Evolve Stage 2

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Evolve Stage 2 is a single player and multiplayer shooter game. It was developed by Turtle Rock Studios and was released on February 10, 2015. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Play Evolve for free with Evolve Stage 2! Evolve Stage 2 is a next-generation free multiplayer shooter featuring addictive 4v1 gameplay. One player-controlled monster must evade and outsmart a team of four uniquely skilled hunters.

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67%

Audience ScoreBased on 21,407 reviews

gameplay1.1k positive mentions

monetization126 negative mentions

Unique and innovative 4v1 asymmetrical gameplay that rewards teamwork and strategy, providing intense and thrilling multiplayer experiences.
Stunning graphics and immersive sci-fi atmosphere with detailed character and monster designs, complemented by excellent sound effects and a memorable soundtrack.
Diverse and well-designed characters with distinct abilities and engaging backstories, enhancing replayability and cinematic gameplay moments.

Limited game modes, maps, and content leading to repetitive gameplay and reduced long-term replay value.
Heavy grind for unlocking characters, perks, and cosmetics, which can be frustrating and time-consuming, especially for solo players.
Performance and stability issues on lower-end systems, including optimization problems, bugs, crashes, and matchmaking difficulties disrupting gameplay.

gameplay
3,040 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
56%
7%
Evolve offers unique and innovative 4v1 asymmetrical gameplay that is both intense and strategic, rewarding teamwork and individual skill. While the core mechanics are well-designed and balanced, and the game is enjoyable both as monster and hunter, the gameplay can become repetitive over time due to limited modes and map variety. Overall, it provides a fresh and satisfying multiplayer experience with high replay value, especially when played with friends.
- “Unique asymmetric gameplay: the 4v1 dynamic creates exciting and unpredictable encounters, rewarding teamwork and strategic planning.”
- “The gameplay mechanics are nothing short of captivating, seamlessly blending with the game's visually stunning landscapes to create an immersive experience.”
- “Gameplay is fast and fun. The gameplay is balanced and incredibly tight, with both hunters and monster feeling they have to use good strategy and tactics every moment of a match in order to get the advantage.”
- “The gameplay itself is fine, but the balancing is terrible (if the monster is a wraith, I'd advise walking away from the game and waiting 10 or so minutes, then coming back for a little bit of free money because it simply can't be beat at all) and there's a ton of performance/matchmaking issues that just make me wonder how they ever charged for this piece of trash.”
- “The boring rat-and-mouse core gameplay mechanics have not been improved upon at all and instead worsened by completely eliminating a monster's ability to sneak by giving all trappers a global "radar" abilities that can locate the monster's direction with 100% accuracy for a period of time every 15-30 seconds which means that instead of having properly time-spaced fights or having hunters even be outsmarted by a sneaky monster, you're instead constantly chasing someone that's grossly faster than you running in a circle around the tiny maps, eating and evolving without a fight until the end where you get steam-rolled unless the monster is horribly bad and gets caught and killed instantly.”
- “The concept sounds cool on paper but it just doesn't translate well into gameplay.”
graphics
1,393 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
36%
3%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their stunning visuals, detailed environments, and impressive character and monster designs, remaining visually striking even years after release. Powered by CryEngine, the graphics feature high-quality textures, lighting, and effects that create an immersive sci-fi atmosphere. However, some players report performance issues and limited graphics options, especially on lower-end PCs, and occasional graphical bugs; despite this, the graphics consistently stand out as a strong point enhancing the overall gameplay experience.
- “The graphics are beautiful, the gameplay is heart-pounding.”
- “Graphics: 10/10 great visuals stunning setting and deep atmosphere!”
- “The graphics are stunningly beautiful.”
- “The graphics are washed-out and generic.”
- “This game won't run on 1080p on lowest graphics, which is a huge let down around a casual coop game.”
- “Absolutely terrible graphics - I repeat - absolutely terrible graphics on minimum settings and I barely get 70 frame rates per second average on my overclocked Intel i5 2500k processor and overclocked MSI GTX760 graphics card; there are so many games that look better and run better on my computer system during multiplayer modes.”
story
635 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
72%
12%
