2020 was a weak year for fans of MMOs and multiplayer games. Hardly any new games were released, and some of those that did were disappointing. MeinMMO editor Alexander Leitsch presents 3 titles that he was looking forward to but were disappointing.
What games are those? Actually, I am a die-hard MMORPG player at heart. There were 4 new games in 2020, but none of them could hold my attention for long. However, I had no high expectations for any of these games.
Instead, I relied on titles from big names like Amazon, Blizzard, or Square Enix this year. They released new multiplayer titles in 2020 that sounded very interesting on paper. But because I had expectations for these companies, I ended up being so disappointed.
Crucible
What kind of game is this? Crucible is – or rather was – a team-based shooter from Amazon. The game was in closed alpha for a long time and was revealed to the public in April 2020. The big surprise was that the release was already announced for May 2020. The time between announcement and release was very short.
Crucible then launched with 3 different modes – PvPvE against boss monsters, capture points, and deathmatch. Players formed teams of 2, 4, or 8. They took on various characters, who used different weapons and abilities. Just like in a typical hero shooter.
Why was I so disappointed? Crucible had been on my mind for years. This was also because some former GW2 developers worked on it, whom I knew from my time as a fan site leader.
Even though I am not a shooter fan, the game sounded interesting to me:
- The shooter aimed to focus more on the casual side compared to Valorant and CS:GO
- There were some PvE content
- The characters seemed funny and varied
- The planned modes also sounded exciting
Moreover, Crucible was backed by the big company Amazon, which could potentially venture into esports and expand the game for years. I wanted to be part of a big release from the beginning again.
But the execution of Crucible was anything but successful.
At release, there were technical problems, including poor performance, missing chat options, and bad matchmaking. Additionally, important content such as custom games or good tutorials was also missing for me.
Amazon then decided to send the game back into beta after the release to fix the errors there. But by October, they abandoned the project and shut down Crucible completely.
So, I was not only disappointed by the execution itself but also by the fact that the game was shut down so quickly. Although the developers of New World emphasize that Amazon has a lot of money and therefore games are designed to last for years, Crucible obviously did not get that chance.
