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Evolve will be a class-based hunt through “very lush and large outdoor environments”

Evolve is the work of Turtle Rock Studios, formerly of Valve.

If Alien: Isolation is, um, Alien – and our Steve’s hands on suggests it’s doing a stellar impersonation – then Evolve is Predator. Put together in the three years since Left 4 Dead originators Turtle Rock parted ways with Valve, it’s an asymmetrical multiplayer hunt which pits five class-based humans against one monster – all of whom are controlled by players.

We found out all of that yesterday. Today, we find out how it works.

Evolve is designed for six players – though AI are available to fill out any gaps in the team. Its fictional conceit finds humankind settling on a distant planet named Shear. Hunters are commissioned to make the land hospitable – impolitely removing the local alien life which has evolved rapidly to counter the new threat.

That land will be comprised of “very lush and large outdoor environments”, say Turtle Rock, housing “a lot of AI wildlife”. The wildlife will help sustain the monster, who can feed on the fauna to grow larger and more fearsome. For their part, the hunters can track the beast’s footprints, and follow an array of “visual and aural clues”.

It’s a hunt, then: a game of stealth on one side, and reconnaissance on the other. The chase ends either with the monster’s death, or the completion of a set of objectives by the alien player. Hunters enjoy three lives each, and belong to a particular class – including Assault (aggression), Medic (health), Support (shields) and Trapper (containment). Their weapons will have unlimited ammunition.

Evolve is due out on PC in the Autumn. It’s evidently a shooter with its own set of rules to conform to and dynamics to learn – a Natural Selection or Red Orchestra: Rising Storm, rather than a CoD or Battlefield. It couldn’t hurt to have a few more of those, could it?

Thanks, CVG and Game Informer.