Beyond Good and Evil
Hillys
I walk into the rustic building and find myself in a local drinking hole. The barkeep and many of the patrons are aliens resembling anthropomorphic animals. A catchy tune hits my ears as soon as I enter. There’s a seedy atmosphere here, with lots of gambling and shifty-looking characters. No, I haven’t wandered into the Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine – I’m in the Akuda Bar on Hillys from Beyond Good and Evil.
Hillys is a world I fell in love with the moment I popped the game disc into my PS2 on Christmas Day 2003. It’s brimming with colour, personality, and quirky charm – not to mention an assortment of delightful half-human/half-animal hybrids. There’s a variety of different environments to admire and explore, too. One minute you’re walking through a city of buildings and canals that wouldn’t look too out of place in a Mediterranean setting. Next, you’re skimming across the surface of the open ocean on your trusty hovercraft. And shortly afterwards, you might be infiltrating a creepy industrial sprawl, filled with pollution and deadly creatures.
Recently, I decided to revisit the world of Beyond Good and Evil, in the form of its 20th Anniversary Edition1. This game rejuvenates a two-decades-old classic, featuring revamped visuals, improved textures, dynamic lighting, and refined controls. Granted, beneath this new coat of digital paint is still a PS2 game with an early 2000s aesthetic, but the world of Hillys remains beautiful and vibrant, and Ubisoft has wisely left the original art direction largely untouched. The developers have struck a perfect balance between honouring the original vision and giving it a visual refresh.
Beyond Good & Evil is a curious beast that’s a bit hard to categorise. It’s an amalgamation of different gameplay styles, which it borrows heavily (and unabashedly) from several other games. It’s a semi-open-world action-adventure game, with a heavy focus on stealth and puzzle-solving, and a healthy dose of combat and wildlife photography – not to mention the odd platforming and racing sections, too. While none of these types of gameplay excel at what they do, the various styles fit together very well in a bizarre yet fascinating world. And, perhaps unsurprisingly for a game that takes its name from a book by existential philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil juggles plenty of deep and powerful themes. Creator Michael Ancel says, ‘There’s a message [in the game] that’s explained in the title; you don’t just explore the world [of Hillys] and see that there are good people and bad people, but you have to go beyond that and try to discover why things are the way they are.’
Hillys may look peaceful, but don’t be fooled by appearances – the smell of conspiracy is rife here. This small mining planet, mostly covered by ocean, has been at war for many years. A relentless invasion from an insectoid alien force known as the DomZ has left the Hillyan people terrified and desperate. They have found comfort and support in the Alpha Sections, a powerful and elite military organisation who have instituted martial law in the wake of devastating DomZ attacks. To ensure their continued popularity, the Alpha Sections carry out a massive media propaganda campaign; through newspapers, television, and e-mails, they are presented as the planet’s only saviours. The weird thing is, the Alpha Section never seem to respond fast enough to ever stop any of the attacks…
An underground rebel organisation known as the IRIS Network is firmly convinced that the Hillyan people are being lied to. They claim that there is a secret pact between the DomZ and the Alpha Sections so that the war on Hillys becomes permanent. They suspect that the conflict is a pretext for establishing a military dictatorship. Under the guise of protection, the Alpha Sections can oppress and control the entire population – one that’s not only docile but also thankful.
It’s an incredible theory, but this rogue news network is determined to reveal it through their clandestine journal. They are trying to gather enough evidence of the link between Hillys’s so-called protectors and the alien menace so that they can reveal it to the world, but IRIS’s efforts have not yet achieved the expected results.
Enter Jade, our resourceful protagonist. She lives on the fringes of Hillys, on a small, isolated island dominated by a lighthouse, which has become an oasis of tranquillity in this troubled period. Having lost her parents when she was young, Jade was raised and cared for by her ‘uncle’ Pey’j, a grumpy half-human/half-pig creature who likes tinkering with mechanical devices and inventing cool gadgets. Together, they take in children orphaned by the war against the extraterrestrial DomZ. To earn money, Pey’j fixes machines and Jade freelances as a photographer.
Even so, money is still tight, and with DomZ attacks increasing, Jade needs a job that pays well. She is initially tasked with capturing photos of every animal species on the planet, which becomes an ongoing side quest throughout the rest of the game. That means she not only has to take pictures of the local wildlife, but also the anthropomorphic animals that populate Hillys, including Pey’j and some Rastafarian rhino-men. But after the DomZ attack her lighthouse sanctuary, Jade’s intuition leads her to suspect that the government’s claims of a secure planet are not entirely truthful. Spurred on by the IRIS network, she and Pey’j set off to uncover and expose the truth. Her investigative efforts lead her to different islands, where she infiltrates the bases of both Alpha Sections and the DomZ to gather and photograph incriminating evidence of their secret alliance.
It was great revisiting Hillys in Beyond Good and Evil‘s 20th Anniversary. Yes, the combat is a bit basic and somewhat spongy, and the lengthy stealth sections can be frustrating, but the engaging story and interesting characters make it easy to push through its more troublesome areas. Best of all, in my opinion, is the world of Hillys itself. This gorgeous, vibrant archipelago intertwines motifs from Asia, Europe, and the Caribbean, all with a distinct sci-fi theme. The planet is a cultural melting pot, with species of all kinds scraping a living on the various islands, even as their communities constantly come under siege.
Everywhere you go, there are new and interesting things to see. At any given time, there are dozens of ships flying overhead or sailing around on the ocean. When you cruise down the Venetian waterways of the main city, you will be dazzled by the hustle and bustle of traffic moving in all directions, and at all elevations.
But at the same time, there is always the oppressive feel of a shadowy enemy. Propaganda plasters the walls of nearly every building. The face of the Alpha Sections general is beamed constantly onto screens in the streets. I felt a real urge to try and make a difference here, to improve the citizens’ lives. So there’s a sense of satisfaction when, as you keep revisiting the main city throughout the game, you’ll notice that residents begin to protest in ever larger groups, decrying the despotic rule of the Alpha Sections, as Jade stirs up local feelings.
Will we ever get to see Hillys again? Maybe. Perhaps the most exciting addition in the updated version is a new subquest involving trinkets scattered throughout Hillys. These trinkets, along with some new character biographies that explore Jade’s past, will connect Beyond Good & Evil to its long-awaited (some might say mythical) sequel. That game was first announced over 15 years ago, and many people assumed it would never see the light of day. But if the additions in the 20th Anniversary Edition are anything to go by, then this long-gestating game is not only still alive and in active development, but perhaps not far from completion. Apparently, it will be a prequel to Beyond Good and Evil, which in some ways is a shame because I was hoping for a direct continuation of the story. Nonetheless, I will take any opportunity to revisit that captivating world. My return to Hillys has got me excited once more for what’s to come.
- Technically, it’s the game’s 21st anniversary, but never mind. ↩︎