HYENAS trailers, gameplay & platforms

In June 2022, Creative Assembly revealed its new IP, HYENAS, and we're here to bring you everything we know about its gameplay, all of the trailers, and development details of this troubled shooter. As a multiplayer PvE shooter, it will involve players working together to embark on new heists with unique combat.

Announced all the way back in mid-2022, curious players have been excited about HYENAS and wondering about the trailers, gameplay, platforms, and even if there's a release date for the game. A multiplayer PvE shooter developed by Creative Assembly and published by SEGA, it looked from the get-go to be an interesting twist by making players work together in a combination of heists and unique combat. 

Since Creative Assembly has a reputable history of well-received games like Halo Wars 2 and Alien Isolation, fans have been eager to see how HYENAS would turn out. So, let's dive right into whether there HYENAS will ever be released along with the shooter's gameplay details, trailers, and platforms.

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Will Hyenas ever be released?

Unfortunately, it looks like Hyenas never will be released since the game has been cancelled.

In a posted 'notice regarding implementation of structural reforms' by SEGA SAMMY Holdings, SEGA's parent company, mentioned HYENAS specifically amongst titles being cut. 

"In response to the deterioration in profitability in the European region, we will review the title portfolio developed at each European site and discontinue "HYENAS" and some unannounced titles in development", says SEGA SAMMY Representative Director, President, and Group CEO, Haruki Satomi.

"In line with this, we will implement a write-down of work in process for the title", Satomi clarified.

With built anticipation for Creative Assembly's multiplayer FPS since its announcement in mid-2022, along with years of development behind that, I can definitely say this will be a disappointment for many excited players - not to mention the devs themselves.

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All HYENAS trailers

Official Announcement Trailer

Our first taste of HYENAS was the reveal trailer that was shown in June 2022. It was a cinematic trailer that gave us a solid look at the game's graphic novelesque art style, its somewhat whacky and humorous tone, and the different characters you'd get to play as, alongside the general style of gameplay.

It showed off a tonne of fast-cutting scenes, ranging from firefights between the unique characters and generic-looking mercenaries, some zero-g movement around a space station, shots of different abilities in use, and a lot of references to SEGA properties like Sonic and Super Monkey Ball.

Gameplay Trailers

One of the most recent gameplay trailers gave a little more insight into how the game looks and performs, as well as some of the more intricate combat mechanics HYENAS has on offer.

The trailer showed new weapons that players would be able to add to their arsenal, including sticky grenades that cover opponents in goo, and turrets that can be set up for more tactical positioning.

That's not all, though, as on August 30, 2023, another gameplay trailer dropped on the HYENAS YouTube channel, showing a breakdown of how a match plays out, with three teams squaring off for victory. 

In it, the narrator details players using their map to navigate through the map while stating that spawns and the location of merch that will need to be collected are randomised, which will likely help to make subsequent matches feel fresh. 

The gameplay trailer also highlights different playstyles, with one showing off a team taking a much more gun-ho style of play, and another sticking to the shadows and ultimately taking the win (or, uh, merch).

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What do we know about the HYENAS gameplay?

The latest gameplay trailer found above gave us an insight as to how HYENAS would have played. The game is described as a "multiplayer, multi-team robbery game" where five teams of three will take each other and AI across massive spaceships in orbit all to try and steal merchandise and loot to extract with.

In the game's lore, the rich would periodically send back ships to collect pop culture treasure so they could sell it on after destroying Earth and venturing to Mars. This is where you step in to halt the rich-aligned enemy AI by killing them and breaking into the vaults full of merch to steal for yourself.

It also has some hero shooter mechanics, with the developers revealing you can play as different characters, though these would have been expanded on in future updates about the game. In an interview with IGN, the creative director, Charlier Bewsher, talked a little about these characters.

So far, we know about the Pro who has a deployable turret, Commander Wright who has a foam gun to create makeshift cover and jumping platforms, along with Doc Hotfix who is a fourth-wall-breaking character who thinks they are in a video game. Bewsher also said the different characters would fit into general archetypes, such as attackers, support, and more.

Alongside its large arsenal of weapons and tools, there also looks to be some intense zero-gravity action that would have allowed you to navigate the maps in new and exciting ways.

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HYENAS Closed Beta: Start date & specialist characters

HYENAS had a closed beta period running from August 31 to September 11. This was only for PC players and accessed via Steam Playtest.

Players were able to experience the game by using eight specialist characters:

• Mozie
• Digits
• Prima
• Commander Wright
• Hero-Ki,
• El Silbon
• Doc Hotfix
• Galaxia
  
  
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What platforms would have HYENAS been on?

Here are all of the platforms that HYENAS would have been available to play on:

• PlayStation 5
• PlayStation 4
• Xbox Series X|S
• Xbox One
• PC

This should have given you a wide range of options to jump into the action with, and it was also great to see that the game would have been coming to the previous generation of consoles too, giving more players the chance to join the fun.

It's only a shame that we'll never get to see it all in a full release.

That's everything we know about HYENAS. If more information comes to light, we'll be updating this page, so be sure to keep checking back regularly.

For our thoughts on what we saw of the game, take a look at our HYENAS preview. In the meantime though, make sure to check out all of the latest releases here, as there are so many games to look forward to in the coming months.