Crazy shooter Hyenas offers unique genre mix – first gameplay looks like Borderlands and Overwatch

The new shooter Hyenas is a hero shooter with Borderlands flair and heist mechanics. The title has already been presented, but has not yet shown any gameplay. MeinMMO got a glimpse of alpha gameplay at gamescom and saw insane humor and a whole new approach to the shooter genre.

Hyenas is a new shooter with a unique approach to gameplay, combining:

• Borderlands humor and graphics
• Overwatch hero mechanics
• Game Modes Loot from CoD Warzone

In an awkward version of the future, the Hyenas struggle to collect valuable pop culture “artifacts” and use them to rack up some serious cash and reputation.

To do this, you choose a crazy hero, fight as a troop of 3 against 4 other teams and set off on legendary raids.

At gamescom, the developers explained to us how Hyenas works and what makes it special. However, the gameplay shown was from an early alpha version and we weren’t allowed to take any recordings, but did get a few screenshots.

For a first impression, we include the announcement trailer here and explain the gameplay below:

Innovative genre mix, but backward-looking graphics

How does Hyena work? The future is ruined, the earth no longer exists, society is becoming brutal. Rich people live on Mars, the rest of humanity bums in orbit.

The Hyenas want to break out of this reality and reach for the treasures of the rich. These aren’t crates of gold, however, but valuable artifacts that we would now call “merch”.

With a good dose of humor you reach for these treasures in a team of 3 and have to be careful of the other 4 teams. NPCs are also an issue – they guard treasures, want to kill you and drop loot themselves. So it’s a PvEvP environment.

If you collect enough “merch” and have reached a certain amount of cash, extraction points open, which you can use to exit the level. This is a bit reminiscent of Warzone’s loot mode with Escape from Tarkov’s extraction mechanic.

The levels are full of PvE opponents, offer shortcuts and hidden paths. Because everything takes place in space, zero gravity is also part of the gameplay. This opens up new avenues, but also a tactical perspective to turn battles in your favor.

If you escape, you win the match. It’s not a battle royale, so beating all opposing teams isn’t enough. You always have to collect enough cash and run away to win. The round takes around 15 minutes.

What is reminiscent of Borderlands? First of all the humour. It’s black as night, a little “over the top”. A dark vision of the future that many protagonists apparently only survive with cynicism and gallows humor. Hyenas is crazy and the atmosphere is very Borderlands-like.

On the other hand, there are similarities in the graphics. A hint of cel-shading graphics could be seen in the scenes shown from the first-person perspective. Whether that helps the title remains to be seen. Even the Borderlands development boss says that the series might have been more successful with more realistic graphics (via GameStar.com).

What reminds of Overwatch? Hyenas is also a hero shooter. Each selectable character has unique abilities and unique weapon loadouts. This limits individual player options, but encourages team play.

One character is the sniper, another is more suitable for close combat and can set up foam barriers as a special ability. The next character handles explosive mobile phones and deadly teddy bears.

As with Overwatch, each team requires a certain balance of specialists and play styles. This gives communicative teams a direct advantage and at the gamescom presentation the players were obviously trying to stay very close to each other in order to support each other.

When will Hyenas appear? There is no concrete date yet, 2023 is given as the release. Hyenas will be released for PC (Epic, Steam), PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

What do you think of the gameplay, graphics and humor? Do you see a hit or a slow seller? Tell us in the comments.

If you’d rather read more about extraction shooters then check out this column about the new Marauders: I didn’t expect anything from Marauders – After 5 minutes I was in love with the new hardcore shooter on Steam