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.

Today marks the fifth and final weekly update in the month-long Shear Madness event in Evolve Stage 2, which includes the introduction of an all-new Medic character – Paladin Parnell. This former shotgun-wielding, rocket-launching Assault class character has transformed into a heavily-armed medic in shining armor, and is the second cross-class character to be unleashed on Shear.

Paladin Parnell’s abilities include:

• Generyst Rockets: These rockets explode in a small area healing for a large amount. No longer deals damage.
• Heal Burst: When activated it gives Paladin a huge self-heal.
• Mutagen Shotgun: Short range shotgun that lowers your heal Burst cooldown after hitting a target.
• Righteous Fury:  When activated, it gives Paladin a huge, but brief increase to fire rate, reload speed and it reduces incoming damage. 

It has been a busy month for us over at TRS, to say the very least, and really we’re just getting started! As each month comes to a close, it marks another milestone for Stage 2 and for our community. And it really has been all about our community – you guys have led us in new directions, helped us refine existing features, add new ones and further develop Stage 2 to be a better experience each week. Now that Shear Madness is coming to an end, we’re going to pause, take stock of how far we’ve come in the two months since Stage 2’s launch, and then get right back to work.

What’s next? We want to get a fan favorite Monster, Behemoth (Bob), back into our players hands! We’re currently re-working Behemoth and when we re-release him, he’ll have a brand new passive ability, the first of its kind for any Monster, which is something exciting that we’re exploring in the Stage 2 Beta. As the weeks roll on we’ll continue to keep balancing, bug fixing, listening to your feedback and pushing Evolve Stage 2 forward in every way we can. We can’t do it alone, though, so as always, thank you for your support.

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