New Beyond Good & Evil May Not Be a Sequel
By Jasmine Henry 18 October 2016
Sources within Ubisoft reveal that the new Beyond Good & Evil game is a semi-reboot rather than a sequel and that it has a release date of summer 2018.
To say that fans have been eager to play a new Beyond Good & Evil game would be an understatement. Fans are very eager, as evidenced by the madness that ensued when Ubisoft officially confirmed that a new Beyond Good & Evil is in development. However, besides confirming that work is underway, the publisher didn’t confirm much else about the game including its story or even its name.
As fans continue to wonder just what series creator Michel Ancel has in store for them, sources speaking to Let’s Play Video Games suggest that the new Beyond Good & Evil will not be a sequel or even a prequel as some predicted. Instead, the new game will be a semi-reboot that will “partially retell Jade’s origin tale” and “flesh out Pey’j’s backstory,” which perhaps explains why recently revealed Beyond Good & Evil concept art featured a young Pey’j.
After looking at both character’s origins, the game will then “continue to extrapolate on the ending of the original game,” hoping to provide “closure to fans of the original wondering what the cliffhanger at the end meant for the series’ ongoing plot.” The game, which will reportedly have a subtitle instead of being called Beyond Good & Evil 2, will also attract new players to the series.
In a way this makes sense. Although Ubisoft is giving away Beyond Good & Evil for free, that may not be enough to make a direct sequel financially viable, but making a new game that draws in all players could give the series some longevity.
LPVG‘s sources also confirm that the new Beyond Good & Evil will be a Nintendo NX exclusive, as previously rumored. This will be confirmed (in an official capacity) with a CG trailer that will debut alongside the Nintendo NX reveal and will serve as a “tone piece” for the game, rather than revealing its plot or gameplay.
Moreover, the source states that Ubisoft is aiming for a summer 2018 release window for the game. Given that the game’s existence has been hyped since 2008, that would be a 10-year wait, almost rivaling the likes of The Last Guardian and Duke Nukem Forever.
That said, it comes as little surprise given that Ancel said that the new Beyond Good & Evil is only in pre-production. Hopefully the time in the game development will pay off and that after a decade, it will deliver on fans’ hopes and dreams and not let them down.
Source: Let’s Play Video Games
