Warner Bros. Games released a new trailer for Back 4 Blood today, the latest game from Left 4 Dead developer Turtle Rock, that highlights the game’s card system. According to a press release from Warner Bros, the card system is “a new rogue-lite feature that enhances your experience with each playthrough, ensuring every gameplay session is dynamic, intense and feels unique.”

Players can customize their decks or choose from pre-built ones. “Back 4 Blood takes advantage of an adaptive A.I. known as the Game Director, which works behind-the-scenes monitoring the actions, health, and choices of players,” Warner Bros. said. “It responds accordingly by changing environmental conditions, adding obstacles, and unleashing special Ridden mutations through Card System modifiers known as Corruption Cards.”

Once the Game Director has played its cards, players can choose theirs. Cards have varying effects, “from amplifying equipment to reloading weapons, as they take on hordes of enemies in their path.” Players can also unlock new cards as they play.

It sounds pretty simple, but looks like it offers quite a bit of depth based on the trailer, which you can watch below. Back 4 Blood releases for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store on October 12th, 2021.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NT7zrkQjmM

Anyone remember Evolve? Turtle Rock’s asymmetrical monster action game launched earlier this year, and in spite of a very promising concept, it suck without a trace, thanks to the abusive DLC policies in the game apparently pushed by publisher 2K Games. However, it looks like the developers and publishers want the game to have another crack at the market- Evolve is getting an Ultimate Edition, which will bundle all the DLC for the game in a package with the base game, for just $60. Included in the $60 package the base Evolve game and Monster Expansion Pack, Hunting Season 1, and Hunting Season 2 expansion packs. The Ultimate Edition launches November 3.

That’s not all, either- new DLC was also confirmed for Evolve in the form of a new monster. She’s called Gorgon, and she is a hideous creature who likes to play with her food. Gorgon will be available to buy on Tuesday, November 3. She’s included with the $25 Evolve Hunting Season Two pass or individually for $10.

So, yeah- if you are a fan of the game, it’s big news all around. I am sure that the new Ultimate Edition will get an influx of new players to the game too, hopefully reviving its online community a bit. Just a bit.

Turtle Rock and 2K’s innovative multiplayer action game, Evolve, is apparently set to receive a major, brand new announcement on May 26, at 9am Pacific Time. That translates to 11am Central Time, and 12pm Eastern. The announcement will be made on a special Evolve livestream that will air at that time.

We don’t know anything about this announcement yet, no particulars about what exactly this might entail, but we might be able to make some speculations- Turtle Rock and 2K might be gearing up to announce that the game’s controversially priced DLC (which has been the primary reason for its hamstrung success so far) will be getting cut down to far more reasonable prices, or they might be announcing an actual new full fledged expansion pack. It’s too soon for an announcement for a full blown sequel, but given how the AAA industry works these days, I guess it is not out of the question.

Whatever it is, we will be covering it here on GamingBolt, so watch this space.

As Turtle Rock promised, they will be providing Evolved with free post launch support, both, in terms of content, and in terms of features. The next major update to the game is due out on March 31, and it will be a big one, adding a new monster (Behemoth), new hunters, and alsot he long promised and awaited Observer Mode to the game.

The four new hunters will be Torvald (Assault), Crow (Trapper), Slim (Medic), and Sunny (Support). You can check out how they, and Behemoth, play in the video above. Narrated by DB Sinclair and Yah Boy Shak, the video is an in depth walkthrough of the new additions.

Evolve launched in February on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. Though the game initially won pre-release acclaim for its unique asymmetric gameplay premise, closer to release, its controversial DLC policies made it the subject of much ire. While the game was met with all round positive reviews, it remains to be seen how well it did in the long run.

Turtle Rock promised that Evolve would soon be getting Observer Mode, and now they’re making good on their word. Observer Mode will be coming to Evolve on all platforms, 2K announced, and what is more, running contrary to the entire controversy surrounding the game’s DLC, it will be made available as a free update.

Observer Mode will let a sixth player enter a game, and passively observe what is going on, livestreaming it and also adding commentary, and having the option to switch viewpoints to any of the players. There will also be what 2K calls an ‘informative HUD’ available.

2K neglected to mention just when the update that brings Observer Mode will arrive, although judging by the fact that they have already announced it, it can’t be too far off.

We’ll keep you posted, so stay tuned to GamingBolt. And in the meanwhile, check out the video for the mode above.

For all the controversy that Evolve has been mired in, it is very easy to forget that there is a well made and innovative multiplayer shooter underneath it all. We’ve had Evolve for over a week, and 2K Games have decided to share an infographic that shows off some game stats (no sales numbers here though, because of course there aren’t; publishers seem to be increasingly reticent to share those these days), and that infographic shows us that Evolve is a quick paced, well balanced game- the hallmarks of a good multiplayer shooter.

