Turtle Rock Studios and 2K Games announced this Thursday the launch of Evolve’s Open Beta for Xbox One, beginning on January 17th, 2015. The official release for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC is February 10th.
Evolve is a co-op, competitive shooting game that consists of a five player team with four Hunters and one alien Monster. Both Hunter and Monster players have special abilities used during battle and power ups can be obtained by killing local wildlife. The Hunters overall objective is to kill the alien Monster, while Monsters primary goal is to kill all four members of the Hunters team or complete a secondary mission, such as destroying a human base. There are four classes of Hunters that teams will always be comprised of: a medic, trapper, support, and assault class, only eight of twelve hunters have currently been disclosed. Within each class, there will be a variety of different Hunters with special abilities and unique gaming style. Monster players will eventually have a total of eight monsters to choose from, but for now only three have been revealed including Goliath, Kraken, and the recently unveiled Wraith.
Wraith is a space alien ninja Monster who is able to warp around the battlefield and damage players before they know what hits them. Often called the stealthy assassin, this Monster has several amazing special abilities such as warp blast, decoy, abduction, and supernova. These powers allow her travel instantaneously anywhere on the map, generate temporary clones for distraction, take hunter players away from teammates, and create large battle arenas. While this new Monster certainly sounds deadly, she is actually the weakest out of all eight monsters with the least amount of health and armor. Though she maybe stealthy she is not impossible to defeat. Wraith will not be available for play during Open Beta.
Xbox One Open Beta starts January 15th with exclusive access to the campaign, Evacuation on January 17th. Xbox One users can play the “Hunt” game mode with access to the first two monsters, Goliath and Kraken with eight playable hunters. There will be 12 maps to support the Hunt gaming mode which is eight more than supported in Big Alpha. The Evacuation campaign will feature an array of maps and modes that provide a different experience each time you play. Any unlocks such as Hunter or Monster characters during open Beta will be carried over when the game launches. Unfortunately there will not be an offline version during this beta, as developers want to stress test the multiplayer servers. Offline play will be available on the official launch date.
PC and PlayStation 4 gamers will not be able to experience the exact same Open Beta as Xbox One players. Individuals that were invited to participate in the Big Alpha testing of Evolve will be invited for smaller closed technical testing. PC users who have pre-owned Left 4 Dead or Bioshock Infinity on Steam will also be able to take part in this limited Open Beta. Unlike Xbox One players who will be able to try out the new campaign and carry over any unlocked characters on launch day, PC and PS4 gamers will not. PS4 players will need PlayStation Plus Membership to participate.
There will not be special in game badges, skins, or medals for those who participate in any of the online Beta versions. Turtle Rock Studios highly encourages players to not only record their experience during Open Beta, but to upload any game play they wish to share. Please visit Evolve’s official website for more in-depth details of its Open Beta and any upcoming events.