Did the internet kill Highguard early?
Xbox Developer Direct, Highguard's messy launch, and this week's releases
G’day Gamers,
I’ve spent the last week obsessed with MIO: Memories in Orbit; this thing should win awards at the end of the year.
I’m launching a second weekly newsletter for gaming reviews and previews. Interested? Start here. Anyway, that’s enough self-promotion for one day.
Let’s get into it,
Highguard Vs the Internet
Highguard launched on January 27 and pulled a big crowd on day one, but the review score tanked almost straight away. On Steam right now, it’s sitting at “Mostly Negative” with 30% positive from 13,625 English reviews and 17,636 total reviews at the time of writing. On the player count side, SteamDB shows a 97,249 concurrent player peak on launch day.
What is Highguard?
Highguard is a free-to-play 3v3 shooter from Wildlight Entertainment where teams of “Wardens” fight over objectives. The main loop works like this: grab the Shieldbreaker, carry it to the enemy base to bring their shields down, then push in to destroy the core.
How did we get here?
Highguard was supposed to be a shadowdrop, the same plan Wildlight’s founders used when they launched Apex Legends at Respawn. That changed when Geoff Keighley offered to feature it as the final reveal at The Game Awards 2025, and the team rushed a trailer together. The result was a wave of “Concord 2” comparisons and a month of bad press before anyone had even played it.
After looking through the reviews and the stats, here’s what I’m seeing.
The Good
People actually tried it: 97,249 peak players on Steam day one.
Fresh objective structure: fight for Shieldbreaker, breach the base, destroy the core.
Easy to try: free-to-play, so no cost to jump in.
The Bad
Maps feel too big for 3v3, with long gaps between fights.
Server issues, stutters, and general launch-day problems.
Players want more settings and options.
The anti-cheat needs Secure Boot and TPM 2.0, which some PCs don’t support or need manual setup to enable.
Is this review bombing?
There’s definitely a lot of review bombing here. You can spot it in the meme posts, the reviews from people who played for less than an hour, and the usual Steam pile-on that happens when a game trends for the wrong reasons.
That said, there are real complaints. Servers need work, performance is rough, the anti-cheat is locking some players out, and the quality of life feedback is more than fair.
Highguard has problems to fix, but the 30% score is unfair, and the game has become a victim of the spotlight it never really asked for.
What We Learned At Xbox Developer_Direct 2026
Xbox’s first showcase of the year gave us a look at four games, and Playground Games is having a busy 2026 with both Fable and Forza Horizon 6 on the way. Game Freak showed us what they’ve been up to outside of Pokémon, and Double Fine is back with a pottery game?
Fable (Autumn 2026)
Fable is one of those franchises I’ve always had a soft spot for, so seeing Playground Games finally show it off had me paying close attention. The studio is going big on player choice this time, with full character creation, a morality system that changes how the world sees you, and over 1,000 NPCs who go about their daily lives.
I’m absolutely buying every house in Albion and charging exorbitant rental fees.
Forza Horizon 6 (May 19)
Forza is heading to Japan with the biggest map Playground has ever built, 550 cars at launch, and a focus on the country’s car tuning scene. New hangout spots called “Car Meets” are based on real gatherings like Daikoku, which is a nice touch.
Beast of Reincarnation (Summer 2026)
Beast of Reincarnation is set in Japan in the year 4026, two thousand years after a plague called the blight ended civilisation. You play as Emma, a young woman who’s lost her memories but gained the ability to control plants, alongside her wolf companion Koo, who can slow down time.
Combat switches between fast sword fighting as Emma and a slower tactical mode where you command Koo’s abilities.
Coming to Game Pass day one, and worth checking out just to see if Game Freak have the sauce outside of Pokémon.
Kiln (Spring 2026)
Kiln was the surprise reveal, and it’s good to see Double Fine back, even if I was hoping for Psychonauts 3. Instead, they’ve made a 4v4 brawler where you shape your fighter on a pottery wheel, and what you make decides your abilities.
You win by carrying water to destroy the other team’s kiln while protecting your own. It’s weird, it’s creative, and it’s exactly what you’d expect from Double Fine.
🔥 In Case You Missed It…
Beyond Good & Evil 2 somehow survived Ubisoft’s project purge despite costing an estimated $500 million over 17+ years, while Prince of Persia: Sands of Time remake got the axe.
A financial report claims Sony might delay PS6 beyond the expected 2028 window, though nothing’s confirmed.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica remake is deep in development at Capcom and could be announced late this year.
Rayman 30th Anniversary Edition got rated in Australia, suggesting Ubisoft hasn’t completely forgotten about this great franchise.
Banjo-Kazooie got a fanmade PC port with 60fps and widescreen, and all i’ll say is I’m keen to see the mods that come with this one.
1348 Ex Voto got a release date trailer the third-person medieval action game follows Aeta, a knight on a quest through Medieval Italy.
Remedy’s company report suggests Control 2 could arrive Q2 2026, with Max Payne 1 & 2 remakes targeting Q3 2026 to Q1 2027.
A glowing review of MIO: Memories in Orbit clocked 44 hours on a game marketed as 12-14 hours long, praising it as one of the best metroidvanias in years, thanks to a map absolutely packed with secrets.
Releasing This Week
Echoes of Elysium (PC Early Access) January 27. Build and customise floating airships in this co-op survival RPG set in a clockwork paradise. Supports up to 6 players.
Cairn (PC, Switch) January 29. A challenging climbing game that’s been getting solid buzz as a potential breakout indie hit.
I Hate This Place (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, Switch) January 29. Isometric survival horror based on the Skybound comic, with bold 80s visuals and enemies that hunt by sound.
Code Vein II (PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC) January 30. The anime Souls-like returns with time-travel mechanics, a new Partner System, and Lou, who can manipulate time to alter past events.
Vampires: Bloodlord Rising (PC Early Access) January 30. Build your vampire dynasty in medieval Sangavia. Castle building, open-world exploration, and 4-player co-op.
Aces of Thunder (PSVR2, PC VR) February 3. VR flight combat sim featuring 29 meticulously recreated WW1 and WW2 aircraft with physically accurate flight models from the War Thunder team.
Did you know the first video game Easter egg was hidden in Atari's Adventure in 1979? The developer snuck his name in because Atari refused to credit their programmers.
Till Next Time,
Jayden
Love the work, keep it up
Sharp take on the Highguard situation. The shadowdrop-turned-TGA-reveal timeline def amplified the Concord comparisons before anyone touched the game, watched it happen in real time on twitter. The 30% score feels harsh given the actual player peak tho, 97k concurrent means ppl showed up. Fixing servers and map pacing should be priority numbr 1.