The eagerly awaited shooter Highguard has launched on Steam. Whereas the sport recorded virtually 100,000 concurrent gamers on its first day, the neighborhood’s verdict is damning.
The discharge of Highguard can most likely be described as a basic double-edged sword: On the one hand, the staff at Wildlight Leisure, which consists of former builders of titles equivalent to Apex Legends and Titanfall, achieved a outstanding success when it comes to curiosity.
Based on SteamDB, participant numbers climbed to a peak of 97,249 concurrent gamers shortly after launch. This places the title properly forward of many rivals within the aggressive hero shooter style.
Then again, nevertheless, the studio’s pleasure on the full servers is more likely to be muted, because the temper throughout the neighborhood has shifted. With over 18,000 votes forged, the constructive score presently stands at solely 30 p.c.
Technical hurdles and efficiency points
The primary level of criticism that runs by a lot of the damaging opinions is the technical state of the sport.
Initially, the shooter struggled with server points: Shortly after launch, virtually all gamers ended up in a queue – and after this drawback was fastened, in incomplete matches.
Many gamers additionally report important efficiency drops and a scarcity of optimization: Even on high-end programs with the most recent {hardware}, equivalent to an RTX 4090 or the brand new 5000 collection, the sport appears to have issue delivering steady body charges. The graphics are additionally mentioned to be barely blurred.
Highguard additionally requires Safe Boot and TPM 2.0, which causes error messages for some customers after they attempt to begin the sport. Using anti-cheat software program on the kernel stage (on this case, Straightforward Anti-Cheat) can be considered critically within the feedback.
“Maps far too giant for 3v3”
Other than the know-how, the core gameplay can be below fireplace: Highguard mixes components from hero shooters, siege battles, and useful resource gathering – a mixture that, in keeping with many reviewers, doesn’t fairly work. A incessantly talked about criticism is the imbalance between map measurement and variety of gamers.
The maps are just too giant for 3v3 battles, which ends up in lengthy durations of downtime the place groups need to experience throughout the map for a very long time with out encountering any opponents.
You may see precisely how Highguard performs within the following video:
The neighborhood doesn’t mince phrases:
The gameplay loop is commonly described as sluggish or boring. Between the brief fight phases, you spend a whole lot of time accumulating sources and loot or reinforcing your base.Many gamers understand the design as a “Frankenstein’s monster” that makes an attempt to mix Apex Legends, Overwatch, and Valorant with out growing its personal identification.The heroes are criticized as bland and interchangeable, partly as a result of the sport largely dispenses with world constructing.
Regardless of the cruel criticism, there are additionally voices praising the gunplay and the essential thought: Some gamers see potential within the mixture of capturing and chateau siege, offered the studio shortly will get the technical points below management.
There’s additionally reward for the unusually honest Free2Play mannequin:
There aren’t any game-relevant purchases, and even the primary Battle Cross is free. Which means that all gamers can unlock an entire vary of hero, mount, and weapon skins, in addition to different beauty content material, with out having to pay something.
There’s additionally a small ray of hope: after the large overview bombing instantly after launch, the Steam scores are slowly recovering.Instantly after launch, the share of constructive opinions was solely about 18 p.c. The sport has now labored its approach as much as round 30 p.c.Within the coming days and weeks, it stays to be seen whether or not Wildlight Leisure can flip issues round or whether or not the excessive participant numbers had been only a flash within the pan earlier than a much bigger crash.
