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For many, High guard promised to be the spiritual successor expected to reach Battle Royale Apex legends. After all, the developer, Wildcard Entertainment, is made up of Respawn Entertainment veterans and has links to Apex and titan fall were mentioned in the marketing for the new title.
Revised platform: personal computer
Available in: PS5, PC, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
Release date: January 26, 2026
At first glance, the comparison holds: it's a 3v3 squad-based shooter with fantastic-feeling gunplay, a similar weapon progression system, a comparable art style, and, perhaps most importantly, the same shadow-casting strategy (well, until an early reveal from The Game Awards revealed the secret). But I have spent 15 hours in High guard in its first week, and I'm not convinced it can hold people's attention while Apex has. It still feels a few major and minor adjustments away from being a LegendA complete success, but a few months of waiting could transform it into a gem.
High guard It's set in a world of fantasy and guns, and lets you loot and shoot in games that last between six and 30 minutes. Rounds take place on medium-sized maps, and see each squad search for supplies and equipment, before attempting to deliver a Shieldbreaker artifact to the opponents' base and, if successful, embarking on a raid where they must plant and defend explosives to reduce the health of a base.
This is a completely truncated version of how rounds work. High guard It can be a bit complicated at times, and the game does little to clarify what multiple rounds of limited respawn or overtime timers actually mean. I had played at least 10 games before it all became clear: this is simply Capture the Flag and Search and Destroy, with added flourishes.
As of launch, these raids are all that's available: neither single-player nor other round styles.
The heart of the action.
In essence, High guard He is a fantastic shooter. It feels sharp, frenetic and responsive; Firing weapons, traversing the environment, and juggling heroes' powers feels amazing. The tense and tactical squad combat was broadcast from Apex It feels even more rushed when you have a target to destroy or an enemy carrying a shield bearer to take down. But that nutritious main dish is surrounded by some warm entrees.
Take Wardens for example: the game launched with eight, but they are not all created equal. You'll hardly play a match without someone choosing Kai, whose instant ice walls dictate the movement of battles, or Una and her summonable locks that launch grenades. But other heroes barely get the hang of it, with powers that are too situational to be worth picking up.
Likewise, the barrels are not balanced at launch. Assault rifles, revolvers, and sniper rifles are solid, but short-range weapons like shotguns and submachine guns don't justify the inventory space, whether due to their slow kill time, lack of ranged functionality, or simply being outclassed by a similar weapon. After all, you can only carry two weapons (plus one attack weapon, like a sledgehammer or rocket launcher), so it pays to choose wisely.
Possibly the most damning part of the game and what prevents it from matching. Apexis that it can become repetitive. Matches feel similar: you're always spawning in the same locations, picking the same guardians, using the same weapons, playing the same small maps, and opening chests to find the same restricted loot.
The latter is the problem that most needs a solution. There are no health pickups as it recharges itself. There is no ammo pickup, as you spawn with everything you need. Attachments do not exist. There is no need to search for the perfect weapon, as you spawn with whatever weapons you want. And since gear rarity is tied to progression, with better weapons and shields appearing in each subsequent round, there's no need to keep opening chests in the hope of a rare gameplay change until you're on the final round, when every chest has them.
I found myself longing for the Battle Royale title, where the pace of the match would be dictated by randomness: where the ship started and what equipment and power-ups it found.
Repetitive gameplay may be suitable for some shooters such as Obligationswhere you are always seconds away from a gunfight. but in High guardyou have minutes of downtime spent mining resources or waiting for the Shieldbreaker to appear, where you ponder “could I be doing something better with my time?”
At launch, there are five maps, chosen at random. They all consist of a few main areas: your enemy's base and your team's base, which you choose from a limited pool before the match begins. The number of loot chests seems inconsistent between them, but generally predictable in each: red weapon chests and blue support chests are largely found in those three central points.
Despite what some online commentators say, I never found the maps to be overly large; You're always told where the Shield Breaker will spawn next and where the air support crates will drop, so it's easy to make an informed decision about where the enemy will be, and they're quick to traverse, with ziplines and a mount summoning system that looks straight out of Elden Ring.
Taking the path of the High Guard
It's a little difficult to review. High guardsince the game will change in the short and long term. Wildcard has promised at least one year of season – sorry, Episodescoming every two months.
These promise new wards, weapons, combos, bases and cosmetics, and I see the game only getting better as the year progresses. They come along with numerous patches and adjustments, two of them in the first week of release.
A 5v5 mode was released due to negative first impression response from players, but it plays much worse than 3v3, as the game is clearly optimized for six players. And some changes to raid rounds, including reduced attacker health and a longer respawn timer, mean you'll spend more time playing and less time fighting.
Both, in my opinion, make the game worse, but show the developers' eagerness to experiment and make changes. I am hopeful that many of the problems that other players and I have had with High guard It can be solved in the near future.
The in-game store updates every few days, with daily and weekly challenges too, so there's still reasons to return anytime soon. And luckily, there are plenty of cosmetics to purchase with coins earned in-game (although you can spend money on premium products if you wish).
Another thing I hope to see more of in the future? Any story, apart from a few brief lines that the heroes exchange at the beginning of the matches, and what can be inferred from the maps, the fantasy world and weapons is a total mystery. Something about a new continent? About some kind of academy? Factories? Your guess is as good as mine, but I'm eager to learn more. Apex He basically told his entire story through character introduction trailers, and I guess High guard it will be the same.
Should you play Highguard?
Play if…
Don't play it if…
Accessibility
High guard It has a small handful of accessibility features: subtitles and support for ten languages (including English, Spanish, and French).
That's not the biggest list I've ever seen, but like the game's content, Wildcard may improve this over time.
Visually, many of its features can be disabled to improve performance or address visual accessibility. You can remove chromatic aberration and motion blur, toggle the FOV slider, and modify the quality of effects, shading, foliage, and more.
How I reviewed Highguard
At the time of writing this review, my gaming time for High guard on Steam it is 15 hours. A small handful of them are due to opening day issues: not being able to access the tutorial, games crashing, and loading issues. But I estimate at least 12 of them are playing multiple raid games. I made sure to play several rounds with each character, although there are some that I like better.
I also briefly tried 5v5 when it came out and re-checked each patch for the first week.
I played on my custom PC, which uses an RTX 3060 Ti, Asrock Z590 Phantom Gaming, and 16GB of RAM. I played on both Wi-Fi (22 Mbps average speed) and Ethernet (70 Mbps average speed). My monitor is the Eve Spectrum 4K 144Hz and I switched audio between Creative Pebble Nova speakers and AKG N9 headphones. For controls, I used the Clutch GM41 lightweight mouse and the Logitech G213 Prodigy keyboard.
First review in February 2026
