Ubisoft announced an official release date for Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition with a new trailer on Thursday. The re-release will arrive on PlayStation 4 and PS5 on June 25; Xbox One and Series Windows PC (via Epic Games Store) and Nintendo Switch.
But, true to Ubisoft’s meticulous handling of a classic game that has dazzled audiences over the past 20 years, even that couldn’t go off without a major misstep, or a statement later retracted.
First things first, here’s the actual trailer, which was leaked previously, of course Unintended sharing to X About 20 minutes before scheduled time:
This trailer was released about 20 minutes ahead of schedule, when someone inadvertently hit “send” on a prepared tweet to the Ubisoft By mistake pressing the “Submit” button and Published a playable and in-development version of the anniversary remaster of Beyond Good & Evil To the Ubisoft+ subscription service.
A re-release was not announced at the time, but a leak, and a relentless failure to contain it, forced the publisher to announce it was on the way – even if that meant months after Beyond Good’s 20th anniversary. & Evil, which was released on November 11, 2003 on PlayStation 2.
Beyond Good & Evil has been widely praised for its eclectic gameplay systems, engaging characters and stories, and its far-sighted approach to video game storytelling.
And yet that seems to be the case One of those unicorns of the franchise Which no amount of obvious fan enthusiasm could actually warrant a proper sequel in 20 years, as publicly traded publishers resort to… More traditional IP addresses And Mined them 13 times For the attention of fickle investors who don’t play with it.
What’s new in Beyond Good & Evil 2?
During Ubisoft’s big reveal at E3 2017, Beyond Good & Evil fans received a dramatic announcement of a sequel, and Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot I got a standing ovation for that.
In the seven years since, fans have heard Zip. Instead, they got a sloppy treatment of a remaster of the original game — which, by the way, had already been remastered for HD consoles during the Obama administration.
However, the new Beyond Good & Evil version, updated for modern hardware, outperforms the alternative, which is the lack of BG&E on any current platform. But Ubisoft really needs to figure out how short of a leash it has with its fans, after shaking them for seven years with amateur hour-long antics like today.
Featured image via steam