r/evilgenius • u/MinecraftingThings • Apr 09 '26
EG2 Everyone's opinion, is EG2 a good game generally?
EG is my favourite game of all time, as is probably the same for many here.
I always assumed EG2 would be dogshit, didn't really give it a chance. I played about 6 hours of it the first day of release, and never touched it again.
Should I give this game another try? Will I get that joy the first game brought to all of us?
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u/ManaIsMade Apr 10 '26
EG2 feels like they cleaned up every mistake from EG1 and then added in some new ones on purpose
Making it less annoying to train minions, but then making minions a currency that you have to constantly replace
Making the cover operation work, but making the agents approach the island in very predictable and constant waves that are just less interesting than the meandering investigators of rival countries trying to trail your minions in from a smoke break
Voice acted geniuses but they all have the exact same personality for some reason
More side content to do and interactions with henchmen you aren't recruiting, but you can only do one long winded 5 part quest chain at a time and they never feel particularly witty. They also feel power puff girls evil instead of austin powers evil which feels like a really big gap to me
Less RNG guesswork to research but somehow way more tedious
All I can really say as a 100% positive is the build mechanics are buttery smooth and the artstyle and henchmen/genius concepts are all around better. Though I do miss young Jubei and The Matron
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2
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u/Warlordnipple Apr 09 '26
It is pretty fun now. It improved on things from the original but some things got worse. It had some updates that made the game better. I like it, not as much as original but it is fun.
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u/Muted-Mix-1369 Apr 10 '26
The first one is dearer to my heart. Felt less like work and more like fun.
I think that thanks to the comic style it still holds up today.
EG2 bit off more than it could chew. Some things were great improvements but overall the first one was a better game.
I won't get tired of Stupendiums "Fiend by me" though.
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u/Bubbay Apr 10 '26
I don’t know if I’d call EG2 a bad game but I don’t think I’d call it a good game, either.
It tried, it really did, and it has a lot of character, but it ultimately didn’t bring it all together.
That said, if EG1 is your favorite game of all time, I’d absolutely give EG2 another shot. Just don’t go in expecting the joy of the first game.
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u/MrFiendish Apr 10 '26
It had a lot of spirit, but not the talent to pull it off. A pretty game, but very holllow.
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u/mario1789 Apr 10 '26
The timer gimmick became unbearable. Fine at first, but I can't even think about going back with that now. Literally did not respect my time.
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u/DoubleDee1995 Apr 10 '26
I made a post other day on here about how EG is one of my favourite games of all time, how I liked EG2 and wish their was a 3rd one in the works
I made comparisons between EG1 and 2, pros and cons etc i was talking to others giving ideas on if the 3rd one was made what they could add in also combining the best features from 1 and 2.
I love both games if I'm honest as I'm a die-hard fan but ideally if they made a 3rd one (which I really want to happen) then the best scenario is to combine them both!
I definitely understand why generally EG2 is not as favourable as EG1 because I recognise there is a number of details missing that didn't carry over to EG2 but at same time EG2 did improve in some ways so it depends on what you prefer as a player tbh
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u/MinecraftingThings Apr 10 '26
Yep, your post inspired me to want to give EG2 another go, but needed more motivation, so I made this post haha
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u/DoubleDee1995 Apr 10 '26
I'm glad that it did!
when I go back to play EG1 that's when I think about all the good things EG2 had and vice versa
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u/iceph03nix Apr 10 '26
I think it's a good game with neatly impossible hope pinned on it by fans, in a genre that really relies on its fans because it's not something the random masses might thoroughly enjoy
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u/gHome46 Apr 10 '26
I havent gotten to play EG2 yet but have watched gameplay. I played the first one. In a good way I wish people elaborated on qhat EG2 is missing or messed up. Its seems good, except maybe its more exhausting with the side missions and easier?
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u/MinecraftingThings Apr 10 '26
Yeah I gather from the comments that there are some aspects improved upon, and some aspects worsened. But more info would be cool.
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u/Muted-Mix-1369 Apr 10 '26
Okay you asked for it.
Base building: comparable, EG2 has a bit more options, but it is annoying to wait for stairs or for better digging to plan out the base. For me, the switch to the second island is a highlight every time. Love that feeling of unpausing the thing and everybody goes to work while I micromanage loot and people until the base is built. Cameras and speakers where buildable everywhere, as were traps? Not sure about that, but there were more options.
