V1.5.0

This update focuses on quality-of-life improvements and bug fixes. With this update, additional content can be added to a campaign in progress through the "Enable DLC" option on any Load Game panel, and we intend to continue to support this option for all future DLC, with the exception of the Campaign pack, as noted in the last Development Update.

Deserting minions can now be captured and allowed to reconsider whether betraying you is really a mistake they can afford to make, with the result that their Morale will gradually restore during captivity, and with the new "Release Prisoner" button on all flavours of Holding Cell, said minions can be released and allowed to return to work once you determine they've learned their lesson.

We've also taken a good long look at Decor Items, as though the effects of these were always intended to be subtle, they were clearly not having a sufficiently measurable impact on your Evil Lairs, and as a result have had their effects significantly boosted.

The strength of Force of Justice Agents against Lair defences continues to be a focus area for the Design team, but as a first step with this update you should find Agents are less effective at Sabotaging Traps at all but the highest levels.

We continue to investigate reports that a number of players have been unable to play Evil Genius 2 since updating to a previous version, and will be releasing a fix for this as soon as we are able to do so.

Thank you all for your continued support of Evil Genius 2: we'll continue to listen to your feedback through the Community team. 

The Evil Genius 2 Development Team

General

• Characters now board the Cruise Ship more swiftly.
• Click and hold functionality has been improved for picking-up and moving Items.
• All Decor effects have been significantly boosted. Note that an Item can be affected by only one Decor Item at a time, and we are looking at improving the messaging of this in a future patch.
• Deserting minions can now be captured and imprisoned to make them rethink their life choices, and slowly restore their Morale.
• Warning notification added at the "Point of No Return", after which progressing to the next campaign Objective will prohibit access to any remaining Side Stories.
• The layout of rock types in Montañas Gemelas has been modified to increase options for reaching the lower levels of the Doomsday Cavern. Note that this change will impact new campaigns only.
• Options for Stair placement on the basement floors of the "Crown Gold" and "Caine Key" Island Lairs have been expanded. Note that this change will impact new campaigns only.
• Characters will no longer become trapped inside the Helipad tower in unusual circumstances on the "Caine Key" Island Lair.
• Characters should no longer become temporarily trapped when moving through Doors in unusual circumstances.
• Access to the Doomsday Device Cavern can no longer be blocked by placing Items.
• Training Items will no longer enter a state where training is extremely swift or extremely slow in unusual circumstances.
• Characters no longer become clipped with one another and unable to board vehicles in unusual circumstances.
• The frequency of IRIS notifications has been reduced for the Vault, combat, and Training interruptions.
• Fire Extinguishers no longer become less used over time if minions drop them to desert the Lair due to low Morale.
• Using hotkeys to select Henchmen will no longer cause the camera to jump to their location.
• Completion rewards have been added to Objectives that previously had none.
• Commanding a captive to be Escorted to first a Prison Cell, then overriding this with a command for the same captive to be taken to an Interrogation device, will correctly result in the second command being carried out.
• Minions will no longer use Items which boost their maximum stat value unless the stat which will be boosted is already over 45.
• Character Abilities are more clearly differentiated on Side Panels when the character has insufficient stats to activate them.
• New Status messages for the Genius and Henchmen indicating that their stats can be restored at an Impressive Desk or Conference Table respectively.
• Enemy characters using Cover Operation Items are now correctly affected by Gas attacks, such as Fugu Furakawa's "Blowfish Explosion" Ability.
• Additional rare Traits added when minions are spawned, or complete specific jobs around the Lair.
• The Gold cost of broadcast strength Research Projects has been reduced.
• The "Learning Lamp" Archive Item correctly lists Deception minions as Users, and Science minions as Operators.
• The "Intensive Care Pod" Infirmary Item correctly lists All minions as Users, and Science minions & Workers as Operators.
• The doors of the "Rejuvenation Chamber" Lair Item now animate correctly, and the visual effects align correctly with the model.
• Characters no longer play erratic animations before death in unusual circumstances.
• Characters' limbs remain in the intended positions during Interrogation.
• Selecting the final stage of a Doomsday Device, then entering Build Mode will no longer cause the Doomsday Device to temporarily float in place.
• Descriptions have been added for Mode settings on Lair Items.
• Door access times have been slightly adjusted.
• Suspicion is now displayed on the Side Panels of Lair Items awaiting construction.
• The "Laser Disco" Trap no longer clips through area of effect indicators when selecting other Traps.
• Cover Operation glass is no longer visible when constructing Stairs near the windows of the "Montañas Gemelas" Island Lair.
• The Event Log displayed in the Stats Screen now scrolls correctly when clicking and dragging the scroll bar.
• The Research screen will now display a brief explanation if Research has become paused.
• Deception minion descriptions are listed correctly in the Rogues' Gallery.
• Information overlays for Tourist Side Panels have been updated.
• Triggering a Flamethrower Trap will no longer trigger a Fire-related Event Log message unless minions are caught in the effect.
• Maximilian's Inner Sanctum wall tiles no longer clip through Doors.
• The cursor for ordering prisoners to be moved to an empty cell is no longer misshapen.
• Player-controlled characters no longer rise a short distance into the air when ordered to walk to specific locations near the swimming pool on the "Crown Gold" Island Lair.
• "Move" Tooltip is no longer displayed in the top-left of the screen after placing an Item then immediately selecting it.
• Minion position markers are no longer misaligned when selected while using specific Lair Items.
• Minor improvements to icons when colour blindness settings are enabled.
• The game no longer lags when adjusting the Brightness slider in the Graphics Options screen.
• The ability to move Items is no longer prematurely unlocked in the Tutorial.
• Items from the "In-Genius Items" pack can be used to complete Tutorial tasks where appropriate.
• The Technician Trainer correctly obeys in-game audio settings.
• A number of Schemes have had their locations adjusted to more suitably match their descriptions.
• A number of Traits have had their effects significantly boosted.
• Depth of Field Toggle added under Options - Accessibility Options.
• Improved gamepad support.
• Text and localisation improvements.

