''Crucible'' was a

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

developed and published by

Relentless Studios Relentless Studios (formerly Amazon Game Studios Seattle) is an American video game developer that is based in Seattle, Washington. The company is led by Louis Castle, most known for being the co-founder of development Westwood Studios. The studi ...

, a subsidiary of

Amazon Game Studios Amazon Games (formerly Amazon Game Studios) is an American video game company and division of the online retailing company Amazon that primarily focuses on publishing video games developed within the company's development divisions. History I ...

. It is Amazon's first major original title published by their gaming division, which had previously focused on tablet games. It became available for download on May 20, 2020, for

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...

, after having been in development since 2014. The game returned to a closed beta status on June 30, 2020. On October 9, 2020,

announced that development would be discontinued within one month.

Gameplay

''Crucible'' was a

hero shooter A hero shooter is a subgenre of shooter games that cover both the first-person shooter and third-person shooter genres. These games emphasize "hero" characters that have distinctive abilities and/or weapons that are specific to them. Game desig ...

, similar to ''Overwatch'' or ''Team'' ''Fortress 2''''.'' Different playable characters, referred to as "hunters", impact which abilities players have. Matches were played in teams, meaning that players had to coordinate in order to ensure that their hunters' weaknesses are shored up by the others' strengths. The first team to complete the game mode's objective would win.

Release

Because of

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

the game experienced a remote launch without any in-person events. At launch, the game was in "pre-season" to allow developers to finetune the gaming experience.

Reception

''Crucible'' received mixed reviews from critics, according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

Cancellation

On October 9, 2020, Relentless Studios announced the cancellation of ''Crucible'', citing the inability to see a sustained future as the reason for cancellation. The studio offered full refunds for any purchases made and was subsequently shifted to aid development of Amazon's other upcoming title, ''

New World The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. 3 ...

.'' Matchmaking would be discontinued in late October, and custom game servers would be shut down on November 9 at noon PST.

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://www.playcrucible.com/ 2020 video games Esports games Third-person shooters Free-to-play video games Hero shooters Video games developed in the United States Video games scored by Maclaine Diemer Windows games Windows-only games Tactical shooter video games