It's good news and bad news for the besieged settlers of the planet Shear: Four new monster hunters are about to join the Evolve fray, but so is the Behemoth.

In a surprise twist, the settlers didn't have to call in these hunters, because they were already there! I'm not sure what the practical impact of using home-grown talent will be ("absolutely nothing" is my bet) but in any event, here they are, along with their unique, inspirational quotes/battlecries.

Torvald, Assault: "I have crossed the depths of space to find you, beast! I am your death!"

- The mutilated survivor of a monster attack, Torvald is a "half-human walking tank," with back-mounted mortar cannons, an autofire shotgun, and shrapnel grenades.

Crow, Trapper: "These things are tough... Wonder how they taste."

- Crow has a trained Batray named Gobi that will fly ahead and enable him to "see" nearby creatures.

Slim, Medic: "You've got too much health, Goliath! Gimme some!"

- A highly specialized combat medic, Slim's DNA has been modified so extensively that he now looks like Jeff Goldblum.

Sunny, Support: "Yay! We did it! Why didn t anyone believe me? You guys are such downers."

- Sunny has a jetpack booster that enables her teammates to fly farther and faster.

All four new hunters are included in the Hunting Season Pass, which sells for $25, or will be purchasable separately for $7.50 each. Joining them will be the Behemoth, revealed in January as literally the biggest monster Turtle Rock could make, which will be free for everyone who preordered the game and sell for $15 otherwise.

While the kerfuffle around Evolve's pre-order DLC still dominates discussions about the game's post-launch support, it's easy to forget that all forthcoming maps will be free. Turtle Rock is already making good on its promise with two new maps scheduled to roll out in April. These come in the form of Broken Hill Foundry and Broken Hill Mine. 

Each map will support Hunt, Nest, Rescue, Skirmish and Evacuation game modes, with each boasting their own Evacuation campaign effects (basically, narrative twists based on the outcome of matches). The studio will showcase the maps this coming Friday (or Saturday in Australia) on its official Twitch channel, but in the meantime all we have is lowly text. 

Here's the rundown for Broken Hill Mine:

"Broken Hill Mine is a deep labyrinth of caves running below the surface of Shear. The cave system divides into three visually distinct areas: One area is a rock quarry, a venom hound nest is set in another, and the last zone has a massive conveyor belt running through it. These surround a central drill chamber. Hidden, destructible entryways allow the Monster to shortcut through the map or to fake out the Hunters and lead them down the wrong path. The mine s tight confines reduce running and encourages a lot of stealth and close-quarters firefights. One cool thing to look for: Look up and you ll see the crane for the Broken Hill Foundry (the second new map) above."

And Broken Hill Foundry:

"Broken Hill Foundry gets you out of the wilds of Shear and into an industrial complex. It s an overlapping mix of open areas, corridors and low ceilings create new tactical options for both Monster and Hunter players. In the warehouse alone, there are three levels to stalk prey. Another area takes you through the streets and to the rooftops of Slagtown where a Monster can be lurking around every corner. Crates of bohrium, found throughout the facility, can be eaten as food for the Monster. Though the crates are easy meals, they don t have a pop top. Breaking them open makes considerable noise and give away the Monster s location."

The maps will release on April 30. It follows recent news on a forthcoming Spectator Mode, as well as a new patch adding a FOV slider, among other things.

The 1.1 patch for the monster-hunting FPS Evolve has been released into the wild. Turtle Rock and 2K say the update fixes a "slew" of bugs, which by my count, based on the patch notes, adds up to four.

Squished bugs aside, the patch also make a number of significant changes that were detailed in the accompanying blurb. A more detailed breakdown of the progression and mastery changes wasn't provided, but in the big picture sense, this is what you get:

• Added FOV slider to the options menu
• Improved 21:9 monitor support
• Improved support for shared memory GPUs
• Various Progression / Mastery balance changes
• Improved Direct X stability
• Fixed a windows timer issue may have caused FPS problems on some systems
• Fix for a shadow rendering bug
• Fixed five Hunter bug
• Fix for disappearing/persisting mouse cursor

The real problem facing Evolve may not be lingering technical issues, however, but a simple lack of interest. Steam Charts indicates that in the month since its launch the number of concurrent Evolve players has slid from a peak of 27,403 to just over 3000 today. That's less than half the number of people playing Turtle Rock's previous game, Left 4 Dead 2, which came out more than five years ago, and a far, far cry from the top-played games on Steam. The number obviously doesn't take into account the console side of the equation, but it's still not a good sign by any stretch of the imagination.

Evolve will soon offer an Observer Mode that will enable a sixth player to join the game, track the action from multiple perspectives, and livestream matches, complete with commentary. The new mode will be added as a free update to the game, on all platforms.

Observers will be able to switch seamlessly between the Hunters and the Monster, and rotate the camera 360 degrees in order to view the battle from any angle. Turtle Rock has also created a special HUD for the new mode that can display details like survival odds, perks in use, and a minimap overlay, or that can be switched off completely for a more spectator-friendly view.

The addition of the new mode isn't surprising—Evolve is getting its own ESL Go4 tournament series this year, and accessible livestreaming functionality is mandatory if it's going to succeed as an e-sport. Speaking of which, you'll be able to see the Observer Mode in action this Friday during the Evolve ESL Pro-Am tournament, which will be broadcast live from PAX East on Twitch.

A release date for Observer Mode hasn't been announced, but Turtle Rock said it's "coming soon."