Evolve dev: 4v1 gameplay caused 'more problems that we ever imagined'

As publisher 2K prepares to sunset the free-to-play version of its struggling monster-hunting shooter, Evolve, one of the game's developers has spoken out to explain why it ultimately failed to take flight. 

Replying to fans on Reddit, Evolve writer and designer Matt Colville suggested the title struggled under the weight of its 4v1 gameplay, which sees four hunters take on a single player-controlled monster. 

Despite that being the hook that convinced publishers to invest, Colville feels the idea was nigh impossible to implement effectively, and left the game fighting an uphill battle from the start.

"We never really solved 4v1, it causes more problems that we ever imagined, and we didn't really have a team to make a competitive shooter. We had a team to build a world," he explains. 

"The fact that all the heroes were A: all different from each other, mechanically, and B: all the monsters were each different from each other, mechanically, and neither Heroes nor Monsters used any of the same mechanics! Made it very very hard to balance new heroes and monsters.

"Heroes didn't have to feed. Heroes didn't level up. Heroes didn't pick abilities. It wasn't just asymmetrical, the two sides were playing fundamentally different games. That was a problem we never solved, it was always a problem. It meant all new content was a colossal pain to implement, forget balance, just implement."

The candid, and rather bittersweet exchange is a real eye-opener, and one that highlights just how difficult it can be to take a title from concept to reality. Be sure to check out the entire thing over on Reddit.