If you’ve been eagerly awaiting news of Evil Genius 2, the follow-up to the cult classic strategy management hybrid, then today’s your lucky day; Rebellion has just released a new six-minute look at some of the new features to be found when it launches in the first half of next year.
The original Evil Genius was the work of developer Elixir Studios (founded by former Lionhead and Bullfrog alumni Demis Hassabis) and released back in 2004. As you’d hope, Rebellion’s sequel takes its predecessor’s delicious central conceit, in which players are cast as supervillains hellbent on global domination, and aims to expand on it in interesting new ways.
One of Evil Genius 2’s new additions takes the form of cover operations, enabling players to disguise their villainous lair as a legitimate business. It’s a feature Rebellion has outlined previously but there’s some extended footage of one cover operation type – a bustling casino – to be found in the developer’s latest gameplay trailer.
Evil Genius 2 | NEW GAMEPLAY! Fresh Features & Old Friends Watch on YouTube
Considerably less subtle is Evil Genius 2’s expanded take on doomsday weapons. In the original, doomsday devices were saved for the end of the game – and players could only fire them once when they finally got hold of one – but Evil Genius 2 sees players building their weapon of mass destruction, seemingly level by level, throughout the campaign.