Highguard Flops: When Free to Play is Still Too Expensive
There’s hype. Then there’s Highguard…the game that somehow closed out The Game Awards 2025 in the best reveal slot only to deliver one of the most unhyped receptions in recent gaming memory.
What could have been a triumphant showcase for basically any other game became a collective eyeroll, meme fodder, and (hilariously) a “Concord 2: Electric Boogaloo” moment for the already oversaturated hero shooter genre.
But let’s start with the basics: Highguard is yet another free-to-play hero shooter born from a questionable team with credits on games like Titanfall and Apex Legends, landing what they really really wanted to be the industry’s “next big thing” moment, only to be greeted with blank stares and memes questioning why this game was even the finale.
I mean, you had a new Mega Man game announcement…and if you showed Mega Man Dual Override in Highguard’s spot instead, we probably wouldn’t even be having this conversation.
But here we are, Geoff.
The Hype Machine Rolled…Right Off the Damn Cliff
Needless to say, gamers weren’t impressed and the criticism started rolling in.
But since the modern gaming media rarely aligns with players these days – journalists did what they always do: try to control the narrative, no matter how bad it makes them look.
IGN tried to dismiss any pre-release skepticism as bad faith negativity, trying to throw out pieces like “Can We Stop Dunking on Highguard Before It’s Even Out, Please?”, whining that gamers should wait to play before deciding the game is “trash.” The thesis? Pre-release critique is mean, unhelpful, and driven by algorithmic ragebait rather than thoughtful analysis.
Image: IGN Defends Highguard Before Release | Can We Stop Dunking on Highguard Before It’s Even Out, Please? | IGN
PC Gamer, of course, took it a step further with “It’s hard to fault Highguard for giving the internet the silent treatment — wouldn’t you?”, trying to frame the devs’ radio silence as not scandalous, noting that not all games need trailers and deep dives to succeed, and that developers shouldn’t be forced to engage with an endlessly cynical internet.
I’m sorry, but the point of showing a game before release, is for gamers and critics to judge a game and give their feedback. Do you think that if gamers were praising the game, IGN would be writing articles like “Can We Stop Celebrating Highguard Before It’s Even Out, Please?”
Hell no! They just seem to not like it when you hurt their woke developer friends’ fee fees.
This pre-emptive defense set the stage for one of the year’s most public narrative battles – all before the public even had any time with the game.
Highguard Launch Day: The Metrics Everyone Saw Coming
Highguard did manage a paultry peak of around 97,000 concurrent Steam players on launch day – not anywhere near what would be expected from a game that held the premier spot at The Game Awards.
But here’s the cherry on top: those numbers didn’t stick.
Within hours, concurrent players plummeted, and the Steam page was plastered with overwhelmingly negative user reviews.
Image: Highguard Mostly Negative Reviews | Steam Store Page
In fact (at the time of writing), Steam shows a Mostly Negative user score with over 16,000 player reviews. So while it did have some players, it seems like gamers either hated Highguard and left immediately or were just there to try it out and were unimpressed after giving it a shake.
Why Are Gamers Actually Unhappy with Highguard?
Spoiler alert: it’s not that gamers are bigots like the media wants you to believe.
The anger isn’t only because people hate the media narrative that they’re trying to spread. The feedback on Highguard is largely grounded in specifics, and a lot of it does seem like legitimate critique and not just “review bombing”.
Gameplay & Mechanics Backlash
Across Steam and Reddit, players have consistently said:
Maps feel empty and ill- suited for 3v3 combat, making matches drag on.
Looting and pacing feel boring and disjointed, interrupting the gameplay.
Performance issues galore, with reports of blurry visuals, forced motion blur, and framerate problems even on capable rigs.
Matchmaking bugs and UI issues are apparently present right out of the gate.
Image: Highguard Steam Reviews | Steam Store Page
“Holy hell this game is a bore fest.
Gathering is boring as f***, looting is boring as f***, 3v3 with short TTK is boring as f***, No PVE is boring as f***. The only good thing in this game is the f***ing horse mount. What were they thinking??”
Hey, you can say that’s harsh, but it’s not empty rhetoric – it’s gotten almost 1k upvotes, because it’s legit user sentiment piled up in real feedback.
