In Plague, Inc. you are tasked with creating a plague, and spreading it across the world, infecting and annihilating the human race. But with scientists tirelessly working to develop a cure, and with different growth conditions all over the world, it’s harder than you might think. That’s why we’ve decided to create a Plague Inc. tips guide, to give you some sage advice in growing your plague from a small batch of infected humans into a global pandemic.
In this guide we’ll offer Plague Inc. tips and tricks, explaining how evolution points work and how best to earn them, alongside some key advice for starting out, and choosing a good location. Whether it’s creating a chaotic virus, infecting the globe with sheer force, or choosing a subtle and sneaky parasite, insidiously sewing itself through the population.
Plague Inc. has a simple theme, and a straightforward conflict, as you try to infect the world before your time runs out, and a cure is found. But what makes the game special, is how it plays with formula to always keep you on your toes.
everything in our Plague Inc. tips guide:
plague inc. game: how to play
Here we’ll teach you about the game and give you some help getting acclimatised:
- Your main task in Plague Inc. is to spread your plague as far and wide as possible
- The infection stat, which is helpfully displayed on the evolution page, is the single greatest factor in achieving this
- Resistances will also play a role in spreading your plague. Russia is frigid, so cold resistance confers a benefit there; first-world countries use antibiotics and other treatments, so the appropriate resistance is practically a must to spread effectively in that nation.
- The best way to spread is to select the most immediately advantageous evolutions at the start and transition to niche cases last
- The key is to spend your points appropriately, adapting your plague to spread, and deal with whatever situation you are facing
plague inc. tips and tricks
It can be hard to get started in Plague Inc. so here are some tips to help you out:
- It’s in the genes, baby: when creating your plague, it’s best to either double-down on a unique strength (Patho-stasis for Fungus, e.g.) or shore up a weak zone, like climate resistance or spreading bonuses for environments. These aren’t unlocked by default, and are overkill on easier difficulty modes, but they are crucial for brutal difficulty and above
- Location, location, location: a player’s starting location is very important, as the spread pattern and rate depend heavily on the position and climate of your country of origin. It’s a bit of a Plague Inc. meme that Greenland and Madagascar end up being roadblocks once they close borders, thereby snatching away your victory. When selecting a starting country, aim for land-spread, with some islands, and flights to nearby neighbors
- Evolution points: infecting new countries awards evolution points, as does reaching certain population milestones. These are a key part of the strategy, as is forming an effective build path based on the nature of your disease, and the random events of your playthrough. Generally, maximizing transmission and resistances early is a must, with a late game pivot to lethality
- Time your evolution: it’s important to ration your evolution points, as perks cost progressively more to evolve with each one you pick. Points also become progressively harder to earn, so timing when your evolve is valuable. Parasites can afford to be stealthy and pool points for ages, but viruses have spontaneous traits added through uncontrollable mutations, so must move quickly. Timing is everything
plague inc. dna points: how do i get them?
DNA points are an important part of Plague Inc. Here’s how to get them:
- Infecting greater raw numbers of people
- Killing more hosts
- Spreading to new countries
- Devolving traits to reclaim points
plague inc. types: what are the best plague types?
Choosing your plague is an important step in Plague Inc. Here are the different types:
- Bacteria: this is the default, middle-of-the-road plague type. It is average in terms of strengths and weaknesses
- Parasite: this one starts rather noticeable and lethal, but must quickly evolve to blend in. Once it does, though, it is uniquely stealthy, and can often infect the whole world before cure research progresses
- Virus: this ones mutate new symptoms constantly throughout the game, and you have to pay to remove them. It is high-profile and chaotic, but can be very powerful, as mutated symptoms mean more DNA points to spend elsewhere
- Fungus: this slow-moving plague can use points to spread to new countries via its spore burst upgrade
- Nano-Virus: this plague begins the game with a worldwide effort to find a cure for it, but it does have beefier stats to compensate for this, and unique upgrades to slow down research.
- Bio-Hazard: this plague increases in lethality as time passes, and must be reset multiple times to avoid having the transmission rate fall below the death count.
- Prions: this subtle plague is very difficult to cure but also exceptionally hard to spread.
- Neutrax Worm: this plague significantly alters gameplay, changing the behavior of its human host, allowing you to send flights full of infected passengers to chosen countries
- Necroa: this zombie-like virus can reanimate corpses to further spread the disease
- Simian: this is the closest to Planet of the Apes you’ll get, as this plague leads to a rise in ape population and intelligence
- Shadow Plague: this plague of vampires hunts and convert humans with an elaborate system of abilities and weaknesses
plague inc. unlockables: how do i find in-game secrets?
You have to unlock some of the rarer plague types, cheat codes, and genes by playing Plague Inc. Here’s how to do it:
- You unlock diseases by completing the previous disease on normal or better
- You unlock genes from the collective pool, by simply beating the game with any plague
- You unlock rarer diseases like Neutrax, Necroa, Simian, and Shadow Plague once you beat the game on brutal difficulty with every basic disease
- You unlock cheat codes by beating the game on mega-brutal difficulty with every disease
plague inc. MULTIPLAYER: can i play with friends?
Yes, though only in two-player. Each of you picks a secret starting country and continues to spread until either one is cured or everyone is infected and passed, in which case the disease with the higher tally ins. You can also offensively trigger the cure research to ruin your opponent’s day.
And that’s our Plague Inc. tips guide! If you want more games like Plague Inc. be sure to see our list of the best mobile strategy games.