The New Free Version of Evolve Is Out Now on Steam

Following its announcement last night, the new free version of Evolve is now available on Steam.

Those who already own the game and have it installed should see an update downloaded automatically. Everyone else can visit its store page on Steam--where it's now called Evolve: Stage 2--to grab it for free. What's available is technically a beta, but it consists of the full game.

To be clear, there's no longer any purchase required to play, and you can't actually spend money on anything (at least currently). Developer Turtle Rock Studios says "all content is available in-game and can be unlocked through play, for free."

Those who had purchased the game previously will receive Founder status in the new version, and they'll immediately have access to all content they owned. Turtle Rock also plans to "show [its] appreciation for [its] committed fans and early adopters with gifts, rewards, and special access."

This shift to being offered for free brings new changes to the game for everyone. Turtle Rock says it's adding more customization options, improving progression and its tutorial, reducing load times, fixing bugs, and tweaking maps and the UI. It's also making changes to classes so that teams are "less reliant on having experienced trappers and medics."

Turtle Rock's surprisingly honest announcement acknowledged the "DLC s***storm" the game faced and how it "washed away people's enthusiasm, dragging us further and further from that first magical pick-up-and-play experience."

"We want that magic back and we aim to make it happen," it explained. "We've made a lot of changes, improvements and additions to Evolve over the past year and we've got a lot more coming. In short, we're giving this game a vigorous overhaul!"

As of yet, there's no word on Turtle Rock's plans for the console versions of Evolve. A post on its forums makes it sound as if it hasn't forgotten about Xbox One and PS4 players, though.