Beyond Good & Evil: 20th Anniversary Edition Review (PS5) | Push Square

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It’s strange to think that Beyond Good & Evil was a failure on release. It was critically well-received but sales were poor, and it took years to gain a cult following. Now, it’s revered as a masterpiece, gathering a devoted fan base that still pines for the sequel that’s all but passed into legend.

Developed by Ubisoft Montpellier, BG&E is the brainchild of Michel Ancel, a highly influential designer. He's responsible for Rayman and hugely underrated adaptation of Peter Jackson's King Kong. He also created the Rabbids, but nobody's perfect.

BG&E is a game that tries to do a lot of things and succeeds at most of them. A bright, pastel-coloured adventure, it's easily accessible for all ages, but presents dark and complex themes to anyone that looks for them. This pristine remaster, Beyond Good & Evil 20th Anniversary Edition, arrives to remind fans of the original's charm, and hopefully garner a new generation of followers.

The story puts you in the functional sneakers of shutterbug activist Jade. She juggles running an orphanage with her uncle Pey'j (who happens to be a grumpy old pig man), and a freelance photojournalism job. Kicking things off with a bang, the peaceful child refuge comes under attack from a creepy insectoid race called the Domz. After taking a research gig to help pay for repairs, she’s hired by the rebellion group IRIS. The rebels are trying to uncover a conspiracy surrounding the Domz and planetary peacekeepers, the Alpha Section. Jade takes on infiltration missions for IRIS, gathering intel with support from her porcine uncle and kindhearted ex-soldier Double H.

It’s tough to assign BG&E a genre. It’s part adventure, with a semi-open world to explore. Wildlife photography is the backbone of the game's economy, so almost every new area will have you pull out your camera and try to get a good shot of something that may or may not want to eat you. There’s combat and boss encounters, with Jade employing a fighting style that feels like a precursor