There’ll be three modes at the outset. Heart of the Hives pits two four-player teams against each other as well as large boss hives that pop up throughout the map. Each hive contains a heart, and the first team to snag three wins the game. In Harvester Command, two squads of eight players will race to earn 100 points by holding control of Essence Harvesters. Alpha Hunters, meanwhile, is a mini-battle royale for eight pairs of hunters. Last duo standing wins.

You won’t only have to deal with your opponents, but dangers that the hostile planet you’re based on lobs your way. The hero-focused gameplay may be somewhat familiar if you’re au fait with the likes of Overwatch, Valorant, Apex Legends and Team Fortress 2, though Essence and environmental hazards might bring fresh twists to Crucible. It remains to be seen exactly how the game will tie into Twitch, which Amazon owns.

Crucible will be available on Steam. It’s the first AAA title from Amazon, which also plans to release another major title in August, the long-awaited MMO New World. The company is also working on a cloud gaming platform called Project Tempo that could compete with Google Stadia, GeForce Now and Project xCloud.

Amazon Games