip off 30 or pull off some bombings. Two generators serve as the easier objectives, the attackers able to set a timed bomb to try and destroy one for 30 more damage. Defenders can defuse the bombs though, but there is also the anchor stone at the most defensible position where bombing it takes much longer but will cause an immediate win if you can pull it off.

Sieges are where Highguard’s more unique side starts to show, the bases all having a good deal more destructible walls than the structures found elsewhere. Defenders can try and reinforce these or rebuild broken down ones if they have the right resources, and since they spawn in the fort, the battles can be more hectic as people often cram into small spaces or have to more carefully position themselves to defend generators or detonators. Breaking through walls can be hastened with things like thumpers found out in the world’s chests but otherwise can take quite a lot of firepower or consistent smashing with your axe to break through, Redmane at least getting to shine when attacking since he can slash through walls with greater ease even if just for a fleeting moment before everything’s held up by recharging for quite a while. One of the game’s last updates did add a skill tree to the player’s account, allowing them to acquire new powers and enhancements by playing more matches, and one of the easiest ones to buy is the ability to reinforce multiple walls at once for the same cost you used to spend for one. This does make reinforcement a bit more of a braindead task, tearing down enemy walls still requiring some thought and strategy but protection not really giving you much room to be tactical or creative. The skill tree also does mean playing more comes with inherent advantages, and with many skirmishes already coming down to loot strength as you both fire on each other, little bonuses like your mount taking less damage or making items cheaper at Flynn’s gives small but appreciably unfair advantages to those who devote more time to the game whose own time was ultimately limited.

If a siege goes off well, the damage is dealt and it’s back to gathering time. If it fails, the attacking team takes the damage instead, although if you did the math you might notice a game without the anchor stone being taken out can involve quite a few sieges, especially if Shieldbreakers aren’t being delivered properly. The shift from the Shieldbreaker chase to the siege style of combat does at least mean the action is varied even if it does also lead to you being sent back to base for another gathering phase each time where there’s little reason to divert from the treasure chest routes you’ve figured out on the path to the Shieldbreaker. Matches can definitely drag because of this, especially if a player isn’t pulling their weight or outright disconnects. Team fights can skew heavily even in 5 versus 5 thanks to a missing player, although the time it takes to kill a player is at a good level where it doesn’t take too long but people do have time to respond, dodge, or attempt ability usage. Matches tend to end with even an incredibly skilled player not likely to hit 15 kills across almost 40 minutes though, the game not producing exciting or satisfying moments regularly partly because most loot is just a straight quality ladder with only a few truly rare powerful tools. Slower periods where a kill isn’t likely or doesn’t pack much impact before you’re doing important things like carrying the Shieldbreaker or throwing yourself into the chaos of the siege defenses certainly don’t help the game maintain energy either, the combined experience leading to less chances for the most engaging firefights to arise.

THE VERDICT: Highguard’s format for multiplayer action shifts up the way fights unfold as you go from gathering loot to fighting over the Shieldbearer and finally attacking or defending a base, and while the difference in the more careful fights across wide maps and the close quarters struggles of the siege do make for some appreciated variety, it also feels like many pieces aren’t hanging together well. Resource gathering is a bit too plain and missing much reason to vary up your approach despite how standoffs can sometimes boil down to whoever found the better armor or higher quality gun. Warden powers don’t inject enough spice into conflicts since they’re often reserved in design, but they do at least throw in an element that breaks away from a pure focus on firearms deciding the fight. The forts having destructible walls do make for some interesting approaches and defenses but ones that aren’t too customizable, Highguard mostly leaning on simple effective gunplay while its other components feel inoffensive or underbaked to the point the long matches lack the consistent excitement they needed.

And so, I give Highguard for Xbox Series X…

An OKAY rating. The unexciting truth is Highguard tries a bunch of different things and the balance mostly evens out despite some clear points where things are working and others where they come up short. The Wardens are likely understated in design to avoid dominating the experience, especially since you need to lock in your choice at the start, but that can lead to matches where your powers barely play a part, especially if you’re someone like Ekon who can track wounded targets a touch but not to the game-changing degree where it would inform his playstyle. Scarlet and Koldo come the closest to unique playstyles, Scarlet’s stealthiness and Koldo’s emphasis on shielding damage giving you options beyond just occasionally throwing in your power usages between firing your guns. Not everyone necessarily needed big game-changing effects, Kai’s tactical ice wall is a nice way to alter a fight without it being oppressive, but the heroes here are almost like another part of your loadout rather than something that defines the experience or varies it up a great deal. The loot element does feel like it’s mostly there to keep up with the action rather than introduce its own interesting complications as well. Survivability and increasing damage output are the main focuses, and while the highest quality guns can start bringing in nice variants like incredibly fast firing shotguns, the game’s light touch again makes it so we have a necessary element to success but one that doesn’t make a big splash. You get better gear because you need to, not because you like to, and while the team fights will have thrills, when you get to the final phase you again find something that introduces new variables but not to the pronounced degree that would make them a showstopping feature. The forts are mostly walls to tear down or reinforce, the final siege not able to be too much because Highguard is trying to balance multiple formats. This is a looter shooter, a hero shooter, and base defender rolled into one but it feels like no one part of the identity can be fleshed out and thrive since accomodating mechanics for one style could threaten the balance of the other parts. There will still be firefights that work because the foundational gameplay is at least effective, but Highguard set its sights too high in many ways, hoping it can juggle an ambitious mixed format only to find it kept cutting away what makes each part exciting to make it all fit together in a functional albeit unassuming shooter.

When I was waiting to get into a match of Highguard, I watched a Warden and their bear mount idle on the main menu. The bear, as it stood around, licked its lips and twitched its ears, and something about that little attention to detail struck me. It was the kind of simple touch that will be forgotten and overlooked, likely not mentioned anywhere else or brought attention to and no longer available for viewing once the game goes offline. Highguard is a combination of many ideas, some that work, many that needed more elaboration to make them standout features, but even if it all evens out to something that doesn’t provide enough consistent thrills to be above average, there are things to appreciate. Those things will be lost as the game goes offline. If it hadn’t been dependent on becoming an immediate breakout success, if it didn’t need multiplayer servers up to be played, if expectations had been kept in check, players would be welcome to return to Highguard and notice the small things or find the elements they like. It wouldn’t need to be a smash hit, it could remain with us so we could see the nicer touches instead of it becoming another example of how out of control live service video game development has become. Even bad old games are able to return to us now through rereleases and game collections, and even emulators ensure that people who might like a game despite its flaws can still find it. Highguard will disappear, leaving behind harsh memes sometimes built off misinformation as people prefer to make jokes about its failure rather than really interrogate why it flopped. It shouldn’t be exempt from criticism, and the hubris of live service game design where players are asked to subsidize a game’s existence through inessential purchases is certainly worthy of some scorn, but even Highguard would provide something more robust if we could all get our chance to see if we think it is worthy of ridicule. Instead, we send Highguard off to join the likes of Concord and far too many mobile games, and whether you think a mediocre shooter with some weakly mishmashed ideas deserves much attention, any type of game can inspire others. In Highguard’s case though, it would be more about what not to do not just in terms of business decisions, but in how one could potentially better combine ideas by avoiding the trepidation in design that undermined Highguard’s Wardens, battle phases, and loot system.