After years of record-breaking development hell for Beyond Good & Evil 2, the prequel leaves fans in doubt that it'll ever rear its head.
Beyond Good & Evil 2 is the long-awaited sequel to the 2003 cult classic remembered as one of the most unique games of its time. Initially a commercial failure, the third-person, stealth-focused Beyond Good & Evil centered on an alien conspiracy in a dystopian sci-fi setting has since been praised for its style. The game’s publisher, Ubisoft, would attempt to please fans with a less than perfect HD remaster in 2011, but this wasn't before the beginning of Beyond Good & Evil 2, and the longest development cycle of a video game ever.
Five years after the adventures of Jade and her uncle Pey’j, Ubisoft unveiled a teaser for Beyond Good & Evil 2 at a 2008 conference. Series creator Michel Ancel would also have had to focus on his other well known franchise at the time, Rayman. During 2010 and 2011, the sequel’s production would be paused in favor of the development of Rayman Origins. This three year hiatus since the first trailer, and now nine year hiatus since the release of the original game would unfortunately just be the start of Beyond Good & Evil 2's development hell.
Beyond Good & Evil 2’s Production has been Filled with Hiatuses
After five more years of darkness, in 2016 rumors circulated that Beyond Good & Evil 2 was being funded by Nintendo as an exclusive for the then-unreleased Nintendo Switch. The rumors of development starting back up were substantiated by Ancel himself on social media, before Ubisoft itself made the official statement that the game was on the way. Then, at E3 2017, nearly 10 years after the first teaser, a brand new rendered CGI trailer confidently showed a fresh look at Beyond Good & Evil 2. There was even a showcase of Beyond Good & Evil 2 gameplay at E3 2018, and fans were excited, since the development hell seemed like it was finally over.
The trailer wasn't the only news regarding the new title though, as it came with some unexpected plot details. It was revealed that Beyond Good & Evil 2 would be a prequel to the first game. This isn't particularly out of the ordinary for game franchises, but this news also came with the revelation that the footage from 2008 was that of a sequel version of the game that had now seemingly been scrapped. This announcement of discarded progress would also come with the de-confirmation of the title’s association with Nintendo, and a new intention to release on all platforms. Despite the new direction, three years would eventually pass with no further significant developments.
Ubisoft’s Controversies Had a Huge Impact on Development
In 2020, Ubisoft faced several serious allegations that had a massive impact on its place in the industry. With many accusations of higher ranking members of the company abusing their power, Ubisoft has been accused of being a toxic work environment. Amidst these accusations were reports that Michel Ancel himself had led a disorganized and abusive development of Beyond Good & Evil 2. Ancel was blamed for the multiple restarts the sequel’s production had received, but it was rumored that his closeness with Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot protected him.
The situation resulting from the negative press culminated in Michel Ancel departing from Ubisoft in 2020, leaving the game's fate in uncertain hands. In a confusing statement, Ubisoft would go on to claim that Ancel hadn’t even been “directly involved” with the game for a while at that point, acknowledging the continued development. In a 2021 financial report, Ubisoft would simply state the project was “progressing well”. Unfortunately 2022 would only see the confirmation that the game was still in pre-production. This finally surpassed Duke Nukem Forever’s record-holding 14-year development time. If Beyond Good & Evil 2 is set to turn out anything like that game, then perhaps the ship has sailed long ago for fans of the original cult classic.
Anyone as excited about Beyond Good and Evil 2 as I am will be feeling all kinds of emotions right now. Excited and slightly terrified that both Pey’j and Jade are making a comeback, but also very, very aware that this game is still a long way off. In a behind-closed-doors, hands-off demo at E3 2018, that latter part was made abundantly clear. Beyond Good and Evil 2 is a huge, seriously impressive, game but it’s still in the pre-alpha stage and from the sheer size of the Galaxy Viewer UI alone, Michel Ancel and his Ubisoft Montpellier crew have some seriously big ambitions for this game.
The nerves surrounding the inevitably long wait for a release date aside though, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is already shaping up to be quite an interesting game, full of social commentaries and the kind of space opera goings on that you’re hoping for. Here are seven things I learnt about Beyond Good and Evil 2 directly from the development team themselves, including info on weapons, story and your very own Space Pirate Captain.
1. Hybrids are the inferior race in System 3
There are two types of people in the game’s universe, which is known as System 3. There are humans, and there are hybrids, the latter created by splicing animal DNA with humans, resulting in the kind of unique creature that you can find in Pey’j or the hybrid monkey, Knox. But of course, with differences comes discrimination, and despite the fact this is a game set in the future, there’s still plenty of discrimination. In System 3, particularly on the planet of Soma, hybrids are very much lower class citizens.
