Sci-Fi FPS Hyenas Kicks Off New Round of Playtests This Weekend

Creative Assembly, the creators of games like Alien: Isolation and the tons of Total War games, is hosting another playtest session for its new sci-fi FPS, Hyenas. The game consists of ability-based characters, tons of loot, and extraction-style elements, though what it doesn't have right now is a release date. You can still take part in the playtests now to see what it's like, however, assuming you've been chosen to try out Hyenas.

The game was announced last year amid some previous playtests and leaks that spoiled some of the experience for others who weren't able to take part in the first round of testing. After announcing the return of Hyenas trials, the first weekend of those is underway now as of January 20th.

For those who did play previously, there's a new map to check out this time. It's called "We Took Manhatten," and the Creative Assembly team previewed it ahead of the start of the alpha.

"The money-hungry big-shots on Mars have commissioned a whole Plundership's worth of salvaged merch from the remains of New York City, are you going to let them get away with peddling our precious pop culture as paltry goods?" an overview of the new map began. "'We Took Manhattan' is a tighter, more compact Plundership experience, enabling Hyena crews to zip across the ship in search of Merch and rival teams.   The tightness of the level introduces smaller spaces for the wily Hyenas to evade one another, or set up ambushes on rival crews, and provides more opportunities for close-ranged, intense firefights in the bowels of a Plundership."

Invites for the new playtest have gone out, Creative Assembly said, though there's always the chance these could expand further this weekend to add more players. If you're not able to take part in this weekend's test, there's more coming in the next few months. Another alpha weekend will take place later in February with two more planned for March afterwards.