Hands On: Highguard Is Real and Potentially Great on PS5

Highguard is, in fact, real, and we’ve played it. Wildlight Entertainment, a collective of ex-Respawn developers, has launched a free-to-play PvP raid shooter, and after a couple of matches, we’re intrigued to sink some more time into it.

This is, admittedly, our very early impressions, but like many, we wanted to know the kind of game that Geoff Keighley was willing to bet his entire reputation on. After closing out The Game Awards, there has been radio silence, which led many to believe that another Concord was upon us.

That remains to be seen, but what we can say is that Highguard is an extremely polished shooter on PS5. It’s like the lovechild of Apex Legends and Valorant, focusing on tight-knit gunplay, hero abilities, and tactical teamplay.

Two teams of three will be assigned a base. A brief fortifying timer will allow you to tactically reinforce a select number of walls, similar to Rainbow Six Siege. Your aim regarding your base is to protect the generators within.

Then, the gear-up stage begins, where you will explore an open region of one of the game's five launch maps. You can hunt down weapon and armour chests, or focus on gathering a crystal currency, which can be spent at a vendor that’s dotted around the map.

Eventually, the Shieldbreaker will spawn into the map, and the two teams will fight for possession. Once acquired, you must take this blade to the enemy team’s base to call in your siege tower. This will break the base’s shield and mark the beginning of a raid.

You’ll then have a few minutes to infiltrate the base and plant bombs on the various generators, all with the hope of depleting the base’s health to zero.

That is quite a lot to wrap your head around, and that’s without really getting into the likes of the hero characters (Wardens), or weapon and armour tiers. However, there is a real back and forth that we really enjoyed.

One minute you're on the back foot desperately trying to defend your base, and the next you’re charging towards the enemy's base with a Sheildbreaker in hand. Unlike battle royales, you’re able to respawn quite frequently, so you’re never going too long without getting stuck into some action.

Matches are fairly lengthy, and we had some games upwards of 20 minutes. That gives you plenty of time to get tactical, claw back the advantage, or for it all to fall apart for you and your team.

One thing is for sure, though, and that’s the talent behind forging the gameplay experience. Like Titanfall 2 or Apex Legends, movement feels great. You’ll be jumping, sliding, ziplining, and even riding your horse across its maps, all while switching weapons, abilities, and grenades on the fly.

It’s a proper, polished shooter, made all the better with a rock-solid performance — at least on PS5 Pro. Visually, it’s also a very crisp-looking game, with a sort of muted, yet colourful fantasy backdrop. Disappointingly, an FOV slider is completely omitted, which seems odd for a shooter in 2026, meaning we're missing out on those wide-angle views.

Gun reload animations are properly satisfying with crunchy sound effects and unique animations for each weapon. On top of shooting, it gives every gun its own distinct feel.

Overall, we’re keen to sink more time into Highguard. It’s always fun getting to learn the ropes of some new shooter, and certainly, its PvP raid shooter approach feels unique within the space.

Will it translate into the live service hit Wildlight will certainly be hoping to become? In today’s market, who can really tell? But, for now, it looks nice, it feels nice to play, and it has some real potential for team playing strategy with an interesting and dynamic game mode.

Are you checking out Highguard now that it has dropped on PS5? Let us know down in the comments below.