By Jon Scarr
Wildlight Entertainment has officially revealed Highguard, its debut title, during The Game Awards 2025. The free to play PvP raid shooter launches on January 26, 2026, with cross play and cross progression across PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5. Highguard is being developed by a veteran team whose backgrounds include Apex Legends, Titanfall, and Call of Duty, and this first look positions it as a competitive shooter built around large scale raids and territory control.
Highguard introduces a new fantasy setting where you step into the role of Wardens, arcane gunslingers who ride into battle as part of small crews. Crews fight rival teams for dominance across a mythical continent. The central objective revolves around the Shieldbreaker, a powerful asset crews must control before pushing into enemy territory and destroying opposing bases to secure victory.
Wardens, Raids, and Base Destruction
At its core, Highguard blends shooter combat with raid style objectives. Matches focus on battling other Warden crews while also managing offense and defense across the map. After gaining control of the Shieldbreaker, teams can launch direct assaults on enemy strongholds, shifting the match from open combat into high pressure base destruction.
The idea of riding, raiding, and fighting sets Highguard apart from more traditional arena shooters. It frames each match as a multi stage conflict rather than a single objective sprint, giving crews room to regroup, strategize, and adapt as battles unfold.
Built by a Veteran Shooter Team
Wildlight Entertainment was founded in 2021 and has spent the last four years quietly building Highguard. The studio is led by developers who previously worked on some of the biggest shooters of the last decade. Co Founder and CEO Dusty Welch described the team as being focused on creating a new universe with the same scale and quality as their past projects.
Co Founder and Game Director Chad Grenier added that Wildlight was created to allow design driven development without compromise. Lessons learned from sustaining long running games like Apex Legends and Titanfall have shaped how Highguard is being built, with an eye toward long term support rather than a short lived launch window.
Launching January 26, 2026
Highguard launches January 26, 2026 as a free to play title on PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5, complete with cross play and cross progression. Wildlight Entertainment plans to share more details throughout January leading up to launch.
With its mix of PvP raids, base destruction, and a fantasy shooter setting, Highguard stands out as one of the more interesting competitive reveals from this year’s show. We will continue covering updates as Wildlight pulls back the curtain ahead of release.