Ubisoft’s E3 press conference was widely considered a success this year. Unlike previous outings, the publisher chose to cut the frills and focus on the games, with demos for Far Cry 5 and Skull and Bones winning over the audience.
However, the standout moment from the conference belongs to the long-awaited reveal of Beyond Good and Evil 2. Rumors have been circulating about the game for the last decade, and we finally got a brief glimpse of it when creative director Michel Ancel took the stage. Information is still relatively scarce, however, as the brief reveal teaser offered up was a CGI video, which didn’t tell us too much about how the game would play.
Similarly, most of the plot details we received came in the form of a press release, which explained that Beyond Good and Evil 2 would serve as a prequel to the original. Instead of focusing on Jade, the game will take place in System 3, the center of interstellar trade, where the creation of hybrid slaves has become commonplace, and private enterprises fight over resources and power.
Now that E3’s over though, Ubisoft has offered a glimpse at the first in-engine demo for Beyond Good and Evil 2, which was shown off to press and other industry personnel on the show floor. The video (which you can watch above) is hosted by Ancel himself, as he pilots a spaceship as well as a jetpack-wielding monkey. While the clip only features a vertical slice of the game, we do catch a glimpse at how space travel works, and how the engine handles planets and universes.
There’s no planned release date or target platforms for Beyond Good and Evil 2 just yet, but we can’t wait to hear more about the work being done on the game. For those who are interested in shaping the title’s development, be sure to check out its Space Monkey Program, which will allow fans to take a look at early versions of the game and offer feedback to the developers.