I Wasn't Really Interested in Highguard Before, But I Am Now

When Geoff Keighley revealed Highguard to the world as the final reveal of The Game Awards 2025, my first thought was “what.” Structurally, I feel like Larian’s Divinity (especially with the statue tease) or Star Wars: Fate of the Old Republic would have been much stronger closer. And while I’ve played much more Apex Legends than I care to admit and have a soft spot for Titanfall, Highguard just did not appeal to me.

Keighley’s embellishments and hype aside, Highguard is a PvP raider shooter where players take on the role of “Wardens.” Wardens are described as “arcane gunslingers” sent to fight for a mythical continent. To me, the description sounds a touch generic and not all that different from any current looter shooter, hero shooter, or battle royale game. In general, I’d say I’m pretty burned out on these genres myself, for full transparency, and that’s likely one reason why I didn’t care to see it.

I did what I tend to do when a game is clearly not for me: I riffed on it privately with a couple of friends (one who is actually excited about it) and then I set it out of my mind afterward. I really don’t want to have an opinion on it, and I don’t want to think about the game. Listen, people pay me for my opinions, but here’s a free one for you, dear reader: you don’t have to have one. You don’t have to have an opinion. You don’t have to have a take. You can move on (and this comes from a southerner, where “moving on” is not exactly our expertise). However, that wasn’t the response of the public, and because of that, the response means I will probably be playing Highguard when it releases on January 26.

Highguard Hate Feels So Forced, Like A Lot of Hate

Allow me just a moment to preach to the choir. Hate is taught. I cannot believe, for my own sanity and sake, that hate is something we just do naturally. Hatred is taught by parents, by friends, and by all manner of unhappy people. Unfortunately, the gaming industry and its peripherals often reward hate, the lowest hanging fruit of engagement in any online space. And so what did gamers the world over turn to after this reveal? I can’t scroll a single public feed without seeing some kind of hatred on Highguard, with many people laughing that it is dead upon arrival because of a lack of marketing, because it doesn’t look fun, and/or because it’s Concord 2.0.

I can’t find it now, among all the other hate, so you’ll forgive the lack of credit here. But the final straw for me was a comment I saw, where a mother claimed their son is one of the devs and they are working hard on the game and she hopes it’s good. Someone responded something to the effect that it looked like ass, and when another commenter pointed out that it was a rude comment to make, the original commenter said that being rude didn’t make it any less true. Hey. “Truth” here is irrelevant, especially when it’s an opinion; there’s never any need to tear anyone else down for something as simple as a video game. If you don’t like something, move on. If someone else likes something you don’t, move on. I love having a conversation about a video game’s quality and will debate and talk and have plenty of conversations about such a thing, but I’m not going to be randomly rude to someone I don’t know. That’s what friends are for.

The thing is, which is worth noting, is that Highguard paid for an ad at The Game Awards, but it was Keighley’s call to put it in one of the most anticipated slots of the show. He played it and clearly likes it. I can’t say I’ll have the same reaction, but someone else liked it. I can’t take that away from him, and I’m not even going to try. I can take that information and move on with my day, which is what I did, but my god, the internet will not let you forget that Highguard is “Concord 2.0,” that it’s bad, that it’s garbage, that it’s a million things other than “good,” all without having played it for themselves. Sure, trailers and marketing are made to convince consumers of a game’s quality, but whether they convince someone that something is good or otherwise is not connected to the experience of the game. Trailers have made bad games look good and good games look bad to a variety of target audiences.

Congrats, You’ve Made Me a Highguard Player

The amount of hate and haters I’ve seen around Highguard has had the opposite impact on me. I didn’t care about it before, but now I hope it comes out and is a damn good game. And you know what I am going to do to determine that for myself? I’m going to play it, I’m going to use my own brain, and I’m going to make my own judgment calls for myself. That’s really how it should work. And if you are interested in Highguard, or at least intend to try it out because it’s free, don’t listen to the noise. Even Eminem has haters. You’d think decades of rap songs about haters would highlight why such behavior is ridiculous, but whatever, that’s neither here nor there, I guess.

You can ride a bear???

Highguard may not have a lot of marketing, but it has a lot of comments about it and it has a lot of hate. Normally, such hatred tears down a game that doesn’t deserve it. At least in my case, I’m going to be playing it, so the anti-marketing strategy here has worked. The haters have convinced me it’s worth trying because every single comment they make, in essence, is free marketing. Maybe it will be bad and maybe I won’t like it, but you know, these are things I like to learn and know for myself, not because everyone and their mama wants to tell me what to think. Experience trumps trailers, and while there’s normally a barrier-to-entry in cost, Highguard is a free-to-play game. Hey, you should check it out with me and form your opinion too, and then I’d love to hear it.

To the devs and everyone who has poured their heart and soul into Highguard, here’s hoping for a wonderful launch that lives up to all your expectations. To the haters, I hope you know you’re free marketing at this point.