Hi all,

This update focuses on quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes, and comes with a new Campaign and Sandbox Survey for our community to provide feedback on key focus areas of Evil Genius 2.

With this update, Traps no longer take passive Durability damage. Instead, Traps take a hit to their Durability only when they are triggered, and this is a flat Durability hit regardless of how many characters are caught in that activation. For example, a Pinball Bumper may be struck by multiple characters (or the same character repeatedly) on a single activation, but this results in only a single drop in Durability. A few oddities in pathfinding have been cleared up, so your minions will no longer take the long way around to avoid Paywalls, and we've significantly reduced the cost of all Traps, easing the impact to your Vault when building more elaborate Trap networks.

In general, where a character looks like they are wearing something which should offer protection from gasses (a gas-mask, respirator, or maybe they just don’t have lungs at all) then they are now unaffected by gas clouds that would cause damage from breathing in. These characters will still be affected if the gas is corrosive or magical in nature, and will still be effected by beneficial gas-based effects.

IRIS is always eager to keep you informed of goings on across your Lair, but sometimes she can be a little too keen, resulting in repeated notifications for events you're well aware of. We've made adjustments here, toning down some of the less important audible alerts, and will continue to monitor this in the weeks ahead.

Finally, inactive Regions on the World Map can be more easily identified from the fully zoomed out view, where idle Criminal Networks will display a visual effect, and Achievement hunters should have a slightly easier time following this update, as acquiring the Prometheus Flame no longer locks out the Hubbard Slice for that campaign.

Over the past few months our community team has also been gathering feedback from a variety of spaces, we’re really grateful for all of our players who engage with us and each other on the forums and social platforms so that we can understand the sentiment coming from our community.

To build on this we’d really appreciate if you’d complete our quick Campaign and Sandbox Survey! This will allow us to fine tune the broader feedback we’ve been collating so that we can inform specific improvements moving forward.

Thank you all for your continued support of Evil Genius 2!

The Evil Genius 2 Development Team

General

• Reduced the frequency of audible IRIS alerts for multiple categories of notification.
• Audio on the Genius select screen now plays as expected, and at appropriate volume.
• Minions imprisoned while deserting will more reliably restore their stats, and may gain a new Trait to reduce their stat depletion for a time after they are released.
• Characters with visible protection cannot be harmed by gas attacks. This includes the Pyro, Magnolia Ming, Espectro, Biologists, and all Robots.
• Investigators no longer take photographs of non-suspicious items.
• The Blue Saint now uses blue smoke bombs to attempt to disguise himself.
• The HUD indicator correctly displays when Research has halted.
• It is no longer possible to change floor during the early stages of the Tutorial.
• Characters can no longer be targeted until they have fully exited their arrival vehicle.
• Characters will no longer clip through beach furniture in new games.
• Character vocalisations no longer continue when the game is paused.
• The "Dirt" button is no longer highlighted when opening the Build Menu using right-click.
• Tooltips no longer remain displayed when moving the camera after highlighting edit buttons on a furniture item.
• Tooltips for the last item visible on the Build Menu is no longer erroneously displayed when toggling the Side Panel.
• Characters can be sorted by positive and negative Traits in the Minion Manager.
• The Minion Manager will provide feedback when a search has no results to display.
• In the Minion Manager, viewing the last minion's stats in a full screen of results no longer causes those stats to be displayed off screen.
• Narrative minions are correctly removed from view when using toggling minion visibility in Photo Mode.
• Input prompts are correctly displayed when using Photo Mode, and controls for switching tabs are consistent.
• Edge scrolling now functions when using Photo Mode.
• Informational messages that Achievements cannot be earned in specific game modes have had their prominence increased.
• A warning message has been added that earning difficulty-related Achievements may be affected if the difficulty setting is changed for a game in progress.
• The "Customise Graphics Detail" Options menu correctly closes when pressing the Escape key.
• Island environment is no longer visible through floors when constructing Stairs in specific locations on the "Caine Key" Island Lair.
• Characters correctly appear in callout boxes during their barks when they are killed or captured.
• Correct Crime Lords are visible during their barks if multiple Crime Lords have died simultaneously.
• Narrative minions correctly display an appropriate icon in their side panels.
• Agent types and J Steele now unlock predictably in the Rogue's Gallery.
• The "Load Game" menu option is no longer available if there are no save games available.
• DLC used in the current game can be viewed through the "Active DLC" Pause Menu option.
• Performance improvements and memory optimisations.
• Gamepad control improvements.
• Text and localisation improvements

