Viruses have haunted life on Earth ever since time immemorial. It affected not only the planet's flora, such as the Tobacco mosaic virus but also its fauna, with viruses like influenza and even simian immunodeficiency virus, per the CDC.
Humanity is not an exception to this rule, as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated. However, history shows that this pandemic was not our first - the Bubonic Plague, which culled a third of Europe's population back in the late middle ages, and the Spanish Flu, which was our first taste of going through a pandemic in modern times, are prime examples of that.
However, have you ever been curious about how viruses mutate and spread across continents?
Have you ever thought about what kind of plague could wipe off all of humanity from the face of the Earth?
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you: Plague Inc. & Plague Inc. Evolved.
Plague Inc. Evolved History, Gameplay
Plague Inc. was a flash game developed and published by James Vaughan, who would later become the founder of Ndemic Creations. According to a CDC blog, Vaughan took inspiration from the flash game Pandemic 2, which had a similar gameplay, but Vaughan found it lacking in strategy.
It took him a year to develop the game as a flash game, which he eventually released in 2008. Although he wasn't a medically licensed doctor, he does have a healthy interest in biology, economics, and current affairs. These interests helped him in creating the algorithms needed to make the game as realistic as possible.
When the flash game gained enough popularity due to its spread through smartphones, Vaughan developed and released Plague Inc. Evolved, an improved version of the game made for the PC.
Both games have the same gameplay. Players first choose which real-life pathogen they'd want to use to infect and rid the world of humanity. These pathogens include bacteria, viruses, fungi, parasites, prions, bio-weapons, and nano-viruses.
Afterward, they will need to choose the mutations their disease would start with.
They will then need to choose the country they would first infect. From there, they will need to gather DNA points to evolve their disease and help it spread across the world. How it will propagate itself depends on the player's chosen attributes.
Finally, players have to choose their preferred difficulty level, with the game describing what's happening in the world on a particular difficulty setting. The easiest has infected people receive hugs, while the hardest has doctors making random medical checkups on civilians.
Once their disease infects everyone in the world, the player will need to make the virus lethal to kill as many humans in a short amount of time without hindering the virus' chance of spreading itself further.
This part is important as the world governments and health organizations will take notice of their disease's spread and lethality. They will then study their disease and create a cure that would eradicate it from the world. Letting them do as they please will mean a game over.
The game ends the player's disease wipes out all of humanity.
The CDC's Praise
It is this attention to detail and realism that made Plague Inc. catch the notice of the CDC, which even invited Vaughan to discuss the game with its staff members.
Ali S. Khan, the CDC's assistant surgeon general at the time, mentioned that he became interested in Vaughan's game as it became a tool to teach the public how outbreaks and disease transmission works.
"[Plague Inc.] uses a non-traditional route to raise public awareness on epidemiology, disease transmission, and diseases/pandemic information," Khan said. "The game creates a compelling world that engages the public on serious public health topics."
Soundtrack
The game's main menu and in-game background music can give players the feeling of being a sinister scientist trying to figure out which combination of mutations would herald humanity's doom, even at the cost of his own life.
Of course, this feeling would get old real quick in the vanilla version of the game - more on that in a bit.
Extra And Downloadable Content
Plague Inc. Evolved eventually became the superior of the two as it slowly garnered more features that the mobile version didn't have until much later.
The game has official scenarios that pit players against pre-made (and sometimes goofy) scenarios, such as the return of the dreaded Bubonic Plague, a pithovirus that emerged from the Siberian permafrost that can turn humanity into neanderthals, and even the infamous "Shut Down Everything" scenario from its flash game days.
Other players can also create their own custom scenarios and share them with other players online.
Finally, NDemic Studios added four new viruses for people to use in the main game and the fairly recent addition of "Cure Mode."
These new viruses include a Neurax Worm capable of taking over the human brain and controlling a person from within and a Necroa virus that can turn people into the living dead.
Ndemic also added the Simian flu from its partnership with Chernin Entertainment, the company that produced the 2014 film "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," and the Shadow Plague, which can turn a person into a demonic vampire.
These new viruses come with their own unique background, breathing new air into an otherwise stale game soundtrack. The Neurax Worm's theme makes players feel suspiciously safe, while the Shadow Plague's theme gives players the feeling that they are a vampire worth fearing.
Finally, the new "Cure Mode" turns the game's tables on players. Instead of creating a virus, players are now tasked to lead the WHO to locate and eradicate the unknown disease that has the potential of wiping humanity from the face of the Earth.
Verdict
Plague Inc. and Plague Inc. Evolved is one of the games that successfully made the transition from its flash game roots to mainstream gaming with its simple-to-understand but hard-to-master gameplay and mechanics.
Its replayability depends on how badly players want to unlock the mutations of the pathogen of their choice.
With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, it is important to educate ourselves on how to avoid getting infected and spreading it further.
I give this game an eight out of a possible ten, along with a recommendation for anyone who wants to know more about how pathogens spread and how to combat them.
