‘Beyond Good and Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition’ Review
Developer: Ubisoft | Platform: PS5 | Playtime: 13:40
There’s quite a trite observation that goes around in the gaming sphere regarding the lack of money but plenty of time you have as a child for games but the inverse being true as an adult. If I had the money to back up the time, I might have come across Beyond Good and Evil. I think if I had played it at the time, it would have had a huge impact on my opinions on games.
Set on the small watery planet of Hillys, you play as human journalist Jade alongside her brother/father/uncle figure Pey’j the pig man, together they take in refugee children from the galaxies ongoing war with alien parasites, the DomZ. When funds run low, Jade takes a job that leads her into a conspiracy that the galaxies defensive force Alpha Section may not be all that they seem.
The game itself then is an adventure game. I’d say there’s hints of Zelda in there but the upgrades just allow for further exploration in the overworld. It’s not quite a metroidvania either. Perhaps it’s just an adventure game, complete with puzzles and combat. Combat is limited to a three hit combo Jade can perform with her bostaff while puzzles can be box pushing, electricity puzzles and the like. Primarily you’ll be engaging in stealth to avoid enemies, which admittedly is fairly rudimentary but serves it’s purpose - Jade is primarily a journalist after all. Most objectives in the game involve taking photos as evidence to help turn the population against Alpha Section. I do wish there was more use for the camera other than story objectives and a side activity but I suppose there wasn’t many options.
To progress through the game, you’ll have to upgrade your hovership to reach further areas of the map. To this end, you need Pearls to trade to the black market. Pearls are your primary collectible, with 88 of them being in the game. These can be found out in the world or earned for completing quests. There are instances where you earn multiple at a time which makes me wonder why the number wasn’t lower but that’s not really relevant. A good way to earn Pearls is the aforementioned other use for the Camera. You’’’ receive a message from the Science Centre of Hillys who wants Jade to catalogue the inhabitants of Hillys before the war leads to their extinction. For every 8 creatures you photograph, you’ll earn another Pearl. You’ll need most of the pearls in the game to reach the endgame. Nothing is locked off but it’s best to unlock stuff as you go. You can purchase trackers for Pearls and Animals later on so won’t have to result to external guides. I found all but a handful of both Animals and Pearls on my first playthrough..
New to the remake (it’s all new to me) are additional treasure hunts that detail some of the characters that will appear in the never to release (Ubisoft seems to think otherwise) Beyond Good and Evil 2. If nothing else, it adds a little bit of interesting world building to the game for new players and it’s some extra content for returning players.
Admittedly I didn’t finish the game due to a bad checkpoint in the final boss fight and the combat not being the most engaging thing. The ending was also something I wasn’t massively sold on when I watched it on YouTube. I won’t spoil anything but it just kind of seems against the general themes the game was going for.I also couldn’t get the Platinum due to the ridiculously hard mini game you unlock at the end, but there’s a chance I return to it.
Even if I had nothing positive to say about the other aspects of the game, the world of Hillys itself has such a strong visual vibe to it - you can tell that Michel Ancel, director of Rayman 2, worked on the game. It’s a small open world with not a whole lot to do and actually explore outside of the levels but there’s just something to it. The day and night cycle helps I think, it just feels like such a lived in world and proves artstyle is vastly more important than graphics. Put Hillys into a full blown RPG and it would still be my favourite locale.
It’s status as a cult classic is well deserved. It’s not perfect by any means but has such a specific goal that it achieves wonderfully. Like I say, I would have loved it as a kid growing up and I love it now. I wish we still got games like this one.
