Plague Inc. – Destroying and Saving the World

Greetings Lunatics, in an attempt to get back on track with some journal entries I wanted to revisit Plague Inc. I played this game a long time ago, Mystic and I have even cooped as dual plagues. Versus, Coop, I know we both enjoy the game. Recently Plague Inc. added a DLC for Cure in response to COVID-19, so we have two sides to cover in todays post.

Plague

I haven’t played all of the different options, however, I tend to use the same base name for all of my diseases, Santarian. When I first played the game I did Virus, as this is the first one you can use and it took me some time to understand the mechanics. Next was Bacterial, which currently sits as one of my favorites, as I enjoy the slow detection game. As you complete each type, the next one unlocks, so the third was Fungus, and fourth is Neurax Worm. I personally do not like Fungus, as it was too slow for my liking, but Neurax Worm was entertaining, and of course enslaving the human race to worship Santarian is exactly what I did. I enjoy how each option has its own pros and cons and slightly changes how the game plays out, the core mechanics are all in place, you develop your symptoms, you infect, then you kill (or enslave). The games I played were all on normal, as that is what tends to need to be played to unlock the others, so it was my starting point and battling the cure, mutating to reduce its progress it can get rather stressful.

If changing the type of disease wasn’t enough in terms of replay-ability, you can also modify your disease with various boosters which are unlocked and gathered while you play. So even though my Santarian Virus was deadly, I can easily go back and allow it to mutate automatically by adding a mutating gene. I am not sure what unlocks these genes, but I am sure as I play with different options and different symptom variations I will unlock more options.

Multiplayer

The multiplayer functionality revolves around the Plague portion, and the first choice you make is whether to work with your fellow disease, or against it. Mystic beast and I have done both matches, and personally I do not have a favorite one. Perhaps that’s how mystic beast and I play, or because our moods dictate which version we play. We enjoy being competitive but we also enjoy working together. In a versus match you may be finding ways to focus the cure on the other disease, or even finding ways to utilize their infected hosts to your advantage, let the last disease standing win. Either way Mystic Beast and I typically find our selves playing this a chill game and though it can be stressful there is some strategy involved.

Cure

The Cure was a DLC added during COVID-19, and although I find the concept rather interesting, I am still learning how to mange authority. The game operates on Authority, once your team loses this authority no one listens and the game ends because your poorly managed. I have only played a couple rounds and I have learned a lot form the two games. Before I just had to worry about Transmission, Symptoms, and Abilities, where as with the cure these were renamed to Quarantine, Response, Operations. I found the Quarantine options to be rightly effective, but it tended to cause a lot of unrest and I would lost my authority rather quickly. The second time, I used less of these options and it seemed to help, but then panic started getting out of control and the result was the same, both games ended because of lost authority due to death and panic. I know I had fewer deaths during the second game. Although I enjoyed the change of concept I still prefer the main game which was much more satisfying even if I lose.

Conclusion

If giant words were not enough to tell you I am nearing the end of this post, I’ll wrap up with saying the graphics were great, the music is a nice touch for the background, I do not find the need to turn these off like I do in some of my other games. Once you get past the different screens you need to constantly reference, it becomes an easy pattern of checking the map to pop bubbles, advancing your disease, and finding out what countries still need to be killed (enslaved!). I may go months without playing it, but every time I think about it, I am never disappointed. As always, this is my own opinion and Mystic Beast has his own right, and I am sure I will enslave the earth before he kills them. Did I mention Neurax Worm is another one of my favorites?

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