Does Evil Genius 2: World Domination Continue The Story Of The Original Game?

Evil Genius 2: World Domination is set to introduce some new supervillains to the Evil Genius franchise. The returning Geniuses are Maximilian, a playable Genius from the first game, and Red Ivan, a former henchman-turned-mastermind. These two villains are joined by Emma, a former spy voiced by the incomparable Samantha Bond, as well as a high-tech genius known as Zalika.

Judging from some of the returning characters and the Forces of Justice's continued efforts to thwart the titular evil geniuses, fans of the first game may be wondering how Evil Genius 2 continues the first game's story. After all, it's been a long 17 year wait for fans since the first Evil Genius was released, and it's natural to want to know if all of your evil deeds were for naught. 

Luckily for those fans, the people behind the highly-anticipated sequel have revealed how the events of Evil Genius 2 tie into the first game.

In an interview with PC Gamer, Evil Genius 2 lead designer Rich Edwards explained that the new game takes place in a world where a villain's dastardly plans truly did succeed. The new game picks up several years later, making the timeline of the Evil Genius series roughly line up with the amount of time that has passed between entries in the real world.

Edwards told PC Gamer, "We're following a timeline where the Evil Genius conquered the world, ruled it with an iron fist for some time, and then—because these characters are always attracted to the struggle and the underdog approach—they've backed off, and now vanished, leaving a power vacuum."

Edwards has seemingly left the identity of the Genius who won purposefully vague, allowing players of the first game to imagine that "their" Genius was the canonical world conqueror. In addition, the changes to Red Ivan illustrate the passage of time, since the former henchman has somehow lost a hand and replaced it with a cybernetic limb. In the years following the first game, Red Ivan has both conquered his own country (called Ivannia, of course) and seen it toppled. 

Gamers can take the planet for themselves when Evil Genius 2: World Domination launches on March 30, 2021.