If you’ve ever played games like Civilization VI or Age of Empires, you’ll know that one of the most important things to keep your virtual country afloat is to make sure that your economy is large and thriving. Evil Bank Manager is a turn-based strategy game that takes that concept and places it front and center. In Evil Bank Manager, your goal is not just to make a lot of money, but to be so rich that you can control and print money yourself by becoming a Federal Reserve System. As its name suggests, you can do all the shady things you want just to achieve this goal. Money is indeed the root of all evil in this game.

Starting Out 

In theory, Evil Bank Manager is actually a simple game, but turn-based strategy games rarely ever truly are. You will be prompted to choose from several countries at the start. Each country has their own unique bonus that will give them an edge against their competitors. Once the player has selected their country, they will then be taken to the interface screen. The game also includes a tutorial before the player starts. Players can choose to skip this if they’re already familiar with the game’s mechanics. Additionally, the tutorial can be a bit vague and unhelpful due to the game’s faulty translation work.

The interface looks good, but it can be a bit redundant. The main interface consists of an interactive background containing buildings that represent each of the factors you can manipulate to lead you to riches. Clicking on a building will prompt an animation sequence leading you to a close-up of the building. This seems cool, but since it will be covered by a dialogue box, the animation is just unnecessary and even slows down the whole process. There are also bubbles at the bottom of the screen that prompts the exact same dialogue boxes you’ll get from clicking the buildings which is why this interface design feels a bit redundant.

Playing the Game

The game is based on world history from the 16th century, and the economy and how you can play it really reflects that. Players can wage wars on other players, or take advantage of rivals as they try to kill each other. Riots and other major events can also affect your bank, significantly. You can also manage investments and issue loans and credits. 

Collecting resources and buying real-estate are also important ways to get more money. Buy land to generate more resources or set up mines and other establishments to create goods and services. In all this, you must make sure that your bank is working like a well-oiled machine. 

Adventure Capitalist for Civilization Players

Evil Bank Manager is what you would get if you combined Adventure Capitalist and Civilization VI. Your ultimate goals are to make as much money as you possibly can by generating resources like Adventure Capitalist, but in order to win, you have to make sure you can manipulate other countries and exploit their weaknesses like the Civilization games. It’s pretty good for anyone who likes strategy games focused on the economy.