Evil Genius (video game)

Evil Genius
Developer(s)Elixir Studios
Publisher(s)Sierra Entertainment
(Vivendi Universal Games)
Producer(s)Peter Gilbert
Designer(s)Sandro Sammarco
Programmer(s)Alex Thomson
Artist(s)Brian Gillies
Composer(s)James Hannigan
Platform(s)Microsoft Windows
Release
Genre(s)Real-time strategy, simulation
Mode(s)Single-player

Evil Genius is a single-player real-time strategy and simulation video game developed by Elixir Studios and published by Sierra Entertainment, a subsidiary of Vivendi Universal Games. It was released on September 28, 2004. The game is inspired by the spy thriller genre (notably the James Bond film series), and is set in an alternative 1960s–70s era. Most closely resembling Dungeon Keeper,[4] the gameplay puts players in charge of a villainous force attempting to achieve global domination whilst fending off the forces of justice; to this end the gameplay is split between management of a base and the completion of "acts of infamy" in the rest of the world. The game has stylish, cartoon-like visuals and contains a great deal of tongue-in-cheek humour,[5] particularly playing to clichés of the spy genre.

Elixir once worked on a sequel, but it was cancelled following the studio's closure. Since March 2, 2006, the intellectual property rights of the game have been owned by Rebellion Developments.[6][7] Rebellion released a sequel, Evil Genius 2: World Domination, on March 30, 2021.

  1. ^ GamesIndustry (20 August 2004). "Elixir's Evil Genius goes gold". Eurogamer. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  2. ^ Apache (18 August 2004). "Evil Genius Gone Gold! Demo Coming". IGN. Retrieved 22 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Evil Genius". Gameplanet. Archived from the original on 16 February 2005. Retrieved 22 July 2024. Release date: 14th October, 2004
  4. ^ Meer, Alec (December 2008). "Retro: Evil Genius". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 28 October 2014. Retrieved 11 April 2015.
  5. ^ "Evil Genius". Rebellion Developments. Archived from the original on 15 April 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  6. ^ Alex (2 March 2006). "Rebellion - Bought EG Rights!". Evil Genius Chat. Jonathan Mayer and Mark Sowash. Archived from the original on 12 May 2012. Retrieved 10 June 2010.
  7. ^ Sefton, Jamie (14 July 2006). "Demis Hassabis, part two". Computer and Video Games. Retrieved 6 September 2009.