Wildlight Entertainment has rolled out a major update for its new free-to-play hero shooter Highguard, introducing a limited-time 5v5 Raid Mode and slashing crashes by 90 percent. The patch addresses community feedback on gameplay modes and technical issues just days after the game's January 26 launch. Developers aim to boost player retention amid declining numbers and negative reviews.
Highguard, a live-service hero shooter from Wildlight Entertainment—comprising former developers from Titanfall and Apex Legends—launched on January 26, 2026, generating nearly 100,000 concurrent players on Steam. Announced at the 2025 Game Awards, the game features unique elements like riding mounts such as horses and bears into battle. However, it quickly faced criticism for its 3v3 mode being too small and intense, alongside complaints about map sizes, leading to a drop in player count and an influx of negative Steam reviews.
On January 30, 2026, Wildlight released a significant patch to tackle these issues. The highlight is a new experimental 5v5 Raid Mode, available as a separate playlist for the weekend only, without replacing the existing 3v3 option. "We heard the feedback," the official Highguard Twitter account posted. "For the weekend, we are experimenting with a 5v5 Raid Mode. This is a separate playlist and not meant to replace 3’s. 3v3 Raids are still there for people who enjoy it! The lobby has been updated to allow for parties of 5 while the mode is live."
The update also enhances stability, reducing crashes by 90 percent through fixes for issues like leaving matches on PS5 with unexpected input states, loading into games on slower storage devices, and bugs in online presence and matchmaking. Friends now appear online correctly, and Xbox presence updates reliably. Studio head and game director Chan Grenier had teased the "big update" on Twitter earlier that day.
Player controls see improvements with crouch set to hold or toggle on all platforms and aim down sights toggle on PC (console support forthcoming). Console users gain field of view adjustment up to 110, while new settings like view distance quality and toggles for anisotropic materials, chromatic aberration, bloom, and global illumination offer more customization. Performance tweaks include tuned low scalability for shadows and reflections, disabling volumetric fog on low shadows, DLSS preset selection, and fixing an engine bug that throttled laptops to 60 FPS. Xbox versions add motion blur and anisotropic materials toggles, plus a new base called Soul Well.
Wildlight warns that the larger 5v5 mode may cause performance issues on the game's expansive maps. Industry support has emerged, with 1047 Games stating, "No game is perfect on day one." Future patches promise expanded localization, more graphics options like motion blur and depth of field toggles, and refined DLSS presets, signaling ongoing commitment to community feedback.