The game lacks a traditional or robust story mode, offering only fragmented backstory and character interactions through pre-mission dialogues and a limited "evacuation" campaign of a few linked multiplayer matches. While the characters and world have intriguing lore hinted at in-game, the absence of a full-fledged narrative or single-player campaign is widely seen as a missed opportunity that leaves the story aspect feeling minimal and unsatisfying. Overall, the story is considered light, scattered, and secondary to the multiplayer-focused gameplay.
- “Emotional game especially the in-depth story with 6 chapters.”
- “Mechanics aside, my absolute favorite part of this game has been its storytelling.”
- “The character audio gets a little repetitive, but you get hints at the story in the dialogue, and the first time you hear a particular conversation it is usually pretty good.”
- “It was better before they went free-to-play and deleted most of the guts of the game—the story, the cutscenes, everything that made it fun and endearing.”
- “The game should have never had microtransactions, it should have never released at full price, it should have never released with a half-baked unfinished 'main story' game mode.”
- “The character design and voice acting are awesome, but the lack of a single-player or co-op story mode is a gigantic missed opportunity in an already shallow and repetitive game.”
monetization
373 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
61%
34%
The game's initial monetization was heavily criticized for aggressive, overpriced microtransactions and extensive DLCs, which many feel severely damaged its community and contributed to its decline. However, the recent shift to a free-to-play model with no current microtransactions has been well received, with players appreciating the ability to unlock content through gameplay. Despite this improvement, there remains skepticism about future monetization practices given the developer’s past approaches.
- “As of right now the game is 100% free to play with no microtransactions, which is a huge plus.”
- “It's amazing how this became a free game and literally has zero microtransactions, and the developers have said they don't plan to have any either.”
- “The current free-to-play model works for me; I would never have bought this game previously due to its initial expense coupled with microtransactions (seriously publishers/developers cut this out).”
- “This game was so cool, but it was ahead of its time and fell victim to horrible monetization practices that killed it.”
- “It's a fun asymmetrical multiplayer game that was intended to be an enjoyable experience amongst friends or pugs online, thoroughly damaged by corporate greed in one of the most extreme examples in video game history of DLCs and microtransactions done wrong.”
- “The publisher pushed the microtransactions for every freakin' character.”
stability
317 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
7%
93%
The game is widely reported as buggy and unstable, especially at launch, with frequent glitches, crashes, freezes, and matchmaking issues disrupting gameplay. While some improvements have been made over time and minor bugs persist, many players still experience server disconnects, UI bugs, and occasional freezing, impacting overall stability. Despite these problems, ongoing developer efforts and patches continue to address bugs, but stability remains a significant concern for many users.
- “Game runs great on my machine, essentially maxed out at 144fps at all times.”
- “The game is very stable and runs great even on systems with slightly dated hardware.”
- “Graphics are beautiful, the characters have funny backstory, and my experience has been quite stable and bug free, outside of a few party matchmaking issues.”
- “This game has the most potential but was burdened with glitches when it was released.”
- “The game freezes often, crashes often, a few times it ripped my graphics driver and forced a hard shutdown.”
- “If you buy this game, you will be consigning yourself to a buggy game, where the wait-times are several factors longer than the play-times, and where the global concurrent player base population is about equal to the number of kids attending a medium-sized high school in the Bronx, NY.”
optimization
291 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
Reviews of the game's optimization are mixed, with many users praising its smooth performance on mid to high-end systems and good overall optimization, especially given its graphical quality. However, there are frequent reports of poor optimization on lower-end PCs, stuttering, frame rate drops, and occasional crashes, suggesting inconsistency across hardware. Overall, while the game can run well when properly configured, optimization issues remain a significant concern for many players.
- “There are no noticeable bugs in game (as I know) and lag is minimal. Also, optimization is just perfect!”
- “Graphics are gorgeous, and what makes it even better is that it's incredibly optimized and runs smoothly even on not-so-powerful machines like mine (using a Radeon R9 280, kinda outdated card, and never got below 60fps).”
- “The game is very well optimized and performs almost flawlessly, with no noticeable lag, tearing, graphical shuddering, or anything of the sort.”
- “This game is horribly optimized.”
