For a lot of causes, we included Past Good and Evil 2 in our checklist of ten video games we won’t consider are nonetheless technically in growth (opens in new tab). In actual fact, we led with it: That piggy within the image on the high of the checklist is Pey’j, the mentor and adoptive uncle of lead character Jade.
There is a good purpose for that selection. Past Good and Evil 2 was introduced in 2008 and we have been doing “it is nonetheless occurring” posts since no less than 2014 (opens in new tab), but all these years later it is nonetheless only a title and a little bit of idea artwork: Ubisoft will not even decide to perhaps—perhaps!—having it out in 2024 (opens in new tab). But faint indicators of life persist, most not too long ago within the type of a brand new lead author: Sarah Arellano, who introduced the brand new gig on Twitter.
It’s my flip to do the factor pic.twitter.com/gS87kZn7UTAugust 3, 2022
Previous to the transfer to Ubisoft, Arellano was the narrative designer on Tremendous Evil Megacorp’s 2015 MOBA Vainglory (opens in new tab). Her LinkedIn (opens in new tab) account signifies that she additionally served as a author at Deep Silver Volition (her Twitter account says she labored on the Saints Row reboot), and as a story designer on World of Warcraft at Blizzard. That is a fairly spectacular run.
“We’re very completely satisfied to welcome Sarah who is without doubt one of the newest recruits on Past Good and Evil 2,” a Ubisoft spokesperson mentioned in an e-mail despatched to PC Gamer. “The event group is tough at work to ship on the promise made to its group.”
As for what it means for Past Good and Evil 2, that is anybody’s guess at this level. The hiring of a brand new lead author is the closest factor to an actual signal of life we have seen in years (and the Ubisoft rep famous that the corporate is hiring for different positions at its Montpellier studio (opens in new tab), which is engaged on the sport), however it’s additionally straightforward to view it as an indication that the entire thing is mired and might be beginning over. That is clearly not an ideal place to be after 15 years of supposed work.
On the similar time, nicely, does it actually matter? Even when growth is being fully rebooted, what is the loss? Past Good and Evil 2 barely exists as an idea within the public consciousness, a lot much less an precise recreation in growth, and it is not as if there was a sensible expectation of a launch someday inside the subsequent couple of years—or, fairly frankly, even past that.