Evolve 2's abandoned concept art showcased by Turtle Rock artist

For those of you who still remember Evolve, Turtle Rock Studios was working on a sequel to the asymmetrical 4v1 co-op shooter, where four hunters would go up against a player-controlled monster. But unfortunately, the development of Evolve 2 was scrapped in the concept art phase.

Turtle Rock Artist TJ Frame shared 16 pieces of concept art for Evolve 2 on his website during what seems to be Evolve 2’s pre-production phase. Furthermore, it was revealed that development on Evolve 2 began shortly after the game was originally released in February 2015. According to Frame, “After Evolve released, the studio began work on a sequel,” but the project was subsequently abandoned after “several months of pre-production”.

The idea of a 4v1 PvP game featuring hunters and aliens on planet Shear garnered significant hype around the time Evolve was announced in January 2014, followed by a release date announcement on October 21 of the same year.

Evolve sold around 2.5 million copies according to 2K Games in its first month. It was the best-selling retail game in the UK and the second-best-selling title in the U.S. during its launch month. However, the game subsequently struggled to retain users post-launch. Evolve players criticized the game's repetitive loop and heavy reliance on DLC content. Consequently, the player base dwindled over time.

In light of this, the game went free-to-play in the form of Evolve Stage 2 in July 2016. The game regained some of its lost userbase and maintained a position in the top 100 Steam games. However, it slowly lost its player base within a span of two years, prompting publisher 2K Games to announce server shutdown in September of 2018. 

Individuals who purchased Evolve before it went free-to-play could still play co-op via peer-to-peer multiplayer on PC and console. By July 6, 2023, complete support for Evolve ended as 2K Games announced Evolve’s server sunset, making it no longer playable.

Turtle Rock Studios was acquired by Tencent in 2021 and is currently working on a Back 4 Blood sequel, but take this information with a grain of salt. 2K Games still holds the rights to the Evolve IP, and it seems unlikely that the publisher will revisit the franchise. What remains of Evolve 2 is concept art, reminding us of what could have been.