Skip to main content

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

beyond good and evil 2 technical problems beyondgoodevilhd
Image used with permission by copyright holder
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
Please enable Javascript to view this content

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
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
What’s new in January 2025: 7 upcoming games worth checking out
Key art for Dynasty Warriors: Origins.

The new year is poised to be an excellent year for video games. If all goes according to plan, we'll get a new Nintendo console, Grand Theft Auto VI, and other new games in beloved series like Borderlands, Doom, Fatal Fury, Mafia, Metroid Prime, Monster Hunter, and Assassin's Creed. While the first month of the year doesn't have many heavy hitters, January does establish a feeling that 2025 will be a year full of beloved series making comebacks. We're getting remasters of beloved games like Freedom Wars and Donkey Kong Country Returns in addition to Dynasty Warriors: Origins, which will reinvent the Musou formula.

While you're probably still recovering from working through your gaming backlog over the holiday, video game releases aren't slowing down. To help you get a better idea of which particular games you should be keeping an eye on, I've rounded up seven of the most tantalizing games set to launch sometime during January 2025.
Freedom Wars Remastered (January 10)
FREEDOM WARS REMASTERED — Announcement Trailer

Read more
2024 gaming report card: How did PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo fare?
Living room with Microsoft Xbox Series X (L) and Sony PlayStation 5 home video game consoles alongside a television and soundbar.

After a long and busy 12 months, 2024 is officially in the books. Players have a few weeks to rest before the video game release calendar picks up in February with a barrage of major releases. That's a problem for next month, though. Until then, we've still got some time to reflect on what was a rollercoaster year for the gaming industry, full of surprise hits, total flops, and surprising no shows.

At the center of all that was the three pillars of mainstream gaming: Sony, Microsoft, and Nintendo. While their power may be waning in the age of portable PCs like the Steam Deck, these platform holders are still the watercooler conversation starters whose every move generates buzz. This year, all three companies found themselves in a strange spot. PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X hit the awkward midpoint of their lifespans, while the Nintendo Switch was left to tread water after its much anticipated successor was pushed out of 2024. All three would have to get creative if they were going to end the year strong.

Read more
4 big predictions for where video games are going in 2025
Lucia and her partner rob a store in GTA 6.

Well, 2024 is officially behind us -- and thank goodness for that. The last 12 months has been a constant roller coaster ride, taking the world through a series of unprecedented events. While the video game industry wasn't as quite as volatile as, say, the American political landscape, it was certainly a whirlwind year. Mass layoffs left tens of thousands without jobs, hyped-up games flopped, and harassment was on the rise. In between those headaches, we got a surprisingly strong year of unpredictable games like Balatro and Black Myth: Wukong.

That makes 2025 a little difficult to predict. We saw the best and worst of the industry last year, and it's unclear which side the needle will fall on by December 2025. Are things going to stabilize and give us a year with less layoffs and more great games? Or is the industry going to decay further, giving us more studio closures and big-budget flops?

Read more