The Wokeguard Design Critique
Now we get into one of the biggest questions about the game – is Highguard woke?
Some gamers have pointed to Highguard as having sanitized and generic character aesthetics – a trend where character creative choices feel more like a DEI checklist than compelling design. It’s not a fringe meme anymore; many players explicitly call out the art style and character direction as woke slop rather than trying to create something unique or memorable.
I think this one Reddit comment blasted this sentiment beautifully:
“If you make games without understanding gamers, failure is predictable. Making games for everyone except gamers is a fast track to bankruptcy.
Funny thing is, the real NPC isn’t in the game, it’s the one repeating the same predictable design patterns. Concord, Veilguard, and Highguard have same pattern on their game design. The most predictable NPC is the woke developer, and players spot those patterns instantly.”
This isn’t about “bigotry” like the media wants you to believe – it’s about an actual visual identity (or more specifically, a lack thereof).
When character design tries so damn hard not to offend anyone that it ends up boring eveyrone (including those who actually want to try and play the game) it loops back on itself and becomes an aesthetic liability.
Image: Highguard Answers “What is a Woman” | Highguard | Wildlight Entertainment
This phenomenon isn’t unique to Highguard.
Other titles have swung hard for sanitized, universal appeal and ended up looking like visual Walmart greeters instead of anything close to memorable heroes. That design choice is increasingly being called out by players as part of what makes a game instantly forgettable.
If a game looks exactly like the 20 others that came before it, players aren’t going to cut it slack.
Highguard Review Bombing vs. Legit Criticism
Don’t mistake the trees for the forest.
Pulling a classic page right out of the Official Gaming Journalist Playbook: outlets have already unsurprisingly labeled Highguard’s bad reception as “review bombing.”
Sure, some reviews were written with 0.0001 hours played – but that’s honestly just par for the course at this point and literally happens with every single game’s release.
That’s usually not the overall consensus though…
Even leaving any “woke” arguments on the curb, actual hands-on players (you know, the ones with meat on the bone) largely still agree with the broader negative sentiment, citing:
Poor optimization and blurry visuals.
Weird pacing and mechanical disconnect.
A gameplay loop that doesn’t justify continuing to queue matches.
These aren’t ideological axes being ground…these are actual game design issues.
If a game looks bad, feels clunky, and doesn’t stand out in an already over-saturated market, it’s going to be criticized.
And that’s exactly what we’re seeing.
Media Narrative and Player Disconnect
There’s a clear pattern:
Media outlets rushed to defend Highguard before it even launched – telling players to calm down, wait to judge, and don’t dunk on it just yet – while players reacted to actual gameplay and design problems once they finally got their hands on it.
Ironically from the same outlets that had absolutely zero issues bashing Black Myth: Wukong while reportedly trying to propagate allegations of sexism based on false and inaccurate social media mistranslations in 2024.
That disconnect is exactly what fuels the current narrative war:
Media says: “Gamers are too cynical and are review bombing this before it’s even out.”
Players say: “The game legitimately feels unfinished, uninspired, and not worth playing.”
And the numbers? They don’t lie: tiny peak – tinier retention…now sitting at only 17,000…ouch.
Seems Like Free Was Still Too expensive
Sometimes, the truth hurts. Highguard didn’t flop because of gamers being “unfair” or “mean.” It swan dove into the proverbial garbage fire because:
It didn’t provide a distinctive or fun core game loop.
It leaned on generic design choices that erased character identity.
It arrived with performance problems and odd pacing.
It was championed by the biased and untrustworthy gaming media before players could reasonably judge it.
When even players who do enjoy parts of the game call its pacing boring and its maps empty, you know something deeper is wrong. None of this is “bigotry.”
It’s taste and standards – and those standards just aren’t being met with Highguard.
If the gaming industry wants to stop seeing these kinds of flops, they need to stop relying on their garbage ideological checklists and media spin and start listening to what players actually want – not just what developers and critics think they should like.
But hey, as long as you don’t try to make Mega Man a pansexual she/they with a nose ring – at least I’ll have something to look forward to on the horizon.
This was a commentary article based on publicly available information and personal opinion. Readers are encouraged to form their own conclusions based on the sources cited.
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January 27, 2026
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January 29, 2026
Thanks brotha!