Crucible, Amazon's new sci-fi shooter game, drops today

The PC title is the first big-budget release from Amazon Game Studios.

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Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.

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Corinne Reichert

May 20, 2020 8:45 a.m. PT

2 min read

Crucible Amazon Games — Amazon Game Studios plans to release Crucible on May 20.
Amazon Games

Amazon Game Studios' team-based sci-fi shooter, Crucible, is scheduled to come out Wednesday. The free-to-play competitive PC game should be available starting at 12 p.m. PT/ 3 p.m. ET. You can to choose to play as a human, robot or alien hunter on another planet, and can level up by capturing the resource Essence.

The game is set to launch with three modes. One, called Heart of the Hives, has two teams of four battling monsters who protect hives, with the goal of capturing three hearts from hives before the other team does. In Harvester Command, two teams of eight battle to capture and hold Harvesters on the map so they can control Essence, with the objective of draining the opponents' resources. In Alpha Hunters, two teams of eight fight to the death.

Today's the day! Drop into #PlayCrucible starting at noon Pacific Time / 9 p.m. CEST. Our launch trailer just debuted on @SypherPK's stream, you can watch it here: https://t.co/1RuLkQrlrN
— Crucible (@PlayCrucible) May 20, 2020

"Crucible has a hunter for every play style, including Earl, an inter-stellar trucker who's built like a tank and has a gun sized to match, Bugg, a robot botanist whose primary concern is protecting his plants, and Summer, a champion fighter and former welder whose flame throwers keep things hot on the battlefield," Amazon Game Studios said earlier this month.

Amazon Game Studios, launched in 2012, makes titles including New World, The Grand Tour Game and Crucible. It has studios in San Diego and Orange County, California, and at Amazon's headquarters in Seattle. Cruciblewas developed in Seattle by the Amazon Game Studios team called Relentless Studios. Next up is New World, based in the 17th century and launching in August, and an MMO based on Lord of the Rings.