Set on an alien planet in the distant future, gamers hunt their prey in adrenaline-pumping 4v1 matches. Players experience Evolve as a first-person shooter when playing cooperatively as the four hunters, while they control the monster in the third-person perspective, providing a gameplay experience unique to Evolve.

Play as the Monster to use savage abilities and an animalistic sense to kill your human enemies, or choose one of four Hunter classes (Trapper, Support, Assault and Medic) and team up to take down the beast on the planet Shear, where flora and fauna act as an adversary to Hunter and Monster alike. Evolve includes three Monsters, 12 Hunters, 16 maps, and four game modes: Hunt, Nest, Rescue, and Defend.

Evolve as you know it has been completely overhauled and is being re-launched on PC today as Evolve Stage 2, with new game design, gameplay mechanics, and improved gameplay balance and system performance. Not only that, but starting today you can play Evolve Stage 2 completely FREE on PC via Steam.

At Turtle Rock Studios, co-op is core to the experiences we create. It always has been. Our studio was built with a vision for finding new ways for people to have fun and work together in games.

With Evolve Stage 2, we’ve been working alongside our community to help craft an experience based primarily on their feedback. The whole thing is one massive experiment that has seen production schedules and content launches shift based on what our players tell us is important to them. And if there’s one thing that Evolve players have made clear, it’s that they want a true co-op story experience.

So in the spirit of continuing to work together with our community, today we’re releasing our first Co-op Operation, “The Deepest Dark” (Beta). Like Stage 2 itself, this operation is an experiment, and we’re excited to hear what you think.

Unlike your typical 4v1 Hunt, The Deepest Dark is a linear 4-player co-op experience built within the Evolve universe. For now, players will access the operation as a new map variant within the Co-op vs. AI matchmaking queue, but the experience is much more than the other recently released map variants. It’s potentially the seed from which more co-op vs. AI ops (or maybe even a campaign of ops) could grow from.

At the start of the operation, the Hunters are greeted by an ominous voice setting the scene and alluding to the events that have led to the Queen of Gorgons taking over a Wraith containment facility and the surrounding area. As the team makes their way to the Queen’s lair, they’ll face hordes of infected wildlife and Gorgon minions that spawn from the Queen’s eggs. Can the Hunters survive and take down the Queen of Gorgons to uncover why she’s on Shear?

Getting a chance to explore the story of Evolve is something we’ve always wanted to give our fans, and the Deepest Dark is just the first baby step in that direction. We couldn’t be more excited to introduce this experimental experience to the world, and to see what the community thinks and where they take it next!

Interested in giving our first Co-op Operation a try? Download Evolve Stage 2 on Steam today and let us know what you think!

Haven’t tried Evolve Stage 2 yet? Download and play for free on Steam.