Evil Genius News

Rebellion, one of Europe’s leading independent studios, is delighted to reveal a brand new gameplay trailer for Evil Genius 2: World Domination, featuring none other than the legendary Brian Blessed.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=444qJSmyVzE

The new trailer features world-first gameplay footage of playable genius Red Ivan, as voiced by Blessed. Not only can you see Red Ivan’s literally iron fist and destructive rocket launcher in action, but also never-before-seen traps, minions, henchmen, rooms, contraptions and more!

Blessed is known for his incredible performances across film, TV and stage, including in Flash Gordon, Henry V, Tarzan and Star Wars: Episode 1 - The Phantom Menace - so who better to play a mastermind with a predilection for loudly blowing things up?  

[h3]The Dos and Dodos of Domination[/h3]

Hello, minions! Rich Edwards here, Lead Designer on Evil Genius 2, here to lift the lid on another Development Blog. Does a blog have a lid? No matter.

Let’s talk about World Domination. In the last blog, we talked a little bit about the differences between each Evil Genius’ campaigns, but that was just a tease. The full World Domination mode is so much more.

[h3]World Domination[/h3]


In the last blog we talked about your place as a Genius in the world. We were talking metaphorically. It’s time to talk literally.

Pick your Genius, pick a tropical Lair location, and get ready to build the ultimate in evil organizations.

Over the course of the campaign you’ll be spreading your influence through Global Operations – establishing Criminal Networks in all the regions of the world, then utilizing your minions to earn gold, advancing the progress of Global Objectives, and generally reaching out across the world stage to exploit every dastardly opportunity you can.

Naturally, the world doesn’t start dominated. As we hinted at last time, it was once, but things have slowly slipped back to something approaching normal. The Forces of Justice have reasserted themselves as self-appointed global protectors. They watch over their territory closely, fiercely guarding it against… well, against people like you.

Send some minions into a Region and they’ll establish a Criminal Network, exposing all manner of Schemes for you to run. Bolster your Networks and they’ll find even bigger and better opportunities.

However, there’s two sides to every coin, something you should know after you’ve stolen enough of them. The flipside here is that people tend to hate it when you commit a crime. Run too many schemes in a Region and you’ll trigger the wrath of the local “Good Guys”. I don’t want to spend too much time on this, but safe to say it’s unlikely to end well for you.

And that’s before we even start talking about their champions, the so-called “Super Agents.”

We designed World Domination to have a lot of different scenarios regardless of what Evil Genius you start out as – so how you spread your criminal empire across the globe is up to you! With all the content we’ve packed into it, it’s going to have plenty of replayability.

Talking of a criminal empire, every Genius needs a good Lair to base their operations from. At the start of a campaign, you’ll get to pick your island from a selection of pre-built tropical paradises. There are three islands in the game, and each one has a different layout and character to it, which in turn will influence how you lay out your Lair. You might even be able to spot a couple of classic spy genre influences in some of our Island designs.

Naturally, all three are unlocked from the start, and each provides its own specific advantage, from richer Gold seams to a larger Cover Operation, so you can really tailor your Lair to your playstyle. Once you’ve chosen your island you’ll be there until you either conquer the world or die in the attempt.

On the topic of building your Lair, we should talk about Loot. There’s a whole bunch of weird, wonderful and unique items of Loot in Evil Genius 2, and via a series of side-stories, you can acquire one of those Loot Items for yourself to display in your Lair. Now, these items aren’t just for show – they’ll have unique effects when placed. Throughout the campaign, you’ll have plenty of chances to decorate your Lair with the spoils of your adventures…and let’s get into one of those right now.

[h3]Enter The Dodo[/h3]
Yes, you read that right. Let’s talk about The Dodo, if that’s ok with you. Sometimes, a picture says more than I could ever hope to describe through words alone, so here is The Dodo.



As you can see, he has a Mortarboard. That’s because what you’re looking at here is the world’s smartest Dodo. Smarts are essential if you intend to survive for as long as this bird has. At some point in your campaign, your Evil Genius is going to realize that this one of a kind Dodo exists out in the world. When you compare your minions’ own tenacity and intelligence to that of this bird, your Genius will begin to notice that their minions could stand to learn a lot from this Dodo.

As the player, you’ll spend some time sending minions into the world on Schemes, with the goal of capturing this intelligent bird! Each Loot Item in Evil Genius 2 has a variety of tasks you have to perform before you can get your maniacal mitts on them, because why would anything be easy?

Eventually, you’ll be able to bring the Dodo back to your Lair, where it will act as a Science Trainer. Minions will be able to study the Dodo, and skill up in Science faster than they would normally be able to. Here’s what that looks like.