As you can see, neither the hunter side nor the monster side seems to have any clear advantage, judging by overall win percentages- there is a minor difference, but it can be dismissed as statistical noise. We can also see that each game ends lightning fast, and that players who know what they are doing can usually take control of the game pretty soon (judging by the First Contact stat).

Evolve released on PC, Xbox, and PlayStation; stay tuned for more coverage and information.

Evolve is a long awaited multiplayer action game with a twist: asymmetric gaming. With the game being multplayer centric, and most multiplayer these days being online, you may have expected all the conveniences of modern online gaming to accompany the package- you know, stuff like cloud saving of data, seamless synching, and so on.

However, Evolve does not work that way. The game actually saves all of your data locally on your console, which is then synched online with the server. Which sounds fine, right? Well… yeah. Unfortunately, there is a side-effect wrought on by a glitch- if you have more than one console that you feasibly play your game online from, then it could basically end up wiping out all of your progress. Essentially, when you play the game from a second, new console, it is possible that the game, in synching with the server, synchs the lack of data on your console to the server, as opposed to synching the data on the server to your console. Meaning… all your progress can be effectively wiped away.

Of course, this is the epitome of first world problems, but still, keep an eye out and refrain from playing it on more than one system for now.

In spite of all of the controversy that it has been mired in, Evolve still remains one of the most promising and fresh new ideas that I have seen for a game in a while. The idea of asymmetric multiplayer gameplay sounds absolutely stellar to me, and I can’t wait to see how the game actually plays out.

That said, if you were hoping to play as a monster when you got Evolve, you might find yourself disappointed upon booting the game up- only one monster is available, the Goliath. No, this does not have to do with the game’s abusive DLC policies, but rather, the fact that the other monsters are locked and you need to unlock them to play as them.

So, here you go. Courtesy of the fine folks at Arekkz Gaming on Youtube, you now have a simple guide to unlock the Kraken. They’ve also got videos to unlock other monsters too, so be sure to check their channel out.

And stay tuned for more information and coverage on Evolved.

Evolve is one of the most anticipated games of this year, and gamers around the world are looking to get their hands on Turtle Rock’s asymmetric take on action multiplayer gaming; that includes gamers in India, and to capitalize on this, Games The Shop, one of the largest dedicated retailers of video game software and hardware in the country, will be offering an exclusive pre-order bonus for the game.

The pre-order bonus will include an exclusive T-shirt, and the Instant Hunter Pack DLC; the pre orders will also get the Monster Expansion Pack which will include  :

• New Monster Character
• Savage Goliath Skin

Evolve will be releasing in India (as well as in the rest of the world) on February 10, 2015; the game will be launching in India on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC, though the rest of the world gets Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 SKUs in addition as well.

Stay tuned to GamingBolt for more coverage.

There has been a lot of uproar and furore over Evolve’s planned DLC, which, in addition to a $30 Season Pass, is also selling individual characters for obscenely high prices. The backlash and negative response to this proposed idea has been immense, to the extent that all of the good press and momentum that the game had garnered so far risks being squandered entirely.

But now, director Phil Robb has spoken out in response in an interview with Destructoid, trying to make the developer’s side of the story clear:

We have the game set up in such a way that we can expand upon it if that is the desire,” he said.

“Our plan is one we pushed for as consumers. Never split the community, no pay to win, all that kind of bullshit that are hallmarks of DLC plans specifically made to leech money out of people.”

“I don’t like people thinking we’re doing underhanded, dirty shit,” said Robb when asked about a comment made by a fellow developer last year regarding the game’s DLC-happy structure.

He said that he understood why players would be wary of DLC.

“I think a lot of people probably feel like DLC is milking the community,” he noted.

“That’s fair because a lot of companies approach it that way.

“All our maps are gonna be free. Everyone gets that. Any of the monsters or hunters we put out are going to be paid DLC, but the nice thing about that, and this is something we pushed for really hard, even if you don’t buy it you can play against it. So it’s still not splitting the community.

“If we’re going to make money we want to feel good about the way we’ve done it, we don’t want to feel like we’ve hoodwinked people.”

It does sound like Turtle Rock is caught between a rock and a hard place- it sounds like the actual DLC monetization is being decided upon by the publisher and they are doing the best they can.

All I can hope is that 2K sees the backlash, and addresses the obscene DLC pricing soon. And for Turtle Rock, I hope the strength of their core game still shines through.