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Highguard’s launch day has come and gone, and boy, I’m exhausted already.
I like the sport, I believe it’s enjoyable, distinctive, and I benefit from the core gameplay loop. I stated as a lot after taking part in the sport early at an occasion in Los Angeles final week, the place the suggestions was largely optimistic from these readily available. Nearly all of the individuals I performed with and spoke to had a good time with Highguard and have been excited for the launch.
After leaving LA final week, I’m unsure any of us who performed the sport noticed this stage of hate prepare coming. However I ought to have. The sport is enjoyable, I stand by that. Clearly, it’s not for everybody, as a result of no recreation is, however the extreme dogpiling on social media and Steam opinions is pathetic. However that’s simply the way in which gaming tradition, and social media usually, appears to be doing issues nowadays.
Shortly after launch, Highguard was bombarded with unfavorable opinions on Steam. A lot of them complained in regards to the login queue, whereas others have been aggravated with efficiency issues on PC, and the overwhelming majority are from gamers with lower than two hours of play time (round 11,200 of 15,000 complete opinions as of 9:30am CT this morning). It seems like individuals have been logging in able to hate it.
On social media, it’s solely gotten worse since then, with everybody chiming in with their memes and jokes. That’s anticipated. And those that do benefit from the recreation are getting drowned out by the noise, or made enjoyable of by those that really feel the necessity to inform everybody how a lot they assume it sucks, or being accused of being paid to play it, or “purchased out” by the builders. It’s actually tiring.
To begin with, the sport is free. So, in case you strive it and don’t prefer it, that’s completely cool. However no. Everybody has to announce their departure like they’re in an airport whereas incessantly crapping throughout it. I don’t actually perceive the thought course of behind the necessity to “dunk” on issues I don’t take pleasure in. As a result of if I don’t take pleasure in one thing, I don’t let it take up my time or house in my thoughts. On social media, although, negativity breeds engagement, so it’s inspired.
Different complaints say the sport has an id disaster. It’s an amalgam of various concepts that mix to make one thing new. But when these concepts have been taken out, or if it have been one other extraction shooter or battle royale recreation, then what? Wouldn’t it be blasted for being a copy-paste job? I don’t know what avid gamers need anymore.
Sadly, the actual fact is that the sport has turn out to be the goal of quite a lot of vitriol due largely to the truth that it received a featured spot at The Sport Awards, a slot normally held for legacy titles, and rumors main as much as the occasion had avid gamers hoping for Half-Life 3, doubtlessly probably the most sought-after sequel ever. Not possible expectations.
Geoff Keighley additionally doubled down on his choice to characteristic the sport, additional upsetting the offended mobs who have been able to go at him for it. And his latest replies on Twitter/X particularly are a cesspool of people who find themselves pissed off that he did it. That is largely unlucky for the devs who labored on it for years, solely to have it obtain the hatred it has as a result of it’s not what they need/have been anticipating from a giant title, and that’s simply not honest to them or the sport.
When you don’t like the sport, once more, that’s completely high quality. I don’t assume anybody was anticipating it to be universally well-received. However to dunk on it due to Keighley’s encouragement and pleasure for the title, harass him about it, after which inevitably ship focused malice on the builders themselves, is unacceptable.
Room for enchancment
I agree with the sentiment of many who the maps really feel huge for three-vs-three. I personally don’t thoughts the participant rely, however experimenting with four-vs-four and even five-vs-five might be enjoyable. I nonetheless assume that getting used to the character of the gameplay loop of looting, combating over the Shieldbreaker, after which trying to raid the bottom takes a while, and plenty of aren’t prepared to offer it that.
Leaning extra into the MOBA-like qualities of the sport and including some minor PvE mobs on the looting areas to make that interval really feel extra lively may additionally be a optimistic addition. Shortening the looting part may be an excellent first step in bringing the motion to the forefront, as a result of the raid part of every match is the place the sport shines.
There are additionally quite a lot of legit complaints about issues with mouse acceleration, the lack to make use of hold-to-crouch as a button, how the sport runs, and optimization is a giant difficulty on PC. I’ve been taking part in on PS5, personally, and the sport is blurry and the framerate chugs in fight at instances. Optimizing the sport might be going to be the 1st step as Wildlight Leisure heads to the workplace as we speak.
On the occasion, we have been taking part in on particular gaming rigs that have been doubtless far more highly effective than the common gaming PC, so there have been no points. However as a studio, Wildlight undoubtedly wants to enhance in getting the sport operating on quite a lot of builds. The sport’s settings are additionally fairly lackluster relating to customization.
Highguard can be not pleasant, in any respect, for solo gamers. It feels very sweaty at instances, and never speaking together with your group or taking part in with a bunch means you’re destined to fail. It’s completely a extra pleasing expertise with a bunch of mates. This can be a facet impact of the three-vs-three nature, I believe, so increasing on recreation sorts and squad sizes feels obligatory. However once more, the sport got here out yesterday, and I’m positive any constructive suggestions is being fielded. The laborious half will probably be discovering it within the ocean of offended negativity.
The Sport Awards trailer for Highguard was not good for the sport, and Wildlight’s co-founders advised me as a lot. However the variety of individuals actively rooting for it to fail since then is so disheartening to me, and that’s an upsetting pattern we’ve seen over the previous few years, as now there are individuals hoping for the sport shut down and for individuals to lose their jobs.
In hindsight, the radio silence since Highguard’s debut was additionally a misstep. Maybe giving extra info and time for gamers to digest it forward of launch would have served higher than what has occurred over the previous day or so.
Sadly, first impressions are essential, and it’s gotten off to a nasty begin for a lot of. However the half being misplaced on quite a lot of gamers is that this can be a stay service recreation, and day one is simply the beginning, with updates coming and already being labored on, together with completely different modes and methods to play.
“We’re leaning into aggressive, however the aim could be that we might introduce new modes of play as time goes on,” recreation director and Wildlight co-founder Chad Grenier advised me. “Two weeks after launch, we’re turning on ranked. The entire sweaty aggressive gamers ought to gravitate in the direction of ranked. That can make the entry somewhat bit simpler for informal gamers to remain out of ranked, and that ought to assist. After which future seasons, we need to do limited-time recreation modes and likewise some new everlasting modes, anyplace from tremendous informal to additionally extremely aggressive. And so, I believe as stay service continues, the sport lives on, we’ll take heed to what our playerbase desires, but additionally introduce new methods to play. We’ve received some humorous concepts floating across the workplace and issues that we’re engaged on now.”
Monitoring social media is part of my job and that of builders. I don’t envy them in any respect for making an attempt to make one thing that they take pleasure in and hope others would take pleasure in too, solely to be met with the most recent wall of negativity. It’s mentally draining. I labored on protecting the sport for a few week, and I’m discouraged in regards to the response it’s gotten, so I can’t think about how the devs who labored on it for years really feel. That’s the place my thoughts is at as we speak.
Since I like Highguard, I’ll proceed to play it and hope that future updates will enhance the expertise and alter the narrative as soon as it’s stopped being trendy to crap on it. It’s going to be an uphill battle.
