Evolve evolves into something else

Evolve is going free-to-play on PC. Starting today, the Evolve Stage 2 update turns Turtle Rock Studio’s 4v1 alien monster hunting shooter into a free-to-play game. Studio co-founders Chris Ashton and Phil Robb revealed the change to fans late yesterday, saying the business model needed to be overhauled for Evolve to successfully re-launch. Although the game was well-received during E3 and other previews, the negative reception at launch caught the team by surprise.

Sure, there were some good reviews. There were also bad reviews. Yes, there was excitement. There was also disappointment – for players and for us. The DLC shitstorm hit full force and washed away people’s enthusiasm, dragging us further and further from that first magical pick-up-and-play experience.

The course correction comes with immense changes to the gameplay experience as well. The force dome, used to catch the alien player, will now be an ability that any character can activate instead of being limited to the Trapper class. Respawns for the hunters will be on a timer that grows as the match progresses, instead of being on a set rotation. Monsters have more health to and begin with enough skill points at the start of a match to use four abilities right away.

Players that previously purchased Evolve prior to the re-launch will be rewarded for their patronage with various cosmetic goodies and everything unlocked in their accounts will carry over. Turtle Rock added that while they’d like to bring the same changes to console, the beta period on PC will allow them to work out any issues prior to working on the other versions.