Crucible, Amazon's First Free Shooter, Coming to PC in May

This Tuesday (5) the Amazon made an announcement that promises to shake up the video game market, revealing the release date of Crucible, the first high-budget (also known as AAA, or “triple-A”) game from Amazon Game Studios – arm of the internet giant that has existed since 2012, but which until then had only released a few games for tablets.

Launching on the 20th of May, Crucible will be a free-to-play third-person shooter that will bring together elements from some of the most successful games of the last five years, inheriting characteristics from titles such as Overwatch, Fortnite, Apex Legends, DOTA 2 e League of Legends.

Announced in 2016 during the TwitchCon (annual event dedicated to the streaming platform of Amazon), Crucible has been in development since 2014 and, according to a recent report by the The New York Times, underwent several changes in this period, and more than once the developers had to abandon what they had already developed and start all over again practically from scratch. According to the report, Amazon's initial intention was to release the game in March, but the pandemic COVID-19 ended up forcing the company to postpone the launch to May.

 In season Frank Castle (not to be confused with the Punisher), head of the Relentless Studio (company belonging to Amazon Game Studios who was responsible for the game's development) revealed that the decision to delay the game's release was a way to avoid putting even more pressure on the team, which had already worked tirelessly on the game for six years and that, close to launch, was also very concerned about their families due to the pandemic.

What to expect from Crucible

As we have already commented, Crucible will be a third-person shooter with elements from some of the most successful games in recent years, as well as an ambitious project from Amazon entry into the world of video games.

Considered by the company as a game of the genre Pvve, the game will be fully focused on online multiplayer matches (that is, there will be no “campaign mode” where players can play alone) where they must not only face each other, but also work in groups to fight opponents commanded by AI.

As in Overwatch ou Apex Legends, Crucible features a wide variety of characters, each with specific weapons and abilities. These characters will be able to act in three different game modes: the first one is the heart of the hives, where players will be divided into two teams of four people each, where they will have to face hordes of enemies controlled by the game's AI.

The second way is called alpha hunters, and is essentially the battle royale de Crucible, in which eight pairs will face each other in the same arena and the winner will be the one who comes out alive. The third, called Harvester Command, is one that brings parallels with games like DOTA 2 e League of Legends, in which two teams of eight people must face each other in an arena but, in addition to defeating all the members of the opposing team, it will also be necessary to collect some items on the map to level up the character and make him stronger for the confrontation Final.

war for streaming

By being so openly inspired by other successful games, it is clear that the audience that Crucible will try to conquer is the growing niche of the streamers market, fighting in the same space with another upcoming launch: the Valorant da Riot, which has already been very successful among streamers in its beta version.

But in this dispute, Crucible should have a certain advantage: first, because it is developed by the same company (the Amazon) which also owns the largest game streaming platform in the world – the Twitch. Second, with launch now in May, Crucible soon it should draw more attention from players than Valorant, which still does not have a defined date, with the Riot just stating it should happen in mid-July this year.

Also, when the game was announced in 2016, the Amazon had promised that it would have some elements that would allow greater integration between the game and the Twitch, which would make life easier for all those who would use the game to develop content on the company's streaming platform. So far, the company has not yet commented on whether this greater integration promised in 2016 remains part of the final product, and it is possible that we will have to wait for the launch to find out if something like this is still part of the game.

Besides Crucible, Amazon also promises to launch the MMO later this year New World, but still little is known about the company's next big game or what games it takes its inspiration from, however it is possible that we will have news in the coming months.

Crucible will be released on May 20th exclusively for PC (but it is very likely that versions for consoles will be released in the future), and can be downloaded for free by Steam. 

Source: The Verge, The New York Times