Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition review: A blast from the past made better

Looking back, Beyond Good & Evil was a game ahead of its time. This sci-fi action adventure released in late 2003, around the same time as its Ubisoft sibling Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, and considerably before both the first Far Cry (2004) and Assassin’s Creed games (2007). And yet, some familiar elements are present in its DNA.

Directed by Michel Ancel, the creator of Rayman, Beyond Good & Evil still comes across as a meaty and ambitious experience, on multiple levels. In-between lengthy missions that demand stealth, combat plus traversal puzzle solving, and often see you paired with a helpful NPC companion, players are able to free-roam an open maritime world. You actually have to, as progress is gated by the need for pearls, a currency required to purchase vehicle upgrades that will first get you into high-security areas, and later propel you into space.

Acquiring enough pearls is mostly what will keep you busy – easily pushing playtime past the 11-hour mark – as they have to be earned in a variety of ways: as mission rewards, from exploration, purchased from vendors, and via a number of mini-games and challenges that include bar sports, hovercraft races, raider chases and submitting wildlife photos to local researchers. Unlike today’s games, you have to be pretty thorough with your collecting, as 80 out of an available 88 are necessary to advance along the main storyline.

Speaking of, Beyond Good & Evil feels different here as well. A consciously family-friendly game, it features a lot of camaraderie, heart and bravery instead of dialling up the grim edginess. While main character Jade has combat abilities, they’re used more in self-defence. Rather, our heroine’s main weapon is her camera, as her initial attempts to simply make some money to support the orphans both she and her foster father, hybrid man-pig Pey’j, care for are replaced by a bigger mission. More specifically, Jade is forced to look beyond the good and evil classifications she’s always been encouraged to believe, as rebel group IRIS recruits her to investigate the relationship between vicious alien invaders, the DomZ, and Alpha Sections, a mysterious military group who claim to be protecting the planet of Hillys, but mostly have been enforcing authoritarian control.     

Of course, Beyond Good & Evil is a 20 year old game now (actually older), which makes it harder for curious contemporary players to dissect the adventure’s cult status. Or rather, that was the case until the release of Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition last month for all current and last gen platforms.

The 20th Anniversary Edition isn’t the first remaster of Beyond Good & Evil – an HD upgrade was released in 2011 – but this version does feel like a definitive edition that makes the game accessible for gamers with modern sensibilities.

You can’t escape some lingering camera idiosyncrasies of the time (particularly annoying in combat); cumbersome access to maps and inventories; dated, problematic depictions of certain ethnicities; and a “hollowness” to the dialogue, but overall, the 20th Anniversary Edition is a highly palatable package. What could have been a lip-service cash grab is a thoughtful and well-considered effort, acknowledging fans and franchise newcomers alike.

Perhaps most striking is how good the game looks. Even on Nintendo Switch OLED, which hasn’t had the 4k 60fps and textures bump of the other consoles, it’s hard not to be wowed the first time you enter Hillys’ bustling walled city, with its canals and hovercraft traffic. For the record, the 20th Anniversary Edition has also added quality-of-life improvements like autosave (if you die you’ll return with half your health), cutscene-skip, and cross-save across all platforms.

The biggie new additions, though, start with a special Anniversary Gallery, which features loads of never-before-seen artwork, videos and other content from the period of the game’s development and release. Then there’s a new side quest, and in-game lore collectible, that promises to connect the game better to the story of long-announced Beyond Good & Evil 2.

The only caveat after all this is that personally I wouldn’t recommend playing the game on Switch. I chose the platform thinking that it would be the perfect way to experience a classic game from yesteryear. However, in addition to missing all the visual bells and whistles, I encountered graphic stuttering at unexpected times, breaks between the audio and lip sync, and even suffered motion sickness due to the camera quirkiness in handheld form.

Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition is a fantastic way to revisit a beloved game, and makes a strong option for parents and children wanting to experience a slice of gaming history together. Just do it on another console, or PC.

Released on 25 June, Beyond Good & Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC through the Ubisoft Store, Epic Games Store and Steam. The game is priced at a budget-friendly $19.99 / 19,99€ / R359 across the board. Limited run physical editions are also now available for preorder.

Note: Images in this review are supplied 4K screencaps.