Highguard, a new hero shooter game developed by new studio Wildlight Entertainment, was the final announcement at The Game Awards 2025. The Game Awards 2025 was full of big world premiere reveals, with some of gaming’s longest-running franchises represented at the show. Instead of relying on an established IP for the big final announcement at the event, Geoff Keighley showcased the brand-new IP Highguard.
Highguard developer Wildlight Entertainment is comprised of developers that once worked for Respawn Entertainment on games like Apex Legends and Titanfall. According to Keighley, 61 team members that worked on those iconic FPS games made Highguard, and while its announcement hasn’t exactly been met with open arms, fans of games like Overwatch may be interested.
Somehow, Concord Returned
A group of modders has brought Concord back online through custom servers more than a year after its shutdown, giving it an unexpected second life.
Highguard is a fantasy FPS hero-shooter that looks like a blend of other games in the genre, with plenty of its own original ideas thrown into the mix as well. Described as a “raid shooter,” Highguard features a cast of distinct characters with their own unique abilities. Players leave their homebase on horseback in a manner that doesn’t look unlike Paladins: Champions of the Realm, battle for possession of a powerful sword called the Shieldbreaker, and then use it to summon a giant battering ram to help them invade the enemy base.
Highguard Trailer
All kinds of hero abilities are on display in the Highguard debut trailer, with one ice troll-like character able to slam the ground, and another capable of throwing electric spears at enemies from the sky similar to Hela in Marvel Rivals. One character has a bird companion, another can summon lava, it seems like someone can summon a series of ice walls similar to Mei in Overwatch, and the list goes on. It looked like there may even be some PvE elements as players fight across the map. Luckily, more information on Highguard will come sooner rather than later, as the game is going to be out in a little over a month.
When is the Highguard Release Date?
Highguard will launch on January 26 for PC, PS5, and Xbox, and it will be completely free-to-play. The fact that there isn’t a long wait for the game may very well be in its favor, but at the same time, the trailer doesn’t seem to have done it many favors. There are over 500 dislikes for the trailer versus just over 150 likes at the time of this writing, with many comments comparing it unfavorably to Sony’s disastrous Concord.
Highguard does give off some Concord vibes, but to be fair, that’s because they share the same genre. It also looks a lot like Overwatch and Marvel Rivals, and those games were massive successes. Considering the pedigree of the talent that made Highguard, it could stand a better shot at survival than Concord. If nothing else, it being free-to-play should be a huge advantage it has over Sony’s ill-fated stab at the genre.
With Highguard‘s release date right around the corner, fans should find out more about the game sooner rather than later. Time will tell how it compares to others in the genre and if it is able to turn around public reception, but it will be interesting to see how it all shakes out come next month.
