The genre mix Evolve completed its first alpha at the beginning of the month, and the numbers are as impressive as the monster that players can either hunt or play as.
The balance of Evolve between the two parties is already quite good: A little work will still be needed, but perhaps that will settle down as monster players improve. Over 1.3 million matches have been completed, with 57% going to the four hunters.
The monster (22.4%) was the second most popular choice among the “preferred” roles, with only the tough “Assault” guy (22.9%) among the hunters being more preferred. He also has a seemingly simple job: to deal as much damage to the monster as possible, and when it attacks, to mitigate it with a shield. The third place goes to the Medic (19.5%), who tries to keep teammates alive and shows weaknesses on the monster for his comrades to target in a first-person shooter fashion.
The “Trapper” has an important job; he is to track down the creature and secure the combat area. 18.6% of players preferred to take on this responsibility (with harpoons!), while only 16.4% marked the support role as their preference. Everything is still closely clustered percentage-wise.
What the makers of Evolve, Turtle Rock Studio, will likely find as pleasing as the balance is the interest of Twitch viewers. Over 2 million hours of Evolve alpha have already been watched, and that was only over a few days. The fast-paced game seems to hit a nerve with the crucial new medium “Twitch,” which guarantees free PR and high fan engagement.
