Beyond Good & Evil gives its hero a camera where most games would give her a gun. Jade, a young photojournalist on the planet Hillys, takes on an alien invasion and the regime that is secretly serving it, and her best weapon is the evidence she photographs. Edge later called the result “cerebral, sophisticated and faintly left-wing”. Michel Ancel, the creator of Rayman, made it at Ubisoft’s Montpellier studio, and reviewers liked it. Then it disappeared in the Christmas rush of 2003 and sold poorly, while its reputation went on growing for years afterwards.
Fast facts
- Developer and publisher: Ubisoft, at its Montpellier studio.
- Creator: Michel Ancel.
- Released: late 2003 for the PlayStation 2 and Windows PCs, with the Xbox and GameCube versions following in Britain in early 2004.
- Hero: Jade, a photojournalist on the mining planet Hillys.
- Reissues: Beyond Good & Evil HD (2011) and Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition (2024).
- Sequel: Beyond Good and Evil 2, a prequel, shown in 2017 and still in development in 2026.
Hillys and its secrets
Jade lives in a lighthouse full of stained glass and orphaned children, with her uncle Pey’j, an inventor who happens to be a pig. The planet is under attack from aliens, the DomZ, and from their proxies in the Alpha Sections. Jade, armed with a staff, her camera and a Gyrodisc launcher that fires small discs, joins an underground resistance, “ready to expose the regime rather than merely thin its ranks”, as Edge put it. Her photographs of what she finds are published in the resistance’s newsletter, and as her scoops pile up, Edge wrote, “you can see the fruits of your work” in the changing mood of the streets.
Around the main story the game packs in a great deal. In its first hour, Edge’s reviewer counted a dramatic fight, a hovercraft trip across a lake, sneaking in the shadows, a race, wildlife photography, a busy town to explore, a newspaper subscription and a set of mini-games in a local bar. A science centre pays Jade to photograph every species on the planet, which funds better equipment and draws the player into every corner of every level. The camera even picks out constellations in the night sky.
Ancel told Edge that the story was “very reminiscent of Jules Verne”, with a deliberately European flavour; Sony of America had sent a message saying only, “Your game looks very European.” The development was long and hard. The early version had no fighting at all, the team was “very demoralised” and missing milestones, and before release it made the story more mature and redesigned Jade to look less like a schoolgirl and more like a war reporter. The Michel Ancel entry tells that story in full.
Reception and sales
Edge gave the game seven out of ten. Its reviewer compared it to Shenmue, a game to be lived in rather than conquered, and warned that “it’s an ‘experience’ as much as a game”, which “will leave as many people cold as it grabs”. The stealth worked very well; the combat was “a glamorous and slightly unwieldy button-bash”. Computer Gaming World nominated it as one of its action games of 2003, calling it “stylish, distinctive, and loaded with personality”.
Few people bought it. In February 2004 Edge tested the story that Ubisoft’s three new games of Christmas 2003, Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, XIII and Beyond Good & Evil, had been lost in the crush. Ubisoft said the other two had recovered after Christmas, but Beyond Good & Evil “clearly became lost in the rush”. By 2005 Electronic Gaming Monthly was calling it “the ’03 critical hit (and commercial flop)”, and in 2010 it was still being named in Edge among promising games that had “under-performed at retail”.
The cult classic
Its reputation kept growing. In 2012 Edge went back to Hillys and argued that it was “rare that such a simple design quirk can do so much to change the feel of a game” as Jade’s camera: “you’ll come to view BG&E’s various creations with an intensity of focus many other games simply can’t engender.” The structure came from Zelda, the magazine admitted, and the stealth from Metal Gear Solid; what set the game apart was its quirky cast, the “watery, European loveliness” of Hillys, and a hero who saw it all through a lens.
Ubisoft brought it back twice. Beyond Good & Evil HD came out for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2011, rendering at 1080p and adding achievements and leaderboards. Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition followed on 25 June 2024 for current consoles and PC, with 4K graphics at 60 frames a second, autosave and a new side quest about Jade’s past that links to the sequel.
That sequel has had a longer history than the game itself. Ubisoft teased it in 2008 and finally showed Beyond Good and Evil 2 at E3 in 2017 as a prequel. Ancel left Ubisoft and the games industry in September 2020, and the game was still in development at Ubisoft in 2026.
Sources
- Edge issue 131, Christmas 2003, pp. 104–105: Beyond Good & Evil review (release dates; Jade, the Gyrodisc and the camera; the first hour; the Shenmue comparison; the stealth and combat; seven out of ten). Also pp. 64–67, “Audience with Michel Ancel” (Jules Verne, “looks very European”, the changes to the story and to Jade).
- Edge issue 133, February 2004, p. 9: “The eight myths of Christmas 2003” (Ubisoft’s three original games and the Christmas crush).
- Computer Gaming World issue 236, March 2004: Games of the Year awards, action game nominees.
- Electronic Gaming Monthly issue 195, September 2005, p. 20: “the ’03 critical hit (and commercial flop)”.
- Edge issue 218, September 2010, p. 85: games that “under-performed at retail”.
- Edge issue 239, April 2012, pp. 134–135: “Jade’s camera” (Ubisoft Montpellier; Hillys, the DomZ and the Alpha Sections; the lighthouse, Pey’j and the resistance; the science centre; Zelda and Metal Gear Solid).
- Edge issue 233, November 2011, p. 14: Beyond Good & Evil HD (1080p, achievements and leaderboards).
- Ubisoft, “Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition is coming on 25th June 2024”, press release, June 2024, via Game Developer (web, secondary): platforms, 4K at 60 frames a second, autosave, the new quest linked to Beyond Good and Evil 2. https://www.gamedeveloper.com/press-release/beyond-good-evil-20th-anniversary-edition-is-coming-on-25-th-june-2024
- Wikipedia, “Beyond Good & Evil (video game)” (accessed October 2026) (web, secondary): the HD version’s release on Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in 2011. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Good_%26_Evil_(video_game)
- Wikipedia, “Beyond Good and Evil 2” (accessed October 2026) (web, secondary): the 2008 teaser, the E3 2017 reveal as a prequel, and development continuing in 2026. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beyond_Good_and_Evil_2