This space RPG game will incorporating the main pillars/elements of BGE1 such as, 3rd person perspective, friends, combat, vehicles, exploration(first-person view for photos), stealth (also other elements we see in games like Witcher3 such as dialogues, quests, collectibles, and leveling) and on top of that the Co-OP option.
You will be able to create your own character which can be human or hybrid and that comes with negative and positive effects for each species. Also, side characters should be playable too.
You start as lowlife guy with a space tuk-tuk. You evolve yourself over time with your crew and your ship. That is why an XP system is in place. We heard stuff along the lines of delivering pizza as an option to grow.
Minor characters are randomly generated and therefore unique to everyone.
There will be multiple solutions for a quest to solve it.
Actions may have consequences (like disturbing supply lanes for a city).
The game is an open-world title.
There's a police system, "GTA in space"
Ability to go from character scale out into space without loading screens, possibly within seconds, and then traveling between worlds. It's compared to No Man's Sky but emphasized that they want to focus more on few, specifically designed worlds, while still allowing some parts to be intelligently generated like in Dwarf Fortress.
Grappling gauntlet and jetpack are methods to move vertically as shown in the trailer.
Minigames, like card games.
It is an offline singleplayer game with seamless multiplayer feature. Play solo or with friends.
Game Setting
The game takes place before BGE1 (prequel)
Gametime is in the 24th century where India and China have become the global superpowers in the 22nd century. They working on creating human-animal hybrids for interstellar colonization. However, those hybrids are treated as slaves and are probably the lowest class in this society.
The location of the game will take place is System3. System 3 is rich in resources and worlds in the habitable zone, a place full of spacefaring commerce. Also, System4 is involved in the game to explain some history.
Fled hybrid slaves work for their own freedom which causes a growing space piracy.
Even under hybrids there are classes. Domesticated are seen as lesser.
There will be different species under hybrids, therefore, we will see multiple cultures and languages.
The story focus is about hybrids which are fighting for their freedom, to get accepted as equal.
The story should feature important characters which drive the story(Ancel mentioned, a similar way Zelda does). Characters from the first BGE1 should be somehow involved.
It remains to be seen how the game goes with "story across generations".
Spaceships and Vehicles
Seems like we start with lowend space tuk-tuk^^
You will be able to fly around in your spaceship keep your small spaceship at the time you are getting a bigger one. It will be parked in the bigger one.
Bigger spaceships can be considered home or garage of the player, customizable with e.g. trophies (Who doesn't like a moving base?)
We have seen spins, loopings and even drift as possible maneuvers.
Vehicles each have 5 velocity settings, e.g. ranging from 10 to 120 km/h for the jetpack. The acceleration between these is dependent on the "character attributes" of the vehicle. Overall speeds may range from 4 to 1 million km/h. (This has only been observed so far.)
Going into atmospheres too fast may cause you to burn up
There will be dogfights coming.
We will get racing again. yay
Ships can be shut down so the player has to escape the ship before it crashes.
Ships have the ability to follow another if you want that (fly in a formation).
You can enter enemy ships.
Fear of empty planets?
Ancel asured us he wants the planets to be alive.
There will even be submarine exploration.
Also there should be active trading between cities(including people/slaves to some extend).
Ancel mentioned that all the cities or other places of interest/quest relevance are designed from the ground up, not procedurally generated.
Ancel actually referenced Dwarf Fortress as an inspiration (for generation of places). Ancel also said: “We have some techniques that allow us to populate the planet in a logical way,” In fact, they have full control over the generation of the worlds.
They use generation and hand-made content. It would almost be impossible for the devs to fully make all those structures themselfs or very time-consuming at the targeted scale.
Global Scale Effects
"Exploration will span the galaxy, as the developers want players to zip across planets from city to city and fly from planet to planet."
Important to know here is that the game takes place in one Solar-System, not the galaxy.
Space debris falling on the surface causes effects(Population will be on the safe side of planets).
The surface will be affected by those and therefore seem to be modifying it in real time.
Since the game runs a whole simulated Solar-System, day and night cycle are a natural cause of this.
Having a Crew
We know you will be able to have a crew with the mediumship.
Those people may join you or not based on your actions.
Also those people may leave you due to some actions you may perform in the future.
The Crew will improve your ship statistics(depending on their skills). Find a good combination.
Ancel mentioned it would be way more realistic to win crewmembers with for example a card game.
Combat
Melee combat does have dodge with Jetpack, a drop-down attack and normal hits it seems.
Some enemies are able to block incoming attacks while other may have healing abilities.
Combat can be outside and inside ships.
The Jetpack adds a layer of complexity.
Combat can happen anywhere. As mentioned by Ancel on the clip of the second SpaceMonkeyReport
They want to keep the same DNA which probably hints to the classic BGE1 one-button combat or rather close to it.
Use of guns were shown with augmentations "perks" which for example slow enemies or put them into full stasis temporarily.
Important Characters
KNOX Hybrid monkey who is always looking for trouble
ZHOU YUZHU Hybrid pig, pretentious collector and ruthless crime boss
LI DAIYU Rejuvenated madam who runs Zhou’s backrooms
SHANI Badass biker and ingenious mechanic of Somalian ancestry
DAKINI The very mysterious Captain of the Gada...
PEY'J The cook of the Gada and famous for his Space-Chili
CALLUM Ship mechanic of the Gada
GADA AI You know. This is a smart speaking ship. It is like Kitt in Space I guess
UMA Chief Medic of the Gada
HSING-HSING It is a Panda with tea
KIM HYUN-JUN A Tiger who survives with participating in daily blood sports
JADE Standing against the crew of the Gada on the side of Alpha-Sections
ALPHA SECTIONS They are back! With some really beefed up armor it seems
Will we always need an internet connection even if we're playing BGE2 solo? (o_gilgamesh, Twitter)
Beyond Good and Evil 2 is an online, multiplayer game with a rich co-op and seamless experience. As such, the game will only be playable with an internet connection in order to have seamless navigation, receive dynamic updates, and play with friends (which is certainly better when you're playing as a Space Pirate!). The choice to play co-op, however, remains yours to make, so playing BGE2 solo is absolutely possible if you're into that lone Space Pirate kinda thing...