After prematurely leaking a listing of Beyond Good & Evil - 20th Anniversary Edition, Ubisoft has officially announced the game. Celebrating 20 years of the franchise, Beyond Good & Evil - 20th Anniversary Edition is a remaster of the beloved game with improved visuals and quality-of-life improvements.
"Players will be able to (re)discover the pioneering action-adventure game by exploring the wonderfully odd maritime world of Hillys in the best way possible," Ubisoft said in a press release that confirmed up to 4K resolution and 60 frames per second. Quality-of-life improvements include autosave, cutscene-skip, full controller and keyboard and mouse support, and cross-save across all platforms.
A new Speedrun Mode will also be included, along with more than 20 new achievements and an Anniversary Gallery that delves into the game's development history and features never-before-seen artworks, videos, and more.
As another special bonus, players can learn more about Jade's childhood and collect exclusive cosmetic rewards. A new treasure hunt, exclusive mission will reveal more about the narrative link to Beyond Good & Evil 2.
Beyond Good & Evil - 20th Anniversary Edition is scheduled to launch on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Amazon Luna and PC through the Ubisoft Store, Epic Games Store and Steam. A special Collector Edition will be coming soon, with pre-orders opening on July 12th.
Swoop into the marvelous world of Hillys as action-reporter Jade to investigate mysterious DomZ alien attacks alongside colorful characters such as her adoptive uncle Pey'j or the valiant Double H.
Armed with a Daï-Jo and her faithful Camera, Jade’s adventure will get you to freely explore Hillys, combat creatures large and small, infiltrate dangerous areas, solve enigmatic puzzles, play addictive mini-games, race the best Hovercraft pilots, and take pictures of the whole experience.
The original Beyond Good & Evil was released in 2003 for PS2, Xbox, GameCube, and PC. The game received favorable reviews with critics praising its animation, setting and story, although it did receive criticism for some of its technical issues and combat. Unfortunately, the game was considered a commercial failure at launch, although it has since gained a cult following. Some still consider it to be one of the greatest video games of all time.
In its press release, Ubisoft boasted an "enduring commitment to the franchise," though Beyond Good & Evil 2 has been stuck in development hell for years with many in the industry referring to it as vaporware. The game has been in development for over 15 years and now holds the record for longest development period of a AAA video game, surpassing Duke Nukem Forever back in 2022.
Ubisoft unannounced Beyond Good & Evil 2 as a prequel to the original game at E3 back in 2017. The announcement was met with excitement at the time, though we haven't heard much about the game since and there's still no release window.