Hyenas was an inventive, heist-style extraction shooter and a complete change in direction for developer Creative Assembly, the team behind Alien Isolation, the Total War series, and various other strategy games. Set aboard a spaceship, you are tasked with stealing precious loot and being the last space pirate standing.
Hyenas made it pretty far into development – we were even able to play a fairly accomplished preview build at Gamescom 2023 – and was looking like a potential new entry on our list of the best FPS games. Unfortunately, the game was axed before it could fully launch. Here’s what happened, as well as an overview on what Hyenas would’ve been like to play.
Hyenas cancelation
Despite seemingly being on track to release at the tail end of 2023, Hyenas was canceled in September 2023 by publisher Sega. This came just over a month after a playable build of the game was shown off at Gamescom to FPS fans, content creators, and the media (ourselves included).
In a post announcing some restructuring across Sega’s studios, it said: “In response to the lower profitability of the European region, we have reviewed the title portfolio of each development base in Europe and the resulting action will be to cancel Hyenas and some unannounced titles under development.”
Considering years of development having already been carried out and the game was seemingly close to launch, Hyenas’ shuttering was particularly disappointing. Below you can find out more details about the game.
Hyenas story
The story of Hyenas was going to take place after Earth has been ruined. The rich decided to colonize Mars and the rest of humanity was left living their dreadful lives on an orbiting slum called The Taint. Trying to gain status, you could purchase priceless pop-culture artifacts salvaged from Earth to be sold on a massive retail ship called the Plundership.
As a pack of loot-thirsty space pirates, the Hyenas were talented at stealing these items and would compete against each other to see who could steal the goods and extract with their lives. These artifacts were actually based around SEGA franchises like Sonic The Hedgehog, Super Monkey Ball, Jet Set Radio, and more.
Hyenas gameplay
Standard matches of Hyenas saw five teams of three players spawn into a map and compete over various loot that is sealed away in vaults. As well as facing other squads, AI-controlled enemies also patrolled the ship. If you alerted them, you’d have a short amount of time before reinforcements were called and you’d have even more enemies to contend with.
Once your team accrued enough loot to get past the points threshold, you could then extract from the map by reaching a Getaway Area. Of course, other teams would be trying to stop you from escaping.
While matches would start with your boots firmly on the ground, some areas of the map could also become zero-gravity, adding yet another dimension to gunfights and traversal.
Hyenas also had a hero shooter twist, as you could choose to play from a selection of characters which each had unique abilities.
Essentially, the game was a mix of tight and vibrant arena shooters like The Finals, hero shooters like Overwatch, and extraction shooters like Escape From Tarkov.
It really was a promising looking project, and we’re sad it’ll never see the light of day. However, there are thankfully plenty more excellent multiplayer games to enjoy for those on PS5 and Xbox.