It's the end of the road for Highguard, which is set to go offline on March 12, a little over a month after its notoriously rocky launch. But the skeleton crew of Wildlight Entertainment developers still working on the game are releasing one final update--and it looks to be the biggest one yet, introducing account progression, a skill tree, a new weapon, and a new playable Warden, all set to arrive tonight at 4 PM PT / 7 PM ET."For our final patch, we'd like to thank everyone who has played and is still playing Highguard," Wildlight shared in an article posted to X. "Even though we are shutting the game down, we are excited to give our remaining players one last big update to keep you entertained over the weekend. Thanks again for playing with us. Enjoy!"When an X user responded to the post wondering why the update is being released now, rather than during the game's launch, Wildlight founder, studio head, and game director Chad Grenier replied with a bit of insight."When you're out of time and money - you have to release a game with the runway you have available and hope players will stick with you post-launch," Grenier explained.Titled "The Farewell Tour," the post doesn't include patch notes but does include a detailed breakdown of how the game's new features work. Account progression will see players level up their accounts by playing matches and earning XP. Each time a player levels up, they'll earn skill points that can be exchanged for unique abilities via the skill tree. The account level cap is currently set to 100, though it's unclear how much XP is required to reach that cap, or if it's even possible to do so before the game goes offline next Thursday."The Skill Tree is designed for players to build out their upgrades in 4 distinct playstyles," Wildlight shared. "Each branch has a variety of options for players to choose from, with 2 tiers of power on all small nodes."The aforementioned four playstyles featured in the skill tree are:Raider: "For players looking to be unstoppable during Raids, along with some buffs and abilities focused on general combat efficiency."Harvester: "For players who are looking to increase their Vesper gain and the power of their Warden Axe."Treasure Hunter: "For those players who love to loot."Protector: "For players who enjoy defending and keeping the team together."Players don't have to stick to one playstyle and can mix and match abilities and buffs from different branches of the skill tree.The biggest new addition to Highguard is Koldo, the newest playable Warden, who is effectively Highguard's version of Alphonse Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist: a soul trapped in a really cool suit of armor."Koldo was discovered on Highguard," Wildlight explained. "A lost soul from long before the continent disappeared, trapped inside a suit of armor, he searches for answers to his past. Koldo uses the power of his soul to protect his allies."Koldo's abilities are listed below:Passive: Guardian AngelProtect any friendly orbs around you from destruction.Automatically deploy your shield when reviving allies.Tactical: Soul ShieldDeploy a shield for you and your allies.Ultimate: Battle CryKoldo raises a standard that creates a protective dome. He can pick up and carry the standard, and drop it again at will.Being inside the dome gives allies faster health regeneration.Interestingly, it seems Wildlight wasn't required to release the update. According to creative director and design director Jason McCord, Highguard's final update was a labor of love."This is our final update and it's big," McCord shared on X. "Props to the skeleton crew at Wildlight for wanting to finish it and ship it to our remaining players, even if it only gets played by a few thousand people. They weren't asked to. They asked if they could finish it up and get it out there."