In the asymmetric coop shooter Evolve a new trapper named Crow joins the fight. He has his roots in Kazakh culture and a unique tactical capability.
The first thing that stands out about the new trapper Crow is his bat “Gobi”, which is a Batray, an extraterrestrial bat species. Crow can send Gobi in a straight line, keeping an area revealed for two seconds as it passes and also showing hidden monsters. This makes Crow a very active hunter in Evolve, constantly sending Gobi out.
Another feature is provided by his rifle, which allows him to shoot past the monster’s armor directly into its health when fully charged. Developer Chris Ashton recounts a test round where a Behemoth with very low health but full armor sought to fight against the hunters. The team would have had no chance in this fight as the hunters were already affected by strikes. Yet, four fully charged shots from Crow brought down the beast despite its massive armor.
I played in a match today, Stage 3 Behemoth with low health, he got away and armored up. Hunters were all weak on strikes. When the fight came, we just protected Crow. Behemoth killed Slim, we didn’t care because we knew Crow was the key. Four charged long rifle shots later and Behemoth fell with at least 1400 armor points remaining. The whole team went crazy. The Crow player was sweating bullets.
As a template for Crow and his exceptional way of hunting, they drew inspiration from Falconry. And here are the so-called “Mongolian Eagle Hunters”, who have been the subject of spectacular photo and video documentaries in the past. Kazakh falconers settled in Mongolia while fleeing from communism and practice their tradition here. They hunt foxes and wolves primarily with shotguns and eagles.
We link to a short BBC documentary … but be careful, the documentary shows footage from the daily hunting life between eagle, fox, and hunter that might not be easy to digest for animal lovers:
