[HTML1]

After earning well-deserved praise last year at gaming events including E3 and Comic-Con, Evolve has since been getting lost in the marketing shuffle of major releases that were delayed until 2015. Part of that has been the overabundance of gameplay videos, demos and poorly named public "alpha" events making it difficult for the gaming community to follow, the other part of it is the question of what content the game would deliver one.

Evolve comes from Turtle Rock Studios, the creators of Left 4 Dead, that aims to expand on the studio's successful four-player co-op formula by adding a fifth player in control of one giant antagaonist: one of several giant monsters that can literally evolve. The asymmetric multiplayer is a wonderful experiment but it's here's where things have always been a tad murky.

Given the 2014 theme of lacking content in certain much-hyper first-person shooters Titanfall and Destiny, it was easy to be skeptical of Evolve since it was initially being touted as not featuring single player content, and only including three monsters.

Likely a big part of the reason behind the delay of Evolve from October 2014 to February 2015, it was announced a few weeks ago that Evolve would in fact, include a single-player, offline element that takes advantage of the game's also-recently-announced various gameplay modes. It seems increasingly clear that Turtle Rock and 2K wanted to bolster Evolve's offerings to bring value to gamers who took a few too many low blows from the industry in 2014. And it's all part of a bigger plan... to sell even more via DLC. Bring on even more monsters, beginning with the fourth to be revealed - Behemoth. Infographic on the community-named monster below:

Turtle Rock and 2K Games today unveiled pre-order and DLC plans for the 4v1 shooter, beginning with Behemoth, a new, massive, boulder-esque beast that will be available this spring, not too long after the game's core release. The Behemoth represents the game's largest monster and Turtle Rock explains that he's as big as they could make him. Players can purchase him for $14.99 with the Monster Expansion Pack (also includes the Savage Goliath Skin available at launch)- which is free for players pre-purchasing the core Evolve game or the Evolve Digital Deluxe Edition.

Xbox One Exclusive Pre-Purchase and Pre-Load

  • Players who pre-purchase Evolve digitally on Xbox One starting today can pre-load the game now through launch on February 10, 2015;
  • Starting today, players can pre-load the Evolve Xbox One Open Beta, which begins on January 15, 2015;
  • Pre-purchasing Evolve or the Evolve Digital Deluxe Edition for Xbox One grants players an exclusive instant unlock of the third Monster (Wraith) and the third tier of Hunters (Parnell, Abe, Caira, Cabot) at launch and for use during the Evolve Xbox One Open Beta;
  • Players who pre-purchase Evolve or the Evolve Digital Deluxe Edition for Xbox One will also receive the Monster Expansion Packfree*, which includes Behemoth, the fourth playable Monster, this spring, and the Savage Goliath Skin at launch.

Evolve Hunting Season Pass*

  • Includes four new playable Hunter characters available this spring, one in each class: Assault, Trapper, Medic, and Support;
  • Includes three Monster skins at launch, exclusive to the Evolve Hunting Season Pass: Magma Goliath, Magma Kraken, and Magma Wraith;
  • The Evolve Hunting Season Pass contains $29.96 of content for $24.99;
  • The four playable Hunter characters will be available for purchase individually outside of the Evolve Hunting Season Pass for $7.49 each.

Evolve Digital Deluxe Edition

  • The Evolve Digital Deluxe Edition is available for pre-purchase now as a digital download for Xbox One and Windows PC, and will be available soon for PlayStation®4 system;
  • Includes Evolve main game and the Evolve Hunting Season Pass;
  • The Evolve Digital Deluxe Edition contains $89.95 of content for $79.99;
  • Players who pre-purchase Evolve or the Evolve Digital Deluxe Edition will also receive the Monster Expansion Pack free, which includes Behemoth, the fourth playable Monster character, this spring, and the Savage Goliath Skin at launch.

Evolve PC Monster Race Edition

  • The Evolve PC Monster Race Edition is available for pre-purchase now as a digital download for Windows PC from participating retailers;
  • Includes Evolve main game, the Evolve Hunting Season Pass, and additional content when it becomes available after launch: a fifth playable Monster character, two additional playable Hunter characters, and four Monster skins that will be available exclusively to those who purchase the Evolve PC Monster Race Edition for 30 days;
  • The Evolve PC Monster Race Edition contains $131.88 of content for $99.99;
  • Players who pre-purchase the Evolve PC Monster Race Edition will also receive the Monster Expansion Pack free, which includes Behemoth, the fourth playable Monster character, this spring, and the Savage Goliath Skin at launch.

That's a lot to take in, so breaking this down, Evolve comes with the following at launch:

  • 12 Unique Maps – each with a variety of modifiers that can drastically affect each match
  • 12 Hunters (Abe, Bucket, Cabot, Caira, Griffin, Hank, Hyde, Lazarus, Maggie, Markov, Parnell and Val)
  • 3 Monsters (Goliath, Kraken and Wraith)

After that - and here's where 2K is doing right by players:

  • Pre-purchasers get the fourth monster (Behemoth) in the Spring for free - everyone else can buy the Monster pack.
  • All new maps (forever) and community features will be entirely free.
  • More monsters are in development for the future (will likely be purchasable via DLC alongside skins and other hunters).
  • If you never purchase a DLC character, you can still play against them and see them online.

Here's high-res concept of the Behemoth for more details on what may be the game's most exciting monster based on his sheer presence and ability to roll through the environment (click to enlarge any images on this page).

Today's news explosion from 2K Games for Evolve helps solidify the game's spot as one of Game Rant's most anticipated games of 2015.

Evolve - Fourth Monster Size Chart

Evolve PC Specs / System Requirements

MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS:

  • OS: Windows 7 64-bit
  • INTEL CPU: Core 2 Duo E6600
  • AMD CPU: Athlon 64 X2 6400
  • SYSTEM RAM: 4GB
  • NVIDIA VIDEO CARD: GeForce GTX 560
  • ATI VIDEO CARD: Radeon HD 5770
  • VIDEO MEMORY: 1GB
  • HARD DRIVE: 50GB
  • OS: Windows 7 64-bit
  • INTEL CPU: Core i7-920
  • AMD CPU: A8-3870K
  • SYSTEM RAM: 6GB
  • NVIDIA VIDEO CARD: GeForce GTX 670 or GTX 760
  • ATI VIDEO CARD: Radeon R9 280
  • VIDEO MEMORY: 2GB
  • HARD DRIVE: 50GB

Note: Check out NVIDIA’S GPU Analyzer here to see if your PC is ready for Evolve.

ADJUSTABLE SETTINGS

  • Texture Detail
  • Shader Detail
  • Model Detail
  • Shadow Quality
  • Particle Quality
  • Anti-Aliasing
  • Tessellation
  • VSYNC
  • Resolution

Note: The game supports 4k resolutions right now. HOWEVER, While SLI and Crossfire are not supported out of the box, the team is already working on a solution.

Evolve releases February 10, 2015 for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

Follow Rob on Twitter @rob_keyes.

Source: Turtle Rock Studios