The layers of mystery around Highguard are fascinating, and it's certainly fueled plenty of debate between my friends and me recently. Do we need another hero shooter in 2026? Is it destined for a similar fate as Concord? Well, my concerns focus on one core aspect: whether playing it on the Asus ROG Ally is worthwhile. With the game finally out, I've sunk a couple of hours into it, and it isn't a complete travesty - at least for Highguard's performance.
Wildlight Entertainment says its new FPS game is a 'raid shooter', as players engage in skirmishes to acquire the Shieldbreaker - a big ass mythical sword - to break down enemy defenses and reduce their base to ashes. As you can expect with former Apex Legends talent behind it, Highguard is full of agile gunplay and sturdy movement mechanics. I know portable gaming consoles such as the ROG Xbox Ally or Lenovo Legion Go can't match high-powered desktop rigs, but these devices can throw down with the PS5 and Xbox most of the time, albeit with some caveats, most of them being graphical.
This is very much the case with Highguard. The biggest thing to clarify is that the Asus ROG Ally Z1e can't handle it above low settings, regardless of the power setting you choose. At 15W TDP, you can easily hover between the 30-45fps mark, with interiors and less action-packed scenarios boosting it up to 50fps. Temperature-wise, the ROG Ally Z1e operates mostly at 63°C, which is fairly normal. This is also without CPU boost engaged. However, we can keep the resolution at 1080p.
Activating 25W or 30W Turbo TDP while plugged in gives you a healthy jump in frames, pushing Highguard up to the 60fps range, with drops lingering at 45-55fps. In return for a stable framerate, you'll be letting the handheld warm up to 95°C. Of course, the ROG Ally is designed to handle this well. After all, the device's thermal junction maximum is exactly 95°C, for both the AMD Ryzen Z1 and Z1 Extreme variants of the console. Although there isn't anything to worry about here, I wouldn't recommend staying at this temperature for extended periods.
If you're up for some light tinkering, you can adjust ROG Ally's fan curves to accommodate these warmer gaming sessions. The PC version of Highguard isn't exactly in a great spot overall. Issues with post-processing are plaguing it, adding another hurdle to combat. Players with Nvidia GPUs on PC can toggle limited upscaling settings, but you won't have anything like AMD FSR in sight on the ROG Ally.
To get around this, I briefly gave Lossless Scaling a spin - a very cheap alternative you can find on Steam. You still need a solid base framerate in most cases with this app, though. While it does work with Highguard, the input latency and artifacting aren't really worth it.
The PlayStation 5 version isn't doing much to outdo my ROG Ally. To clarify, my PS5 is the base model from launch in 2020. Highguard still struggles to hit 60fps here, and the fidelity jump isn't as impressive as it should be, either. Textures are equally blurry and lack crispness, and that's not helped by what appears to be 480p videos that preview maps before you jump into them. Lighting is thankfully improved, with god rays and shadows coming across better. Perhaps the biggest sin is that in the year of 2026, Highguard doesn't feature an FOV slider on PS5 or Xbox.
Oh, and if you're hoping to give it a blast on your Steam Deck, the news isn't much better. Unless you're dual-booting Windows 11 on Valve's platform, you won't be able to play it at all. That's because of the game's anti-cheat and Secure Boot requirements. As for the game itself, I'm into its 'raid shooter' concept more than I anticipated I would be. Preparing defenses, loading up on gear, and preparing for an assault on a rival squad can be fun, dare I say thrilling, when Highguard kicks into gear.
Interior firefights to protect bomb sites scratch that familiar Search and Destroy itch, forcing you to play aggressively. It just lacks polish and a real sense of identity, with its aesthetic seemingly at a tug of war between something like Immortals of Avenum and Titanfall.
What do you think of Highguard so far? Let us know in the Pocket Tactics Discord server.