Highguard - Angry Review

Quick Overview

The reviewer gives the PvP raid shooter Highguard a low score of 4/10, concluding that despite having potential and cool aesthetics, it suffers from a lack of content, poor matchmaking, and baffling design decisions like overly large maps and overly strong raid mechanics, leading to a boring and frustrating experience.

Key Points: Highguard receives a final rating of 4/10 due to fundamental design flaws and lack of content. The game launched with only one core mode (Raid Mode) and only eight characters, which felt too small for a free-to-play title. The Raid Mode is criticized for its convoluted mechanics, such as requiring players to destroy walls twice to complete objectives and the shieldbreaker mechanic being too easy to exploit. The maps are considered too large for the player count (5v5 in Raid Mode), resulting in boring downtime and empty lobbies, as evidenced by rapidly dropping player counts post-launch. Cosmetic monetization is aggressively priced, with an exotic mount skin costing $22.00, highlighting a disconnect between content value and cost. The developer's communication was poor, with no updates or engagement on social media between the Game Awards reveal (December 2023) and the January 2026 launch. The game copies derivative elements from other successful titles like Apex Legends, Titanfall, and even involves characters cosplaying as Ken from Street Fighter and a generic space man during the review.

Context: The video is an 'Angry Review' by content creator AngryJoe, focusing on the early access or launch state of the PvP raid shooter Highguard. The review critiques the game's design, content offerings, monetization practices, and overall player experience shortly after its release. The reviewer is joined by friends/co-reviewers, including one dressed as a knight and another as a Viking holding a modern assault rifle, to satirize the game's confusing mixture of fantasy and sci-fi elements.

Detailed Analysis

The reviewer begins by expressing frustration over the lack of substantial content at launch, noting only one core mode (Raid Mode) and only eight playable characters. He criticizes the Raid Mode's design, pointing out that mechanics like destroying reinforced walls require hitting them twice, and the Swordbreaker mechanic is too easily exploited, leading to frustratingly one-sided matches (as shown in gameplay clips where the reviewer's team wins 10-0 in 15 minutes). The game's lack of content is further evidenced by quickly declining Steam player counts, dropping from a peak of 97,249 to around 6,000 players shortly after launch. The monetization is also slammed, specifically an exotic mount skin costing $22.00, which the reviewer finds outrageous given the game's sparse content. He highlights the poor communication from the developers, Wildlight Entertainment, who went silent after revealing the game at The Game Awards in December until the January 26, 2026 launch. The reviewer also expresses disappointment with the game's aesthetic, finding the character and weapon designs generic (like the 'Sand Viper' skin) and noting a lack of any meaningful narrative or unique vision beyond derivative elements from games like Apex Legends and Titanfall. The review concludes with a low score of 4/10.