Highguard, the new PvP raid shooter by the minds behind Titanfall 2 and Apex Legends, has been embroiled in controversy since it was announced at The Game Awards. Some even want to see it fail on principle alone, which is a bit harsh if you ask me. With limited marketing (non-existent, really), we’ll need to wait until the Highguard launch time and release date to settle the score.

Perhaps we’re on the verge of one of the best FPS games. Perhaps not. Only time will tell. The good news is that Highguard is free to play, so you won’t be short-changed if you’re just giving it a spin out of curiosity.

When is the Highguard unlock time?

Highguard releases today, Monday, January 26, at 1 pm EST. Although Wildlight Entertainment has yet to officially mention the specific time, it’s backed up by the countdown on the Steam store page, syncs with the game’s daily countdown social media posts, and coincides with the studio’s launch showcase event livestream.

Based on this, here are the full Highguard unlock times for major time zones across the globe:

• Pacific: 10 am PST
• Eastern: 1 pm EST
• UK: 6 pm GMT
• Europe: 7 pm CET
• Australia: 5 am AEDT (Tuesday, January 27)
• New Zealand: 7 am NZDT (Tuesday, January 27)

As mentioned, Highguard is free to play so you won’t need to spend a dime to jump in and give it a try. That’s honestly great news considering it’s not exactly won over the crowds so far, and I reckon that’ll only change once it’s in players’ hands.

Is there preloading for Highguard?

You can’t preload Highguard right now, and that’s unlikely to change before release later today. However, the game’s system requirements recommend you have 25 GB free, so it’s not exactly a massive download anyhow, and you should be playing shortly after the release time.

Highguard system requirements

Here are the minimum system requirements for Highguard:

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit or Windows 11 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i5-6600K / AMD Ryzen R5 1600
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 6GB / AMD RX 580 8 GB
• Storage: 25 GB available space

And these are the recommended system requirements:

• OS: Windows 10 64-bit or Windows 11 64-bit
• Processor: Intel Core i5-9600K / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
• Memory: 12 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia RTX 2080 8 GB / AMD RX 6650 XT 8 GB
• Storage: 25 GB available space