Here are our first impressions of Highguard

It was rather curious to see Geoff Keighley reserve the finale of The Game Awards, a triumphant moment for any studio allowed to reveal a game there, for a brand new IP from an untested studio. And now that the mood surrounding multiplayer-based live service shooters also seems to have soured in recent years as the market has slowly become saturated, one can only bow one's head slightly in admiration.

But it was probably not quite the right way for Highguard to be revealed to the outside world, and although it was apparently not developer Wildlight Entertainment's decision, but Keighley's, the reveal was met with anger and apathy - probably because at the time, it simply didn't stand out enough to warrant such a significant strategic position.

Now Highguard is out, even though many believed that the studio's subsequent silence was a sign of a potential delay or even closure. I have played 15 Raids and am now delivering my tentative first impressions as we work our way towards a proper review. Fortunately, Highguard is more than it appears to be, and thanks to the clear expertise of the former Respawn employees who shaped the basic framework around the game's structure and central gameplay loop, it is also better than one might think. However, that does not mean we can give the game a free pass, as there are also major issues to address.

But let's start on a positive note. Highguard, as it stands, is a slightly polished and content-rich experience. There is no Early Access feeling here, or the sense that Wildlight has launched before the game is actually ready for the spotlight. There are eight distinct heroes, each with recognisable move sets and distinct tactical options. There are five maps with interchangeable bases, making them easier to remix, and with a good handful of weapon types, there are also plenty of opportunities to express yourself creatively on the battlefield through the two weapons, your Siege Tool and at least two abilities per hero. There is also meta progression, a free Battle Pass, skins to buy - it's all here.

But perhaps most importantly, the game is only launching with one basic mode: Raid. The entire game is built around Raid, a 3v3 mode where you fortify your own fortress, ride out onto a large map to collect loot, and fight for a sword that will be used to activate a raid on the enemy base. Tactically, there are free respawns until a raid starts, where your team must try to place bombs on generators, or the heart of the base, until you either win or are thrown out, at which point the aforementioned sword respawns again.

It's a mode that borrows a little from a sea of different genres, from the MOBA's base-oriented structure to the Battle Royale genre's loot focus, spiced up with Apex Legends' mobility and light-heartedness. It's pretty clear that Highguard hasn't let itself be limited, either in its setting, which freely mixes high fantasy and sci-fi, firearms and knight armour in a big mess. It's not exactly thrilling, and it's a bit of a shame that Wildlight doesn't even try to put this together in a way that makes sense, but then again, it might seem a bit jarring to have these heroes shooting each other to bits.

In the moment-based gameplay loop, Highguard works surprisingly well. The physics are solid, the weapons are functional, if not a little "floaty," and being able to summon a horse so easily makes the slightly oversized maps more tangible and tactically rounded. I have already found myself in a number of firefights that felt on par with Apex Legends, which is quite high praise for a debut studio, whether they consist of Respawn veterans or not, and I have not encountered a hero who had directly useless abilities or felt misplaced in the now burgeoning meta. No, Highguard is balanced and well-functioning when viewed through the lens of pure mechanics.

But it's a huge problem that Wildlight has chosen 3v3 as the only team structure, because it just makes these maps boring most of the time. I'm sure they've tested with more, and that they have their reasons, but the fact is that these maps simply aren't eventful enough when there's no raid in progress. During a raid, all six players are in the same base, so the open spaces are replaced with more tight corridor and position-based shooting. This works fine, but while you're collecting loot and fighting for the sword, these maps are too big and too empty to accommodate only six players in total. Maybe if there had been enemy NPCs to keep you on your toes? Maybe 5v5 would have been better?

And speaking of boredom, Wildlight has been forced to remove respawns while a match is in progress. This means that if you die during a match, you basically have to wait until your teammates either win or get kicked out. This can take... five minutes? It can actually take 10 if your teammates consistently revive each other or are just more interested in kills than playing by the rules of the game. And in the meantime, you just sit there - and wait - and you can't, as in a Battle Royale, just drop out, because your team might need you a moment later.

No, Raid has a lot of good ideas, but these are undermined by a structure that is a little too broad to ensure solid action around every corner, and which does not consistently work during these raids, which are so central to the flow of the game. Overall, I'm not entirely sure about these raids, as having to "fortify" the base seems rather arbitrary - there should be more mechanics associated with defending your fortress when under attack, or else the bases could easily be torn out and replaced with a simpler Capture the Flag structure.

Highguard feels good to play. It looks good. It sounds good. It launches with enough content to satisfy curious shooter fans and doesn't launch with eight unfocused modes. Wildlight is onto something here, but they need to act quickly if Raid is to carry the game in the long run, and whether that happens by making the different maps smaller, introducing NPC enemies or just increasing the number of active players, I don't know. But I hope they can work their magic quickly, because the game is better than you might think.