''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' is an upcoming
action-adventure
The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...
video game developed by
Ubisoft Montpellier
Ubisoft Montpellier is a French video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Castelnau-le-Lez. Founded in 1994 as Ubi Pictures, it is best known for developing the ''Rayman'' and ''Beyond Good & Evil'' series. At 350 employees as of ...
and published by
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
. It is a prequel to ''
Beyond Good & Evil
''Beyond Good & Evil'' is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox and GameCube platforms. The story follows the adventures of Jade, an investigative reporter and m ...
'', released in 2003. Its development was characterized in the media by uncertainty, doubt and rumors about the game's future. The sequel was teased at Ubidays 2008 with almost a decade of silence before being officially announced at Ubisoft's
E3 2017
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 (E3 2017) was the 23rd E3, during which hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...
conference, although no release window or target platform(s) has been revealed.
''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' has been referred to as
vaporware
In the computer industry, vaporware (or vapourware) is a product, typically computer hardware or software, that is announced to the general public but is late or never actually manufactured nor officially cancelled. Use of the word has broade ...
by industry figures such as
Jason Schreier
Jason Schreier (born May 10, 1987) is a journalist and author who primarily covers the video game industry. He worked as a news reporter for ''Kotaku'' from 2011 to 2020 and was recognized for several investigative stories, particularly on the ...
due to its lengthy development and lack of a release date. In 2022, ''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' broke the record held by ''
Duke Nukem Forever
''Duke Nukem Forever'' is a 2011 first-person shooter game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. It is the fourth main installment in the ''Duke Nukem'' series and the sequel to ''Duke ...
'' (2011) for the longest development for a AAA video game, at more than 15 years.
Gameplay
''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' is an
action-adventure
The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres.
Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a storyli ...
game set in an
open world environment and played from a
third-person perspective
Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the a ...
which takes place at least one generation before the events of ''Beyond Good & Evil''.
It has more traditional
role-playing
Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...
elements compared to the first game; the player generates a character that starts the game "at the very bottom of the social system".
The character can be male or female.
As the player completes various tasks, they improve in various attributes, and gain spacecraft and crew members which they can also improve over time. The players visits planets that have their own societies, and by completing tasks on these planets, gain new technologies or other facets to improve their spacecraft.
Its director,
Michel Ancel
Michel Ancel (; born 29 March 1972) is a French video game designer. He is best known for creating the ''Rayman'' franchise and was the lead designer or director for several of the games, including ''Rayman Origins'' and its sequel ''Rayman Lege ...
, said that they do anticipate that there will be a narrative element that includes fixed story events, as well as events based on what decisions the player had made in exploring planets.
The game will have
single-player
A single-player video game is a video game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. A single-player game is usually a game that can only be played by one person, while "single-player mode" is usuall ...
and
cooperative
A cooperative (also known as co-operative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically-control ...
player support; even as a single-player, the player can participate in a shared universe, with some events affecting all players at the same time.
''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' will
require an internet connection to play both single-player and multiplayer.
Development
''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' has languished for several years, and is considered to have been in
development hell
Development hell, development purgatory, and development limbo are media and software industry jargon for a project, concept, or idea that remains in development for an especially long time, often moving between different crews, scripts, game engi ...
. The game is being developed using a new engine called ''Voyager Engine'', developed by
Ubisoft Montpellier
Ubisoft Montpellier is a French video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Castelnau-le-Lez. Founded in 1994 as Ubi Pictures, it is best known for developing the ''Rayman'' and ''Beyond Good & Evil'' series. At 350 employees as of ...
. Composer Christophe Héral, who scored the music for the original game, will be returning for ''Beyond Good and Evil 2''.
2003-2016: Initial rumours and leaks
The original ''
Beyond Good & Evil
''Beyond Good & Evil'' is a 2003 action-adventure video game developed and published by Ubisoft for the PlayStation 2, Microsoft Windows, Xbox and GameCube platforms. The story follows the adventures of Jade, an investigative reporter and m ...
'' game, released in 2003, was critically praised and gained a
cult following
A cult following refers to a group of fans who are highly dedicated to some person, idea, object, movement, or work, often an artist, in particular a performing artist, or an artwork in some medium. The lattermost is often called a cult classic. ...
, but was considered a
commercial failure
Failure is the state or condition of not meeting a desirable or intended objective, and may be viewed as the opposite of success. The criteria for failure depends on context, and may be relative to a particular observer or belief system. One ...
. Ancel explained that as he wrote out the game's
universe
The universe is all of space and time and their contents, including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the universe. Acc ...
, he found it was bigger than what he could practically include within a single game, and thus anticipated the game to be the first of a
trilogy
A trilogy is a set of three works of art that are connected and can be seen either as a single work or as three individual works. They are commonly found in literature, film, and video games, and are less common in other art forms. Three-part wor ...
of works. However, the poor sales of this game left its publisher
Ubisoft
Ubisoft Entertainment SA (; ; formerly Ubi Soft Entertainment SA) is a French video game publisher headquartered in Saint-Mandé with development studios across the world. Its video game franchises include '' Assassin's Creed'', ''Far Cry'', '' ...
reluctant to invest in a
sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
.