Achievements

• The "Fighting Fire With Fire" achievement now unlocks correctly when setting Atomic Olga on fire by using Traps.
• In Zalika's campaign Objective, "Tourist Trap", curing IRIS will no longer count toward Henchman recruitment achievements.
• The "Total Annihilation" achievement no longer unlocks prematurely.

Campaigns

• Emma will no longer become trapped in an Execution animation in unusual circumstances.
• The backfire effect of H.A.V.O.C. has been reduced.
• John Steele Snr's Allies can no longer be brainwashed in Emma's campaign Objective, "Poison Paradise".
• Minions will no longer approach John Steele Snr when attempting to Execute him during Emma's campaign Objective, "Dear John".
• Geniuses can no longer be reduced to 0 Smarts by Mocking prisoners repeatedly.
• Main Objective Schemes will spawn more rapidly on the World Map, reducing wait times.
• The appearance of Regions affected by the M.I.D.A.S. Device at maximum power has been improved.
• Investigators who reach 0 Resolve will correctly attempt to escape the Lair during Red Ivan's campaign Objective, "Rumour Has It".
• The "Ambush Air" Scheme displays the correct rewards during Maximilian's campaign Objective, "Trap D'Or".
• Political Aides will no longer gain a brief "Exit" overhead icon in Maximilian's campaign Objective, "The Traditional Method".
• Nigel McReary will attempt to avoid combat during Maximilian's Campaign Objective, "War On Krast".
• Schemes which invite additional Tourists to the Lair have had their visual significance reduced during Maximilian's campaign Objective, "War On Krast".
• Agents assaulting the Lair are attributed to the correct Force of Justice during Maximilian's campaign Objective, "The Golden Age".

Side Stories

• Carl Cafard no longer clips into the "Valuable Paintings" Item while inspecting it during the Side Story, "Body Snatcher".
• Beekeepers will no long attempt to escape the Lair during the Side Story, "One In A Bee-Lion".
• Cameras that have already been constructed will count toward the Side Stories, "Thy Fearful Symmetry" and "Wind Wars: The Wind Strikes Back".
• Travel Agents will no longer put up a fight when tagged for Capture in the Side Story, "North By North".
• The "Antidote" Research Project is no longer removed if the game is played for over 15 hours while remaining on the Side Story "Going Green".
• Full Metal Jackie correctly has the "Temporary Partnership" Trait during the Side Story, "Eighteen With A Bullet".
• The "Time After Time" Research project has had its research time significantly reduced in Side Story, "Outta Time".
• Eli's Guards no longer display a Force of Justice affiliation in the Side Story, "Vox Pop-Eli".
• The Event Log correctly indicates Agent X has arrived at the Lair alone during Side Story, "Manifest Entropy".
• "Attack Robots" no longer arrive prematurely during the Side Story, "I Spy With My Cybernetically Enhanced Eye".
• Schemes no longer incorrectly appear as Threats during the Side Story, "Hail To The Chef".
• Espectro no longer hovers in the air above P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Region terrain when he appears on the World Map during Cabal Side Stories.
• Ignacio no longer has a Trait erroneously indicating he is actually Incendio during the Side Story, "Fire In The Hole".

Super Agents

• Side Panel portraits for Agent Steele now match the appearance of the character.
• Super Agents Side Panels include the correct Force of Justice affiliation when they are Lured from the World Stage.
• Specialist Agents accompanying a Super Agent are assigned the correct Force of Justice affiliation.

Henchmen

• Henchman Abilities no longer enter cooldown or have their stat cost taken before they are in the correct position to begin using the selected Ability.
• Jubei will no longer teleport through terrain when his "Windwalk" ability is targeted at very specific points on an Island Lair.
• Jubei no longer becomes unresponsive in unusual circumstances when activating his "Flow" ability while the game is paused.
• Jubei's "Flow" Ability can no longer be activated while he is being Executed.
• Incendio will no longer become stuck in an animation cycle when using his "Magic Trick" ability in unusual circumstances.
• Incendio's Side Panel now correctly lists the Morale cost for using his "Misdirection" character ability.
• Espectro will no longer become unresponsive after being ordered to use his "Clone" ability immediately after completing a move command.
• Selecting Espectro's "Summon Ally" Ability while "Piston Punch" is being activated will correctly focus the camera on the Espectro Clone, if one has already been summoned.
• Fugu Furakawa's "Sleeping With The Fishes" Scheme now correctly removes all Heat from a Region, regardless of the level of the Criminal Network.
• Eli's Silver Revolver should no longer disappear from his hand during idle animations at a Conference Table.
• Clara Jones defeat bark is now paired with the correct text.

Loot Items

• The requirements for a minion to be judged worthy by the Sword In the Stone Loot item have been made easier to meet.
• Certain Loot items can no longer be stolen during their Side Stories.
• The "Cupid's Arrow" Loot item can no longer be destroyed.
• Minions will more commonly use the "World's Oldest Bones" Loot Item.
• The "Million Bees" Loot Item no longer requires a minion to deliver it to the Depot before it can be placed.
• Loot Item information is consistently unlocked in the Rogues' Gallery after acquiring it.
• When using a gamepad, navigating between placed Loot Items in the Build Menu no longer skips items in the list.