After launching on January 26, Highguard has struggled to maintain gamers, in response to knowledge on SteamDB. However Wildlight isn’t giving up on the free-to-play raid shooter, and has introduced an enormous change for the sport: a 5v5 mode.
On Friday, Wildlight’s studio head and recreation director Chan Grenier teased on Twitter that a “big update” about Highguard was coming, including “You’ll wish to see this one.” About 4 hours later, after some delay, that replace arrived, and it was certainly a biggie. For a restricted time, Highguard will provide gamers a 5v5 mode, an enormous shift from the sport’s 3v3 mode, which many had criticized for being too small and sweaty.
“We heard the suggestions,” posted the official Highguard account. “For the weekend, we’re experimenting with a 5v5 Raid Mode. It is a separate playlist and never meant to interchange 3’s. 3v3 Raids are nonetheless there for individuals who take pleasure in it! The foyer has been up to date to permit for events of 5 whereas the mode is dwell.”
You requested, we listened
All-new 5v5 restricted time mode, playable now! ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/wBaFZUOCeZ
— Highguard | LIVE NOW! (@PlayHighguard) January 30, 2026
The brand new mode was added as a part of a patch that’s dwell now on consoles and PC. 5v5 will solely be round for the weekend, for now, and Wildlight warns that including extra gamers might result in some efficiency points. Nonetheless, I’m excited to provide Highguard one other shot to see if a couple of extra gamers within the recreation’s massive empty maps might assist add some pleasure and take some stress off gamers having to carry out completely throughout group fights.
The dialog round Highguard has been a large number ever because it was introduced by way of the ultimate teaser on the 2025 Recreation Awards in December. That trailer didn’t excite individuals on-line, and a interval of radio silence afterward left an enormous void that was stuffed by offended commentators, confused avid gamers, plenty of blogs, and random takes from customers on websites like Reddit and BlueSky. When it lastly arrived earlier this week, it noticed an enormous inflow of curious onlookers, practically reaching 100k concurrent gamers in response to SteamDB knowledge. However just some days later, Highguard’s playercount has dwindled as adverse critiques proceed to flood the sport’s Steam web page.
Will this massive change be sufficient to show issues round, or is Highguard doomed to turn into one other flop in an extended line of live-service video games which have didn’t survive? I’m undecided, however on the very least, it appears Wildlight Leisure is keen to make massive adjustments to the sport to try to maintain it round.
