Beyond Good & Evil 2 was announced during E3 in June 2017 and Ubisoft has been hard at work on the online open-world adventure ever since. In the latest “Space Monkey Report” update video, the development team gave us a new look at on-foot melee combat and even provided a little more insight into the story.
In the video, we see how the player character will be able to use a staff in a similar manner to the original Beyond Good & Evil, pulling off acrobatic tricks as they put smack around a few enemies. We see the staff twirled through the air and tossed like the color guard in a marching band, and these animations were created through the use of motion capture.
Just because the staff is a simple weapon doesn’t mean it’s a weak one. When a character is hit with it, they are sent flying back with a small wave of energy.
Equipped with a jetpack when you’re moving on-foot, you can launch yourself into enemy motherships and make daring escapes back to your own vehicle, as well. The option to soar away from danger should make for some entertaining encounters, particularly when you try to back out of a fight.
As a prequel, Beyond Good & Evil 2 will also delve into what happened to the pirates who had been relegated to hideouts in the original game.
“They were inside caves. You were not able to see them in the world,” director Michel Ancel said in the video. “So that was very mysterious and it is a part of things we will explain or discover — what happened to the pirates?”
Beyond Good & Evil 2 won’t feature a pre-made player character like Jade in the original. As revealed in a past demonstration, the game will come with a very robust character creation took, letting you choose one of several “hybrid” species such as monkeys rhinos, and sharks. The game will still be narrative-heavy, but Ubisoft wants you to be able to play it your way, either alone offline or with the help of friends.
No release date has been given for Beyond Good & Evil 2. We expect to hear more at E3 in June.
