‘Hyenas’ kicks off 11-day alpha test with a cursed Sonic cosplay

Creative Assembly has announced that its upcoming extraction shooter Hyenas is kicking off an alpha test today (March 24), and shared one of the Hyena characters that will be available for fans to play.

Last night (March 23), the developer revealed Hero-Ki: a Hyena that can use a unique camera to cosplay anyone he spots in the lens.

You can watch Hero-Ki in action – complete with his Sonic The Hedgehog cosplay – through the trailer below, which shows the Hyena using his skills to take down an armed squad of rivals.

“Hero-Ki’s cosplay and charity work made him a minor celebrity back on Earth, but after being evacuated to The Taint he’s had to put his skills with a glue gun towards less innocent pursuits,” described publisher Sega.

“His crewmates see him as naïve, but Hero-Ki’s love of pop culture and hatred of bullies overrides any respect he once had for the authority – especially if he finds materials for a new character costume.”

Beyond revealing Hero-Ki, Creative Assembly has also kicked off an 11-day alpha test of Hyenas.

However, the multi-stage test is closed, and anyone looking to try out the game early will need to put their name forward here and accept an NDA if they’re chosen.

Detailing the alpha, Creative Assembly said it will begin tests with a “small number” of PC players across Europe and North America, but will expand to more regions and consoles further into testing.

Hyenas was revealed last June, and pits teams of players against each other to loot Sega-themed merch and escape in one piece to sell their goodies to the ultra-rich on Mars.

In other gaming news, the Diablo 4 open beta kicks off later today, but Blizzard has warned that players should expect intentionally long queue times.