Wildlight Leisure is a brand new staff with a robust pedigree of expertise, together with staff members who labored on Apex Legends. That have is obvious from the earliest moments of Highguard. The brand new aggressive shooter showcases agile, exact taking pictures mechanics and pleasant, fast-moving map navigation, assembly expectations many gamers could have in the event you’ve performed Apex Legends. And when you get into actual matches, it’s clear that the sport has a rewarding new match construction at its core. Even so, I’ve struggled in my early hours to search out the enjoyable amid some complicated methods, restricted variation within the play expertise, and little visibility into the seemingly richly imagined fiction and setting on supply.
Highguard is an uncommon title at launch, arriving as a free-to-play shooter with large ambitions to seize an viewers, however with little to no element in regards to the recreation shared forward of launch. That’s actually not an obligation for recreation makers, but it surely has left the viewers, myself included, scrambling a bit of bit in these early days to know what the mission even is.
After a number of hours of play, the image begins to take form. Gamers management Wardens, fantasy-inspired warriors of magic and elemental powers, however who additionally wield high-powered weaponry alongside their mystical capabilities. For causes that don’t appear to be defined clearly, small teams of Wardens are battling one another, laying siege to the enemy staff’s stronghold within the title of – effectively, that’s not solely clear.
I like the colourful artwork model and the melding of fantasy and fashionable aesthetics that Wildlight explores right here. However, with out a PvE part or any particularly clear accompanying storytelling or setup, I’m stymied a bit on this first day of play, making an attempt to know what’s occurring and why. It’s a aggressive shooter, after all, and people parts are probably finest left as background materials, regardless. Right here’s hoping the times and weeks that observe assist to light up the lore and make clear that a part of the mission.
Irrespective of why these Wardens are combating, the principle 3v3 raid mode is actually novel. Every match is neatly separated into distinct phases of play. Gamers choose between a variety of base layouts and proceed to fortify that base with extra safety earlier than venturing out into a big open map to assemble weapons and armor, gear up, and even mine sources to purchase extra upgrades. After a delegated time window elapses, a Shieldbreaker relic spawns someplace within the open discipline, and open battle with the enemy staff begins in earnest, as every allied squad goals to choose it up. As soon as in hand, you possibly can deploy that Shieldbreaker towards the enemy base, open its power defend, and try to raid the inside in an effort to detonate explosives and take out the stronghold. If that effort fails, issues reset, there’s one other likelihood to gear up (this time with higher gear), and the method begins once more.
Taken piece by piece, there’s nothing there that’s profoundly difficult. However I’ll admit that I felt utterly misplaced for the primary a number of matches I performed – not sure the place to place my consideration, when to have interaction in fight, what to prioritize when defending, and find out how to even meaningfully contribute to my staff. In the long run, it’s potential that the very confusion I felt may be the sport’s saving grace – a barely extra complicated and freeform match construction that rewards artistic play and technique.
Nevertheless, there are another elements that maintain again my endorsement at this section. The only 3v3 raid mode is presently the one technique to play the sport, and at current, one thing about it simply feels a bit barebones. The maps are, to their credit score, very giant and cleverly designed. But it surely implies that I spent numerous time wandering the surroundings, punctuated by very transient moments of thrilling taking pictures exchanges. If the fantasy is considered one of besieging an enemy fortress, my preliminary impression is that the small participant rely feels out-of-sync with the idea and the map dimension.
Whereas I don’t perceive who they’re or the place they got here from, the small roster of obtainable characters all look and play splendidly. I just like the uneven powers that come into play in a given match, relying on who I’m up towards. And the combination of distinctive fantasy powers – like magical invisibility or a personality who transforms into an enormous beast – makes me desperate to strive everybody out and 0 in on a favourite. I additionally actually benefit from the velocity and enjoyable that comes from completely different mounts you possibly can summon to gallop throughout the battlefield. These work nice, add a way of velocity and momentum, and lend one thing new to the shooter equation.
Highguard is a thoughtfully designed recreation with robust motion and taking pictures fundamentals, and it’s making an attempt one thing new throughout the style. For that purpose alone, I’m and excited to play extra and higher perceive the move of a given match. But it surely’s not a straightforward recreation to know at first look, and it lacks a breadth of play choices I’d anticipate from a title that has ambitions to interrupt into the scene.
We’ll have a full assessment after a number of extra days of matches, so verify again in for a extra complete rundown. Within the meantime, Highguard’s free worth of entry means you could possibly give it a shot for your self and see whether or not this new raid shooter idea would possibly gel along with your wishes.
Highguard is accessible now on PS5, Xbox, and PC.