- “I would love to see some UI improvements; some things in the menus and character select rooms are a little buggy. Optimization is no bueno; I can run the latest Wolfenstein on high, but have to drop my resolution to 800x600 for this title. Otherwise, I get massive framerate drops. Like, what the hell? But when all is running smoothly, I'm having the time of my life.”
- “A poorly optimized game that is almost unplayable with the latest drivers installed, a graphics card far better than the minimum/recommended version, and large FPS drops during start-up phase and during the game, as well as glitchy audio and voice stutters from the AI and characters.”
replayability
247 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
30%
60%
10%
The game offers generally high replayability due to diverse characters, unique abilities, strategic depth, and varying match dynamics, especially when played with friends. However, many reviewers note that limited content, few maps and game modes, grindy progression, and reliance on DLC restrict long-term replay value, leading to decreased player engagement over time. Overall, while gameplay is fun and replayable, the game's longevity depends heavily on future content updates and an active player base.
- “Diverse characters: each hunter and monster offers unique abilities and playstyles, encouraging experimentation and replayability.”
- “Though there is currently only one gametype (hopefully they'll re-introduce the others soon), no two matches will play out the same. It gives replayability beyond any online game I've played, and if you get a team together, there is nothing like the thrill of the hunt to get the adrenaline going.”
- “The gameplay is fantastic, super unique, tons of replayability, all of the characters are distinct, the game is fun, and the developers have promised several unique game modes and maps in the future, all completely for free.”
- “This limits the replayability to 1 or 2 matches for each hunter and around 10 matches for each monster.”
- “What happened here was a good hype at release, but quickly faded due to not a lot of content, or replayability.”
- “The game offers very little replayability due to the sheer lack of proper progression and customization, and the lack of content, most of which is cut to be sold as DLC.”
grinding
246 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
1%
98%
The game features a heavy and often tedious grind, primarily for unlocking characters, perks, and cosmetics using in-game currency, which many find time-consuming and repetitive. While some praise the fairness of earning content through gameplay without pay-to-win elements, the required grinding can lead to frustration and diminished enjoyment, especially for solo players. Overall, the grind is a significant factor that impacts the game's long-term replayability and accessibility.
- “Game is good, skill-based and for the moment not too grindy.”
- “I enjoyed my time with the game that time and now with more players and getting all DLC as founder member means there is no grinding.”
- “The amount of grinding I would have to do to unlock everything is totally insane and unreasonable.”
- “Lots of hunters and monsters to choose from, but most of them are locked behind lots of grinding for in-game currency, making it difficult to keep gameplay fresh by playing new characters when it takes a notable amount of grinding with the starting characters to unlock any of them.”
- “The endless grinding is a frustrating nightmare.”
humor
168 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
98%
2%
The game's humor is widely praised, especially the witty character dialogues, humorous voice-overs, and funny in-game interactions, which enhance the cooperative experience and make playing with friends particularly enjoyable. However, some players find the humor undercut by frequent bugs, repetitive gameplay, and unbalanced competitive elements that undermine the fun. Overall, the humor contributes significantly to the game's charm, especially in social settings, despite occasional frustrations.
- “This game has so much potential lots of cool design my favorite one's Emet his dual personality is really funny, Bucket is cool he is doing everything at the same time (controlling the ship, controlling his robot body, creating menu).”
- “The thing I enjoy the most is the voice-over, the chat between the characters in the dropship, some of which is hilarious (especially between Emet and Bucket).”
- “Dialogue happen to be one of those good moments, and as well serving those humor or hilarious moments, while waiting to be dropped before the game actually begins or during in-game and does serves well in expositing the universe, abandoned equipment/towns/etc that's laying around waiting for a specific character to approach and talk with someone if they happen to be in the fireteam together.”
- “The gameplay experience is dispersive, definitely not funny overall, and way too chaotic. In my opinion, that's because the monster moves much faster than the hunters, as it is significantly bigger than them.”
