Update, 26–27 October 2026. The southern bridge navigation and Shogun squad deployment have been repaired. Bots use northern, central and southern attack routes, including at smaller populations. Read the Highlands bot review.
Shogun Highlands measures 3,000 × 2,520 world units, using the game's internal distance scale. Its six settlement districts sit among bamboo, snowy pines, amber forest, cedar woodland and ochre hills. I wanted those surroundings to help distinguish several fights happening across one landscape.
The map needed more than a long journey between objective markers. Each settlement had to provide local cover, understandable approaches and routes to its two supporting outposts. Moving reinforcements between fights also needed a choice: a dependable route on foot or a quicker crossing with more exposure.
Connecting the ground routes
Roads, branching paths and six bridge crossings join the districts. Ridges, rivers, trees, walls and buildings interrupt long sightlines. Every settlement and outpost can be reached on foot, without purchasing a weapon or mobility ability to complete the route.
The paired outposts give those connections intermediate goals. Contesting one can cut a settlement's supply or block an attack. A team therefore has a reason to fight along the approaches instead of treating each settlement as an isolated capture circle.
Taking the skyways
Four bidirectional skyway connections link distant outposts. Their routes use eight bounce pads and 44 high rings. The pads launch you toward the rings; timing double-jumps keeps you moving through the stream, while a chi-jump lets you break away from it.
The last ring releases you above the approach. There is no arrival platform to complete the crossing for you. You steer the descent and can fire a bow or throw a grenade on the way down. Missing a jump or choosing a poor exit can leave you over a canyon, so the shortcut asks for attention through the landing.
Giving bots routes they can use
Bots work in persistent groups of up to six, with assault, guard, reaction and supporting assignments. They buy equipment through the same economy as players, react to observed contacts and use the map's navigation to approach objectives. Their squad decisions remain on the server.
Structural, surface and movement checks passed for the map. They establish that its routes and content work in those checks. Human play still has to judge how long reinforcements take to arrive, how exposed the crossings feel and how quickly settlements change hands. The multiplayer limit remains 64 players including bots, regardless of the landscape's size.
See Highlands in the atlas and read the Shogun rules.