Beyond Good And Evil 20th Anniversary Edition: How To Defeat Black Isle Boss

Beyond Good and Evil is not a hard game once players know exactly what they need to do. Striking enemies when they telegraph an attack is the key to clearing groups. Knowing shortcuts in races is the key to coming in first. And finally, each of the fun little minigames follows set rules.

In the game, the Black Isle will be the first location players will need to go after leaving the lighthouse. They will be tasked with taking a specific photo as part of a mission, which will lead them to the very end of the Black Isle. After they have taken this picture, they will trigger the first boss fight of the game. Beyond Good and Evil is all about aliens and superscience, making this boss the best dragon-style monster they could have added to the game.

Approaching the Black Isle Boss

Games love to throw in a really big boss enemy from time to time, and that’s what this fight is. At the start of the fight, the Black Isle boss will have its head sticking out of a hole. If you try to run straight up and start hitting the boss, it will spin and deal 1 heart of damage. You may think a charged attack can hit it while you stand at a safe distance, but this will fail to deal damage. Instead, you will need to trigger the Super Action for Pey’j using the button prompt in the top-right corner of the screen.

Once Pey’j has hit the boss, it will no longer be able to spin and harm Jade, allowing you to run up and hit it with a quick combo of attacks. This will cause it to dive into the hole. It will come out soon after, and move through the air and into another hole. Throughout the fight, understanding the boss’s attacks is essential to staying alive.

The Black Isle Boss’s Attacks

If there is distance between you and the boss, it will spit out a green fireball projectile. When it does, move 90 degrees from its trajectory to safely avoid it. The boss has a number of other attacks as well, which it starts to use after the player has hit it a certain number of times.

Spawning Jellyfish

During this boss fight, green jellyfish enemies will be sprayed out one of the holes in the arena after the first time you deal damage to the boss. These enemies are slow moving and easy to corral. You can dispatch them quickly with a charged attack, or button mash your way into a crowd of them.

Spawning Crochax

After the second time you give the boss a beating, it will summon Crochax instead of Jellyfish. These enemies can pin you down and shred away at your hearts. If you see them pin down Pey’j, rush in to help, or you will be met with a chilling game over sound effect as the screen fades to black.

A charged attack will deal the most damage, but it opens you up to getting pinned. These enemies will swarm towards you. When they do, simply strike at any of them that open their mouth wide, and it will cancel any attempts at attacking. Striking each of them once in a repeating pattern will allow you to clear the swarm without losing hearts.

Breath Attacks

When the boss is in the air, there is no way to deal damage; just avoid its attacks. Run 90 degrees from where the boss is moving, and you’ll be able to keep avoiding damage while it attempts to turn towards you. It will start to perform this flying breath attack twice after you have dealt it damage three times.

How To Defeat the Black Isle Boss

Having some great healing items ready is a great way to shake off any badly timed dodges that might occur. Having a low number of maximum hearts means it is a waste using any K-bups you may have on hand. You’ll have picked up several Starkos at the lighthouse, and using them in the earlier parts of the game is the best time. You can top up any hearts you lose whenever the boss sinks into one of the holes after taking damage, or when it flies up into the air from one of its holes.

There is no need to chase after the boss or try to predict its movements. Whenever the boss sticks its head out of the hole, make your way towards it. Just make sure never to get too close, or you’ll lose one of your hearts — and you won’t have many this early in the game. Luckily for players, this is not going to be a soulslike affair. Getting knocked down will not leave you open to a follow-up assault. After 5 combos of basic attacks, the boss will go down.

Don’t forget to
snap a picture for your camera
roll. The best time for this would be when it is leaving one of the holes in the boss area to start flying around.

Beyond Good and Evil 20th Anniversary Edition is available now on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Switch, and PC.