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Description
Plague Inc is a real-time strategy game attempting to create the most deadly illness possible in an attempt to wipe out mankind.
Plague Inc takes the real-time strategy genre and turns it on its head. In this unique game, you play as a new disease that is attempting to wipe out mankind. You must use planning and strategy to mutate your virus in such a way that the earth cannot collaborate to find a cure before you have successfully exterminated the entire planet. While there are many real-time strategy games on the market this is the only one that makes you the bad guy in such a total and destructive way. Do you have what it takes to ruthlessly destroy mankind?
While Plague Inc has a clear singular goal, eliminate the human race, there are plenty of ways for you to do it. Choosing different mutation paths can allow you to alter your effectiveness and begin to seek out and target individual climates, countries, or sectors of the civilian population. There are challenges along the way that push you to go down certain paths to gain rewards, bonuses, and other achievements. But, these are all voluntary.
Plague Inc encourages you to explore different ways of breaking down the earth's defenses to gain the upper hand in the battle between people infected and a race for the cure. Your "opponent" in this game is the scientists that set out to develop an antidote to your aggressive virus. If they can develop a cure before you manage to eliminate the entire world's population, you lose. This is where the game becomes tricky. Trying to avoid detection for as long as possible can certainly play a key role in defeating the AI and reaching your goal.
When you first start playing the game you may be tempted to start aggressively adding brutal symptoms to your disease to begin taking people out as fast as possible. Maybe you want to focus on how infectious your disease is before you begin causing symptoms. Keep in mind, that you aren't in total control of your virus. It will begin to mutate over time on its own which may ruin your element of surprise if you aren't careful enough! Trial and error is definitely a vital aspect of mastering this tricky game. Finding what works best in what order is key to perfecting your disease and causing as much mayhem as possible.
Each attempt at a playthrough of Plague Inc is more or less unrelated to the next. If your virus gets cured before you reach your ultimate goal, then it's time to return to the drawing board and begin plotting again. Achievements may roll over into other saves in some cases, but you will find the main thing you take with you from an attempt to attempt is your experience and newfound expertise. What worked last time and what didn't? How can I approach things differently next time?
How to play
The first time you start a save on Plague Inc you may find yourself a little overwhelmed. It doesn't have an overly detailed tutorial, preferring to drop you right in at the deep end. This game is harsh on the player from start to finish so you better get used to it quickly. When you start a new save the first thing you will be asked to do is name your virus. This has no impact on gameplay, it's purely for a bit of fun. Naming your virus something funny constantly crops up in the news cycle alerting the player to what's going on in the world. If your virus is starting to become well known you can bet you'll hear about it in the news pretty quickly.
As a side note, how often your virus is mentioned in detail in the news can be a good indicator of how likely the earth is to begin making curing a cure for it. No mentions? Keep on pushing your infectivity. Constant mention and panic? It might be time to start killing people off. Altering your virus to have far more lethal and cruel symptoms may be the way to go once the news cycle is nothing but pure panic. Again, finding the right balance is vital to becoming proficient at this unique game.
The next step will be choosing your starting location. As you begin to play you may find that infecting certain countries is far more difficult than others. Greenland, for example. Experiment with starting in these locations to make things easier for you down the line. If your patient zero is in Greenland, experiment with modifying your virus to be more transmissive in colder environments first to see if that can give you an edge. Experimenting with mutations and using logic to find the best ones for your scenario are the key to a successful playthrough. For example, is increasing how well your virus survives on boats going to be beneficial if you are starting in a landlocked country? Maybe not at first.
The biggest tip for a successful playthrough is probably to focus on infecting as many people as possible before you begin to become a concern. If you infect a ton of people but offer very few symptoms, the scientific community is far less likely to make a concerted effort to thwart your plans. If you do it in the reverse, a deadly disease that hasn't infected very many people, you are more than likely to get cured well before the finish line!
Yes, Plague Inc can be pretty difficult to get right for a beginner. But, it is incredibly rewarding for those that are willing to try new things and aren't afraid to start again from scratch. Completing crazy challenges and becoming an expert, almost, in virology and infectious diseases makes this game incredibly fun with tremendous replayability. It's a great one to pick up when you have a few minutes to kill during the day and you want to just chill out. It blends humor with a seemingly serious game concept to make a uniquely engaging experience that can be enjoyed by anyone who owns a smartphone. If you have experience playing Plague Inc, why don't you share some of your best ideas for disease names in the comment section below?
