Amazon Releases Sci-Fi Shooter Video Game ‘Crucible’

Amazon Game Studios released the free PC game Crucible on Wednesday. The sci-fi shooter competition was the first one launched by the company’s Seattle-based gaming studio, Relentless, CNET reported.

There haven’t been too many details released about the game since it was first announced, along with three other titles, four years ago at TwitchCon. All that was known was that the competitive PC game was free to download and featured three game modes and 10 characters. Gamespot had a chance to demo the game and described it as “a third-person version of Overwatch meeting Evolve.”

Reviews were not immediately available for the game, but it faced some issues after its launch time.

We are aware of connectivity and queue issues impacting some players and are investigating. Please visit https://t.co/MO4i9qBBwY for more information, and thank you for your patience! ?

— Crucible (@PlayCrucible) May 20, 2020

The game’s three modes — Heart of Hives, Harvester Command, and Alpha Hunters — all included team play, and teams were made up of either four or eight players. Although all featured multi-player action, the objectives for each mode were very different. In Heart of Hives, the team won if they collected three hearts from a hive before the other. The aim of Harvester Command was for the team to keep their opponents from moving to drain their energy or “essence.” Alpha Hunter had a more severe charge, which was to “fight to the death,” CNET described.

Each mode was fought within the game’s world, Crucible, a hostile environment that featured another central element to the game, essence. The item was the way to get an advantage over the other team. Essence was harvested by killing herds of animals or creating a machine that helps you to draw it from the environment. Having an abundance of the item allowed you to level up in health and made you more lethal. Leveling up helped players to gain an edge over their opponents and was a big part of every mode of Crucible.

Characters and their abilities were a big part of the gameplay. Any role a player chose offered different capabilities. Although every persona offered different strengths, anyone can be an asset to any team. The game had an emphasis “on teamwork and character combinations without the need for building teams based on specific roles,” Gamespot wrote.

Amazon Game Studios, based in Seattle, also has offices in San Diego and Orange County, California. The company launched in 2012. The next titles that are expected to be released are New World, based on the 17th Century, and The Grand Tour Game, which will be based on Lord of the Rings.