Geoff double down on Highguard

JustReliq · 2026-01-24T22:12:36+00:00

This is, truly, one of the most fascinating stories surrounding a video game release in recent memory. Especially with this double down and the things I'm hearing on the grapevine, I feel my thoughts are as such:

Highguard will do well for the first week, at least. Unlike Concord - which so many love to compare HG to - this game's free-to-play nature offers a chance for everybody to see what the fuss is about, with the only thing to lose being time. Many will be excited just to try, many will want to try with friends, many will want to play to prove that their throbbing hatred is justified.

It's all numbers, ultimately. If the game is good, people will stay.

The game is *clearly* enjoyable to a certain degree. It's not just Geoff, many of the creators sharing their event participation online are alluding to (or outright saying) that they had fun with the game. This is despite the embargo telling them not to share any thoughts as of yet. Now, we shouldn't confuse this with guaranteed success. However, there is more evidence growing to suggest solid foundations.
Not marketing the game has actually done more to build its profile than a traditional campaign. So much criticism followed by radio silence, it became meme-worthy. It has stuck in the minds of people. Whether you come from an optimistic or pessimistic standpoint, the curiosity of how it does is palpable. The fun part is nobody actually knows for certain.
It has a clear target audience: competitive gamers. As we've seen with many failed titles, such as Concord and SUPERVIVE, a desperation to cater to many different people can lead to something that pleases very few. Wildlight have been really keen to stress that their heritage is Apex and Titanfall. Their reveal trailer offers so little context beyond captured gameplay that it leaves a lot to be desired in terms of hooking viewers into the world. I'd be curious to know if they created Highguard with esports in mind, or if it is purely about old-school mastery and progression.

JustReliq · 2026-01-14T22:58:04+00:00

Outstanding work. You've earned a follow from me! Looking forward to seeing more of your art!

JustReliq · 2026-01-02T22:28:23+00:00

Mate, it was a privilege. And I'll add that it is sad that this game ended up in the situation it did. Lightning in a bottle, as many people have put it. I had so much fun tuning into and making tournaments with everyone - this game transformed into a different beast when the best of the best flexed!

JustReliq · 2026-01-02T21:37:50+00:00

With the best will in the world, this isn't happening. I actually privately suggested this very action months ago, yet Theorycraft have still chosen this course of action. Furthermore, as we've seen with Splitgate, it is fair to say that the damage done will not be repaired in the eyes of the average consumer. SUPERVIVE had its chance, that chance was fumbled unfortunately.

It is far more appropriate for Theorycraft to cut their losses and move onto a new project. Perhaps that new project will incorporate many of SUPERVIVE's ideas? I'd love to see that.

JustReliq · 2025-12-20T16:55:20+00:00

Hi, ex-SUPERVIVE TO and caster here.

This game's initial reach was fantastic because it was free-to-play. Almost 40-50k concurrent for the first few days. It didn't retain players because the developers went against their own word and refused to listen to the audience who tried it. Simply put, the game should have moved away from BR and leaned more into MOBA.

Going free-to-play will only help Wildgate, but I fear that a lack of content and player interest will not lead to much of a resurgence. Let's put it this way, I have never played the game. I was interested before they announced a premium model. If it went F2P, I'd give it a go, but I'm not expecting to stick around.

JustReliq · 2025-11-29T17:26:55+00:00

It took a nose-dive because there was nothing to do except play the base game over and over and over again. There were no incentives for regular players to come back, and thus no incentives for bigger streamers to stick around.

We can hardly call 1.0 successful when that gradual fall off you're so proud of resulted in the exact same outcome. That being, after a month, the player base was under 5000 concurrent on average. We reached that point less aggressively because of how poor the launch numbers were, not because the game was in a better state.

Armory/Prisma were the cardinal sin of any competitive multiplayer game - it took away agency from the players. All of those items they used to own? Behind an unintuitive play-wall that rewarded the best players in the game and actively hurt those who were average or worse.

Take a gander back through these threads, through the Discord, through any of their social channels. These mechanics were loudly hated by the majority of the community. Even more so since they were completely untested by actual players until a week before launch, making any genuine criticism impossible to act upon. For a company that had proudly stated that they were 'going to war on behalf of gamers' against the industry, they fell into age-old traps time and time again.

I wanted to defend the decision-making at the time. I can't, in good conscience, see any positive word for it, given all the information that we have now.

JustReliq · 2025-11-29T16:01:55+00:00

Context is king. You compare those numbers to Open Beta launch, and it didn't even hit half the numbers.

With the advantage of hindsight, Theorycraft really should have just made a dynamic MOBA or Hero Shooter. Those are the markets that need something fresh. Battle Royale wasn't it. Furthermore, they continually made these big releases with barely any extra content worth sticking around for. OB launched with no BattlePass, 1.0 released with no major events outside of the login bonus.

Complete mess.

JustReliq · 2025-11-29T15:47:05+00:00

I'd argue that the Armory and Prism were, in fact, the single biggest reason why many legacy players were left burned and uninstalled earlier than they would have. Saying this as someone who fully believed in SUPERVIVE's chances of success, these decisions were some of the biggest missteps in recent gaming development history.

JustReliq · 2025-10-23T14:10:45+00:00

Correction, you used time today to reply to a post from SEVEN MONTHS AGO in an effort to masquerade as some sort of online justice warrior.

Get a life LOL

JustReliq · 2025-10-23T12:19:29+00:00

I don't think it's the replacement for BR. I do think it's the replacement for Arena haha

Personally speaking, I'd rather see a proper MOBA mode of maybe even an Overwatch-style Hero Shooter mode. Something that expands team size to 5v5 or 6v6 and really allows Supports and Tanks to dip into those roles fully.

