Highguard’s launch day has come and gone, and boy, I’m exhausted already.
I like the game, I think it’s fun, unique, and I enjoy the core gameplay loop. I said as much after playing the game early at an event in Los Angeles last week, where the feedback was mostly positive from those on hand. The majority of the people I played with and spoke to had a great time with Highguard and were excited for the launch.
After leaving LA last week, I’m not sure any of us who played the game saw this level of hate train coming. But I should have. The game is fun, I stand by that. Obviously, it’s not for everyone, because no game is, but the excessive dogpiling on social media and Steam reviews is pathetic. But that’s just the way gaming culture, and social media in general, seems to be doing things these days.
Shortly after launch, Highguard was bombarded with negative reviews on Steam. Many of them complained about the login queue, while others were annoyed with performance problems on PC, and the vast majority are from players with less than two hours of play time (around 11,200 of 15,000 total reviews as of 9:30am CT this morning). It feels like people were logging in ready to hate it.
On social media, it’s only gotten worse since then, with everyone chiming in with their memes and jokes. That’s expected. And those who do enjoy the game are getting drowned out by the noise, or made fun of by those who feel the need to tell everyone how much they think it sucks, or being accused of being paid to play it, or “bought out” by the developers. It’s really tiring.
First of all, the game is free. So, if you try it and don’t like it, that’s totally cool. But no. Everyone has to announce their departure like they’re in an airport while incessantly crapping all over it. I don’t really understand the thought process behind the need to “dunk” on things I don’t enjoy. Because if I don’t enjoy something, I don’t let it take up my time or space in my mind. On social media, though, negativity breeds engagement, so it’s encouraged.
Other complaints say the game has an identity crisis. It’s an amalgam of different ideas that combine to make something new. But if those ideas were taken out, or if it were another extraction shooter or battle royale game, then what? Would it be blasted for being a copy-paste job? I don’t know what gamers want anymore.
Unfortunately, the fact is that the game has become the target of a lot of vitriol due in large part to the fact that it got a featured spot at The Game Awards, a slot usually held for legacy titles, and rumors leading up to the event had gamers hoping for Half-Life 3, potentially the most sought-after sequel ever. Impossible expectations.
Geoff Keighley also doubled down on his decision to feature the game, further provoking the angry mobs who were ready to go at him for it. And his recent replies on Twitter/X especially are a cesspool of people who are pissed off that he did it. This is mostly unfortunate for the devs who worked on it for years, only to have it receive the hatred it has because it’s not what they want/were expecting from a big title, and that’s just not fair to them or the game.
If you don’t like the game, again, that’s totally fine. I don’t think anyone was expecting it to be universally well-received. But to dunk on it because of Keighley’s encouragement and excitement for the title, harass him about it, and then inevitably send targeted malice at the developers themselves, is unacceptable.
Room for improvement
I agree with the sentiment of many that the maps feel big for three-vs-three. I personally don’t mind the player count, but experimenting with four-vs-four or even five-vs-five could be fun. I still think that getting used to the nature of the gameplay loop of looting, fighting over the Shieldbreaker, and then attempting to raid the base takes some time, and many aren’t willing to give it that.
Leaning more into the MOBA-like qualities of the game and adding some minor PvE mobs at the looting areas to make that period feel more active may also be a positive addition. Shortening the looting phase could also be a good first step in bringing the action to the forefront, because the raid phase of each match is where the game shines.
There are also a lot of legitimate complaints about problems with mouse acceleration, the inability to use hold-to-crouch as a button, how the game runs, and optimization is a big issue on PC. I’ve been playing on PS5, personally, and the game is blurry and the framerate chugs in combat at times. Optimizing the game is probably going to be step one as Wildlight Entertainment heads to the office today.
At the event, we were playing on special gaming rigs that were likely way more powerful than the average gaming PC, so there were no issues. But as a studio, Wildlight definitely needs to improve in getting the game running on a variety of builds. The game’s settings are also pretty lackluster when it comes to customization.
Highguard is also not friendly, at all, for solo players. It feels very sweaty at times, and not communicating with your team or playing with a group means you’re destined to fail. It’s absolutely a more enjoyable experience with a group of friends. This is a side effect of the three-vs-three nature, I think, so expanding on game types and squad sizes feels necessary. But again, the game came out yesterday, and I’m sure any constructive feedback is being fielded. The hard part will be finding it in the ocean of angry negativity.
The Game Awards trailer for Highguard was not good for the game, and Wildlight’s co-founders told me as much. But the number of people actively rooting for it to fail since then is so disheartening to me, and that’s an upsetting trend we’ve seen over the past few years, as now there are people hoping for the game shut down and for people to lose their jobs.
In hindsight, the radio silence since Highguard’s debut was also a misstep. Perhaps giving more information and time for players to digest it ahead of launch would have served better than what has happened over the past day or so.
Unfortunately, first impressions are important, and it’s gotten off to a bad start for many. But the part being lost on a lot of players is that this is a live service game, and day one is just the start, with updates coming and already being worked on, including different modes and ways to play.
“We’re leaning into competitive, but the goal would be that we could introduce new modes of play as time goes on,” game director and Wildlight co-founder Chad Grenier told me. “Two weeks after launch, we’re turning on ranked. All of the sweaty competitive players should gravitate towards ranked. That will make the entry a little bit easier for casual players to stay out of ranked, and that should help. And then future seasons, we want to do limited-time game modes and also some new permanent modes, anywhere from super casual to also highly competitive. And so, I think as live service continues, the game lives on, we’ll listen to what our playerbase wants, but also introduce new ways to play. We’ve got some funny ideas floating around the office and things that we’re working on now.”
Monitoring social media is a part of my job and that of developers. I don’t envy them whatsoever for trying to make something that they enjoy and hope others would enjoy too, only to be met with the latest wall of negativity. It’s mentally draining. I worked on covering the game for about a week, and I’m discouraged about the reaction it’s gotten, so I can’t imagine how the devs who worked on it for years feel. That’s where my mind is at today.
Since I like Highguard, I’ll continue to play it and hope that future updates will improve the experience and change the narrative once it’s stopped being fashionable to crap on it. It’s going to be an uphill battle.
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