Meet The Wraith: Raising The Curtain On Evolve’s Final Monster, Hunters And Modes

Evolve is a tricky game to explain. On the one hand it’s co-operative, as you can play within a team of four class-based hunters, but it’s also competitive when playing as or against an alien monster with a human behind the controls. I guess the best way to describe it is by comparing it to the film Predator, pitting multiple lesser beings against one which can potentially kill them in a matter of moments, except that neither side is ever truly sure who is the predator and who is the prey.

For all of the promise of the concept that has been shown up until this point, with two sets of human hunters and two monsters unveiled since Evolve’s announcement, it’s only really now that 2K and Turtle Rock are showing off what the full game will look and play like, just a few months prior to its launch in February.

There’s a third group of hunters which you’ll be able to get to grips with, each offering a new twist on the archetypes that have been previously shown. Parnell, the new Assault class, will require more control and finesse from the player, simply by virtue of having a missile launcher and a shotgun, rather than a lightning gun which locks on to the target or a flamethrower which has a large area of attack. Similarly, his Super Soldier ability allows him to dish out more damage, but also takes more damage, so needs more Medic support to survive.

Needing that extra level of player skill seems to run through the other new characters too. Cabot’s Support class ability amplifies damage rather shielding, and his radioactive dust tagging will be great for dealing damage as the monster retreats, thanks to being able to shoot through scenery with his railgun. Caira, meanwhile, has a multi-purpose grenade launcher, able to fire either napalm grenades or healing grenades, and she can engage an accelerator field to get around the map quicker.

Finally, there’s Abe, the new trapper who, rather than having gadgets or animals to actively track where the monster has been, has a tracking dart gun that can be used to mark the monster or the wildlife which the monster might eat. It’s a particularly tricky ability to figure out, in my opinion, because during the hunt, the monster is going to be on the other side of the map as soon as possible. This is joined by a stasis grenade, rather than a harpoon gun, to restrict its movement inside the usual arena bubble.

Together, these feel like characters that will require the most player experience to get the best out of, but they can all easily mix and match between sets. Parnell might do well with Hank’s energy shield when he goes into Super Soldier mode, for example, and there’s a lot of scope to try different combinations and find characters that you play best as. Working closely together as a team is absolutely key.

Of course, it’s all a little bit of a gamble as you’re never sure what you’ll be facing. It could be the heavy damage dealing Goliath, which was the first and most iconic monster to be revealed, the Kraken which is focussed on more distanced attacks, or the newly revealed Wraith. The Wraith is quite different to the others, with a more svelte and almost human-like feminine form. She floats above the ground, with multiple arms and scything overhead talons, reminiscent of Warhammer 40K’s Tyranids to a certain degree. Her abilities, however, are all focussed on speed, stealth and misdirection.

Rather than jumping, she teleports forwards, allowing her to cover ground very rapidly, as long as there’s still a few points of stamina. Her four abilities allow her to Warp Blast right into the heart of the hunters and create a powerful explosion, Abduction is almost the reverse, grabbing her prey and bringing them closer.

However, the most powerful combination in my experience was with the Decoy and Super Nova. The former creates a weaker simulacrum which goes after and attacks nearby hunters and can deal real damage, while the Wraith remains invisible until she attacks or the decoy dies. It gives a momentary and valuable reprieve during battle that can, with a break of line of sight, truly confuse the enemy while you charge up the Super Nova, turning her into a shimmering white flurry of blades that can cause massive damage in a short space of time.

Tempering her abilities is the fact that she has less health overall and less armour. However, the Wraith is also a hell of a lot of fun to play with. Sneakily listening in on my opponents across the table from me highlighted the abject confusion I was able to cause – something which I grappled with when I was playing as a human, as well – and it was fantastically good fun to set the trap of disturbing some birds, slinking into the foliage and doubling back upon my ostensible hunters before setting loose a decoy and sneaking right into their heart to start tearing them to shreds. There was a perverse pleasure in eliciting a scream or two of surprise.

Hunt in and of itself will bring hours and hours of tense battles between humans and monsters, but there will thankfully be other game modes to mix things up. Nest sees the hunters tasked with destroying monster eggs dotted around the map as the monster tries to defend them, while Rescue turns that on its head, so that the hunters are trying to save human colonists.

Both have interesting tactical options, such as hatching eggs when playing as the monster to gain a Goliath minion to chase and hurt the humans – this minion actually won me a round on one occasion. On the other hand, Rescue is a best of 9 mode, with two rounds of two survivors to rescue followed by a round of five, meaning that the final round can always turn things around.

The final game mode, Defend, is something entirely different. As an evacuation ship refuels above the bespoke maps for this mode, the hunters are tasked with holding off the attacking monster and the spawning pairs of Goliath minions. Two shield generators need to be held before the monsters reach the fuelling station itself, and it’s a very different feeling from the other modes, not least because wiping out the hunters doesn’t result in victory for the monster, only destroying the refuelling station.

They all come together in the Evacuation campaign, which takes place over five days as the humans try to evacuate the planet of Shear. Starting with a round of Hunt, successive days present a choice between whichever two modes were not played in the previous round, moving you from one side of a map to another, depending on your choices, before culminating in a round of Defend which is only ever the finale.

Winning a round grants you a bonus perk for the next, which could be anything from a Goliath minion who follows you around or extra local wildlife to act as food, if you’re the monster, to teleporters and orbital lasers that regularly try to hit the monster, if you’re the humans. It all comes down to who wins that final Defend battle, though, so even if you’ve lost the first four rounds, there’s always something to play for, and naturally a large pot of XP to earn for sticking it out until the end.

It’s a really clever way of binding everything together, and Evacuation actually makes a pretty good way of learning your character, if you play it in single player. Especially with the more unusual abilities, like the tracking gun from Abe, it’s important to get a little practice in before heading online.

Of course, this is perhaps going to be at its best when you play with friends, and a slightly less competitive environment. I really can’t wait to hop into a private match with people I know, in a similar way to how we played Left 4 Dead, and pit our wits against one another, all while chatting away and having a laugh.