Highguard’s mounts steal the show — developer says mount-racing idea is 'floating around'

After roughly five hours with Wildlight Entertainment’s free-to-play raid shooter Highguard, a Polygon writer says the game’s rideable mounts are the standout — and game director Chad Grenier told Polygon the studio is toying with a mount-racing mode.

Wildlight’s decade-long push to reinvent the FPS has produced mixed feedback and a rocky launch, the writer notes, and they personally find Highguard fun but a bit slow-paced. Still, the mounts are what keep them coming back.

The game’s companion beasts — horses, bears, panthers and eldergryphs — benefit from the studio’s slick movement pedigree (the team includes developers from Titanfall and Apex Legends). Mounts materialize under the player at the press of a button, offer a considerable speed boost and airtime, can be temporarily killed but respawn in seconds, and the writer says they haven’t experienced them getting stuck on terrain.

The writer says they would love a mount-based mode. Grenier told Polygon, "Something that we haven't started yet that's been floating around at the studio is horse racing and things like that," and added, "I mean, the possibilities are endless." Nothing is officially in the works yet, the piece says.

What happens next is unclear — Wildlight has not announced a mount-racing mode — though the writer suggested a free racing mode would help make up for the game's $18 horse armor skins.

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