- “It looks like they ruined the game. Now the hunter always has the advantage every time; you can't even evolve to level 2, and when you're close to level 3, the game probably has only 30 seconds left. The tracker ability is a joke, anyone can place a dome, which makes playing as the monster pretty boring. They keep nerfing Wraith and Gorgon. The only viable monster is Kraken, and sometimes Behemoth. The game is not good anymore; they sacrificed complexity for fun, but the fun only comes for the hunter.”
- “TL;DR: Not bad, not good, not funny, and repetitive as hell.”
atmosphere
115 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
34%
3%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive, moody sci-fi setting, striking visuals, detailed creature and environment design, and excellent sound effects that together create tense, memorable gameplay experiences. While early stages and original versions offered a richer, deeper atmosphere, some updates and gameplay changes have diluted this quality, leading to mixed feelings among players. Overall, the atmosphere remains a standout feature that effectively evokes fear, tension, and excitement, contributing significantly to the game's unique identity.
- “The game itself is beautiful, both sides are balanced (barring the Kraken bugger needs to be tuned rofl), the audio of the game is immense—seriously, hop into a match with stereo headphones on, turn up the volume and the atmosphere envelops you like an ocean.”
- “The atmosphere and the sense of hunting is fantastic; running through pouring rain, avoiding carnivorous plants, and trying to out-think the monster player is incredibly engaging.”
- “Incredibly unique art style, amazing sounds made in-house, incredible atmosphere, and still a great game to this day!”
- “This inherent volatility in the delicate balance of power engenders an atmosphere of frustration and capriciousness, wherein the scales of victory often appear to be unfairly tipped by the capricious whims of character selection rather than individual skill or strategic acumen.”
- “It doesn't encourage co-op from the 4 players if the hunted one is weaker, and it also fails to provide an atmosphere of fear or tension.”
- “They had replaced the really challenging and competitive atmosphere with microtransaction hand-holding.”
music
49 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
61%
6%
The game's music receives mixed reviews: some praise its immersive, suspenseful, and memorable soundtrack that enhances gameplay and atmosphere, while others find it forgettable or not engaging enough. Overall, the soundtrack is often described as fitting and well-produced but does not universally stand out as a highlight.
- “Audio: the game sounds fantastic, great dialogue, effects, and music.”
- “The soundtrack is of movie quality; it includes moments of suspense, tension, or heavy action, and gives the beat to the game.”
- “[Music] – even 40+ hours in, I still get hyped every time I hear that "tada tada ta tadan" vibe.”
- “- The music is really forgettable.”
- “- Turned the song off after two seconds because the song sucks.”
- “[b] Music = 3; [/b] honestly couldn't remember the music playing in the game.”
character development
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
33%
7%
The character development in this game is widely praised for its impressive, distinctive, and varied character and monster designs, complemented by well-crafted backstories and engaging interactions. However, some reviews note missed opportunities for deeper development through a campaign or story mode, voice acting inconsistencies, and DLC design quality. Overall, character design is a standout strength, enhancing the game's immersive and cinematic experience.
- “Incredible depth, great character design, and big variation from session to session.”
- “Character backstories, character designs, balanced and epic weapons, perks to fine-tune your playing style, map designs, and the option to play alone as a monster or together as hunters.”
- “From the rich and expressive character designs (e.g. Maggie, whose survivor background informs her trapper playstyle) to the very well written and well performed dialogue between characters, to the immaculately designed levels, playing the game feels cinematic and important.”
- “The moment you get lazy with character development, is the moment you start losing playerbase ie; Infinite Crisis.”
- “I wish they would have some kind of proper campaign mode, they wasted a lot of backstory and character design on a game that won't get any more updates.”
- “My only problems were that I wish they went deeper into character development.”
emotional
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players recall deep emotional connections to the game, highlighting moments of nostalgia, heartbreak, and intense experiences both as hunters and monsters. Many feel a strong sense of loss over the game's abandonment and lack of ongoing support, which dampened their enthusiasm and emotional investment. While some found the gameplay thrilling, others noted it lacked emotional depth, but overall the game evoked powerful, often bittersweet feelings.
- “No other game ever made me feel like this game did.”
- “I cried a lot, and I mean a lot, but I couldn't stop myself.”
- “The game stopped being developed on; I remember that day clearly. It was utterly heartbreaking to me as this game gave me so many special memories that I doubt another game will recreate.”