Plague Inc. is a strategy game in which players must create and spreading a plague so deadly that it infects and kills everyone on Earth. The game begins with a single infected patient and must compete against the world governments, who will try to contain the outbreak and cure the disease.
Starting the Game
Initially, the player is tasked with creating a disease. First, the player must choose a disease, with only Bacteria initially available and eleven other diseases unlockable through playing.
Once the plague is designed, the player clicks on an area of the world. This will be the starting point of their plague, which will then spread outward.
Display
The display has valuable info that will help the player spread the disease and counteract the governments actions.
In the top left of the screen is the settings, where the player can save the game. This can be handy if a player wants to see how a decision will impact the disease for good or bad.
Along the top of the screen the news headlines will run, indicating the governments respondes to the spread of the plague. These can help a player to make decisions in response to what is happening in the world or what the government is doing.
In the top right is the date, allowing the player to track how much time has passed. This also allows them to fast forward or go back to previous days.
In the center of the screen is a world map. As the plague spreads, parts of the map become red to indicate the infected areas. The bottom left of the map shows how many DNA points have been acquired, whereas the bottom right shows how close the world are to curing the disease. If this reaches 100%, the game ends.
The main focus for the player is the count of how many are infected and dead in any location, which can be viewed by clicking on the location in the world map. The World button will also bring up information from various countries, displaying things such as death tolls and containment efforts, while the Disease button on the other side, allows players to evolve their disease.
Evolving a Disease
To evolve a disease, the player needs to collect DNA points. These are acquired by immediately tapping on DNA symbols when they appear on the world map:
- Orange DNA symbols appear quickly and give three DNA points.
- Red DNA symbols appear only when the plague has spread to a new location and give considerably more DNA points, depending on the location.
On the disease screen, basic stats about the disease will be shown, such as a tally of the daily infections and deaths, infectivity, severity and lethality. There are three areas which DNA points can be spent: Transmission, Symptoms and Abilities. DNA points can be spent in any section, and can be sold for 2 DNA points each.
Transmission
Transmission affects how the plague is spread. Initially, seven options are available: Air, Water, Blood, Livestock, Birds, Insects, and Rodents. When one is purchased, an upgraded version of it will branch off, which can also be bought. The effects of each transmission options are displayed on the right side of the screen.
Symptoms
Symptoms control what happens to those infected. Like with the transmission traits, a few simple symptoms are initially available with stronger, more signifcant symptoms branching off after the initial ones are purchased. Some symptoms will make the disease more lethal, but might also make it more noticeable. Others will make it spread quickly, but will make it weak.
Abilities
Abilities control how resistant the disease is to various elements, such as heat, cold, and antibiotics. These will make the disease spread faster and resist cures more easily. Abilities and Symptoms both may require time to evolve, with the game bringing up a notification when the trait has fully evolved.
Winning the Game
The game is won once all of the Earth's popultion is infected and killed. There are three playable difficulty levels: Casual, Normal and Brutal. Beating the game in Normal or Brutal mode will unlock the next available disease type.
