‘Hyenas’ will “invert” everything that’s popular in first-person shooters

Sci-fi extraction shooter Hyenas was designed as an “inversion” of slow and tactical titles like Escape From Tarkov in order to get players’ blood pumping in this genre again.

Hyenas is simultaneously a “more approachable extraction shooter” and a “more competitive hero shooter”, according to product director Alex Hunnisett who sat down for an interview with NME at Gamescom 2023.

As such, these excursions in Hyenas are at a breakneck speed thanks to the variation among the cast of characters and their abilities, as well as plenty of opportunities to alter their environment for tactical advantages.

“I play a lot of FPS games,” said Hunnisett. “You’ve got extraction shooters in the market that can be very tactical, very slow paced. You’ve got battle royale games, again, the pace has decelerated as time has gone on.”

“We’re inverting that and going back to almost, I’d say, closer to a team deathmatch pace. And I think there’s something – especially when you’re playing on the show floor – that’s a little bit more exhilarating and a little bit more enjoyable,” he continued.

“The industry has come on so far in terms of all of the things you can do in first-person shooters, so condensing all of those elements down has been very exciting,” explained Hunnisett, referring to the character mechanics and reactive zero-G opportunities for Hyenas players to capitalise on.

“That pacing gives us something unique, the movement gives us something unique, all of that added to the new universe, I think we’ve got a whole bunch of vibrant and exciting things there,” he summarised.

“I firmly believe it’s gonna be a bunch of folks who say, ‘I want to do something new that still has this element that I enjoy in it’. If you like extraction shooters, yeah, you can do that, but it’s slightly faster paced,” added Hunnisett. “You don’t have to sit in a match for 30 minutes, 40 minutes, 50 minutes. You don’t have to get super sweaty over it.”

In other news, Hyenas will be hosting a closed beta between August 31 and September 1 for those who didn’t have the chance to go hands-on with the game at Gamescom.