Highguard’s latest update includes new Warden, Ekon, who can ride himself (yes, really)

The Highguard team has released another patch for its live-service hero shooter.

This update includes a new Warden, known as Ekon. Ekon is described as a “legendary Wildwalker” who is able to shapeshift into a direwolf. This means he doesn’t need a mount, as he is the mount.

“When his mentor, and closest thing to family, goes missing in the lost land of Highguard, there is no monster or Warden this great predator will allow to stand in his way,” developer Wildlight teases.

As well as this new Warden, the update – which welcomes in Highguard episode two – also adds a new map known as Skydrift which, as the name suggests, takes place above the clouds. From a quick glance at the artwork for this map (see further below), I get flashbacks to the sky islands in Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, but with more structures dotted about.

Other quality of life improvements include the likes of being able to leave the party by clicking on party member’s social card, Dead players no longer show up on the minimap and more.

You can check out the latest update notes for Highguard via the embed below:

Highguard was announced back in December, closing out Geoff Keighley’s trailer-filled The Game Awards extravaganza (which did also feature some awards). Coming from several former Titanfall and Apex Legends developers, Highguard quickly had a large influx of players on its release earlier this week, however there were a few complaints as well, with many disappointed with areas such as map size and the 3v3 game format.

Since this slightly rocky debut, other developers across the industry have voiced their support for Highguard, with Splitgate: Arena Reloaded studio 1047 Games stating: “No game is perfect on day one.”