Highguard dropped at The Game Awards 2025 as the surprise finale reveal, and everyone immediately had the same question: what the hell is a raid shooter? The marketing called it that, the trailer showed fantasy heroes on horses shooting each other with magic guns, and nobody could figure out the actual game mode. Then a Redditor named the_last_sunbro rewatched the trailer frame by frame and posted a theory that makes perfect sense. Highguard is structured Rust raiding. Teams compete for a siege weapon called the Shieldbreaker, then use it to assault enemy bases with destructible walls and planted objectives. It’s extraction shooter meets base building meets hero shooter, and if Wildlight Entertainment pulls it off, they might have something genuinely original.
The Game Awards Surprise Nobody Expected
The Game Awards typically closes with a massive sequel or franchise reveal. 2025 broke that pattern by ending with Highguard, a completely new IP from Wildlight Entertainment, a studio founded in 2021 by 61 former Respawn developers who worked on Titanfall and Apex Legends. The twist that shocked everyone wasn’t just the announcement. It was the release date: January 26, 2026. That’s six weeks away. Most Game Awards reveals are years from launch. Highguard is basically already finished.
The trailer showed arcane gunslingers called Wardens riding horses, fighting with supernatural abilities, and attacking fortified bases protected by shield bubbles. There were siege weapons, destructible walls, and a bomb being planted on some central objective. It looked slick and expensive but nobody could articulate what you actually do in the game beyond shoot people and blow stuff up. The marketing kept repeating raid shooter without explaining what that meant.
The Reddit Detective Work
User the_last_sunbro posted their analysis after watching the trailer multiple times. They noticed specific details that paint a clear picture of the game loop. The objective is the Shieldbreaker, a siege weapon teams compete for outside bubble-shielded enemy bases. Once you secure the Shieldbreaker, you use it to break through the force field protecting the enemy base. Then comes the assault phase where you fight through custom-built fortifications with destructible walls to reach and plant a bomb on a central objective.
The blocky base structures immediately reminded them of Rust, the survival game where players build bases on shared servers and raid each other for loot. Rust raids involve breaking through layers of defense, blowing up walls, and cracking open secure vaults to steal resources. The_last_sunbro theorizes Highguard takes that organic chaotic formula and structures it into organized PvP matches with clear win conditions.
How It Probably Works
Based on the trailer and the theory, here’s the likely game loop. Two teams spawn with their own fortified bases. A Shieldbreaker spawns somewhere on the map. Teams compete to capture and control it, probably through some kind of control point or extraction mechanic. The team that secures the Shieldbreaker then deploys it as a siege weapon to break the enemy base’s shield bubble. Once the shield is down, the attacking team pushes into the base.
The defending team has custom-built their base layout using a building system, creating chokepoints, kill zones, and layered defenses. The attackers use their hero abilities and weapons to fight through while destroying walls and obstacles. Eventually they reach the core objective, plant an explosive, defend it until detonation, and win. The defending team tries to prevent all of this through superior positioning, coordinated defense, and exploiting their home-field advantage.
Why This Could Be Brilliant
If the theory is accurate, Highguard combines three hot genres in a way nobody has attempted at this scale. You get extraction shooter tension from competing for the Shieldbreaker with high-stakes PvP. You get base building creativity from Rust-style fortification customization. And you get hero shooter variety from different Warden abilities and team compositions. Each phase of the match requires different skills and strategies, creating dynamic gameplay that doesn’t get repetitive.
The asymmetric attack and defense phases are particularly smart. Rainbow Six Siege proved how engaging structured attack and defense rounds can be. Adding custom base building to that formula means defensive strategies evolve over time as players discover optimal layouts. Meta-gaming isn’t just about which heroes are strong. It’s about which base designs counter specific attack compositions and vice versa.
The Rust Comparison Makes Sense
For those unfamiliar with Rust, it’s a multiplayer survival game where persistence is everything. You gather resources, build a base, accumulate loot, and try to keep it all safe from other players. Raids are the game’s climax moments where attackers spend massive resources on explosives to break into enemy bases and defenders scramble to protect years of accumulated gear. The emotional stakes are incredibly high because losing means potentially losing hundreds of hours of work.
Highguard can’t replicate that emotional intensity because matches are discrete rounds, not persistent worlds. But it can capture the mechanical satisfaction of breaching defenses layer by layer and the strategic depth of building bases that withstand assault. By removing the survival and resource grinding aspects, Wildlight focuses entirely on the most fun part of Rust: the raids themselves. It’s a smart extraction of core mechanics into a more accessible competitive format.
The Free-To-Play Question
Highguard launches free-to-play, which immediately raises monetization concerns. Former Apex Legends developers know how to build sustainable free-to-play shooters. Apex prints money through cosmetics without being pay-to-win. But Highguard’s base building element creates complications. If players can purchase base components or defensive structures for real money, that’s absolutely pay-to-win. If cosmetic base decorations cost money while functional pieces are free, that works but limits monetization.
The safest bet is cosmetics for Wardens, weapons, horses, and eagles plus battle passes for seasonal progression. Hero abilities and base building components stay earnable through gameplay to maintain competitive integrity. Apex’s model proves this can be wildly profitable without alienating the player base. The question is whether Wildlight can resist the temptation to monetize the base building systems aggressively.
