Crucible – Amazon’s new free to play shooter is out this month

Hunt, level and adapt are the three words that end the new Crucible trailer. This seems to sum up the feel of Restless Studios’ new PVP third person shooter. Not only do you get to team up with your mates to hunt and level up, you also get to choose from a host of fun characters to play.

Amazon announced the game back in 2016 at TwitchCon, which is a yearly convention that focuses on the live streaming system that Amazon owns. It has been in development since 2014 at Restless Studios, a subsidiary development team of Amazon. At TwitchCon, Amazon announced that Twitch mechanics would be integrated into the game. It would allow one team member in the game to live stream gameplay. However, Amazon has not mentioned this feature existing in the 2020 version.

Characters are all about play style rather than build, with each holding a unique set of skills. For example, you have Bugg, a robot that flies whilst building turrets and is also good at healing teammates. Earl, a massive alien who sports a trucker cap, is a total tank and can take heaps of damage. If you want to play quick and deadly there’s Tosca, who can teleport, drops visibility obscuring gas and wields a weapon that leads enemies to corrode. Then there’s Summer who brings her champion fighting and flame throwing to the battlefield. There are also six other players to choose from, but Amazon has only revealed details about these four. Before each match, you can pick which character you wish to go into battle with.

Gameplay wise, there are three modes. Heart of the Hives, which sees two teams playing against each other and a massive boss-style hive. Two four player teams will battle for the “hearts” of the hive. The first team to obtain three hearts wins the match. Players here will have to not only battle the hive boss but also those they are playing against. So obviously your team will have to put in place some tactical strategies! The mode Harvest Command lets two teams of up to eight players capture and hold areas of the world called Harvesters. These areas contain Essence, which is the resource used to level up your character. The aim here is to destroy the other team’s resources as quickly as possible. Of course Crucible wouldn’t be a PVP multi-player without having a Battle Royale mode! Alpha Hunters is where eight teams of two battle to the death.

Crucible couldn’t have come at a better time with lots of gamers turning to multi-player games to stay connected to their friends and family. It is out on PC on the 20th of May.