An honest critique of Highguard's game design

Highguard is an interesting take on the hero shooter genre. The fairly unique mish-mash of different game modes in each match makes most games feel meaningfully different in a way most other hero shooters do not manage.

The tension that is created during the capture the flag phase is really fun. Knowing there is a looming lockout and that the sword will plant itself at the nearest base makes you consider whether pushing or disengaging is the appropriate choice at different times during the phase. The choice to not have the sword show on your minimap or be marked with a ping while active is neat but a little obtuse - the beam of light is imprecise and it can sometimes be difficult to pinpoint exactly where the carrier is, especially in areas with different elevation or when you are not in the open world yourself. My biggest bugbear with this phase is the ability to teleport back to your base when the sword approaches - this creates the incentive just to ignore the sword and spend more time gearing up/quicktiming crystals knowing you can just TP back, attack the carrier and start your run later.

The raid phase feels weird and maybe a little buggy (or a at least miscommunicated)? The attacking team has what seems to be a respawn counter under their base HP which signals the impending end of raid, but I have definitely killed players after this counter is exhausted (and confirmed the kill by shattering their orb) only to have them respawn and shoot me in the back later in the round while I'm disarming a bomb. Maybe I'm missing something here. The asymmetry between respawn methods is also pretty weird - attackers can see who is around when they respawn and select a place that suits them such as on the tower or behind a pillar, while defenders are set to certain spawn points (some of which become locked at certain points, presumably when an attacker is nearby). This all serves to advantage the attackers, which I'm sure was intentional but I'm not as sure was necessary (since the attackers already have the biggest advantage, being the ability to actually win the game during the raid).

Criticisms of the gearing up phase are popular for good reason. The maps are simply too big and the activities too mundane to carry any excitement. This phase existing in its current form makes me think the game was designed with 5v5 or higher in mind which must have been shelved for performance or other reasons. It could also be that some kind of PVE was intended - I didn't pay enough attention to the level design to see how many areas looked designed for firefights.

On top of the map size there's also no real incentive to seek out fights during the gear up phase. There's a 20 second death penalty and a run of anywhere up to a minute or so back to the sword, meaning if you do die during the gear up phase you can guarantee you'll be back to the sword before it spawns. The more harsh penalty is less time spent looting, you have generally obtained all the loot you want within the first 90 seconds of the gear up phase anyway.

Speaking of loot, I appreciate the guns all feel different and actually feel pretty good to shoot - very Apex. I feel like the rarity system only really serves two purposes: to force people into playing weapons they're less comfortable with based on what they can find at a higher rarity, and to justify the inclusion of the gear up phase each round in the first place. The first of those points is fine - if you just chose a load out at the start of the game and no upgrades existed each game would just play the same. The second one can be resolved by creating more meaning in the gear up phase - reasons to engage the other team, actual challenge involved in loot acquisition etc.

Unless I missed something, you can't see which wardens your opponents are playing before selecting your base. This doesn't make sense as there will just become a "correct" base to play based off what is most generically defendable. Making this pick with full knowledge of opposing team comp would the most crunchy, high-level solution to this problem, with the alternative being each team automatically plays a random (and identical) base each round. It could also be that I just didn't know where to look to see the opposing team comp as I was busy shittalking with my mates during the selection process lol

All in all the game is "fine", I enjoyed what I did play and I'll play for a few more hours yet. It feels very unfinished, particularly in terms of the gear up phase, and also like it was clearly designed with more in mind and pared back to meet a release window. I would be very curious to see what the designers could do with more time to cook and hope they are given the opportunity given the icy reception.