Plague Inc. Dev Releases Demo For Sequel Game, After Inc: Revival
After Inc: Revival is the latest title from Ndemic, the UK studio behind the popular global death simulator, Plague Inc. However, with its sequel game, Ndemic is asking players to survive a worldwide catastrophe, not create it. The demo’s on PC now, and the full game is due for release on PC on June 17.
After Inc: Revival was already released on Android and iOS earlier this year, and has registered over two million players so far. The game’s format is closer to a typical 4x strategy than Plague Inc.’s brand of strategy, and this time there’s already been a terrible pandemic; a zombie plague.
“Decades after the Necroa Virus ravaged humanity, a few survivors emerge,” the developer said on the game’s official site. “Build a settlement, explore, scavenge resources and expand as you shape your post-apocalyptic society. The world is green and beautiful but danger lurks in the ruins.”
“Public Service Announcement: Unlike our other games, I’m pleased to say that After Inc. is not based on any real world situation. No need to start worrying about a real life zombie apocalypse yet…”
Terror Incorporated
Plague Inc. was launched in May 2012 and rapidly gained attention for its unusual mission statement: rather than making players combat a deadly disease, players are the disease. Different game modes start players off as a virus, bacteria, or even parasite, and then their job is to slowly spread and mutate, until the entire world is decimated.
Despite the less-than-cheerful subject matter, Plague Inc. relies on strategic thinking and real-world metrics to create an overall realistic plague simulator. Factors include transmission via animals and flight paths, as well as modeling a pathogen to mask its fatal symptoms underneath innocuous coughing.
The game was considered such a good example of realistic plague vectors that Ndemic’s founder, James Vaughn, was invited by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) to give a talk about it, in March 2013.
“As an intelligent and sophisticated strategy game, I think Plague Inc. appeals to people looking for something more meaningful and substantial than the majority of mobile games,” Vaughan said. “It makes people think about infectious disease in a new light – helping them realize the threats that we face every day.”
For its part, the CDC explained that it looked to Plague Inc. as an educational tool “to teach the public about outbreaks and disease transmission because of how it uses a non-traditional route to raise public awareness on epidemiology, disease transmission, and diseases/pandemic information. The game creates a compelling world that engages the public on serious public health topics.”
Plague Inc. has seen multiple updates over the years that branch out into the realms of fiction, including a crossover with the Planet of The Apes movies in 2014, the chance to spread vampirism, and of course, create zombies. However, even with outlandish plagues to spread, the core realism informs how these things would propagate.
After The Plague
Ndemic followed up Plague Inc. with Rebel Inc. in December 2018. This was more of a typical strategy game with resource management and skill trees. Instead of spreading disease, players must stop the spread of propaganda and political unrest in a destabilized country.
Rebel Inc. was well-received upon release, although some critics and players found it initially obtuse and hard to grasp. Others appreciated the level of detail involved, such as moral dilemmas concerning whether to hide casualties of war or not.
After Inc: Revival could be considered Ndemic’s most cheerful game yet. Although it drops players into a world ravaged by a zombie virus, the goal is to rebuild civilization. The demo contains a tutorial and the first two levels of the Survival campaign, although more levels will be added on June 9, 2025.
Players will be able to carry their progress into the full game, which includes extra options such as 10 leaders to choose from, each with their own distinct abilities.
About Ndemic Creations
Ndemic Creations started as a hobby in 2012 but has since become a self-funded full-time studio, led by James Vaughan. Plague Inc. was influenced by the 2011 movie Contagion and old flash game Pandemic, and now has over 190 million players.
