But every time I’ve replayed Beyond Good & Evil it’s been a different game, I think.
Let’s explore that.
My early memories of Beyond Good & Evil are all about waiting.
Here was a game in which you weren’t a soldier but rather a journalist.
How different, I thought.
Moebius meets The Fifth Element.
So the first time I actually played it, I think it was just relief.
The health system was similar, with the player collecting heart containers to give them more life.
The combat gave you a melee attack and, eventually, a sort of ranged option.
And you moved across an intricate, soulful overworld before diving into what amounted to dungeons.
Second replay, I think I was looking over a girlfriend’s shoulder.
So this was my story pass too.
It takes its fiction very seriously.
The whole game wants to be coherent.
On my last playthrough this week, I’d spotted all that.
I’d pondered the impact of giving a hero a camera rather than a gun.
So what was left?
Pey’j was left.
This was the playthrough that was all about friendship.
I remember going on trips, doing interviews with tech people, talking about AI and animation and trickery.
Pey’j is in this alongside Jade.
The friendship between Jade and Pey’j seemed miraculous on this playthrough.
But because I wasn’t thinking about any of those things at all.
Pey’j and Jade were just natural companions, a natural double-act.
They weren’t smoke and mirrors.
They were pure storytelling.
Do I want to play the new remaster and see what’s new?
Do I want that sequel, if it ever happens?
Yes, definitely, but with a caveat.
The caveat being I’ve played this first game so many times and it’s always been different.
I sort of wonder if a new game can improve on that in any meaningful way.
