5v5 Is Here To Stay, And Ranked Gameplay Is Coming, But Can They Save Highguard?
Highguard has endured a pretty horrific start to life. Following its late January release, it had a mass of negativity, which manifested itself as an “Overwhelmingly Negative” overall review on Steam.
Critics pointed to its buggy performance, poor optimization on PC, and regular crashes.
There was definitely a degree of review bombing involved, but even accounting for this, it did not fare well in its first couple of weeks.
In terms of player numbers, it hasn’t improved. Steam reported just shy of 100,000 players on January 26. Just over a week later, on February 3, it had fewer than 8,500 players. Right now, there are just 4,100 Highguard players.
On the other hand, reviews have improved. The “Mostly Negative” has become “Mixed” – still not a shining indictment of the game, granted, but a marked improvement.
5v5 Becomes Permanent
What’s more, recent patches have seen an improvement in frame rate, and the game has benefited from the addition of 5v5 matchplay.
On launch, Highguard was 3v3, and it gave the feeling of empty maps and lacklustre gameplay. A few days after launch, developers Wildlight Entertainment introduced the expanded 5v5 format, although it was only meant as a limited-time addition.
With more than half of the game’s players switching over to the new game mode, the devs made the decision to make it a permanent fixture.
Ranked Mode
Highguard is trying to be a competitive eSports title. Clearly it has some way to go before that can become reality, but the impending addition of ranked mode might help.
It has been slated for launch this month, so unless the game gets cancelled before it becomes reality, we should see more competitive games coming soon.
Can It Recover?
So, the game now has more enjoyable gameplay and some performance improvements, but it is still far from flawless.
The graphics are still a bit meh, lags and crashes still occur, and it is still competing with titles like ARC Raiders, Apex Legends, Overwatch 2, Marvel Rivals, and so many others.
Other games have recovered from shaky starts in the past – No Man’s Sky and Cyberpunk are the two most oft-cited examples. Both came in for serious and warranted stick during their releases, but they have gone on to become critical and commercial successes in their own right.
On the other hand, the best-known example of a massive game failing virtually on release is Concord. It was shut down after just two weeks – at the moment, it feels like Highguard is more likely to go down the Concord route.
Like Concord, and unlike the two aforementioned titles, Highguard doesn’t really have the scope to implement massive, game-changing changes. And there are just too many better alternatives out there.
