Following a surprise reveal at 2025’s The Game Awards, the new hero shooter Highguard has arrived. However, the free-to-play game appears to be crashing on PC. If it’s happening to you, there may be some steps you can take to fix the issue.
According to the Steam charts, Highguard peaked at over 97,000 concurrent players shortly after its debut. That number may have put a significant strain on the game’s servers. It’s currently dropped down to just over 11,000 concurrent players.
If the crashes are due to an issue on the game’s end, developer Wildlight Entertainment will likely patch it out. If the crashes are happening due to players’ computers these are the recommended steps to take at this time:
- Restart your PC
- Upgrade your GPU drivers
- Verify the game’s files
The first two steps are easy to accomplish, but you’ll need to follow the instructions below to check the game’s files.
- Launch Steam and log in.
- Go to the Game Library.
- Find Highguard. Right-click and and then click on “Properties.”
- Visit “Installed Files,” and look for a prompt that reads “Verify integrity of game files.” Simply clicking on that should start the process.
Highguard also requires a secure boot to play the game, and we have a longer guide to checking your secure boot and activating it. If none of those steps work, then the issue is likely with the game rather than your computer.
Despite some hiccups in the game’s launch, Wildlight Entertainment’s CEO Dusty Welch told GameSpot he doesn’t believe that Highguard will go the way of Concord. Welch also revealed that The Game Awards founder Geoff Keighley offered the team a free spot on last year’s show because he believes in the game and its prospects for breaking out against the other hero shooters on the market.
GameSpot’s preview for Highguard was largely positive and called it a “fresh enough combo” to be its own thing.