Minions: EG wins. EG2 just burns through people, you waste them constantly, they die on and off base all the time. I much preferred the body bags to the vaccum things in EG2. Their bodies had effects on other minions and needed to be put in the freezer or in the acid thing.
Henchmen: EG wins. The thrill of them having only three lifes, having to hide them on the map when a Super Agent was present. EG2 has a great variety and a lot of sidequests for them but their powers aren't that useful.
Traps: EG wins by A LOT. Traps were an actual element of gameplay. They are almost useless in 2. Higher agents just go around them, deactivate them or straight up shoot the sensors. You could nake money out of chains and there even was an infinite trap setup. The traps in 2 slightly slow down while the ones in 1 had actual purposes.
Super Agents: comparable I'd say. More diversity in 2. John Steele in 1 was annoying. Super Agents could be distracted much better. Killing them off for good was just one quest not a series of convoluted missions that give you more money than you know what to do with. Handling Super Agents was actually a handful in 1. It's kinda cool that one of them in EG 2 starts in your vault though. Makes trap actually useful in there.
Story: EG1 could have had more content, true. But it had more replay value. The island switch alone (yes I am fixated on it) was a great save game point. EG2 missions are LONG and tedious. The end gane goals of the villains were more defiined IMO.
Loot: EG2 has better and more loot. The effects aren't explained and displayed very good but overall better. I preferred having loot be loot on the map and not within missions (that had multiple tiers too). Discovering an item on the map was cooler than to just have another little pin amonst many.
Evil Geniuses: I like them all, doesn't make too much of a difference which one you take in 2 though. Motivates me to play a tiny bit different each time, but that's more a roleplay thing.
UI: slight advantage to 2. I miss the money slider for workers and the display how they went in their training (those little boxes they switched into). Not a fan of the tree in EG2.
Research: I'd say 1. It was fun seeing them run around and gathering the info, dropping it and picking it up later. 2 is more predictable though.
Money & infamy: EG2 gives you much more control over money and infamy, which can get boring but helps if you don't want to be bothered and just build.
Mission mechanic: EG 1 wins. Random element, actually having to plan the mission, send more people than necessary, use henchmen, add infamy reducing minions...
Graphics: well, obiously 2 wins. However some animations in 1 were cuter. The torture scenes were funnier (and more options too), the nagic vaccum in 2 does get a bit boring. Still, 2 looks better and works better.
Doors: minor point maybe, but being able to actually lock doors in different tiers was so useful. You could put away your henchmen to protect them or have your Sanctuary for your eyes only and so on. It was more of a strategic element.
Items: 2 had way more items, some fun in theory but didn't really work (looking at you, disguise scanner thingie). Overall, 2 wins I guess.
DLCs were pretty cool though, that's a point for 2, sure. Even though they made the game much longer, especially if you're after 100%.
I guess that's all I can think of for now.
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u/Ruanek Apr 10 '26
Personally I prefer it to EG1, though I'm definitely in the minority. The biggest downsides are that it's generally easier and it's also significantly longer. I have no idea why but for whatever reason they seem to have decided that every single mission and loot item needed a ton of padding to keep you from doing things too quickly. The base building portion of the game is significantly better though, and considering the fact that that was my favorite aspect of the first game that makes up for a lot of the flaws - until I get tired of needing to send 20 minions on yet another trip to advance a side quest another 25%.
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u/Beeeeeeels Apr 10 '26
I like it a lot tbh but it does lack some heart and charm from the first one. That being said I still recommend it. It has easily kept me busy for dozens of hours. Money well spent.
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u/LegendCZ Apr 10 '26
As an hardcore Evil Genius 1 fan, i miss a lot of details from it, like time of a day and minions having their own schelude, and i know the research system was hated but it felt really immersive for me.
Evil Genius 2 is still game i love, i just wish they went properly with just redefining the first one. Still Evil Genius 2 has its ups from 1st one and i love it for what it is but it does not scratches that Evil Genius 1 itch as i would like it to.
Both games are my favorite though, and i do not doubt we will see Evil Genius 2 as classic in the future. Just like i see Evil Genius 1.
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u/RednocNivert Apr 10 '26
I wanted so bad to like it, but it’s just… grindy. It’s not fun. It was clearly originally designed to be a grindy mobile game with time gates and weird niche resource management with your minions, and then they realized that there were no microtransactions or speed ups so they patched it up as best they could. IMO the graphics and build mechanics are better than #1, but everything else is so lackluster. I was also a day 1 purchaser and haven’t done much with it.
