Having more than four players would make Evolve too difficult

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In Turtle Rock's upcoming Evolve, a team of four players goes against a lone giant. But why limit the human team to just four? Certainly, the game should be able to support larger teams? According to creative director Chris Ashton, lessons learned from Left 4 Dead convinced the team that teams larger than four become too difficult to track.

Speaking to Game Informer, Ashton explained that the team experimented with teams larger than four in their beloved zombie-hunting co-op game. "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. 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."

While the human players only have to keep track of three buddies, the player controlling the monster will have to keep track of four, which creates the sense of disorientation that Turtle Rock wants for the monster. "If I'm the monster and I'm fighting four guys, it's really hard. I always lose one," Ashton described. "But that's what makes it a challenge for him." Being a giant monster has its perks, but this subtle mental handicap helps even out the playing field.

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

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