Beyond Good & Evil 2 is finally within sight

By Marshall Lemon

The sequel to the highly-acclaimed cult classic is almost within reach.

E3 2017 @ VG247

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Beyond Good & Evil 2 might be one of the most anticipated sequels ever to suffer a long development time. The original game was a cult classic with more critical acclaim than sales, but looking back, it was among the most memorable titles of the PS2 era. Now, at the Ubisoft E3 livestream, we’ve learned that Beyond Good & Evil 2 was farther along than we thought. Apparently Ancel lied.

Sadly, you might have noticed familiar characters like Jad and Pey’j weren’t in this reveal trailer. That’s because the game is actually a prequel and spiritual successor taking place in “System 3”, deep within the Milky Way galaxy. This new game will follow a motley starship crew made up of a diverse cast fighting against criminal overlords, corrupt police, and perhaps even corporate masters who have created bizarre human-animal hybrids. We’re introduced to two characters from this crew – a monkey hybrid and a young girl – as they steal a significant data disc from a mob boss and enter a high-speed chase with the police.

Ubisoft’s Beyond Good & Evil 2 press release also notes the game can be played alone or with friends, suggesting a co-op or multiplayer component will be available.

True, this isn’t a gameplay trailer, we don’t have a release date, and there are still many details unavailable on this game. (Even the official website seems to be crashing from all the fans rushing to it.) But given Ubisoft’s confidence in the trailer, and the emotional response of the developers presenting it, we can safely say Beyond Good & Evil 2 is truly a priority for the publisher. And after so many years, that’s a promising thing.

Once the offical website is running, you’ll be able to use it to sign up for the “Space Monkey Program”. As Ubisoft puts it, this is “a new initiative from Ubisoft Montpellier that will directly connect players with members of the development team. Players will be able to share ideas and feedback, as well as have opportunities to participate in the game’s live development”. That sounds like the Space Monkey Program is somewhere in-between a beta and glorified mailing list, but it may be worth keeping an eye on.