The Six Week Sprint To Launch
Announcing a competitive multiplayer game six weeks before launch is aggressive. Most games get months or years of marketing building hype and community. Highguard gets six weeks. This is either supreme confidence that the game is polished and complete or a strategic decision to avoid extended hype cycles that might not deliver. Given Wildlight has been building this for four years in stealth, it’s probably confidence.
The compressed timeline benefits them in some ways. Less time for unrealistic expectations to build. Less time for competing games to react or copy ideas. And if the game is actually good, word of mouth spreads fast in the modern gaming ecosystem. Apex Legends launched with minimal warning and became a phenomenon overnight. Wildlight is attempting the same playbook but with an original IP instead of established brands like Titanfall.
Cross-Play And Cross-Progression
The game launches simultaneously on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC with full cross-play and cross-progression. That’s essential for population health in competitive shooters where splitting the player base kills matchmaking. Building cross-platform from day one is smart infrastructure work that many shooters botch by adding it later. Given these developers made Apex cross-platform, they understand how critical unified player pools are for long-term success.
Cross-progression means your unlocks, cosmetics, and rank carry across platforms. This matters more than people realize for player retention. Someone who plays on console but travels with a gaming laptop can maintain their progress everywhere. In 2026, not having cross-progression for a live service game is basically malpractice. Wildlight understands this.
The Skepticism And Backlash
Despite the pedigree and interesting premise, Highguard’s reveal trailer is getting ratio’d on YouTube with more dislikes than likes. Some of this is typical gaming community cynicism about new free-to-play shooters. Some reflects fatigue with hero shooters after Marvel Rivals, Overwatch, and Valorant dominating the space. And some is legitimate concern that another live service game will launch, fail to find an audience, and shut down within a year.
Reddit discussions immediately compared it to Overwatch, which isn’t entirely fair but isn’t entirely wrong either. The hero-based abilities, colorful visual style, and team composition elements share DNA with Blizzard’s shooter. But if the raid shooter mechanics are what Redditors theorize, the actual gameplay loop is drastically different from Overwatch’s payload and control point modes. Dismissing it as Overwatch clone ignores the base building and siege mechanics that could differentiate it significantly.
The Live Service Graveyard
The gaming community has watched dozens of ambitious live service shooters launch and die. Lawbreakers, Crucible, Hyperscape, Gundam Evolution, Rumbleverse, the list goes on forever. Even games from major publishers with big marketing budgets fail to find sustainable audiences. That creates understandable skepticism toward any new competitive shooter, especially free-to-play ones requiring massive ongoing player populations to function.
Wildlight’s Titanfall and Apex pedigree helps but isn’t a guarantee. These are talented developers but they’re also an independent studio without the corporate backing of EA or Activision. If Highguard launches and player numbers don’t sustain, they can’t afford to keep servers running indefinitely at a loss hoping for eventual success. The game needs to hit hard immediately and maintain momentum, which is incredibly difficult in today’s saturated shooter market.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Highguard?
A free-to-play PvP raid shooter from Wildlight Entertainment, founded by 61 former Respawn developers who worked on Titanfall and Apex Legends. It launches January 26, 2026.
What does raid shooter mean?
Based on Reddit analysis, teams compete for a siege weapon called the Shieldbreaker, then use it to assault enemy bases with custom-built defenses and destructible walls. Think structured Rust raiding combined with hero shooter mechanics.
Is it free-to-play?
Yes. Launching free-to-play on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC with cross-play and cross-progression.
When was it announced?
December 11, 2025 at The Game Awards. It releases January 26, 2026, giving only six weeks between announcement and launch.
Who are the Wardens?
Playable heroes described as arcane gunslingers fighting for control of a mythic continent. Think Destiny Guardians meets fantasy cowboys with magical abilities.
Can you build bases?
Based on the trailer analysis, yes. The blocky base structures and destructible walls suggest custom base building similar to Rust, but structured for competitive matches.
Will it have battle passes and cosmetics?
Not officially confirmed but extremely likely given the free-to-play model and the developers’ experience with Apex Legends’ monetization.
Why is the reveal trailer getting disliked?
Community skepticism about new live service shooters, hero shooter fatigue, and concerns about another competitive game launching and dying within a year.
January 26 Will Tell The Story
Speculation and theories only matter so much. The real test comes January 26 when players actually get their hands on Highguard and determine whether the raid shooter concept works in practice. If the Rust-style base raiding theory is accurate and the execution is solid, Wildlight might have created something genuinely fresh in an oversaturated genre. If it’s just another hero shooter with a gimmick, it’ll join the live service graveyard alongside dozens of failed competitors.
The compressed marketing timeline is both risky and smart. Risky because building hype and community in six weeks is difficult. Smart because less time for expectations to spiral out of control. Apex Legends succeeded with a similar stealth launch strategy, but that had the Titanfall universe and Respawn’s reputation backing it. Highguard is a completely new IP from a debut studio. The pedigree is there, but new studios face different challenges than established ones.
What’s undeniable is that someone at Wildlight had the vision to ask what if Rust raiding was a competitive game mode and spent four years building the answer. Whether that answer resonates with players determines everything. The gaming landscape is littered with great ideas that failed in execution. But it’s also home to surprise hits that came from nowhere and dominated the conversation. In six weeks, we’ll know which category Highguard falls into. Until then, the Reddit detectives will keep analyzing every frame of that trailer looking for clues about what they’re actually building.