Evolve: Stage 2 Peer-to-Peer and Matchmaking Go Online Due To Fan Requests
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The 4v1 online game Evolve: Stage 2 now has its peer-to-peer servers and matchmaking up and running after fans of the game reached out to the game’s publisher 2K. Servers for the online game went offline in 2018.
A few months back, fans of Evolved: Stage 2 only had peer-to-peer to reply on in order to play a game with friends, but it suddenly stopped working. A bug disabled the feature, and so a dedicated Discord server composed of fans of the game consistently reached out to 2K for a possible fix in the hopes to keep the game alive in their own community.
2K replied and was able to coordinate with its developers to restore peer-to-peer functionality, but they didn’t stop there as they also turned on online services for the game, bringing back matchmaking and even the ability to earn skins or rewards through the game’s progression system.
A pleasant surprise as the news of online servers being available again is slowlyspreading as the number of players playing Evolve have spiked. According to SteamDB, concurrent players are averaging above 500 with a 24-hour peak at 853, pretty impressive for a now abandoned title.
In one of the latest updates from the The Evolve Discord server, one fan suggested to seize this opportunity and aim for the game to be re-listed back in the Steam store.
“In light of recent events, now is the best time for us to try and capitalize on our hope of getting Evolve re-listed back onto the steam store. They listened to you about Legacy Evolve's peer to peer function being down, and they even brought Stage 2 back online.”
The post suggest fans use the hashtag #FreeEvolve and tag 2K on Twitter in the hopes to fully bring back the game from the dead. So far, in a span of 24 hours, there’s a good amount of tweets showing interest and helping the cause.
How to play Evolve: Stage 2
For those interested in taking the chance to play the game while the servers are up, you can do so by following these steps, which were provided by those in the Evolve Discord server.
“If you would like to play Evolve Stage Two and also have Legacy simply follow these steps.
Step 1: Right click on Evolve in Steam library and hover over Manage and select Browse Local Files.
Step 2: Rename Evolve Legacy root file from "EvolveGame" to something like "EvolveLegacy".
Step 3: Right click on Evolve in steam library and select properties.
Step 4: Click Betas tab and change legacyevolve to none.
Step 5: Stage Two download should start on its own. If not update game.
Step 6: To switch between versions simply swap the name of the root files.”
If you miss the monster vs hunters chaotic gameplay, now is your chance to revisit a game that still would provide a unique experience if it was re-released today. Servers are up now but it’s not certain for how long. Just like how 2K can suddenly act and turn back the lights on for fans of the game, they can also do the opposite.
