HYENAS was an Extraction Shooter being developed by Creative Assembly.
After an accident involving an Artificial Gravity machine renders Earth uninhabitable, its remaining population is living aboard a set of orbital slums known as the Taint. Meanwhile, on Mars, life is luxurious, but everyone lacks a sense of purpose. Seeing on opportunity, CLOUT (whose numerous products include the gravity manipulator that wrecked Earth, which they monopolize to control space travel) introduces the concept of The Brand, where status is determined not through achievements, but by owning rare items — and nothing is rarer than objects from Earth. Unhappy with watching what's left of their home continue to be pilfered by CLOUT and Mars, some aboard the Taint have formed mercenary groups to steal back what is theirs and give CLOUT a piece of their mind.
They are called Hyenas.
The main focus of the game is crews of three breaking into space stations to steal Merch, which can range from jewels to rubics cubes while avoiding security. There is one other problem, though — your team isn't the only one on a station, and extraction only opens up when you have a big enough haul. And that haul is too big to share...
As of September 28th 2023, SEGA has cancelled Hyenas
and announced layoffs at Creative Assembly.
This work contains examples of:
- The '90s: From cassette tapes and CDs to Classic Sonic figurines and band posters, the vast majority of the loot you're after clearly comes from the late 80's to early 90's.
- Anti-Frustration Feature: There exists a PvE mode (at least in closed beta) for players who don't take well to the trappings of PvPvE Looter Shooters such as Escape from Tarkov. Also, unlike most other such shooters, as weapons are tied to class and are not a commodity in and of itself, you'll never lose progress or valuable items from a cheap death.
- Cosplay: Hero-Ki's whole shtick is that he dresses up in a spacesuit modified to resemble Sonic the Hedgehog. Some of his special skins instead allow him to cosplay as Tails, Knuckles or Shadow.
- Drag Queen: Galaxia — her class is actually called Drag Queen. Her character art really emphasizes her feminine form, and she has the bombastic personality to match.
- Earth-Shattering Kaboom: When one of CLOUT's gravity manipulators failed, Earth was absolutely devastated. The game intro and several promotional images show that Earth is missing several chunks and now has an asteroid field made of its own debris.
- Hero Shooter: Has elements of the genre, most obviously the Hyenas, integrated into Extraction Shooter mechanics.
- MegaCorp: CLOUT effectively rules space, due to monopolizing the technology needed to travel to and from Mars.
- Planet Looters: A human-on-human example - CLOUT's forces are pilfering items for Earth to sell as status symbols to those on Mars.
- Product Placement: The game was announced to feature representation of classic Sega franchises, and it does... to a ludicrous degree — Rubics Cubes and Sonic the Hedgehog toys are just some of the items you can find as loot or, in the latter's case, on a Hyena, as Hero-Ki's character artwork shows.
