Parents' Guide to

Plague Inc.

By Chris Morris, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 13+

Slow & steady kills the (human) race in disease-design app.

Plague Inc. Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this app.

Community Reviews

age 12+

Based on 7 parent reviews

age 13+

Very interesting.

I like the game at some point but, the game requires a lot of money for many in-game items and they were quite expensive. Overall, this game is fun.

This title has:

Easy to play/use
age 17+
Plague Inc. is a simulation game developed by Ndemic Creations that challenges players to create and evolve a pathogen to wipe out humanity. The gameplay involves selecting a type of pathogen, such as a virus or bacterium, and then evolving it by selecting various traits that increase its transmission rate, lethality, and resistance to treatment. The player must then strategically spread the pathogen throughout the world. For me personally, I am a big fan of strategy games, the mechanics of this game make the player very experienced, different scenarios, different viruses (these different types of pathogens, symptoms, and transmission methods are all based on real-world examples), and the diversity of natural and economic environments in various countries, which makes the ending richer, and if you want to succeed, then you must be careful when planning, anything you do at any point in time will directly affect the progress of the game. It sounds kinda complicated, but that's the fun of playing strategy games exactly. However, to some extent the game's premise is too dark and disturbing, and also expressed concerns about the game potentially promoting a "doomsday" mindset or encouraging harmful attitudes towards public health measures. So I think it's not suitable for everyone to experience, especially minors, and the age limit for the game should be at least 17 years old. But it is worth mentioning that this game launched The cure mode last year, and the player's goal changed from destroying humanity to saving humanity, which does make the game more positive and guiding at the level of morality and values, but from the perspective of game experience, the difficulty of healing mode has increased overall, and the addition of some sociological terms has made most players feel more confused. In summary, for adult players (especially fans of strategy and sand table deduction games), this is an excellent game you shouldn’t to be missed. In addition to the main mission, there are many custom modes(As far as the plot mode is concerned, I think "Santa Claus and his reindeer“ is a very good choice, it is relatively simple, and our purpose is to spread happiness to every corner of the world )and expansion packs(At present, I have purchased the expansion packs of blood race and orangutan virus, which are relatively difficult, and I need to understand the background and some new definitions of this mode), and the price is also satisfied within a reasonable range. But don't lose yourself! ! !

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (7):
Kids say (39):

Like Pandemic 2.5, this strategy game is based loosely on a popular web-based Flash game about evolving diseases into superbugs that are strong enough to destroy the world. Unlike Pandemic, though, Plague Inc. better explains the concept and lets people play at a skill level of their choosing. The game is still fairly passive, but the inclusion of DNA points to adapt the disease (and popable bubbles giving DNA point bonuses) keeps people's attention focused on the screen.

As it has matured, the game has become more enthralling, with additional disease types and new scenarios (ranging from a disease spreading in an anti-vaxx world to, believe it or not, a cheerful Christmas scenario). It has taken player feedback into consideration and done away with pain points (like the near impossibility of infecting Madagascar). It has also tied into several pop culture events (such as the Planet of the Apes movies) to keep players attention. At the same time, it has kept its addictive nature, making you eager to try again once it ends. What's more, the loads of enhancements to each disease means that players will constantly return to try new methods and locations to infect as they try to come up with the most destructive bacteria ever known. It may seem macabre, but Plague Inc. is a great way to explore the end of the world (in a darkly humorous way, of course).

App Details

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