Turtle Rock is making Evolve a four player-cooperative game for a reason. Left 4 Dead’s style of multiplayer madness worked because there weren’t too many allies to keep tabs on, and though Valve tried to push a greater number of players into the survival game, the studio quickly discovered that four is just ideal.
Speaking with Game Informer, Evolve’s creative director Chris Ashton explained why the gameplay clicks with a quartet.
“What happens is there’s a weird thing in that most people I think are able to track three friends. I can know that you’re over here and you’re in front of me and you’re to my left,” Ashton said. “And I can keep that in my mind, and I can keep in my mind that you have 50 health and you have 80 health, and I can keep track of that and fight another team. But if it’s four guys, it feels like I’m always losing one. I always don’t know where someone is, I don’t know where somebody’s health is – keeping track of four other friends is too much.”
It works well for the buddy system, too. Two players can tackle one segment of the map, while another pair tackles another situation. It just makes sense for the type of game Turtle Rock is trying to make, so those looking for a more populated world will have to look elsewhere.
