Beyond Good & Evil 2

Beyond Good & Evil 2 is an unreleased Ubisoft action-adventure game and a prequel to 2003’s Beyond Good & Evil. Ubisoft Montpellier first announced a sequel under that name in May 2008, accompanied by a teaser that showed Jade and Pey’j. That early incarnation did not reach release. At E3 in June 2017, Ubisoft unveiled a reworked Beyond Good & Evil 2, presenting it as an origin story set before the original game rather than the continuation implied by the 2008 footage. Ubisoft subsequently demonstrated the project at E3 2018 and published developer updates through its Space Monkey Program initiative. The announced setting is System 3, a 24th-century interstellar region where corporations have established colonies and compete for influence. Ubisoft describes its population as including genetically engineered human-animal hybrids, and its trailers depict a stratified society shaped by powerful corporations. Players are intended to create their own pirate character and work upward from a lowly position, assembling a crew and acquiring a ship. Ubisoft said the game would support solo play and online cooperative play, while allowing travel through System 3’s locations, from city environments to space. Its promotional demos emphasized seamless transitions between planetary exploration and spaceflight. In Ubisoft’s 2017 reveal, Pey’j appears decades younger than in the first game and is called “Uncle Pey’j.” The same presentation introduced new System 3 figures, including the human pilot Shani and the monkey-hybrid Knox. A 2018 cinematic trailer ended by revealing Jade, the protagonist of the 2003 game, in a very different role as an apparent antagonist. Ubisoft has not released a finished game that establishes how this version of Jade connects to the original story. Much of Beyond Good & Evil 2’s narrative therefore remains publicly unconfirmed, including the relationship between its playable pirate and the characters from Hillys. Development has continued through major personnel changes. Michel Ancel, the creator of the original Beyond Good & Evil and a longtime Ubisoft Montpellier director, announced in September 2020 that he was leaving Ubisoft and the video-game industry. Ubisoft said at the time that Beyond Good & Evil 2 remained in development. In July 2023, Ubisoft confirmed the death of creative director Emile Morel, who had worked on the project. As of now, Ubisoft has not announced a release date or shown a gameplay release candidate. The public record consequently consists of announcements, trailers, ambitions, and development updates, not a commercially available game.