Beyond Good and Evil

(20th Anniversary Edition Review)

Sometimes the term “Cult Classic" can be abused. Beyond Good and Evil, on the other hand, is the exact definition

Beyond Good and Evil is basically Ubisoft trying to create their version of Zelda, specifically Ocarina of Time, which came out just a few years before in 1998. For such a high watermark, Ubisoft delivered. There are secrets to find, puzzles to solve, dungeons to explore, close range combat, upgrades to do and in the place of your trusty steed, you have a hovercraft. The most important feature is that Jade’s adventure still carves out its own identity.

In 2003, Beyond Good and Evil was extremely well reviewed, but failed to find commercial success despite loads of accolades and awards. The reputation of Beyond Good and Evil has only grown over the years. For starters, it was given another chance back in 2011 with ports to Xbox 360 and PS3, which brought another round of cultists to the crew but most importantly, there has been a sequel infamously in development since at least 2008 when it was first announced.

While Beyond Good and Evil 2 remains in development limbo, Virtuos Games have given the original the new life. The 20th Anniversary Edition or technically 21st Anniversary edition includes visual changes and now runs at 4K60, quality of life fixes and even includes an exclusive new mission that connects the dots between this and Beyond Good and Evil 2, which is a good reason to believe that the sequel is still progressing slow.

Surprisingly, unlike a lot of the games from the beginning of the 3D era, Beyond Good and Evil holds up quite well, especially for being 21 years old. It’s not perfect today and it wasn’t perfect in 2003. The combat is still quite basic, enemy AI is laughable at times, but when taken as a whole package with stealth sections, hovercrafting, aerial dogfights, a solid score, and a unique world. It also featured a more mature storyline than most games were offering in 2003 with terrorism, poverty, war, and media misinformation.

There is a reason, why Beyond Good and Evil is revered. It’s not perfect, and it doesn’t do anything overly well, but as a whole package, it blends all of the elements together better than most. Maybe this is an attempt by Ubisoft to do a temperature check for the market of Beyond Good and Evil 2, but whatever the reason, it’s the best way to play it today and definitely worthy of your time.