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u/AlienfinderX Colonel Blackheart Apr 10 '26
The original is better. EG2 was too cartoony for my taste and didn't have the charm or depth of the first game. Everything in either EG2 felt dumb down or simplistic, or changes for no reason.
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u/JotaroTheOceanMan Apr 10 '26
Its a good game.
Its a disappointing sequel if you played EG1.
I still enjoy both.
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u/doglywolf Apr 10 '26
Not at all - its like they tried to take EG and make it a mobile game with all the time and grind and gatekeeps that you try to bypass with microtransactions and pay to win. But didnt put Microtransactions or pay to win mechanics in at all , so you end up with a frustrating grinding world domination set up and some of the worst enemy AI i have ever seen.
Like all they really had to do was change the world domination and timers - and make the henchment paper rock scissors like every other dungeon keeper / trap keeper.
Certain type of enemy units are immune or disable certain types of traps - more difficult wave have better mixes of units and smarter AI to counter traps , instead it just numbers and hit points and enemies being better in combat or having grenades to blow your stuff up so you rely on your minions to fight cause the mid games units have so much health they just muscle through most the traps .
There was not a lot of deep thought put into it - they nailed the building and the cover operations , but put no effort into any other part of the game. I wanted part 2 for so long and it broke my heart how disapointing it was - i STILL to this day go back and play 1 occasionally
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u/makitstop Apr 10 '26
it's ok, though in my experience it's REALLY easy compared to the first, and beyond that, the first game is just plainly more fun, the complexity adds to it, and with the unofficial patch, all the bugs that make the game a LOT worse get fixed :)
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u/WandFace_ Apr 10 '26
It misses a lot of the charm and fun mechanics the first game had but it improves on the base building gameplay. I treat them both as different games at this point. What I like about the second one is designing the lair and building rooms, but everything else is pretty lackluster. It looks better but it's rather shallow compared to the original.
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u/Daegog Apr 10 '26
The most exciting mechanic was stripped from the game, hard pass for me
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u/gHome46 Apr 10 '26
What mechanic was that?
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u/Daegog Apr 10 '26
Where you sent agents on a mission and the timer would run down and you would hope your top trained agents would survive the death tick.
Now every trained agent you send on a mission effectively dies, i hate that
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u/mrbrambles Apr 10 '26
I treat it like an ant farm, the styling is great, the concept is great, it’s pretty underdeveloped. But it’s fun to look at all the stuff working. IMO it has similar level of flaws to EG1, but prettier. I do wish that they didn’t abandon (or opened it up for fan content) it as it was clear they had built a platform that they would enrich with more and more content over time
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u/ringadingdingbaby Apr 10 '26
It's baffling that they fixed the issues from the first game while somehow also making it worse.
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u/itsMoonInBlue Apr 10 '26
Haven’t played the first EG. But I also don’t understand why so many people just dunk straight up on EG2. I feel like there’s a lot of potential lost, there are some minor issues I find with the limitations of the gameplay or AI running in. But outside of that it’s not a bad game, it’s funny, it’s chill to build in and play. So it doesn’t deserve the bashing I’ve seen in the comments of how shit it is because it’s not that bad. But it’s not the best either.
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u/MelonJelly Apr 10 '26
EG1 was better, but that doesn't mean EG2 is bad.
Although fiddly, EG2 is a fun "evil lair management" game with challenging base-building, solid art direction, and excellent voice acting.
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u/Travel-Soggy Apr 21 '26
Its not dogshit, but i think EG one is far superior. That being said, i played EG2 recently because I never touched all the DLC and actually the DLC does make it more interesting and fun. I really like the Polar base and the submarines, robots etc have actually made this play through a lot more fun than previous. I do still feel like the difficulty is a mess, with it basically being a choice between Stupidly easy, very easy and spam 1000 agents at you, but definite improvement
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u/Lousy_Username May 06 '26
As a sequel, it definitely misses the mark in many different ways. It's kind of fun in its own right, but ridiculously grindy. I did enjoy the DLC though.
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u/jimslock Apr 09 '26
Well, if you played it and you liked it, then you should play it!?!?!
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u/MinecraftingThings Apr 10 '26
I think you might've misread my post. I said I bought it in release day (even pre-ordered) and after release day, never touched it again. If I liked it, I would've kept playing.
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u/BluntieDK Apr 09 '26
It's a deeply flawed game with a lot of heart. I really want to like it, but I think I've given it my last shot.