The Game Awards’ weirdest “and finally” game, Highguard, is showing signs of life, less than one week out from launch

Last month’s Game Awards ceremony had its highs and lows, but everyone keeps talking about the strange decision to end with a new live-service hero shooter that wasn’t looking exactly fresh in its big debut trailer. Former Titanfall and Apex Legends devs deserve the benefit of the doubt, however, which is why we’re keeping tabs on what’s going on with Highguard ahead of its 26th January launch.

Only a few days ago, we learned (via Forbes) that showrunner Geoff Keighley enjoyed what he’d seen of the game so much that he offered Wildlight Entertainment that final slot at the show free of charge. Glance around social media for a bit and you’ll also notice the talk has slowly shifted towards “what if Highguard is actually good?” after its middling trailer. After all, Titanfall and Apex Legends are among the best-feeling FPS we’ve had in recent times. What if marketing for the game simply hasn’t been good?

There was nothing offensive about the first look at the game; it looked fine. The problem is “fine” rarely cuts it anymore, and the shadow of Concord cratering in 2024 still looms over the entire hero shooter space. FPS aficionados have been wondering why we haven’t heard anything from the official channels since The Game Awards. The official website has been running a countdown, sure, but where’s the buzz? Is Wildlight trying to pull off an Apex Legends-inspired drop here?

SteamDB’s update history suggests the game’s alive and well, on track for its launch next Monday across PC (Steam) and current-gen consoles. In fact, activity has ramped up again this week, with new tags being added and taken out, and package changes happening in the background. Even if the initial wave of backlash was scary, it appears plans haven’t changed and we’re just look at an unusual pre-launch period.

Across X/Twitter and BlueSky, YouTubers, streamers, and other notable names in the games industry are beginning to believe in the possibility of the game popping off once we actually get to play it. “I’m half convinced it’s going to be good. Too many people put their chips down on it failing,” posted Aftermath’s Chris Person on 17th January. If we look at past examples of games that part of YouTube dogpiled on, we could say Highguard’s chances of success might actually be solid.

In any case, the actual marketing for the game might actually be the absence of any official marketing. Somehow, that’s led to viral tweets and posts about closely examining a single paragraph of info and it maybe just containing the executable for Tribes 2 (my beloved). It takes me back to the old days of collective psychosis over shocking online game launches, and that isn’t too bad a feeling.