Beyond Good and Evil 2 Draws Concerns From Hindu Activists

When Ubisoft finally, finally revealed Beyond Good & Evil 2 after years of not-so-patiently waiting, fans of Jade were thrilled to learn of a new adventure - a new adventure - in an expansive open world filled with new places to explore. The upcoming game has been a huge collaborative between many different teams, though some were not as thrilled with the announcement trailer as others.

According to the game's timeline 2108 is when the Exodus to systems took place. Ships labeled 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 were shipped out from earth to explore the vast universe. The downside was that once the ship departed, it was not given access to communications with Earth. This made all discoveries known a virtual mystery, including the dangers found. The bright side of this venture is it led into the massive colonization that sprung up in 2225. That large Ganesha world we saw in the first reveal is a huge example of this, a way to keep beloved parts of Earth with these new colonies to reflect what was missed. The Ganesha colony reflected that of India and is one of many that players will be able to discover in-game. Unfortunately, many saw this as a trivialization of the Hindu faith.

The latest report comes from League of India, citing "Hindu groups are urging French video game publisher Ubisoft to depict Hindu deities, temples, traditions, terminology and concepts with respect and accuracy in upcoming video-game Beyond Good and Evil 2."Hindu community activist, Rajan Zed, has spoken up regarding this in the hopes that things will be approached tactfully because the "refashioning of Hinduism scriptures, symbols, traditions, concepts, terminology and deities for mercantile greed [is] likely to hurt the sentiments of devotees."

Though the developers have mentioned during this reveal that India was the prime inspiration behind this sect of the universe, many feel that it is stepping away appropriate representation and is instead using the faith as for purely aesthetic purposes.

In relation to the game, Ubisoft has mentioned that there are many places from Earth that inspired parts of this universe. It was their way of merging the two experiences together, and allowing everyone to see a piece of their home in-game. It seems harmless enough, but part of a developer's job is to listen to the concerns of a culture, of a religion, regarding the context of their narrative.

So far, Ubisoft has not commented on if they are aware of this issue or not.