It's hard to believe that 10 years have passed since Turtle Rock's Evolve challenged us to either be the monster or team up to hunt it down. The premise was undeniably great. One player is the monster, hiding but feeding until it is big enough to take down four other players. Seeing the success of asymmetrical horror games such as Dead By Daylight, it's hard not to wonder what might have been had Evolve not collapsed under its own weight.
Evolve would be a lesson in what happens when the predatory monetization 2K is now famous for doesn't have an established property such as the NBA or Grand Theft Auto to distract from the hand constantly in your wallet.
Evolve launched at the $60 price point that was the standard for big titles of the era. But it also had Day One DLC and a battle pass. New characters cost money, the most egregious being the monsters. They were the biggest draw, so new monsters cost $20.
By the standard now set with titles such as NBA 2K, Evolve's monetization is almost nonexistent. But in 2015, the majority of publishers actually sold you the whole game at launch.
Money wasn't the only problem though. The game has a fairly large learning curve and serious balance issues. A fully-leveled monster in the hands of a veteran player was a nightmare to deal with, even for skilled hunters. There was no real balancing of the matchups, as Evolve's player base started dropping rapidly after launch due to its numerous issues.
So the most likely scenario was a fully-powered tryhard monster quickly devouring four new players who had just picked up the game. When four of the five people required to play your game basically don't get to, it's a recipe for disaster.
I feel compelled to mention this was my oldest son's favorite game maybe ever. So much so that his grades dipped a little bit after its launch. We had to cut his gaming time, but he learned to manage his schedule better and got his grades back up. Sadly, his reward for that great report card was coming back to a game that had basically died during his time away. I have never felt so bad about making the right parenting decision at the time.
That said, he is now an incredible Dead By Daylight player, so all that Evolve experience came in really handy. As I've mentioned, looking at DBD's success just makes Evolve more of a "What If" story. I'll always wonder what might have happened had the game survived its nightmarish launch, or if it came out now.
There is a lot left to do in 4v1 space, and for all its numerous pratfalls Evolve showed us what was possible.