“The corporation in System 3 are using hybrids as man power - or as hybrid power, as I should call it - to run the society,” explains Guillame Brunier, Senior Producer on Beyond Good and Evil 2. “They don’t consider them as real citizens. They’re subclass citizens and when they don’t need them anymore, they just dispose of them.”
Several times the hybrids are referred to by the team as the humans’ slaves, created merely to gather raw material for the rest of society to use. During our gameplay demo we see their spare parts lying in bins after they’ve been disposed of, and another hybrid monkey being experimented on in the temple below Ganesha City. Thankfully, they can escape from their horrible lives and become Space Pirates, which is the most rebellious act anyone can do in System 3. And it sounds like a lot more fun.
2. The planet of Soma is split into two halves
Ganesha City, where the majority of the gameplay in the trailers so far takes place, is located on a planet known as Soma, which is part of the Deus subsystem. This planet is actually quite an interesting place, because of its position within the galaxy.
“It’s actually split into parts,” says Emile Morel, Creative Director on Beyond Good and Evil 2. “One side of the planet is always turned towards a gas giant. It’s protected by this massive planet, so on this side you’ll find oceans, forest, mountains, rivers… everything you would find on Earth. The other is always turned towards space, and this side of the planet is like a massive wasteland. It’s frequently bombarded by meteorite showers coming from space, which create giant craters in the ground. On this dangerous side of the planet, the humans are sending hybrids slaves to collect precious minerals that are falling from the skies; raw materials.”
“From this specific ecosystem new beliefs and new religions have been born. The people now on Soma believe that the Gods themselves are protecting them on the safe side of the planet. And the humans are telling the hybrids that when they go look for raw materials on the dangerous side, they’re actually on a godly mission and they even make them believe that if they find a very rare gem from the meteorite, they could become the Chosen One and win their freedom so they aren’t slaves anymore. Of course, that happens very, very, very rarely and it’s just a way for them to manipulate the hybrids.”
It’s part of your job as a space pirate to try and dispel that myth, and help rescue some of these hybrid slaves to recruit as part of your crew.
3. The way character customisation is handled is quite unique
And speaking of hybrids, did you know you can actually play as one? Yes indeed, Beyond Good and Evil 2 is the kind of action adventure RPG where you can make your own character, but interestingly, it’s doing things a little bit differently.
“The first expedition came from Earth, and when they reached System 3 after a very, very long journey in space, they discovered that they’d been exposed to radiation and disease, and because of that they couldn’t have children anymore. They became sterile,” explains Morel. “ The only way for them to populate this new Solar System to make sure that humanity would survive was to clone themselves. They had a cloning device on board that first ship, so they started cloning themselves to populate System 3. That’s really important for us, because it means all the characters that you will meet in System 3 in Beyond Good and Evil 2 are actually clones; clones coming from that original, limited DNA they had on board that first ship.”
It’s from this DNA that you’ll be able to create your own customised Space Pirate Captain from. From what I was told at E3, there are currently plans to have eight hybrid options on offer, along with a variety of human clone DNAs to choose from. You’ll even be able to use Pey’j, Knox or Shani DNA to create your own character, so if you like the look of any of those characters, start creating your own version in your head already. Plus, on the game’s official website, hybrid tigers and pandas have been confirmed for the game too - although I’m keeping my fingers crossed for hybrid wolves.
“When you create your character, you will be able to choose the visual identity from all the DNA strands that we are using to create all the characters from the game,” adds Morel. “You will have a lot of choice. If you want to be an hybrid from different species you can do that; you can be an hybrid like Pey’j or like Knox. You, of course, can also be a male or female character, from different ethnicities.”
4. You’ll have a good array of weapons
Every space captain - and some other members of System 3 too - will have the same set of weapons and gadgets at their disposal. You’ll get a gun, shield, sword and even a jetpack that you’ll use for combat in the game. The sword channels that same melee focus that the original game had with Jade’s stick, but combined with short flights using the jetpack and your gun too, plus a shield for additional defence. But although that might sound like a fairly traditional arsenal, there’s actually more to Beyond Good and Evil 2’s combat than just this little lot.
5. But also, augments
Every weapon - including those that are on-board your ship - can be equipped with an augment. “Augments are tech abilities - they are not magic - that you can equip on your gun, your sword, your shield,” says Morel. “These abilities are tactical, and include things like pushback, and paralysis.”