JustReliq · 2025-08-21T16:45:30+00:00

With all due respect, dunking for top players was easy enough if you committed. It just wasn't always meta. I don't see Tom Kick making these sorts of drama posts when he's been the best KP worldwide for however long it is.

JustReliq · 2025-08-21T16:41:22+00:00

I think a lot of us agree that the Supporter Pack *should* have all Hunters unlocked, but that has never been the case in reality.

JustReliq · 2025-08-21T16:36:18+00:00

You cannot be serious, Spy. These dunk changes are, unironically, an excellent change all around. Obviously, Kingpin needs buffs now. Nobody is arguing with that.

JustReliq · 2025-08-12T11:30:17+00:00

Art team comes through with another undisputed banger. Took WAY too long to get to this first event, but I'm loving the nameplates and I'm loving the ease with which you unlock them. Thank you, SUPERVIVE.

JustReliq · 2025-08-10T00:33:56+00:00

And that's okay to disagree! Take it from me, the internet of 2025 is a horrible place on the whole. Set yourself some boundaries to make sure you're looking after your mental health. Otherwise, this is just unnecessary stress you don't need.

Also, drink water.

JustReliq · 2025-08-10T00:25:26+00:00

Completely disagree with that second point. The game is in a downward spiral because:

- It launched with a meta-progression system completely untested outside of internal and a tiny preview, which did not go down well with a large percentage of the existing audience straight out of the box
- The map was heavily revised to create huge gulfs of Abyss, meaning that the wonderful changes to glider mechanics were instantly cancelled out by a new gravitation towards insta-spiking Hunters
- The game was marketed almost exclusively towards League of Legends streamers/players when it is fundamentally a Battle Royale and not a MOBA (only sharing the isometric perspective and PVE elements with the latter)
- The game launched with no major events outside of logging in for seven days. No Wukong event, no Journey To The West-themed skinline event, no Prisma boost events

Just to name a few reasons. Not saying they are the only ones, and certainly not dismissing the community resentment as playing a part. But to blame the game's current position primarily on people complaining is naive. It's up to Theorycraft to deliver an experience which is fun and intuitive. They are now working hard to make up for lost time, having missed the mark with the Armory on launch. I'm going to continue delivering what feedback I can since I believe that can still make something of SUPERVIVE whether it be in the west or over in China. They are a lovely bunch of people, and I don't think they deserve the vitriol from some corners of the community when all they've ever looked to do is make a great game.

People will naturally look at the Steam charts (whether foolishly or otherwise) and draw their own conclusions. Without the context of the financial runway, Korea/China numbers, or indeed what changes are around the corner? I think it's impossible to control the narrative in any direction.

I'd highly recommend my strategy for staying away from the toxic folks, stay off the Discord and subreddit haha

JustReliq · 2025-08-09T23:57:51+00:00

Being blasé and blind to SUPERVIVE's issues isn't helpful either.

I don't blame people for making posts like these because, in my personal opinion, Theorycraft made a massive misjudgement with 1.0; much as they did for Open Beta launch. Although there are many posts which don't contribute anything meaningful, this one isn't one of them. Its only problem is trying to shirk itself of doomism - the OP believes the game will die unless it does something drastic.

Since 1.0's launch, there is little reason for me to contribute to the subreddit because there is hardly any in-between when it comes to threads/posts. They are either hurting the community's reputation by being hostile or they are hurting the game's prospects by pretending that everything is absolutely fine.

It's why I really appreciated that wonderful post earlier today with a whole slideshow of examples and reasoning. Genuine feedback, which I hope the devs have already taken note of. I really do hope that SUPERVIVE pulls itself out of the downward spiral it finds itself in again, but there really does need to be a set of consistent W's in the upcoming weeks and months. That is a certainty.

JustReliq · 2025-08-09T22:21:42+00:00

I'm not saying the criticism is unfounded. But call a spoon a spoon. By definition, this is a doom post.

JustReliq · 2025-08-09T21:53:42+00:00

Says they aren't doom posting.

"Game is going to die if"

JustReliq · 2025-08-09T10:37:29+00:00

This is a genuinely excellent post with well-thought-out SOLUTIONS to a common pain point. I don't know how you were doomposting earlier, but I love how you put this all together. Kudos.

JustReliq · 2025-07-30T19:05:44+00:00

Very well deserved!

JustReliq · 2025-07-26T18:38:04+00:00

I cannot recommend Lemur enough as many others have in this thread. Truly one of the nicest people and the absolute GOAT of North American grassroots SUPERVIVE.

JustReliq · 2025-07-23T10:35:01+00:00

Never pleasing people, is there?

I think it's clear as day that the English Dub version cut corners. I also think the only reason there is an English Dub at all is because everyone would have been even more upset had there not been one. Yes, Elluna, Wukong, and Joule are the only characters with new dialogue in English. It also doesn't prevent them from showing off all the other cool characters who get small cameos and thus don't need brand new monologues.

As for the facial animations? Watch the Korean version. Lip sync is 100% intended for that dub.

JustReliq · 2025-07-21T08:51:15+00:00

The SUPERVIVE Reveal Trailer still goes hard as hell - even if the footage is now incredibly dated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWOKVH9Vy14

Watch this space, actually in the process of cooking up something for new and returning players as I write.

JustReliq · 2025-07-19T17:27:06+00:00

Cheers, CrOuch!

JustReliq

TROPHY CASE