Achievements

Campaigns

• Audio now plays reliably during campaign completion cutscenes.
• A task to fire H.A.V.O.C. at a Force of Justice headquarters is no longer erroneously completed during Red Ivan's campaign Objective, ""Cry H.A.V.O.C.".
• Tourists leaving on the Cruise Ship no longer increments task progress during Maximilian's campaign Objective, "Going for Gold".
• Peacekeepers correctly display an overhead icon during Emma's campaign Objective, "Tourist Season".
• Incorrect Scheme reward text has been corrected in Emma's Campaign objective, "Spectres".
• Super Agents are now referred to by name when tagged by the Genius during later campaign Objectives.
• Switching floors is no longer possible during a Genius' death animation.

Side Stories

• Acquiring the Prometheus Flame Loot Item no longer blocks unlocking the Hubbard Slice Loot Item.
• Research requirements have been adjusted to require only one minion type and one item type in Side Story, "Pride Goeth Before the Fallout".
• Minions will no longer repeatedly interact with the Magic Carpet Loot item during the Side Story, "Too Darn Hot".
• Minions no longer talk over subsequent lines during Talking Heads scenes which include the Pyro.
• Crime Lord Side Stories are no longer incorrectly labelled as "Minion Recruitment" Objective during the Tutorial.

Henchmen

• Attempting to use Fugu Furakawa's abilities while she is already in combat will no longer deduct the required stats without activating the ability.
• The Pyro's "Armageddon" ability no longer activates twice in unusual circumstances.
• The strength of Iris' basic attacks has been slightly reduced.
• The strength of Doomhilda's basic attacks has been slightly increased.
• Jubei's barks no longer display incorrect callout text in unusual circumstances.
• Activating Espectro's "Clone" ability while he's moving no longer activates the ability cooldown without summoning the clone.
• Incendio's position marker is no longer misaligned while sitting at a Conference Table.

Traps

• Most Traps no longer take passive Durability damage. Instead, Traps take Durability damage each time they are activated, once per activation. Single use traps, Loot Traps, the Fake Safe, and the Pay Wall are unaffected by this change.
• The cost of all Traps has been reduced by circa 20%.
• Tourists correctly interact with active Paywall Traps.
• Minions and Tourists no longer avoid pathing through a Paywall Trap.
• Correct animation will play when characters are Interrogated on the Venus Spy Trap.
• The "Puppy of Death" Trap container no longer ceases to be rendered at distance.

World Map

• Inactive Regions are now indicated with a visual effect when fully zoomed out on the World Map.

Items

• The Hubbard Slice Loot item now prevents fires on Traps as well as other Lair Items.
• The Maple Syrup Loot item now restores Morale more rapidly.
• Characters' legs no longer elevate out of place when using the "Omni-Check-Up" Infirmary item.
• Visual effects of some items no longer appear when viewing different floors of the Lair.
• Eli Barracuda's hair no longer clips through the Cabal Induction Chair during use.

Again, we’re constantly looking for ways to provide the best Evil Genius 2 experience possible for all of our players. With this in mind we’ve built a survey which rests upon the feedback you’ve all been giving us over the past several months in order to inform specifics improvements to the game. We’d really appreciate if you’d take a couple of minutes to complete our Campaign and Sandbox Survey!