Skip to main content

After eight years, 'Beyond Good & Evil 2' is still mired in pre-production

The long-awaited sequel to the cult hit Beyond Good & Evil is indeed on the way, but don’t start clearing your schedule quite yet — the game isn’t even close to launching.

Posting on Instagram, Michel Ancel, longtime Ubisoft Montpellier creative director, revealed new character art from the sequel — a rhino with long dreadlocks and a military cap — with the image’s caption listing the game as “in pre-production.”

Recommended Videos

The character appears to be one of the Mammago brothers from the original game, though his cap has gotten considerably smaller and his clothing a bit more militaristic. This follows two other images uploaded by Ancel on the same account, first of a pig creature on the shoulders of a mechanic, and, later, of a bipedal shark.

If you haven’t yet played the original game, you have a couple of options for doing so without spending any cash. In August, a backward compatible version of Beyond Good & Evil was released through Xbox Live’s “Games With Gold” program to Xbox One and Xbox 360 owners. The PC version will also be the next free game released for Ubisoft’s 30th anniversary celebration, starting on October 12. Another one of Ancel’s creations, Rayman Origins, was made available for free earlier in the summer.

A Beyond Good & Evil sequel was originally announced by Ubisoft more than eight years ago with a beautiful teaser trailer, but virtually no information has been released in the ensuing years. Since then, Ancel has continued to direct other projects at Ubisoft Montpellier, including Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends. His time is now split between Ubisoft and his independent Wild Sheep Studio. The team’s first project is the ambitious PlayStation 4 exclusive Wild, which Ancel claims features a game world the size of Europe and the ability to play as everything from a wolf to a trout.

Gabe Gurwin
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
3 new Game Pass games to play this weekend (June 20-22)
Queen Aleksandra near a giant metal enemy.

Today marks the first official day of summer, so what better way to beat the heat than with some cool new Game Pass games? The middle and end of the month tend to be a bit slower for new games, but this week has not just one, but two day one additions to sink your teeth into. What makes my job of picking the best ones even easier is the fact that I am spoiled for choice in terms of variety. I have a great new co-op shooter, a deliciously dark action roguelike, plus a throwback platformer that anyone can enjoy. Each one can dominate your weekend, so let's skip right to the good stuff and talk about the three Game Pass games I know you will love playing this weekend.

FBC: Firebreak

Read more
Death Stranding 2 preload guide: release date, file size, and more
Sam under a massive moon in Death Stranding 2.

We're on the cusp of seeing what Hideo Kojima has in store for us in Death Stranding 2. The trailers so far promise a grander and even more unpredictable experience with one-of-a-kind characters and gameplay like nothing else. Like any good porter, you need to make sure you're fully prepared before heading out on this trek. We're not talking about balancing your weight or putting on fresh shoes, but preloading the game so you can set out as soon as the game unlocks. Death Stranding 2 looks like it will have some of the best graphics on PS5, which means it is a chunky file to download. Here's all the preload information you need, including the release date, file size, and more.

Death Stranding 2 release date

Read more
FBC: Firebreak review: co-op Control spinoff is a a lot of work for little payoff
Three players pose together in FBC: Firebreak.

You start a new job. It’s nothing special; you’re just a low rung paper pusher. The starting pay is meager, but it’s enough to pay the bills. Your boss says that he sees a bright future for you in this company. Work hard and you’ll get a promotion. More money. More perks. More power. You bust your butt to hit every milestone you can, occasionally getting a small holiday bonus or a few extra vacation days. Your day to day only improves in small increments, but you keep reaching for the next rung of the corporate ladder in hopes that the view from the top will be worth it one day.

That experience isn’t so dissimilar to how I’ve felt playing FBC: Firebreak, a shooter that feels like a second job. Remedy Entertainment’s foray into co-op action, a spinoff of its 2019 hit Control, brings a playful pitch to the board room. It imagined what the average Joes of its interconnected universe do while Jesse Fayden is living out a superhero fantasy. It’s a celebration of the mundane that hands out Employee of the Week plaques to any player willing to clock in for a dead end job with a smile on their face.

Read more