Here’s what Evolve’s day-one update will address

As you're probably aware by now, Evolve is out tomorrow. But before you can log in and partake in some 4v1 mayhem, you're going to have to sit through a hefty 3GB update. The day-one update is a result of last-minute tweaks and optimizations made after the game had already gone gold, and will hopefully make your experience with Evolve a better one.

BALANCING TWEAKS

We already noted this in an interview with Turtle Rock’s Chris Ashton, but we are constantly adjusting things in the background so that every Hunter and every Monster is finely tuned. What we learned about what’s being done to Wraith alone was eye-opening. ( Check out the Open Beta infographic and Q&A here.) A lot of the data gathered from the Big Alpha and Open Beta weekends helped us make these tweaks.

GAME AND LEVEL-LOADING OPTIMIZATIONS

As we strive to push the engine and cram as much as possible into your Evolve experience, we’re also working are to optimize performance on your system. These improvements range from load times to improving matchmaking and network bandwidth optimizations.

GENERAL BUG FIXES

During the Big Alpha and Open Beta periods we asked you – our community – for your help and feedback. We are addressing bugs found during our tests and we have you to thank for making Evolve that much stronger with this patch.

NEW ELITE SKINS

After the Big Alpha, we wanted to rework the Elite skins for Hunters and Monsters based on feedback we got from the community. The results of those requests are right here in this patch. We’ve updated or outright replaced the assets that were already in the game. All you need to do to unlock them: EARN THEM. Learn more here.

CONNECTIVITY TO THE EVOLVE HUNTERS QUEST APP

This patch adds connectivity to work with Evolve Hunters Quest. We recently unveiled the game / companion app for Evolve. In one respect, it’s a fun Match-3 puzzle combat game. But it also has ties into the main console game through the my2K servers. Earn experience and watch overhead match replays through the app. Best of all, it’s free for iOS, Android and Windows Phone. Learn more here.

Sure, sitting through a 3GB update may not be the way you want to start a new game, but this is the age we live in. It is both a blessing and a curse for developers to have the opportunity to continue working on a game even though it's already been sent for mass production.