Beyond Good And Evil 2 Video Shows Off The Game's Progress

Following its surprise reveal at E3, Ubisoft has now released a new video showcasing Beyond Good & Evil 2. Rather than a typical trailer, it features a mixture of gameplay footage and interviews with the developers, who continue to attempt a more open, collaborative development process that includes fans.

Much of the video centers around developer Ubisoft Montpellier's aspirations for the game. Senior creative director Michel Ancel described being focused on bringing players' motivations into the game, while senior producer Guillaume Brunier spoke about wanting to include the complete pirate experience--just with an outer-space twist. That includes the ability to board enemy ships and hunt for treasure. Later in the video, we get a look at the wide variety of ship designs that are currently possible.

The video also talks up the Space Monkey Program, which is the name for Ubisoft's open design initiative. Ubisoft Montpellier is sharing details about the game much earlier than we're accustomed to, and it's inviting players to share their feedback. Ancel said the goal is to blur the line between developers and passionate fans.

Ancel also acknowledged how long the game is taking, explaining, "We don't say no. We say yes to giant spaceships, [bringing] lots of friends into the spaceship, online adventures, the solo experience also. All these things--we say yes we can make it we can connect all the features together. But nobody has ever made this kind of thing a video game before, so the pressure is still on, which is good."

There's no doubting Ubisoft and Ancel's ambition, though when we had the opportunity to try the game, we found that Beyond Good & Evil 2 was not what we had imagined. Whether that turns out to be a good thing remains to be seen. The game does not yet have a release date, but you can sign up to be a part of the Space Monkey Program at the official website.