Beyond Good & Evil 2: Everything We Know So Far

Beyond Good & Evil 2 is currently in the works, being developed by Ubisoft. The game will feature and entire open-world, or perhaps you could say open-galaxy. It positions itself as a prequel to the first game, and promises some pretty amazing technical and gameplay improvements.

Today, I’m going to be walking you through everything we know about the game so far and what we can expect as we work towards a release date. It’s an extremely exciting time to be talking about games like this, and E3 is just around the corner. We’re almost certain to find out more then – but until that happens, here’s everything we know so far.

So, What is it?

Firstly, Beyond Good & Evil 2 will comprise of more-or-less the same themes and ideas as the first game. This time, those ideas will be realised using the stunning Voyager Engine, boasting some seriously impressive visuals and even more incredible technical capabilities. If even half of what the team is promising turns out to be true, this could be the space-wide explorer we’ve been looking for for a long time.

The game will operate as a typical RPG. You’ll start with a character who has nothing, and work your way up in the world until you can leave it. The open world functions like GTA, but with no limits on verticality or scale. You’ll be able to fly across the world at superfast speeds and transition into space-flight without any loading screens or even much in waiting time. The sheer scale of this project is incredible.

The game is set in a galaxy effectively run by India and China, who have become the dominating superpowers. Those who live high in the skies are often rich spiritualists seeking enlightenment. Meanwhile, those living down in the underbelly of the city are scavengers, working every hour they can in order to scrape enough money together to get a foot on the social ladder.

Animal/Human hybrids have been created and function as a slave-class. These second-class citizens are used and abused, and you will have the chance to play as one. System 3, your solar system, is rich in minerals. Slaves are put to work mining Diwalite – a mineral named after the festival of light – which is used to power robots, engines and even cloning centres.

Despite these advances in technology, the gap between rich and poor has only grown wider. This has led to an increase in space-piracy, and that’s where you come in. You’ll join the fight with the Hybrids to earn their freedom and release them from their shackles. You’ll be certain to meet well-known characters from the first game along the way, too.

What’s gameplay going to be like?

But how will it play? Well, it remains relatively true to the style of the first game, from what we’ve seen. You can expect a third-person perspective, with combat in and out of your vehicles/ships, exploration and even photography makes a return. You’ll also see most of the main-stay RPG mechanics like levelling, equipment, dialogue, quests and stealth. There will even be a party system, and the use of a Spyglass to decipher elements and details about potential allies or enemies.

Starting as a low-life with only a flight-capable piece of scrap to your name, you’ll have to earn your way onto a bigger ship and grow your bank account alongside your character. The game seems open to multiple ways to do nearly everything. For example, you could earn your money for your first ship by delivering pizzas, we hear, among other ways.

Much like other space-faring RPG’s, your actions and choices will have consequences. You’ll even be able to change the course of the narrative by taking the right photos and showing them to in-game characters. An example given already is witnessing trafficking aboard a ship while you deliver said pizza, taking a photo and then showing it to an NPC. That NPC then learns of the crime being committed and you can take advantage of the situation together.

Now, I imagine elements like that will have to be heavily scripted in order to work, but Beyond Good & Evil 2 sounds surprisingly free of any expected ‘on-rails’ elements. Characters and parts of the world will be somewhat procedurally-generated, apparently in the style of Dwarf Fortress, a roguelike from eons ago. If the team can pull that off, exploring the world could be a really incredible experience and we’ve been told that it’s going to be full of areas to discover and explore.

So how does space work?

Space is going to be an interesting addition, for sure. The player is going to have complete freedom to explore the galaxy at every scale – from way out in your mothership to landing on top of something and physically walking around.

As for the ships themselves, they are fully controllable and we have it confirmed that there will be dogfighting, quests, races and exploration objectives all to be done in various vehicles of equally various sizes. Ships are modular and can be customised for any specific task or look, at your whim. You’ll even be able to board enemy ships and get up close and personal.

We know that in the Galaxy there are at least 7-8 planet/areas to explore. That might not sound like a lot at first, until you realise that we’re talking about essentially complete planets, each with their own cities, environments, resources, unique areas and points of interest. There’s going to be more than enough to do, even from what we’ve seen already.

Inhabited planets will have their own culture, trade, policing (again, think GTA) and life. There will even be constant change on planets as meteorites can collide and interact to create new areas and reform the landscape.

Could this one live up to the hype?

The most exciting thing for me is the ability to move straight from standing third-person, into your ship and then up into the sky and right out into space. That feature will even be fully compatible with Co-op play, which works as a ‘drop-in’ system where you can choose to play with friends at any time. When playing with those friends, there are reportedly no limits on what you can be doing, so you could work on a quest together, or be on entirely different planets, in ships, trading, fighting, you name it.

For sure, if Beyond Good & Evil 2 lives up to the hype then we could have a really incredible, unique gaming experience on our hands. We have, however, been stung by quite a few space-themed experiences as of late and this one looks like it could still use a fair bit of time in the oven. I can’t wait to see what comes of it though.

Alright, that’s it for today’s video on Beyond Good & Evil 2. If you have any further questions about the game, don’t hesitate to ask them in the comments section below and we’ll try to respond with whatever information we have.

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Thanks for stopping by, I’ve been FaultyOptics (you can follow me on twitter @Faulty_Optics), and I’ll see you all next time for more gaming guides and news.

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