Hillys like Venice. System 4 from Beyond Good and Evil

One of the strengths of Beyond Good and Evil is its undoubtedly amazing world creation. The planet Hillys, inspired by Venice and its cultural mix, is something that continues to impress. Welcome to System 4. I’ll tell you what it’s all about!

The material may contain minor spoilers regarding the location!!!
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The previous entry about Beyond Good and Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition was mainly about the main character’s house. This time I will tell you all about the lore of this extraordinary production.

System 4

The game takes place on the planet Hillys in a fictional Milky Way planetary system called System 4 . It is a small, mining planet mostly covered by sea. There is one moon orbiting around her – Selene. The main capital is Hillys City itself, but you should know that it has smaller and larger population centers around it, e.g. farms.

View of the night sky from the deck of a hovercraft / own materials

As we can learn from the information published by Ubisoft and from various clues contained in the game, Jade and Pey’j got here by escaping from a twin planetary system – System 3.

Hillys Architecture

The world shown in Beyond Good and Evil is somewhat reminiscent of what we see in Starfield. The planet has a capital and a few satellite settlements around it, but is mostly uninhabited. Which may indicate a young cradle of civilization, which would be consistent with the general assumptions of this universe.

Like Venice

People have set out for the stars and are starting to populate other planetary systems. Hillys is apparently one of them. But let’s move on to the most important element, the city itself. It is located on one of the larger islands, and at the same time it is crossed by shipping channels.

Although there are flying vehicles in the game world, quite a few vehicles simply float. And it shows in the development, because the main arteries are filled with water. The whole thing is a bit reminiscent of the buildings of, for example, Venice.

Mediterranean architecture

The buildings surrounding the canals refer to what we can see in Venice. The faces of tenement houses and houses reach the foundations, leaving no sidewalks between the canal and the building. At the same time, some of the structures have the so-called suspended floors. Which may indicate that the builders tried to use every available space for construction.

Hillys is criss-crossed with canals / own materials

Many of the buildings also have corbels typical of Baroque buildings, optically dividing the buildings into parts. This is clearly visible in the screenshot above. The two outermost houses have lines marked by corbels separating the lower parts of the floors from the highest ones.

Bright colors of the walls, picturesque rotunda and lots of cloisters. Beautifully! / own materials

Fortunately, there are also plenty of pedestrian areas and promenades. This is where the origins of inspiration from the Mediterranean architecture are best seen. Most of the buildings are covered with warm, light plaster, and many of them have semi-open spaces. Various types of arcades and cloisters.

Tenement houses and houses are rarely symmetrical, most are combined in eye-catching combinations / own materials

The buildings grow almost out of each other, as if by budding. This creates an eye-catching maze of streets, which also changes height frequently. There are plenty of stairs, bridges and small squares around which there are shops.

So much is happening here! Various materials, heights and lines. Cool! / own materials

The effect is amazing! Although the playing area is small, its natural layout is pleasing to the eye. And the combination of buildings connected asymmetrically gives the whole thing a nice pace. In addition, the pedestrian district has many turns that connect smaller squares. Thanks to this, the dynamics of the camera shots change quite quickly, and the player does not get bored with the city landscape.

Anthropomorphism – the hallmark of the series

One of the hallmarks of the series (I hope the series) is the anthropomorphism of some characters. What I once thought was simply an interesting visual device that was supposed to distinguish this production from others was explained quite sensibly by the creators.

Anthropomorphism of some characters is a hallmark of BGE / official press materials / Ubisoft

In their opinion, when people set out for the stars, their bodies did not cope well with the conditions of space travel. Therefore, they began to experiment with creating cloned hybrids. Those used for various purposes were better able to withstand difficult conditions and were built quickly.

The discovered worlds were filled with human colonies and animal hybrids. System 4 alone was populated by 56 species of such hybrids . The hybrids in question were used, among others, for physical work and for entertainment. For example, to fight in arenas, as pets or as sex slaves.

A unique world – may it return

It is clear that even the first part, although very archaic from today’s perspective, was well-thought-out and full of deep reflections. I hope the next part expands on all the ideas!

Additional content develops Jade’s story and slightly combines both productions

Beyond Good and Evil – 20th Anniversary Edition provides us with quite a lot of clues regarding the sequel. I hope that the information posted there is not just a lie and that in fact, soon we will be able to see a real announcement of the sequel. If it were otherwise, it would be a waste of this potential.