Rumors about a sequel began to circulate around 2007, starting with a ''
Nintendo Power
''Nintendo Power'' was a video game news and strategy magazine from Nintendo of America, first published in July/August 1988 as Nintendo's official print magazine for North America. The magazine's publication was initially done monthly by Ninten ...
'' interview with Ancel who stated he was working on a new project that was very personal to him, and mentioned his hopes to reuse Jade, the player-character from ''Beyond Good & Evil'', in a future project without changing her personality.
Ancel said in a May 2008 interview with the French magazine that the ''Beyond Good & Evil'' sequel had been in
pre-production
Pre-production is the process of planning some of the elements involved in a film, television show, play, or other performance, as distinct from production and post-production. Pre-production ends when the planning ends and the content starts ...
for a year, but was yet to be approved by Ubisoft.
Later that month, as part of their "Ubidays" event, Ubisoft released a trailer for the next, yet-named project from Ancel and their
Ubisoft Montpellier
Ubisoft Montpellier is a French video game developer and a studio of Ubisoft based in Castelnau-le-Lez. Founded in 1994 as Ubi Pictures, it is best known for developing the ''Rayman'' and ''Beyond Good & Evil'' series. At 350 employees as of ...
studio, which had worked on ''Beyond Good & Evil''. The trailer used ''Beyond Good & Evil'' music assets and showed characters that appeared to be Jade and Pey'j from the original ''Beyond Good & Evil''. Ubisoft reported that the trailer had all been recorded within the
game engine
A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games and generally includes relevant libraries and support programs. The "engine" terminology is similar to the term "software engine" used in the software i ...
, showcasing high-resolution graphics representative of
seventh generation consoles capabilities.
A second, leaked trailer appeared for the game on the Internet around May 2009, showing a character that appeared to be Jade running through a crowded street. The trailer was confirmed to be authentic by Ancel, while Ubisoft denied that they had purposely released the footage.
Since these trailers, up until 2016, the state of progress with ''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' was unclear, with conflicting statements made by both Ubisoft and Ancel. While Ancel and Ubisoft reported several times that the game was still in development, rumors circulated that Ubisoft had put the game on hold, that Ubisoft had yet to officially announce the title and thus production was not officially started, and that Ancel had left Ubisoft Montpellier,
By 2016, Ancel affirmed that they had put aside work on ''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' to develop ''
Rayman Legends
''Rayman Legends'' is a platform video game developed by Ubisoft Montpellier and published by Ubisoft. It is the fifth main title in the ''Rayman'' series and the direct sequel to the 2011 game ''Rayman Origins''. The game was released for Micr ...
'' (2013) which enabled them to produce tools that would help with the production of ''Beyond Good and Evil 2''; once work for ''Rayman Legends'' was completed, they returned to ''Beyond Good & Evil'' sequel. Ubisoft later noted Ancel's time was split between ''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' and ''
Wild
Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to:
Common meanings
* Wild animal
* Wilderness, a wild natural environment
* Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed
Art, media and entertainment Film and television
* ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...
'', a title developed by Ancel's Wild Sheep Studios outside of Ubisoft.
2016: Official E3 announcement
In late 2016, Ancel used social media to post images from the game, showing a younger Pey'j, hinting that ''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' may be a prequel. Ubisoft shortly followed by officially announcing the game. Ubisoft showed the first new trailer for ''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' during their
E3 2017
The Electronic Entertainment Expo 2017 (E3 2017) was the 23rd E3, during which hardware manufacturers and software developers and publishers from the video game industry presented new and upcoming products to the attendees, primarily retailers a ...
conference and was announced as a prequel to the first game. During E3 2017, Ancel confirmed that the 2008 and 2009 trailers were from initial work as a narrative sequel to ''Beyond Good & Evil'', but during development they opted to change direction and make it a prequel, and thus the work previously shown was from an effectively different game.
The platforms for release have not been announced. There had been rumors that it would have been released as a timed exclusive for the
Nintendo Switch
The is a hybrid video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. The console itself is a Tablet computer#Gaming tablet, tablet that can either be docking station, docked for use as a home video ...
(under its codename NX) in the prior year, but Ancel confirmed this was not the case. The "Space Monkey Program" lists the game for
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
,
PlayStation 4
The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013 in ...
and
Xbox One
The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third base console in the Xbox series of video game consoles. It was first released in North America, parts of ...
, however Michel Ancel stated that the platforms have not been announced yet, and that the listing was due to a bug. Ancel later told ''Kotaku'' that the game is designed to run on many platforms.
2020: Ancel's departure
When Ancel announced his departure from Ubisoft in September 2020, he stated that both the project and ''
Wild
Wild, wild, wilds or wild may refer to:
Common meanings
* Wild animal
* Wilderness, a wild natural environment
* Wildness, the quality of being wild or untamed
Art, media and entertainment Film and television
* ''Wild'' (2014 film), a 2014 A ...
