I wasn't really interested in Highguard before, but I am now

When Geoff Keighley revealed Highguard As the final reveal of The Game Awards 2025 to the world, my first thought was “What the hell.” Structurally, I feel like Larian's divinity (especially with idol teasing) or Star Wars: The Fate of the Old Republic would have been stronger. And when I've played a lot Apex Legends I care to admit and have a soft spot for Titanfall, Highguard Just didn't appeal to me.

Keighley's decor and hype combined, Highguard is a PvP raider shooter where players take on the role of a “warden”. The Wardens are described as “arcane gunslingers” sent to fight for the legendary continent. To me, the description sounds a touch generic and no different from any current looter shooter, hero shooter, or battle royale game. Basically, I'd like to say, for complete transparency, that I'm pretty burned out on these genres myself, and that's probably one of the reasons I didn't care to watch it.

I did what I tend to do when a game is clearly not for me: I riffed on it privately with some friends (who are actually excited about it) and then I put it out of my head. I really don't want to have an opinion on it, and I don't want to think about the game. Listen, people pay me for my opinions, but here's a free one for you, dear reader: You don't have to have one. You don't have to have an opinion. You don't have to take it. You can move on (and this comes from the South, where “moving on” is not our specialty). However, that wasn't the public's reaction, and because of that, the reaction meant I was probably playing Highguard When it releases on January 26.

Highguard hate feels too forced, too much like hate

Allow me a moment to preach to the choir. Hate is taught. I cannot believe, for my own sanity and sake, that hatred is something we naturally do. Hate is taught by parents, friends and all kinds of unhappy people. Unfortunately, the gaming industry and its peripherals often reward hate, which is the lowest-hanging fruit of involvement in any online space. And so what did gamers around the world do after this revelation? I can't scroll through a single public feed without seeing some kind of hate HighguardMany people are laughing that it's dead on arrival due to lack of marketing, because it doesn't look fun, and/or because it Concord 2.0.

I can't find it now, among all the other hate, so you'll forgive the lack of credit here. But the last straw for me was a comment I saw, where a mom claimed that her son is one of the devs and that they are working hard on the game and she hopes it's good. Someone commented something to the effect of looking like an ass, and when another commenter pointed out that it was a rude comment to make, the original commenter said that being rude doesn't make it any less true. Hey “truth” is irrelevant here, especially when it's an idea; There's no need to throw someone else out for something as simple as a video game. IIf you don't like something, move on. If someone likes something you don't like, move on. I like to have conversations about the quality of video games and will argue and talk about things like that and have a lot of conversation, but I'm not going to be randomly rude to someone I don't know. That's what friends are for.

The thing is, worth noting, that is Highguard Advertising at The Game Awards paid for it, but it was Keighley's call to put it in one of the show's most anticipated slots. He played it and clearly likes it. I can't say I would have the same reaction, but someone else liked it. I can't take that away from him, and I'm not even going to try. I could take that information and go on with my day, which I did, but oh my god, the internet won't let you forget that. Highguard “Concord 2.0,” is that it's bad, that it's trash, that it's a million things but “good,” without everyone playing it for themselves. Sure, trailers and marketing are made to convince consumers of a game's quality, but they're also meant to convince someone that something is good or otherwise unrelated to the game experience. Trailers make bad games look good and good games look bad to different target audiences.

Congratulations, you've made me a highguard player

The amount of haters and haters I see around Highguard It has had the opposite effect on me. I didn't care about it before, but now I hope it comes out and is a very good game. And you know what I'm going to do to determine this for myself? I'm going to play it, I'm going to use my own mind, and I'm going to make my own decisions. This is really how it should work. And if you are interested HighguardOr at least want to try it because it's free, Don't listen to the noise. Even Eminem has his haters. You'd think decades of rap songs about haters would highlight why such behavior is ridiculous, but whatever, that's neither here nor there, I guess.

Can you ride a bear???

Highguard There may not be a lot of marketing, but there are a lot of comments about it and a lot of hate on it. Usually, such hate ruins a game that doesn't deserve it. At least in my case, I'm going to play it, so the adversarial marketing strategy worked here. The haters have convinced me it's worth a try because every comment they make is, in essence, free marketing. Maybe it will be bad and maybe I won't like it, but you know, these are the things that I want to learn and know myself, because everyone and their mother wants to tell me what to think. Experience Trump trailers, and while the barrier to entry is usually cost, Highguard is a free to play game. Hi, you should check it out with me and form your own opinion, and then I'd love to hear it.

To the gods and everyone who has poured out their heart and soul HighguardHere's hoping for an amazing launch that lives up to all your expectations. To the haters, I hope you know you're doing free marketing at this point.