Price and DLC
Evolve is a labor of love. It’s the culmination of good ideas and fun gameplay, yet it’s tough to stomach the $60 price of the game. Something lacking a single-player component feels lacking to begin with, and charging full-price for a game with no real progression feels wrong. By giving players the ability to unlock everything from the start through pre-orders, what reason is there to continue playing the game? For fun? Of course, but high-concept games with awesome premises can only capture gamers’ attention for so long. The game will undoubtedly sell loads, but will there be anyone left to play with two to three months after launch?
Those who decide not to pre-order the game will be given the base four playable characters to begin with, and through monotonous progression, earn and unlock eight more playable characters. As for monster, the base game comes with three, but only one will be unlocked. The pre-order bonus monster pushes the monster count to four, but that’s only assuming the player pre-ordered the game. For those who do not drop a pre-order, the additional monster will cost at least another $10-$15. So roughly a quarter of the total cost of the game.
In an interview with IGN, Turtle Rock co-founder Phil Robb promises players that the pre-order monsters are not yet complete and will only be made free for pre-order players when they’re ready.
However, Turtle Rock Studios does have some saving grace, in that they’ve promised players that DLC will never split the game community. All map DLC for the game will be free to all, and those players missing the DLC monsters and characters will still be able to play with those who have them, ensuring that players will be able to play the game without issue.
So will Evolve live up to the Titantfall-esque hype, or will it be forgotten in game libraries and hard drives everywhere?
Evolve is set for release February 10, 2015. Will you be pre-ordering the game?
