TL;DR – Evil Genius 2 is not as good as the first game, but that doesn’t make it a bad game. It’s just a bit more sluggish and resource intensive than Evil Genius 1, which makes it a bit of a tricky game to recommend. On the one hand, Evil Genius 2 has plenty of polish and content while still retaining most of the gameplay that was enjoyable from the first game. On the other hand, it largely neuters the challenge and feels considerably slower to play through due to the onerous nature of the tech-tree. As a consequence it’s a modestly enjoyable game and one that was somewhat addictive, but one that I’m still a bit neutral about. Ultimately I felt less like an Evil Genius and more like a Maladjusted Midwit while playing.
Oh Evil Genius 2, you had such high hopes before your release but seem to be yet another middling Rebellion brand release. I’m not sure how they do it, I mean the concept’s are always solid and the games are never bad but they always manage to feel a tad… tedious. Unfortunately Evil Genius 2 is no exception, whether it be the inclusion of Denuvo (for some reason) or the weird battle-pass monetisation attempt. Even the core gameplay while perfectly serviceable can’t compete with Evil Genius 1, which while occasionally frustrating was a really enjoyable and unique experience. Of course a sequel would struggle to be as unique, but it could at least be more enjoyable. Alas Evil Genius 2 is not better to play than it’s predecessor, and while is visually more impressive contains a laundry list of caveats.
So I better get right into it. On the one hand, you have more Evil Geniuses and Henchmen to choose from – which is good. But at the same time, the process of taking over the world is less engaging – which is bad. There are more maps to choose from – which is good. But these newer, larger maps with multiple stories are hamstrung by a tight 300 minion limit that can’t removed – which is bad. There are some nice Quality of Life improvements, like guards automatically carrying their weapons around without the base being on high alert – which is good. At the same time the technology unlock system feels excruciating slow at times and often bottlenecks progression – which is bad. The world map where you conduct your schemes is easier to manage and far less prone to randomly killing a team of your minions – which is good. But this also means that you can basically negate any risk of base invasion with relative ease and thus make the game incredibly easy – which is bad. The graphics are prettier – which is good. But the general tone and visual design has taken a bit of knock in my opinion – which is bad. The soundtrack is still good – yes, that’s good. While the narrative railroading of the game with relatively low effort quasi-cutscenes makes the whole thing cheap – which is bad. Overall Evil Genius 2 is really a mixed bag and while it’s certainly not a bad game, this feels like a case of one step forward one step back. Maybe I’m just biased because the first game came almost out of nowhere and was excellent, but this feels like a wasted opportunity on Rebellion’s behalf.
At this stage in the review, I really ought to have explained what the game is actually about for those who haven’t played either of the Evil Genius games. Essentially Evil Genius is a base management simulator loosely inspired by the Dungeon Keeper series, which plays a bit like the various real-time tycoon games that are out there. You’ve got a variety of rooms you can build, items to place within them and then minions that you’ll need to keep everything running. The whole thing functions as a feedback loop of sorts, as you’ll need more rooms and items to get new types of minions that let you run new schemes and research new tech, so that you can unlock new rooms and items. In terms of the gameplay itself, it’s mainly managing and optimising your base to ensure that you have the right amount of minions and access to everything you’ll need to progress the narrative. Alongside some very light “strategy” sections on the world map, where you can send minions off to conduct various schemes. You’ll also need to queue up research, manually set how many of each minion type you want and place those rooms/items. The main threats to your steady growth are waves of hostile NPCs that will occasionally spawn in. Those schemes on the world map generate heat, and the more heat that’s been generated the more likely that enemies will spawn in. Higher amounts of heat correlated to stronger waves of enemies. You can build various traps in the corridors of your base to deal with them, but you’ll want to have a decent amount of security minions that can engage them in combat. Finally you can unlock up to 5 henchmen at a time, that are all strong in combat and have a handful of abilities each. To unlock them you’ll need to finish side missions, which will involve sending various minions to various schemes on the world map.
So with all that being said, Evil Genius 2 is a quasi-business tycoon game that is a mixed bag compared to it’s predecessor. As mentioned the gameplay can be simultaneously too easy and yet too slow, which means that I spent a decent amount of time waiting for research to complete so I could reach the next stage of the game’s main quest-line. It’s fun enough to micromanage your base and the world map schemes have moderately amusing descriptions, but the actual moment-to-moment gameplay can feel a bit one note and monotonous. There are a few twists to keep the pace up like a designated end of game boss fight (of sorts) alongside Super Agents that are powerful versions of the normal agents (one per geographic region). While the boss fight is cool, it’s at it’s best when you ignore the various Super Agent neutralisation missions as otherwise it’s pretty easy much the rest of the game. As for the Super Agents themselves, they’re actually not too much trouble to avoid (as they only activate if they spot you starting a scheme where they are on the world map) and aren’t even too much of an issue to deal with most of the time. As for replayability, it’s fairly minimal. Despite having 5 different Evil Geniuses to choose from, they all play pretty much the same and have the same minions/rooms/items to deploy. It’s also worth noting that these geniuses you choose, all control the same. While they have some different abilities, they’re essentially the same as your henchmen in terms of combat ability. So they’re strong, but you’ll generally not put them on the frontlines once you hit the mid-game as if they die 3 times it’s game over.
Not that you’ll ever encounter a game over unless you are quite frankly angling for it. Instead money is likely to be the only limiting factor to your playthrough, outside of the time it takes to research things. Money is a bit strange, because it’s not hard to earn but at the same time you’re often fairly limited as to how much you can store up. Items to better store your gold are of course, unlocked through the lengthy and time intensive research system. So for most of the early game, you’re kind of just treading water until you can really start stacking up the cash. At this point though I feel like I’ve harangued the game enough for you get the idea. It’s a bit sluggish, it’s a mixed bag, but it’s still enjoyable enough. The soundtrack is good and feels appropriate for the era. If you’re a completionist, then there are tons of side objectives to grind through. The base management aspect is enjoyable enough and rewards the efficient use of space. The visuals are impressive and the traps are varied enough to be enjoyable to use, even if most of them aren’t particularly great.
In conclusion then, Evil Genius 2 is a solid if slightly disappointing game. I don’t regret playing it by any means and have actually played through it twice (once with the post-launch DLC character) and had a decent time with both my playthroughs. At the end of the day, in spite of the good graphics, Quality of Life improvements, pleasant soundtrack and so on it’s just not as easy to recommend as the much cheaper Evil Genius 1. As such I would recommend the first game, over Evil Genius 2 to anyone who is interested. For those who have played the first game, I would say that the second will be bittersweet at best. It’s more of the same, but a bit more lame.