“You need to carefully use all the augments and use them wisely to beat some enemies, especially when you are in a complex situation. [Augments are also] a way for you to define who you are as a Space Pirate Captain; what is your playstyle. You will find these augments everywhere in the galaxy. You will steal them, loot them, rob them, and maybe trade them and stuff.”
It sounds like you’ll collect augments in Beyond Good and Evil 2 like your deck in games like Hearthstone, switching them in and out of play both according to the enemy you’re facing, as well as your playstyle. The same goes for your ship’s weapons, which could be a case of applying a slowing augment to your missile, so that the opposition is forced to move more slowly after it’s been hit by your missile, adding an extra level of tactics to the combat.
6. Your spyglass is going to come in seriously handy
Along with all that weapon and augment stuff, there’s also your spyglass. Like other games, using your spyglass offers you information about the world around you, along with the NPCs that inhabit it. In my demo, scanning the scientist performing experiments on the hybrid monkey showed that she was equipped with a variety of augments, including the ability to heal. The mercenary next to her, on the other hand, had a pushback and slow augment.
“[Enemies] can share the same augments as the player, but you might face an enemy with an augment you don’t know,” says Brunier. “Scanning lets you see what they have so you can adapt the way you are playing beforehand. It adds diversity and challenge, because each enemy can be a different combination of augments.”
The spyglass also lets you see whether an NPC could be a good fit for your ship’s crew. Scanning the hybrid patient informed me that he’s a former mechanic for example, which might be just what you need to keep your ship in tip-top shape, and provide you with an opportunity to get the hybrid out of that awful place.
The spyglass works on places too, bringing you information about both locations you have, and haven’t, visited yet. “From Space you can spyglass Ganesha City, which shows that this gathering of information works at different scales,” adds Brunier. “You can spyglass an enemy to see what kind of augments he has, but you can also spyglass a city to tell you a bit more about it. It’s a unified tool to bring you information in the game at different scales.”
7. Jade isn’t the girl you know and love
Before I leave you reeling with the possibilities of the Beyond Good and Evil 2 gameplay, the team did give us a tiny hint as to what’s going on with Jade. She appeared at the end of the E3 2018 trailer, looking rather sinister and dark indeed - very much unlike her persona in the original game. But, this is a prequel after all, and it turns out Jade has quite a past. “When it comes to Jade we want to keep some mystery,” says Morel. “But the thing is, Jade is hunting down pirates and there are many, many legends about this young girl killing all the pirates.”
The fact that you’re a pirate and Jade’s a pirate hunter means that we’re about to go head to head with our old heroine. Prepare for the unexpected here.
Beyond Good and Evil 2 doesn’t yet have a release date, but when it does arrive, it’ll be coming to Xbox One, PS4 and PC.
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Sam Loveridge is the Global Editor-in-Chief of GamesRadar, and joined the team in August 2017. Sam came to GamesRadar after working at TrustedReviews, Digital Spy, and Fandom, following the completion of an MA in Journalism. In her time, she's also had appearances on The Guardian, BBC, and more. Her experience has seen her cover console and PC games, along with gaming hardware, for a decade, and for GamesRadar, she's in charge of the site's overall direction, managing the team, and making sure it's the best it can be. Her gaming passions lie with weird simulation games, big open-world RPGs, and beautifully crafted indies. She plays across all platforms, and specializes in titles like Pokemon, Assassin's Creed, The Sims, and more. Basically, she loves all games that aren't sports or fighting titles! In her spare time, Sam likes to live like Stardew Valley by cooking and baking, growing vegetables, and enjoying life in the countryside.
Why was Beyond Good and Evil 2 cancelled?
Ubisoft has confirmed that Beyond Good and Evil 2 is still in development - it isn't one of the three games Ubisoft reportedly cancelled last week. The French games publisher has had some financial woes recently, which forced it to ditch three titles it was producing.
Why did Beyond Good and Evil fail?
Beyond Good & Evil was a commercial failure due to its ill-timed release and lack of popularity; however, it was critically acclaimed and received a nomination for "Game of the Year" at the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards.
Is Beyond Good and Evil 2 dead?
With the series' primary director having left, Ubisoft still assured fans in 2022 that Beyond Good and Evil 2 was undergoing smooth development, but didn't release any further information than that.
Is Beyond Good and Evil 2 a prequel?
It was revealed that Beyond Good & Evil 2 would be a prequel to the first game. This isn't particularly out of the ordinary for game franchises, but this news also came with the revelation that the footage from 2008 was that of a sequel version of the game that had now seemingly been scrapped.