Beyond Good and Evil Anniversary Edition is real, and we know this for sure, as Ubisoft released the action game several months early. Oops. The accident – which included a store listing and full copies of the game sent to Ubisoft+ subscribers – happened before Ubisoft even announced the game’s existence, even though the ESRB leaked it earlier in 2023.
Ubisoft acknowledged the mistaken leak on the Beyond Good & Evil 2 Twitter page and said they plan to release Beyond Good & Evil Anniversary Edition early in 2024.
The studio removed footage and images from the internet after some of those Ubisoft+ subscribers posted it, and while some reactions to the scrubbed-up visuals were less than favorable, Ubisoft said the build was an in-progress version of the game. The now-delisted store page said the full release will support 4K resolution and 60fps, and it comes with a few other upgrades as well (thanks, Eurogamer).
Well, looks like the cat’s out of the bag, dagnammit. Happy 20th anniversary to Beyond Good & Evil! While we cannot wait to show you more about this special edition, more news to come in early 2024! pic.twitter.com/cNxHGTnmdU
— Beyond Good and Evil 2 (@bgegame) November 29, 2023
One of those is a new treasure hunt mode that gives Jade special new gear and gives you more knowledge about her backstory. It will also feature achievements, a speedrun mode, and some developer insights and commentary in a separate gallery.
If you don’t want to wait that long and you have an Xbox, you can play Beyond Good & Evil‘s 360 version via backwards compatibility.
There’s still no word about Beyond Good & Evil 2, or whether it remains in active development. Series creator Michel Ancel – who later departed Ubisoft and faced sexual misconduct allegations – teased a sequel in 2007, and Ubisoft announced it with a trailer in 2017 with a small update in 2019 and nothing since.
Meanwhile, Ubisoft is giving away one of the best Assassin’s Creed games for free for a short while, and unlike Beyond Good & Evil Anniversary Edition, they won’t take it back.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF