Hyenas Has Entered The Chat: Closed Beta Review
So a Prima Ballerina, a Drag Queen and a Pro Gamer walk into a bar and now we’re in a brand new multiplayer FPS game. From the studio that brought us Alien: Isolation and Total War: Rome, Creative Assembly and SEGA, a brand new multiplayer shooter is on the horizon. HYENAS is a high risk, high reward extraction-style game that features several quirky misfit anti-heroes all vying for the top Crew spot.
Set in a world destroyed by the rich who drain Earth dry before leaving to colonize Mars, those left behind aim to do one thing: steal from the Rich. Even if that means stealing coveted Pop Culture Merch. From Cassette Tapes and Atari Cartridges to Iconic SEGA Plushies, the precious loot behind the locked vaults (that you break into using an improvised door charge made out of an original Sega Genesis, complete with cartridge you blow in before pressing it into the slot to start the countdown by the way) awaits Teams brave enough to fight through the ship's security aka MURFs and take down Rivals aboard the Plundership.
Plunder Riot Mode
Each match consists of 15 players, 5 Teams of 3, consisting of one of the many HYENAS to choose from. Similar to the Contestants of "The Finals" or the Heroes of "Overwatch", the HYENAS each sport unique abilities and weapons that can help a team have an advantage over the others. Defensive Foam Wall Guns, Healing Drones, Flame Traps and Invisible Shields, this game is stacked with options to meet any playstyle.
The game has seen several Alpha and Closed Betas, one that is currently going until September 11, 2023, with good feedback and of course some pitfalls. With a game designed with the aesthetic of Borderlands, PvE Mobs, a splash of Zero-G Gravity options and a plethora of ways to traverse and use the environment to your benefit, the Plundership has something for everyone but bringing all those details to life proved difficult. While there has been much improvement to some of the issues, some wonder if the game will meet its intended 2023 release.
After sitting down and diving into the Closed Beta, so far, we like what we see from SEGA and Creative Assembly. It's a different kind of game the shooters community really needed that wasn't Fortnite or Call of Duty. The character models are beautifully rendered and movement seems smoother than ever. When you first load into the game for the first time, you are introduced to a well thought-out Tutorial and introduced to your first HYENA, Mozie. The tutorial helps you understand the movement of the game as well as an in-depth introduction to the Zero-G environment that allows players to activate or deactivate it from a control panel. Float in through windows or boost through the top of the winding hallways to the Engine Room, battling in zero gravity can make or break a team, especially if they have Prima on their team, a hard as nails Ballerina whose unique ability allows her to maneuver seamlessly through Zero-G unlike anyone else, making floating through the air a game of life or death.
No SEGA game would be complete without their iconic character that has all but been solidified through history as their mascot: Sonic the Hedgehog.
Hero-Ki (Hiroki) has entered the chat.
A professional Cosplayer turned philanthropic smalltime celebrity, Hiroki is the underdog's Hero. Bullied as a child, he would frequently dress up as his favorite characters to feel safe and untouchable. The HYENA of many faces, Hero-Ki can take on the form of literally anyone, confusing MURFs and Rivals alike. And what would a Sonic-Suit be without Skin options? From Knuckles and Tails to Shadow and Metal Sonic, the skin options for him are all super cool and straight from the Sonic lore, and of course, we had to get the Shadow skin immediately.
The Plundership is a massive map with dozens of winding corridors, air shafts and Zero-G zones. Floating around in literally 0 gravity was strange at first but we were zooming around and doing "float-bys" against Rival teams in no time. Now, similar to games like Apex Legends where you start out with a base shield and have to loot higher and stronger shields for extra protection, HYENAS starts you off with no shield. Supply areas known as “Gear Up” areas offer several containers to open that may contain a Shield (White, Blue, and Purple), Ordinance like a Foam Grenade or Flashbangs, Shield and Health kits to recharge on the go, and other potential upgrades for you weapons. These loot-and-scoot areas are also where you’ll find the armed NPC’s, known as MURF’s, defending against HYENAS in the form of Drones, Turrets, Armed Guards. But don’t get too comfortable as a special type of enemy, a Squealer, can call for backup and if you don’t drop them before the progress bar above their head completes, you’ll trigger a Lockdown.
Lockdowns lower the lights and drape the area in red and spawn more MURF enemies to fight, including a large and tanky bigger foe that looks like the exo-mech from Aliens fell into into the game out of nowhere. Fighting against the MURFs wasn't too bad, however the AI for them right now does seem to be a bit too dull, at least for us and weren't much of a challenge at all. If anything, they were more or less the same level of annoyance gnats give than a challenge or hinderance to cracking the Vault. Their situational awareness and combat mechanics you’d expect for enemy NPC’s just don’t exist or are, at best, an afterthought.
While the main focus of the game is to compete against other Rival teams to secure the Merch and make it to the extraction point before everyone else, the NPC-based enemies seemed to lack intuitive response and failed to really add to any level of difficulty to loot an area or do a Smash-and-Grab. While leveling up and progressing up the ranks has been really enjoyable, we often found ourselves alone and rarely came across other Rival teams. When we did, we would engage and try to come out on top, and when we did we often didn't make it to the extraction zones. In fact, I don't think we ever made it to an extraction point nor to the zone when another team was trying to leave in time.
See, extracting isn't that simple. When a team starts the extraction process, it alerts all remaining teams and places a marker and the distance on their HUDs, leading them right to you from their current locations. If you're lucky, no one will make it to you in time and you're off scot-free with the goods and the Clout. If not, then you and your team need to hold out and defend the against the other Rival Teams to complete extraction or eliminate the final team standing in your way to claim victory. Withstand the assault from Rivals trying to eliminate you to take your loot and you reign supreme, but fail and they win. Enjoy not being in 1st place.
With no definitive release date other than 2023, HYENAS is definitely a game we loot forward to playing, sometimes even more than we want to play Apex and that's saying something profound.
Available on Steam for PC, PS4/5, Xbox Series X/S/One, this is one new shooter we are excited to add to the weekly rotation this year.
Head over to PlayHyenas.com for more from the studio and details on the Beta Opportunities available prior to official launch later this year.
