Crucible, Amazon Games’ first foray into the world of multiplayer shooters, might be closing down later this year, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t fun to be had during the new PC game’s last hurrah. The studio has launched the multiplayer game’s final patch, and it’s pretty jam-packed, bringing custom matches into the title for the first time.
“Players can now create their own private Crucible matches to play with friends, scrimmage against other teams, or arrange private tournaments,” the developer explains in a post on the Crucible site. “When selecting a game mode, players can now select ‘Custom Game’ to host a 4v4 match of Heart of the Hives” – this being the last remaining mode in the game, following the studio’s decision to concentrate all its efforts on it earlier this year.
You’ll need a full complement of eight players to start a custom game, and the “leader” can start the match, shift players about between the two teams, and put people into a spectator role, the post says. The leader can decide whether to make matches ‘invite-only’ or ‘friends-only’, too.
Once a custom game’s up-and-running, up to four extra people can hop in as spectators, with the option to watch the action unfold from over-the-shoulder of any of the players haring around in-game (using hotkeys 1-8 to switch between them).
We've put out our final planned build for Crucible. This build introduces custom games, which will be the only way to get a match after tomorrow's playtest. Full notes can be found here: https://t.co/8fGMFIE5UJ
— Crucible (@PlayCrucible) October 15, 2020
Good news for Crucible fans keen to send the game off in style, too – Amazon’s unlocked every entitlement – that is, all cosmetic goodies such as skins, emotes, decals, and the like – for every player. So, when you next hop in for a game, you can try out an all-new look for zero Crucible Credits.
“The regular matchmaking queue will remain active through our final playtest”, which takes place today – October 16 – Amazon says in the post. This playtest will run from 11:00 PT / 14:00 ET / 19:00 BST – 17:00 PT / 20:00 ET (01:00 BST October 17), and when it’s over, the dev will be “switching off the regular queue, and matches will be available only through custom games. This will remain the case through noon Pacific Time on November 9, when we’ll be taking servers down and removing Crucible from Steam.”
So, if you want to dive in for your last few rounds in Crucible, you’ll need to jump into custom games exclusively, starting from later today (or tomorrow, depending on your time zone), until the game closes for good early next month.