Highguard developer Wildlight has announced a 5v5 limited time game mode available to all players starting today. It will run through the weekend.
The free-to-play PvP raid shooter launched this week and immediately met with a “mostly negative” user review rating on Steam, although that has improved in recent days to ‘mixed.’ Meanwhile, Steam concurrents have fallen after a peak of nearly 100,000, sparking questions about Highguard’s future.
Chief among the criticisms from players is that the size of the map feels too big and empty for a 3v3 competitive shooter. You’re able to summon a mount to get about faster (the mounts are one aspect of Highguard that players seem to universally like), but some thought a 4v4, 5v5, or even 3v3v3 mode would have been a better fit.
Now, just four days after launch, Highguard has a 5v5 mode, albiet for just a few days. Today’s update also introduces a brand new base called Soul Well. check out the patch notes below.
“Wardens can now experiment with this dark relic from a lost age, added to rotation in both 3v3 and 5v5,” Wildlight said. “As one of two major patches released during launch week, this update is emblematic of the Highguard team’s dedication to creating a ‘ready for live service’ game, resulting in immediate action. Just this week, the team has squashed hundreds of bugs, improved performance across the board: yesterday’s update, Patch 1.0.4 introduced a variety of bug fixes, new video settings, and highly-requested features.”
While the addition of 5v5 should go some way to countering that feeling of emptiness in Highguard, it doesn’t address complaints about the resource-gathering phase of each map, which involves what some are calling boring mining and loot farming. Through it all is a feeling that Highguard perhaps suffered from being the “one more thing” reveal at The Game Awards, where it might have better managed expectations in a slot earlier in the show. Wildlight staff have indicated they originally planned a true Apex Legends-style shadowdrop for Highguard, but The Game Awards chief Geoff Keighley asked the team about featuring it at the end of the show. Keighley has suffered a backlash of his own, with some feeling Highguard’ position in The Game Awards’ running order overly hyped the game.
You asked, we listened
All-new 5v5 limited time mode, playable now! ⚔️ pic.twitter.com/wBaFZUOCeZ
— Highguard | LIVE NOW! (@PlayHighguard) January 30, 2026
It’s a big weekend for the game, with Steam concurrents hovering around the 9,000 mark at the time of this article’s publication. Wildlight will be hoping 5v5 gives Highguard the jolt in the arm it clearly needs.
Highguard update January 30, 2026 patch notes:
For our first weekend, we’re excited to drop an experimental 5v5 Raid playlist, a new Base and a bunch of performance improvements for 3v3, along with some more options in the Settings menus for people to customize their game.
5v5 Raid Mode – Experimental Playlist
We heard the feedback!
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. Grab 4 friends and jump into some hectic raids!
A few small tweaks for this mode:
- Raids are now 10 lives instead of 6
- Respawns are slightly longer during raids to allow generators to be planted/defused
Dev note: As most of you know, we are working on optimizations across the game. Many are in this patch and 3v3 should see good improvements! But… adding 4 more players to the game is not going to improve performance, right? Please keep that in mind as you try 5v5!
Dev note 2: Firing Range does not support 5v5 at this time, so the Play button will be grayed out if your party is over 3.
New Base – Soul Well
Soul Well is a dark relic from a lost age. The Iron Vigil has now prepared this base construct for use in the field where the dead still speak.
This new base will be added to the rotation in all modes.
Optimizations
This patch contains several optimizations that touch on animation performance, projectiles, draw submission times, and other gameplay systems. These optimizations benefit console and PC, but every PC is different, so the exact speedup to overall framerate is dependent on GPU, CPU, and other factors.
Quality of Life
Enabled these visual settings on PC and consoles
- Motion blur toggle for PC and consoles
- Anisotropic materials toggle for consoles (PC has this already)
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
