''Breakaway'' was a team-based, multiplayer brawler video game in development by Amazon Game Studios. The game was cancelled March 31, 2018.

Gameplay

''Breakaway'' was going to be a multiplayer brawler game in which two teams of four players attempt to move a ball (the relic) to their opponent's goal. Each team member (hero) would have some unique abilities that would aid them towards achieving these ends. Each hero could build two structures, such as turrets, healing shrines, and walls. The player could also upgrade their structures mid-game with gold earned through the match. The heroes spanned several class types—such as tanks, swordsmen, and mages—and archetypal themes (e.g., a knight and

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). The game would be fought on battlefields with themes such as

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and

Atlantis Atlantis () is a fictional island mentioned in Plato's works '' Timaeus'' and ''Critias'' as part of an allegory on the hubris of nations. In the story, Atlantis is described as a naval empire that ruled all Western parts of the known world ...

. The game included several features aimed to promote

video game live streaming The live streaming of video games is an activity where people broadcast themselves playing games to a live audience online. The practice became popular in the mid-2010s on the US-based site Twitch, before growing to YouTube, Facebook, China-b ...

on Twitch, the service purchased by Amazon. Broadcast Match Builder invites streamer followers to games. Broadcaster Spotlight lets players know when their match is being streamed. Metastream overlays game stats atop streamer video. Stream+ lets streamers run polls and place bets with in-game currency.

Development

Amazon acquired Double Helix in early 2014; they would then merge it into the company's existing Irvine operations, creating Amazon Game Studios Orange County. Two years later, Amazon announced its first computer games, including ''Breakaway'', at the September 2016

TwitchCon TwitchCon is a semi-annual Convention (meeting), convention for the video livestreaming service Twitch (service), Twitch. It is organized by Twitch Interactive and focuses on the culture of livestreaming, entertainment, esports and internet cultu ...

. The game combines elements of ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

'', '' Power Stone'' and ''

Rocket League ''Rocket League'' is a 2015 vehicular Association football, soccer video game developed and published by Psyonix for various home consoles and computers. A sequel to 2008's ''Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars'', ''Rocket League ...

'', and is designed for easy streaming on Twitch. The developers hosted an open alpha version in December 2016. ''Breakaway'' had no set release date, although it was scheduled to be released in late 2019. On March 31, 2018, Amazon announced that, after development of the game had been in hiatus, the game would ultimately be cancelled outright—although Amazon did note that it was possible that some time in the future that development may resume if the studio finds "a thunderbolt of inspiration".

Reception

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'' was "pleasantly surprised" by the game's accessibility and depth. They were able to understand the game within an hour of coaching. ''

Rock Paper Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC game, PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by ''Eurogamer'', in May 2017. History ''Rock Paper S ...

'' wrote that the game, at first, appears to be "a cacophonous trend-vomiting combination" of its forebears, but added that ''Breakaway'' had the potential to match them.

References

External links

* {{Portal bar, Video games Amazon Game Studios games Beat 'em ups Double Helix Games games Multiplayer online battle arena games Multiplayer video games Video games developed in the United States Cancelled Windows games