When I heard that Willdlight Entertainment, the developer behind Highguard, was staffed by team members who worked on Titanfall and Apex Legends, the plan was pretty obvious. They were going for a shadow drop, just the way Apex Legends did in 2019. Unfortunately, when The Game Awards host/creator Geoff Keighley got his hands on it, he wanted everyone to know about it.
Look, nobody in their right mind is going to say no to Geoff Keighley if he wants to make you the final trailer at The Game Awards. But in retrospect, that's exactly what Wildlight should have done. The trailer does the game not a single favor, making it look like yet another hero shooter. A lot of folks online have dubbed it "Concord 2.0."
Highguard does boast hero shooter mechanics, but they're only part of the total package. It combines elements of MOBAs, MMORPGs and tactical shooters for an experience that ends up being quite unique.
The Game Awards trailer made it look like Apex Legends on a horse, when there is so much more to this game. Sadly, it has a negative rating on Steam already, with many of the reviews from players with only a handful of minutes played.
After the reveal, it looked as if Highguard and its marketing team were scrambling to react to all the negative press. In reality, the plan was always to make the game more of a surprise. After the trailer, Wildlight went back to its original idea, which was better. But now, it looked as if they were in panic mode because the Internet had decided it didn't like Highguard.
Ordinarily, it would be impossible to know how things might have worked out had The Game Awards trailer not happened. But in this case, we have an excellent idea. The reaction would likely have been the same as it was when Apex Legends shadow dropped seven years ago.
We'd be looking at this game on its merits, not still upset because the final trailer at TGA wasn't Grand Theft Auto 6. And if you're able to look at Highguard just on its own merits, I think you'll find a lot here to enjoy.