Will We Still Go Beyond Good & Evil?

There’s
always going to be some doubt as to whether Beyond Good & Evil 2 will be a thing that actually happens.
Ubisoft keeps dancing around the question of whether it actually exists,
despite showing a dazzling teaser video three-and-a-half years ago at a press
event. Who could have known then that what would follow would be a long,
arduous ride of drama over whether it will remain in development or if it could
be cancelled at any time?

 

Actually,
quite a few of us could have predicted that, given the pitiful sales reception
to the original game. A cancellation certainly wouldn’t be a shock at this
point considering another highly anticipated sequel to a cult classic that was
also cancelled despite being well into development — not to mention we’re
talking about another game whose
previous iteration ended on a cliffhanger. But we’ve admittedly received plenty
of assurances that it’s still in development from multiple sources, some of
which were from creator Michel Ancel himself.

 

Speaking of
Ancel, he showed off small portions of the game’s development process at a
presentation in France. Prince of
Persia creator Jordan Mechner was there with him, but don’t take that to
mean he’s involved with BG&E 2. Ancel showed off some concept art for the
game, which showed two important aspects pertaining to what direction the game
will take. For one, the game’s environments and NPC inhabitants, at least for
one portion of the game, will have a heavy Indian influence. Ancel explained
that the development team traveled to India for research.

 

Said
influence leads right into the second point: this game’s art style will be far
more realistic, a stark contrast to the first game’s western animation-inspired
aesthetics. Ubisoft probably thinks attaching cartoony aesthetics to a game is
a death warrant if they want many older audiences to buy it, hence the
intention to eschew that here. They’re (sadly) right, and that’s both good and
bad. The art style in Beyond Good &
Evil helped establish that it was its own world, the result of the
developers’ collectively creative minds. But it’s possible that it could still keep those charms
regardless. It’s impossible to tell at this point so it will be something to
watch.

 

If anyone
still doubted whether the
previously leaked concept video was real, consider your question answered
as it was shown during the presentation. The fact that there are still good
quality versions of it on Youtube years after it was posted was enough to make
a few think it was an elaborate fake. Of course, the other reason why it could
still be there is that Ubisoft doesn’t really care much about it. Uh oh.

 

Around the
time of E3 (where it was a no show again),
Ancel
said the game probably wouldn’t release on any current generation consoles.
That makes sense from Ubisoft’s perspective too, as they’re the type of company
to release a new IP at the beginning of the generation to take advantage of a
new userbase. At the presentation, he said the game’s engine will be able to
accommodate large, sprawling cities. This is starting to sound like a dream
project, a true realization of what the development team wanted to accomplish with
the first game before they had to rush and finish it; it showed, especially in
the rushed narrative at the game’s end.

 

It’s the
“dream project” part that’s making everyone skeptical as to whether it will
actually release, the kind of project that’s becoming sparse in today’s game
development environment with perpetually rising budgets. Saying that its
existence also depends on the sales of a nearly completely unrelated game like Rayman Origins also makes its
future sound hazy. For all of you who were fans of the first game, keep your
fingers in a crossed position for the next few years.

 

P.S. If
you’re not a fan because you didn’t
like the game, then you have my apologies. If you’re not a fan because you’ve
never played it: Do you own a 360? Did you know Beyond Good & Evil HD is only going
to be 240 Microsoft Points ($3) on Monday? That’s a good deal, even if you
end up not liking it.