'' were in capable hands. The French newspaper ''
Libération
''Libération'' (), popularly known as ''Libé'' (), is a daily newspaper in France, founded in Paris by Jean-Paul Sartre and Serge July in 1973 in the wake of the protest movements of May 1968. Initially positioned on the far-left of France's ...
'', which have been following on Ubisoft's troubles with
mid-2020 series of sexual misconduct allegations raised against many high-level members of the company, learned that members of Ancel's team found Ancel's leadership on the project to be unorganized and at times abusive, causing the game's development to have many restarts and accounting for the delay since its 2010 announcement. The Montpellier team had reported these concerns to leadership of Ubisoft as early as 2017 but Ancel's close relationship with Yves Guillemot prevented any major corrections to occur until the 2020 internal evaluations that led to Ancel's departure. Ubisoft stated that Ancel "hasn't been directly involved in ''BG&E2'' for some time now" when he left the company.
In July 2021, Ubisoft stated in a financial report that development was "progressing well" but did not answer a question about its release date. In 2022, ''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' broke the record held by ''
Duke Nukem Forever
''Duke Nukem Forever'' is a 2011 first-person shooter game developed by Gearbox Software and published by 2K Games for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360. It is the fourth main installment in the ''Duke Nukem'' series and the sequel to ''Duke ...
'' (2011) for the longest development for a video game, at more than 15 years.
Design
Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot stated that ''Beyond Good and Evil 2'' will be made more accessible to the new generation of players, in an effort to make sure the sequel does not suffer the same commercial failure the original did.
Guillemot clarified that statement later on, saying that they do not intend to make the game more casual player-oriented.
A core element of the game is the ability to explore several different planets via space travel. To power this, Ancel and the Ubisoft Montpellier team started building a solar system simulation tool about three years prior to the E3 2017 reveal to be used in the game's own engine called Voyageur. This tool uses a combination of designed elements and
procedural generation
In computing, procedural generation is a method of creating data algorithmically as opposed to manually, typically through a combination of human-generated assets and algorithms coupled with computer-generated randomness and processing power. In ...
to assemble those elements for a given planet.
The development team completed the preliminary work on the tool just before E3 2017, allowing them to start building the rest of the game around it; at that point, Ancel considered that they were only at "day zero" of the game's development.
Premise
In an interview with Jeux Vidéo Magazine, Michel Ancel stated:
" 'Beyond Good and Evil 2'' willbe in continuity with the first game, with a big variety of levels, lots of emotion in the gameplay, and characters we care about. This time we are dealing with the planet's future, and the relationship with animals..."
On April 3, ''
Eurogamer
''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson.
Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...
'' published a translated interview with Ancel talking about the inspirations behind ''Beyond Good & Evil'' and its sequel:
"It was a mix of experiences. It was a phantasm to create an adventure game, a universe too. It was the game I wanted to create for a long time. ..There were a lot of inspirations: the Miyazaki universe, my own inspirations, politics and the media; the theme of September 11
Events Pre-1600
* 9 – The Battle of the Teutoburg Forest ends: The Roman Empire suffers the greatest defeat of its history and the Rhine is established as the border between the Empire and the so-called barbarians for the next four hun ...
– the CNN show with army messages and the fear climate. And it was a mix from other universes."
He also answered the question of whether or not the game will be a
direct sequel
A sequel is a work of literature, film, theatre, television, music or video game that continues the story of, or expands upon, some earlier work. In the common context of a narrative work of fiction, a sequel portrays events set in the same ...
to the first game:
"Yes! But it is better to discover that when you play, ha ha! But it is clear we want to continue the story – we won't create characters, story. The story continues and we'll react on important events of the first."
However, in June 2017 narrative director Gabrielle Shrager said that the game would be a prequel with the action taking place "about a generation before Jade was born". Ancel indicated that the characters from the previous game will be referenced in some way: "You don't play them, but they are in the world, and they are key to making this world unique... the DNA will be there."
Ancel also talked about the sequel being more immersive and complex compared to the original, largely because of the possibilities of
current-generation hardware, but as a result will take longer to develop.
"We'll conserve the spirit of the first game, but the form will change. For 'BG&E'' we wanted to create a more cinematographic game, but we didn't have the technical ability to do that. So we simplified. It was fun, because I remember we had to work for Sony to demonstrate how original our game was in order to get the development kit. We wrote ''BG&E'' like we were in a film. After, we understood it would be very tricky to reach that immersion on that console! But now, with the next-gen consoles, we feel it is possible to develop the game we thought of for the first. ..It is very difficult to answer hen the game's going to be released
Hen commonly refers to a female animal: a female chicken, other gallinaceous bird, any type of bird in general, or a lobster. It is also a slang term for a woman.
Hen or Hens may also refer to:
Places Norway
*Hen, Buskerud, a village in Ringer ...
there is an unknown aspect."
Notes
References
External links
*
{{Michel Ancel games
Upcoming video games
Action-adventure games
Cooperative video games
Open-world video games
Ubisoft games
Vaporware video games
Video game prequels
Video games developed in France
Video games directed by Michel Ancel
Video games featuring female protagonists
Video games scored by Christophe Héral
Video games set in the 25th century
Video games set on fictional planets