So, as you can see – Loot Items are fantastic. We have a staggering number of them in the game (Lady Liberty’s Torch, anyone?), and I personally can’t wait to see how you put them to use. The Dodo also helps set the tone, in my mind, for a lot of the Loot items in the game. They’re silly, fun and just plain great to look at. Our Artists and Animators have done a fantastic job bringing them to life. Every time we got a new one into the game it’s been a genuine delight.

There’s so much more in Evil Genius 2’s World Domination mode – this blog was only intended to scratch the surface and give you all something to salivate over. We’ve hidden a lot within this mode, I’m excited to watch you discover the many weird and wonderful ways you’re going to expand your empire.

We’ll be back soon with another Development Blog, but until then make sure you’re in the Evil Genius 2 Discord Channel!

Rich Edwards

Lead Designer

[h3]Hello everyone! It’s Rich Edwards, Lead Designer on Evil Genius 2, and I’m running out of ways to say “I’m back again.”[/h3]

I’m back once more with another Development Blog for you. Today I’m going to be changing up the format slightly and telling you about all of our Evil Geniuses. You may already know some of them, but there are a definitely a couple you don’t… so let’s get on with introducing our four nefarious supervillains.

First of all, let’s talk about how they play, and their place in the grander world…

[h3]Breaking the Lore[/h3]



We’ve got four distinct Evil Geniuses and, while each of them is tailored to a different play style, they do have some things in common. For example, they’re need to be protected. Yes, that includes Red Ivan, who might be hardier than the others, but he’s still at risk of being overwhelmed by some well-trained Agents. Keep them protected by minions at all times, and ensure that you send others to do your fighting. After all, a true criminal mastermind doesn’t like to get their hands dirty.

First up, let’s talk about our Gold Standard in villainy – Maximillian. He’s returning from the original game, but I’d like to drop a little bit more information on what that means for him. You see, an Evil Genius did conquer the world, but… Well, it wasn’t dear old Max. Speculate all you want, I’m not allowed to say more! Maximillian is your all-rounder – a great Genius for beginners to sink their teeth into, generating gold and specialized minions to do his work for him.

Our other Geniuses are slightly more weighted towards each of the different Villainous Specializations in the game.

Red Ivan, as you may have guessed, focuses more on ‘Might Makes Right’ as his ethos. If you want to have the kind of Lair that features armed Guards on every single corner, then Ivan’s your man. He’s also slightly hardier in combat, so a great choice for first-time players.

Also, for those still wondering about the events of the first game, yes – Ivan was involved. The Genius even rewarded him with his own country, the Nation of Ivania, probably just to keep him away from the Lair. Things have taken a sour turn for your militaristic mastermind since then.

Zalika is Science-focused, ensuring that research goes smoothly, cracking through research trees more reliably than other geniuses. However, as Zalika’s Lair has a scientific focus, you’re going to need more Technicians and Scientists to keep everything running and up to date, so keep that in mind when choosing her.

Finally we have Emma – who focuses around the Deception Tree. She’s a former Spymaster, embittered at her defeat during the events of the original Evil Genius, and has a general fondness for beating agents at their own game. If you want to keep a low profile on the world stage, taking over the world almost completely in secret, then Emma is the Genius for you. She also prefers working more closely with her Henchmen, able to assist them and get them back into the fight more quickly.

Of course, all of our Geniuses are available at the start of the game, but it’s worth re-iterating that you can pick whoever you like. Each Genius has some key differences between them, but don’t take their advantages as guidance for your play style – you can still play Evil Genius the way you want, despite each of our Characters’ strengths and weaknesses. Although Zalika can unlock and maintain traps more cheaply, if you, a hardcore Ivan fanatic, want to forsake Muscle minions and build a diabolical marvel of a trap network, well, we’re not going to stop you. By the same token, did you choose Zalika? Did you want train wave after wave of guards and arm them with only the very finest weapons? Go right ahead.

We wouldn’t stop you even if we could.

In addition, all of our Geniuses have their own abilities to bring to the table…

[h3]Genius Abilities[/h3]



Not just pretty faces, each of our Evil Geniuses has their own truly unique ability. They also have passive effects, which we’ll leave it up to you to discover, but we wanted to give each Genius an advantage that fits their character and nature.

Max excels at boosting minion training – rapidly promoting his workforce and creating more Specialists. So if you’re lacking in certain minions and want to quickly have them skill up to fill slots in your Lair, then Max is excellent at that.

