Highguard’s genre soup makes for reasonably entertaining ...

What’s Happening

Real talk: It feels anticlimactic to say so, and I don t know why Geoff likes it so much, but Highguard seems decent.

It s a fine competitive FPS that s capable of producing spirited, back-and-forth gun battles between spec ops wizards on bearback, which can in turn tickle the itches of anyone burnt out on battle royales or exasperated with extraction shooters. Read more Home Features Highguard Highguard’s genre soup makes for reasonably entertaining shootouts, if not much else Reduce to medium Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Wildlight Entertainment Feature by James Archer Hardware Editor Jan. (yes, really)

27, 2026 Follow Highguard It feels anticlimactic to say so, and I don t know why Geoff likes it so much , but Highguard seems decent.

The Details

Not that Highguard doesn t do its own of cribbing from the hits. If anything, each round of its sole mode, Raid, proceeds like you re scrolling through the different genre sections (and sometimes, specific games) on Steam.

First, there s a minute or so where you and two teammates reinforce the walls of your base, Rainbow Six Siege style. Then instead of instant bloodbathing, both teams spend a few minutes searching the map s loot crates and mineral deposits for money and gear upgrades a peculiar blend of Borderlands and early-game MOBA farming.

Why This Matters

Fights only break out when a magic sword unlocks somewhere on the map, prompting a spin on Capture the Flag where one blade carrier is escorted to the other team s base so they can plunge it into the enemy’s shield generator, summoning a massive sci-fantasy battering ram. Once that punches through the barrier, it goes all Counter-Strike , the attacking team (who suddenly ‘gain’ limited lives) try to plant bombs on all the important base bits. Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Wildlight Entertainment Depending on how many generators get wrecked in a base push, literally all of that can repeat multiple times per game, which god help me is something I actually like.

The gaming community has been watching developments like this closely.

The Bottom Line

Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun/Wildlight Entertainment Depending on how many generators get wrecked in a base push, literally all of that can repeat multiple times per game, which god help me is something I actually like.

What do you think about all this?