Evolve
Evolve is an asymmetrical multiplayer game for five players. It is played with a team of four humans against a single monster, all controlled by human players. It does not contain a separate single-player mode, but the game can be played by a single player with up to four bots controlling the remaining spots. The game is set in the future and takes place on Shear, a planet far away that has been colonized. The valuable colonies are soon attacked by different kinds of monsters. To deal with the threat, war veteran William Chabot is brought out of retirement to assemble a team of hunters who will eliminate the monsters.
The human side consists of four classes. There are Assaults (damage), Medics (health), Supports (tools) and Trappers (tracking). Players assemble a team with any combination of the classes to hunt down the monster. There are multiple characters per class with different secondary skills and abilities and each class has different general abilities. Assaults use a personal shield for temporary invulnerability, Medics use a health burst to provide health in a radius, Supports can activate a radius of cloaking, and Trappers use a Mobile Arena energy dome shield to narrow down the area where the monster can be found. Secondary skills are different for each character. Hunter Abe, for instance, has a track dart gun to track monsters or tag food (which marks the monster when it is consumed). The other Hunter Griffin can deploy spikes to detect movement and the Hunter Maggie releases a pet trapjaw to chase after the monster's trail. Next to the permanent perks and the basic customization system, the full roster of characters is unlocked by reaching the mastery level in the different skills. This can also be done in solo matches and it applies to the monsters as well.
There are three types of monsters to choose from. The Goliath is a durable melee monster. It can charge, use its fire breath, and perform a leap smash or a rock throw. The Kraken is a flying monster that attacks from long range using electricity. It has access to an aftershock (energy burst), banshee mines, a lightning strike and a vortex. The Wraith is a stealth monster. It can abduct a character away from the team, create a decoy version of itself, generate a supernova (radial destruction along with damage and attack speed buff), and perform a warp blast to teleport and do damage at the same time. Additional characters and monsters are included in special editions of the game or can be bought as DLC. They do no split the community as players who do not own the DLC can still fight the additional characters and monsters, but cannot play them. Additional maps are released for free to all players.
Monsters can feed on wildlife and dead humans to fill an energy meter and evolve. This is used to become stronger, but requires entering a cocoon stage for a while that leaves them very vulnerable. Wildlife can attack both sides, influencing the events, and can reveal locations. Both sides can use different types of power-ups and need to use a strategic approach to overcome the opposition.
The game modes are Defend, Hunt, Nest and Rescue. In Defend, the humans need to defend a starship's refueling station by protecting power generators until the ship is fully refueled. The opposition controls a single, fully evolved monster, along with various Goliath minions. The monster must destroy the two generators to reach the ship's power source before it is refueled. In Hunt, the monster wins by killing all humans or by evolving to stage three to destroy a power relay, while the humans merely need to destroy the monster. The monster receives a head start to get away before the humans are dropped. When the monster dies, the game is over immediately, while when a hunter is killed, they have to wait for three minutes before they can respawn. In Nest, the monster needs to defend six monster eggs somewhere in the environment for ten minutes. The eggs can be hatched to receive help from minions. Humans have ten minutes to destroy all eggs. In Rescue, both the humans and the monster go after injured colonists spread over the map. The first to rescue or kill five, respectively, wins the session.
Games can be played as Quick Play sessions or in the Evacuation story mode. In the latter, each won match in a cycle of five brings an advantage to the next map for that side, with the last match being a Defend match. There are different types of maps with distinct themes, such as a jungle or an industrial complex in a snowy mountain.