Despite our protestations, Red Ivan has brought his Rocket Launcher into the modern age. Want to deal with invaders personally? Then put Red Ivan on the front lines and have him directly involved in combat. Now…it’s quite tricky to control a rocket in motion, so he’ll only do this when you command. Nobody, except maybe Ivan in his younger days, wants their Lair in a constant state of ‘on fire’. You’re in control of Red Ivan and his Rocket Launcher, so if you do want to set your base ablaze…

Emma’s abilities play into her close relationship with her Henchmen, giving her the power to reset their cooldowns. She’s used to overseeing spies, making her henchmen more efficient than everybody else. Given that you can choose your own Henchmen, then Emma’s playstyle can really be tailored to the player in question. So, if you wanted to keep Jubei in the fight for longer, you could have him return to Emma for a pep talk, before sending him into battle once again. If you pick a load of Muscle henchmen, then you can really give Emma a fighting force to be reckoned with.

Zalika’s scientific prowess also extends to Furniture repair. If any item in your Lair is falling apart, you can order her to deploy Nano-Drones, repairing the area around her – extinguishing fires, repairing objects and keeping her Lair in a good state. This is especially useful if your Lair is power-hungry, so if you’re looking to keep the lights on regardless of outside interference, then you and Zalika have a lot in common.

(Someone in marketing has suggested we say “Zalika is your gal-ika.” Personally, I can’t think of anything more evil than inflicting that phrase on you.)

[h3]They’ve All Got It Infamy[/h3]
Each Evil Genius has their unique own campaign, with its own story, and a unique Doomsday Device for you to build. We’ll be going into more specifics on the details of the campaign at a later date, but let’s talk through the basics.

They’re completely unique for each Genius, with objectives built from the ground-up for said Genius. For example, when playing as Red Ivan, an early mission would have you sending out Muscle minions to deal with the fall of Once Great Ivania, whilst Max’s first objective has you trying to weasel your way into being elected head of the world. Obviously, that doesn’t work for him…hence the Superweapon. Each campaign focuses purely on that character’s journey – from the start of their adventure, all the way through to World Domination. Spoilers for that, I guess.

However, regardless of which Evil Genius you choose, there’s Loot to collect, Crime Lords to overcome and recruit, and plenty more to discover. But I think that’s best served by our next blog post, which digs a little deeper into World Domination. Definitely come back for that one, there’s plenty of info in store…

Until next time, stay sinister, and make sure to join the Evil Genius 2 Discord Channel.

Rich Edwards

Lead Designer

Hello, minions!

Recently, we invited a select group of individuals to a series of exclusive, hands-off preview sessions for Evil Genius 2: World Domination. The evil thing to do would be to ask you to do the necessary legwork…but we figured a good misinformation campaign needs some propaganda. So, we’ve compiled a selection of our personal favourites here for your enjoyment. Happy reading, muahahaha.



PC Gamer
“This sequel is more lavishly made, with a more '60s retro flair than the first, but it retains and updates the best parts.”

Game Informer
"With so many ways to try and destroy and/or take over the world, Evil Genius 2: World Domination looks like a much more enjoyable road to doomsday than we're accustomed to."

VG247
“Evil Genius 2 might be arriving 16 years late, but it looks like the sequel I always wanted”

GAMINGbible
"Looks gorgeous and thoroughly modern"

US Gamer
"This almost feels like the sequel that would've come a year or two after Evil Genius, albeit with a modern sheen. That's one way to have done this sequel, and given the cult classic nature of the original, it's probably the right one."

Hardcore Gamer
"Rebellion clearly respect this IP and their additions via the sequel look to have found a way to bring this once mid-2000’s stand-alone strategy title into the present day."

Bleeding Cool
"There are three unique islands to choose from for your evil lair location, each coming with their own pluses and minuses. Tons of new henchmen, agents, rooms, devices, traps, and loot. And so much more."

Screen Rant
"Ultimately, Evil Genius 2: World Domination has potential, but more needs to be seen... the capacity for a complex sim game is there as every part, in concept, complements the other."

TheGamer.com
"With a team dedicated to enhancing and updating the Evil Genius experience, things look promising for the simulation sequel."

Shacknews
"Evil Genius 2 is looking to bring back the cult-classic management sim with a bunch of new bells and whistles... My preview didn’t cover all aspects of the game, but I was impressed with what I saw from Rebellion Developments."

Want everything in a handily digestible video? Then check out this piece from Blarla!

We’ll be back in two weeks with yet more for you, but until then join the Evil Genius 2 Discord Channel for more!

Until next time,
The Team At Rebellion

Hey there! It’s me, Lead Designer Rich Edwards. Back again with another Developer Blog post on Evil Genius 2: World Domination. This time, we’re going to be talking about the first lines of defence in your base. We nefarious types call it the Cover Operation, but the public know it as a Casino.

