Highguard's First Patch: A Step Towards Perfection
The highly anticipated raid hero shooter, Highguard, has finally received its first major update, addressing some critical issues and promising a better gaming experience.
Highguard's launch on consoles left players in a state of disbelief, as the absence of an FOV slider became a major point of contention. However, the developers at Wildlight Entertainment have listened to the community's pleas and delivered a patch that brings some much-needed fixes.
But here's where it gets controversial... While the FOV slider is now available on consoles, allowing players to adjust their field of view up to 110, the PC optimization is still a work in progress. The team is working tirelessly to optimize the game, but they need a little more time to perfect it.
For PC players, the patch introduces new visual settings to help manage rendering load and improve frame rates. Although motion blur and depth of field cannot be disabled just yet, the developers assure us that these features are on their way.
A particularly nasty bug on PS5, which caused the game to crash after leaving matches, has also been squashed. This is a significant step towards stabilizing the game and ensuring a smoother experience for players.
And this is the part most people miss... Highguard's first patch is just the beginning of a series of improvements. The developers have acknowledged the game's struggles to retain its multiplayer audience and are committed to making it better.
While negative reviews on Steam and declining player numbers on PC paint a bleak picture, there are also positive anecdotes from console players who are enjoying the game more as they delve deeper into its unique genre mashup.
Here's a breakdown of the key changes in the Highguard 1.0.4 Patch:
Settings Improvements:
- Added Crouch and Aim Down Sights toggle options for all platforms.
- Console players can now adjust FoV to 110.
- Improved low scalability settings for shadows and reflections, prioritizing performance over image quality.
- New "View Distance Quality" setting to control skeletal mesh LODs, offering more control over GPU and CPU usage.
- Players can now toggle features like Anisotropic Materials, Chromatic Aberration, and Bloom on or off, independent of other quality options.
- DLSS users can select a DLSS preset, with more options and better descriptions coming soon.
- Global Illumination can now be disabled entirely.
- Fixed an engine bug that throttled laptop users to 60 FPS regardless of settings.
Crash and Bug Fixes:
- Resolved crashes on PS5 when leaving a match with an unexpected input state.
- Improved stability by reducing crashes by 90% on all platforms.
- Fixed online user presence and matchmaking issues, ensuring friends appear online correctly and Xbox presence updates reliably.
Highguard's developers are determined to deliver an exceptional gaming experience, and this patch is a significant step forward. However, the ongoing optimization process for PC players might spark some debate.
What are your thoughts on Highguard's first patch? Do you think the developers are on the right track? Feel free to share your opinions and experiences in the comments below!
