Beyond Good & Evil - 20th Anniversary Edition Review Summary

Added content enhances replayability: The remaster includes new content such as a speedrun mode, bonus materials, and a treasure hunt, providing additional challenges and lore for both new and returning players. These additions enhance the replayability and offer a deeper dive into the game's world and development.

Greatly improved graphics and performance: The remaster features significantly improved graphics, textures, lighting, and audio, enhancing the overall visual and auditory experience while preserving the original art style. The game also runs smoothly on modern systems, including the Steam Deck, with stable performance and high resolutions.

Retains original charm and story: The game retains its original charm, compelling story, memorable characters, and fantastic music, evoking nostalgia for longtime fans. The story and characters are well-written and engaging, with heartwarming moments and a timeless quality.

Improved controls and accessibility: The remaster addresses issues with the original PC version, offering improved controls, controller support, and bug fixes. The game is now more accessible and enjoyable on modern systems, providing a hassle-free experience without the need for workarounds or patches.

Evokes strong nostalgia and memories: The remaster evokes strong feelings of nostalgia and positive memories for those who played the original game, bringing back childhood experiences and emotions. Reviewers express deep personal connections to the game, highlighting its lasting impact and enjoyment after many years.

Frequent crashes, especially on AMD: The game suffers from widespread crashing issues, particularly on PC with AMD hardware, rendering it unplayable for many. These crashes occur during startup, cutscenes, gameplay, and even after applying patches. The issue has persisted for months without a fix, leading to refunds and strong negative recommendations.

Visual downgrades and unaddressed issues: The remaster introduces unwanted visual changes, retains original bugs, and suffers from new performance issues. Many reviewers feel the graphical overhaul is a downgrade, with oddities, missing effects, and a lack of optimization. Some prefer the original character models and find the new ones to look plastic-like.

Intrusive Ubisoft Connect DRM: The game's reliance on Ubisoft Connect is a major source of frustration. Players are forced to use the launcher, which causes crashes, requires constant logins, and displays intrusive notifications. The inclusion of Denuvo DRM is also criticized, especially for a single-player game.

Limited save slots, progress loss: The game's save system is restrictive, with only one manual save slot and an over-reliance on auto-saves. This limitation exacerbates the impact of bugs and softlocks, potentially leading to significant progress loss. The lack of Steam Cloud saves is also a drawback.

Short, easy, tedious combat: The game is considered short by modern standards, and the combat is tedious. Some reviewers feel the price is not justified by the content offered. The game is not particularly challenging, potentially leading to boredom for some players.

Varied gameplay, conspiracy story: The game blends action, adventure, stealth, and puzzles, casting the player as Jade, an investigative journalist uncovering a government conspiracy and photographing wildlife on the planet Hyllis. While combat and stealth mechanics are present, the focus is more on exploration and puzzle-solving.

Faithful remaster, dated gameplay: The remaster largely preserves the original gameplay, world, music, and story. Some reviewers noted that the gameplay feels dated, while others found it engaging, especially for newcomers. The camera system received mixed feedback, with some finding it slightly off compared to the original.

Photography-based economy/progression: A core gameplay mechanic involves photography, where players earn money by taking pictures of wildlife. This mechanic is essential for gathering evidence and progressing through the game.

Short playtime, speedrun mode: The game is relatively short, beatable in 6-10 hours, with a speedrun mode included for replayability. Players can skip cutscenes to speed up progress, and the game respawns you at the last autosave with full health upon death.

Hovercraft exploration and upgrades: The hovercraft is a key vehicle used for exploration, combat, and races. Pearls are required to upgrade the hovercraft, encouraging players to explore and collect them.

Good performance, stable on modern systems: Many reviewers report that the game generally runs well, with stable performance and improved compatibility on modern systems, including Steam Deck. Some users have reported needing to update drivers to resolve crashes and stability problems. This is a significant improvement over the original version.

Music issues reported: Some reviewers have reported issues with the game's music, such as it not starting in certain areas or cutting off when going into the graphics menu.

Homing cannon targeting issue: The homing cannon sometimes hits the water before reaching the target if the target is too close to the water.

Camera bugs more frequent: Some reviewers have reported that the camera bugs out more frequently in this version of the game.

Movement hitches while crawling: There are movement hitches when changing the angle while crawling, and to a lesser extent while running; it's unclear if this is a controller or game issue.

Highly recommended; especially for newcomers: Many reviewers recommend the game, especially to newcomers and those seeking a nostalgic experience. They praise its timeless qualities, engaging story, and unique world, often suggesting it's worth playing despite its age or flaws. Some suggest it's a must-play for those who missed it initially.

Wait for a sale: Several reviewers advise waiting for a sale before purchasing the game. This suggestion is often tied to concerns about the game's price relative to its age, the presence of bugs, or the lack of substantial new content in the remaster.

Remaster is a worthwhile update: Many reviewers consider the remaster a worthwhile update, especially for experiencing the game on modern systems. They appreciate the improved visuals and accessibility compared to the original PC port, making it a good option for both new and returning players.

Improved PC port is welcome: Some reviewers highlight the improved PC port as a major selling point, especially compared to the original. They appreciate the enhanced compatibility with modern hardware and consider it a significant upgrade.

Iconic and epic sci-fi adventure: The game is an iconic and epic sci-fi adventure, polished and refined.

Extensive behind-the-scenes content: The Anniversary Edition includes a wealth of bonus content, such as concept art, videos, and interviews, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the game's development. This content is particularly appealing to long-time fans, providing insights into the original vision and the development process.

Teases sequel, adds context: The remaster includes new content that teases the long-awaited sequel, Beyond Good & Evil 2, and adds context to Jade's past. While some find this addition exciting and a sign of progress, others are frustrated by the constant reminders of a sequel that has been in development for many years with only small updates.

Acknowledges dated stereotypes: The game includes a disclaimer acknowledging potentially offensive stereotypes present in the original game due to its age, particularly regarding Orientalism. Some reviewers found the disclaimer unnecessary, while others appreciated the acknowledgement of dated content.

Added speedrun mode: A speedrun mode has been added to the game, allowing players to time their runs. The timer stops at the end of the game, before the end credits.

Old PC version had issues: The original PC version of the game required patches to address various issues, such as save fixes, audio desync, and compatibility problems with newer operating systems. These issues are likely resolved in the Anniversary Edition.