A successful cover operation is the Evil Genius’ front, a means of shifting prying eyes away from their Lair, and in our game this takes the form of a Casino. This is your first line of defence against the Forces of Justice. This doesn’t mean you have to invest heavily in it – Muscle and Traps are totally fine if you want to go that way – but it will be where most Agents show up for the first time. With a strong Cover Operation, you’ll be able to turn away some Agents before they even enter the Lair by investing in the Deception Tree, which I talked about in my previous blog.

I should note that your Casino isn’t a metagame – we’re not secretly crafting Casino Manager 2021, but you do have some options. You can choose the Furniture you place, who you staff it with, and all these things help to determine how effective it is at turning away enemy Agents. The longer and Agent stays in your Casino, the more you'll lower their Resolve. If that ever hits zero then, congratulations, you just convinced them that their orders from Headquarters aren't as important as they once were. Goodbye Agent, we hope you enjoyed your stay.

Of course, a Casino doesn't just attract enemy agents. No. It also attracts a horde of gullible Tourists who are easily parted from their money. If you'd rather defend your lair with traps, minions and henchmen, then your Casino makes for an effective side hustle.

Speaking of minions and henchmen, let’s talk about how you can make their life easier…


Agent invasions happen. That’s a fact of life, and you’re going to have to accept it sooner or… Well, you can’t accept it later because we’re about to talk about them.

Have you accepted it yet? Hurry up if you haven’t.

It’s how you prepare for that eventuality that is important. Guards patrol your hallways, checking your minions to make sure they aren’t actually an Agent in disguise. However, they could always use a helping hand in this. Initially, this will be up to you as the Genius, but as threats grow, you’ll want to do what every Evil Genius should do and delegate. So, it’s time to start building Cameras and Staging Posts throughout your Lair.

If a threat is detected on your Camera Network – dutifully manned by your minions – then an alert will be sent to the nearest Staging Post. You may have seen screenshots of Guards lounging around with their feet up on an expensive looking table. Believe it or not, these finely honed killing machines are actually waiting for an excuse to spring into action.

The Armoury is home to the largest Staging Posts, as well as the Security Consoles your minions need to monitor your Cameras. But that’s not all you’ll find there.



You’ve seen Guards in your Lair. While they are capable fighters, rippling with muscle, I want to share a secret with you. I think they put too much emphasis on their glamour muscles, and I’ve seen them skip leg day more than once. Higher tier minions are stronger, but even then, why take the chance? Why not give them an array of deadly weapons? After all, no matter how impressive your muscles, you should never take a glute to a gunfight.

And so the final thing that ends up in your Armoury is naturally Weapons. Minions will pick up the weapon they want and carry that with them in order to respond to any intruders. You don’t *need* to build Weapon Racks, but if you don’t your minions are going to try and solve every problem with their fists. While admirable, they will be shot to death relatively quickly. You can grab both lethal and non-lethal weapons, especially useful if you want to capture enemy Agents. There are even Batons available, useful for handing down a pummelling. However you want to deal with your foes, there’s a weapon available for that purpose. You can even skill up your Guards into different classes – the Martial Artist, for example, excels at Hand-To-Hand combat.





All of this does filter back into the Traits system we talked about previously – and, additionally, how your minions have a series of stats you should pay attention to if you want your Lair to operate to its fullest potential. If your minions have low Smarts, then your security network is going to suffer. They’ll tire out quicker, and they won’t be paying as much attention to their screens. So, you need to make sure your minions are well-rested, well-fed, and prepared to stare at a screen all day, ready to dispatch guards at a moment’s notice. Of course, Traps are also incredibly important to Lair defence, but we’re going to be diving in to those at a later date. Eventually, we want you to free up your headspace to focus on the bigger picture of World Domination. A lair that can take care of itself is a successfully run operation, with the first line of defence being your minions’ ability to spot incoming threats.

Before we close this blog out, let’s flip the script and switch from defence to offence – heading straight over to the Control Room! Your gateway to the world stage, the Control Room is the key to World Domination, a topic we’ll be covering more in the future. However, as a room in the lair, it is incredibly important. As the hub of your global Operations, your Control Room helps you establish and organise your criminal network and Schemes. The bigger your control room, the more minions you have working in it, the more you’re going to be able to exploit the world and enhance your effectiveness. A small control room will be fine for robbing the bank down the road, but if you want to literally steal the riches of a thousand kingdoms in some kind of mega heist, you’re going to need a sizeable Control Room. We’ll be coming back to this room more at a later date, because of its importance to the World Domination mode. You should definitely look forward to that…all in good time.

That’s it for another Evil Genius 2 Development Blog! Lair Defence is just one step in your grand plan, but an important one to consider. I can’t wait to see how you all lay out your lairs – there’s bound to be some inventive designs out there! We’ll be back in two weeks with yet more for you, but until then join the Evil Genius 2 Discord Channel for more!

Rich Edwards

Lead Designer