Beyond Good and Evil 2 Demonstrates a Change of Tone for the Series

Ubisoft’s E3 conference finished with a big surprise: Beyond Good and Evil 2 is officially in the works, as demonstrated by an insane cinematic trailer. It’s been fourteen years since the release of the original Beyond good and Evil. It’s clear that Ubisoft has taken into account that players of the first game will have aged too, as the rather childish Zelda like tone from the first game has been replaced by a more mature and M-rated tone. This was demonstrated by the record number of f-bombs dropped over the course of the four minute trailer. I’m pretty sure the protagonist from the first game, Jade, didn’t shout “Bang bang , Motherf****rs” when confronted by the police.

The trailer shows a deal going down between a mob boss, humanoid pig and a foul mouthed, cockney sounding, humanoid monkey. The deal is a con, as the monkey escapes with the bargained object, onto the back of a flying motorcycle, driven by a human female character. What ensues is a flying vehicle police chase, complete with jet packs, gun fire, explosions and police vehicle hijacking, throughout a futuristic, Asian-inspired city. The trailer ends with the two characters entering a spaceship, to much applause from their comrades, and handing over the acquired object to a mysterious woman with a robot hand, green eyes and short black hair, reminiscent of Jade. The woman inserts the object into the deck and a hologram image of an artefact appears. The spaceship then takes off and flies into space.

Creative Director, Michel Ancel, teary eyed and emotional, then took to the stage. After many thanks to Ubisoft, the developer teams and the fans of the original BGaE, he assured everyone that they were hard at work on the game.

Narrative Director, Gabrielle Shrager, then explains that the game is a prequel and takes place before Jade is born. The world is run by corporations that create hybrids in labs and use them as slaves to colonise other planets, competing for cosmic resources. You will fight for freedom, with a crew of unforgettable characters.

The series is taking on more of an epic science-fiction direction, as Michel Ancel describes the game as a seamless online playground, where you can travel across space at the speed of light, exploring mysterious cities and discovering unknown lands. You can do all this alone or with friends, indicating that multiplayer is going to play a big part. Again, this is a huge shift not only in tone, but in game-play too.

Many players have been waiting for a sequel to Beyond Good and Evil and although it looks very different, it’s exciting to see it finally becoming a reality. Hopefully, much more news will be divulged on Beyond Good and Evil 2 during the rest of E3, hopefully including some actual game-play footage.