Amazon Games Studio Sets Launch Date for Free-to-Play Shooter ‘Crucible’

Amazon Games Studio has set a May 20 release date for its upcoming free-to-play, team-based shooter Crucible.

The latest title from Amazon’s video game development division, which was founded in 2012, was developed by Relentless Studios, the Seattle-based dev team of Amazon Games. Crucible is the first of two planned game launches by Amazon Games in 2020 and will be followed by New World, a massively multiplayer role-playing title, which is due out in August.

In Crucible, players join teams of other users to “hunt opponents, take down hostile creatures, and capture objectives, all on a rogue planet at the edge of known space.” At the start of each match, players will choose their own “hunter” from among a diverse array of human, alien and robot characters, each with their own unique abilities and advantages to collect “Essence,” an element that increases their powers.

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The game will launch with three unique modes: Heart of the Hives, in which two four-player teams battle various, giant in-game enemies (called Hives) to be the first to harvest three of their “hearts” and win the match; Harvester Command, in which two teams of eight players compete to capture and hold areas on the map, similar to capture-the-flag; and Alpha Hunters, where eight teams of two duke it out to be the last duo standing. 

“In Crucible, every match is different, and players’ choices really matter,” Christoph Hartmann, vp Amazon Games, said Tuesday in a statement. “Every opponent, team, and mode poses unique dangers, and no two matches are the same, so players must constantly adapt to everything the world and the other teams throw at them. We’re excited for players to join the hunt in just a couple of weeks, and we can’t wait to hear what they think of it.”

Crucible will hope to compete with similar free-to-play shooters such as Fortnite, Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Warzone when it launches on PC later this month.