Highguard already has more one-star reviews than Gollum on PS5

We're only on the third day of HighGuard's actual game that exists, and it's still hard to nail down where the newest live-service game will land long-term. If its user reviews are anything to go by, that potential future may not be so bright, as it seems that the negative feedback shared on Steam extends to users playing on PS5 as well.

Highguard currently has a score of 3.06 out of five, which is not great. It's not the worst game of the year, though, at least by that metric, which you might expect considering it's still only January and not much has been released yet.

Highguard isn't the worst game of 2026, but it's beating Code Purple on one unwanted metric.

That title still goes to Code Violet, a game that has the honor of being the lowest-rated PS5 exclusive during the console's first five years on the market. Code Violet has a score of 2.89 on the PS Store, lower than Highguard, but not by much. However, that may change in the future as Wildlight Entertainment's debut game already has more one-star reviews than Code Violet.

5,760 people have left reviews for Highguard on PS5, and 37 percent of them decided that the game only deserves a single star. That's a little over 2,100 people. Code Violet, meanwhile, is rated one star by 36 percent of those who picked it up and played it on PS5. Not only is this a slightly lower portion of its overall players than Highguard, but it's also a significantly lower total, leaving it with just one star before nearly 1,350 Code Violet players likely move on to something else.

Highguard player aiming down at a player.-1

related to

In two years, Highguard may have a single-player mode

Since its inception, HighGard has set high goals for the future.

Even Gollum isn't given a star as many times as the Highguard

To make matters worse for Highgard, The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, one of the most notoriously bad games of the decade, wasn't awarded a single star by nearly as many people as Highgard. Only about 1000 people have given Gollum one star. On the bright side, Gollum has very few reviews, probably because it was so bad that people were afraid to try it.

Gollum from his master of the ring game.

Gollum isn't free either, but it really should be.

There are several caveats to consider here. For starters, HighGuard is a free-to-play game with a huge spotlight that many people are going to try. It already has more PS Store reviews than both Gollum and Code Violet. The downside to this is, if people don't like it right away, which seems to have happened in its first couple of days, word will travel fast. The highguard that everyone fell in love with would have been an instant hit, but unfortunately, that's not how its cards fall.