Amazon’s Crucible, released in May, returning to closed beta

By Brandon McIntyre June 30, 2020

Crucible, the multiplayer third-person shooter, published by Amazon and developed by Relentless Games, is going back to closed beta on Wednesday, July 1, at 9 a.m. PT, after suffering from a variety of issues.

While Crucible was an ambitious launch for Amazon, it’s still a newcomer to game publishing and development. Crucible is a hybrid of several existing free-to-play and hero shooters in the lineage of Apex Legends and Overwatch. Beyond its lack of identity, the game was marred by technical issues, including voice chat and matchmaking problems.

Related Videos

Crucible received an aggregate review score of 56 on Metacritic and was praised by critics for its vibrant locations and hybrid gameplay mechanics. However, it was widely criticized for being generic among a large catalog of hero shooters.

Relentless Games also faced problematic communication with gamers. After Crucible‘s release, Relentless removed two of Crucible‘s three modes, leaving Heart of Hives as the remaining option. Relentless has worked to improve the game since its release, though players have shown little interest with fewer than 150 people online, according to Polygon.

Crucible will still launch normally through Steam without redownloading. Progress, in-game items, and purchases will remain unaffected as well. Relentless didn’t say when Crucible will leave closed beta.

Colin Johanson, Relentless’ franchise lead, released an update on Tuesday detailing the decision to revert Crucible to its closed beta stage and what improvements it will make.

“We’ll continue following the road map we laid out previously and working on map, combat, and system changes to improve the Heart of the Hives experience as well as implementing other improvements based on your feedback and what we think the game needs in order to thrive,” Johanson said.

Players may notice developers soliciting feedback at regular weekly intervals. Relentless will seek input from a “community council made up of beta participants of all play styles.”

Once Crucible transitions to a normal launch, players may come back to a more polished experience. It’s also possible that the game’s player count will be higher if Crucible‘s changes during closed beta separate it from its competitors.

“We’re looking forward to the closed beta,” Johanson said “and to what’s in store for the future of Crucible.”

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Gaming

Atari is publishing its first VR game, and it’s coming to PSVR2

Hands in VR control an Atari 2600 joystick in Pixel Ripped 1978.

Legendary game giant Atari is breaking into VR. This summer, the company will publish Pixel Ripped 1978, the third entry in the standout VR Pixel Ripped series. It will launch on PC and PlayStation 5 and be compatible with both PlayStation VR 2 and Meta Quest 2.

Pixel Ripped is a standout VR series that pays homage to classic game eras. They generally tell coming-of-age stories built around the changing tech of the time, tying pivotal moments in gaming's growth to its young main characters. Previous installments have explored 1989 and 1995, but the new one is going back even further to explore 1978 -- and that's fitting considering Atari will publish it.

Gaming

The best N64 games of all time

ocarina of time hall fame the legend zelda

When the N64 was introduced to the gaming world, people were taken aback by how the graphics came to life compared to NES games and SNES. The concept of "3-D gaming" was entirely new, bringing us closer to the characters and stories we already loved. New Mario games and Pokemon titles became some of the highlights for the system, bringing characters to life in a way we had not seen before. Although not all the games from the N64 could survive the tests of time, there are quite a few that have place in our hearts. In honor of these games we grew up and loved so much, we have compiled a list of all of the best N64 games based on their genre.

If you think you can name all the best N64 games, read on and see how well you do.

Gaming

Claim these free 3DS and Wii U games before the eShop closes

free 3ds wii u eshop games nintendo and

The eShops on the 3DS and Wii U will shut down on March 27, so players are splurging on great games that they want to pick up in the final days of each storefront's life span. If you can't drop any cash on games for these systems before then though, you're probably wondering what's available from them for free. For the most part, it's demos, as the 3DS and Wii U weren't really known for their free-to-play offerings. Even then, many of the available free-to-play games -- or "free-to-start" titles as Nintendo called them in that era -- won't have much use after the eShops cease game sales because most of their content is gated by microtransactions.

Some might be a little more time-consuming due to in-game timers and other microtransactions, but are still worth checking out regardless. If you're wondering what full games you can play on 3DS and Wii U for free ahead of the eShop storefronts' discontinuation on March 27, we recommend checking out the following six titles.
Team Kirby Clash Deluxe