Pandemic 2
- Genre Board games
- Players 1
- Session 15 min
- Price Free
- Updated
Most strategy games hand you an army. Pandemic 2 hands you a germ. You name it, choose whether it is a virus, a bacterium or a parasite, and then watch a world map while the news ticker reports where it has turned up. Every few days the disease earns evolution points, and those points buy symptoms like sneezing or vomiting, resistances to cold, heat, moisture and drugs, and new ways to travel through rats, insects, water or the air. The catch is that each upgrade also changes how lethal, infectious and visible your illness is, and a visible illness gets noticed. Hospitals around the globe work toward a vaccine, and the World screen sorts every region into clean, infected or forsaken. Dark Realm Studios released the game in 2008, and the map, the news feed and the evolution screen still carry the whole experience without a single cutscene.
| Mouse | Click the World and Disease tabs, buttons and upgrade pills; everything in the game runs on the mouse |
|---|---|
| Speed slider | Pause or switch between the three time speeds on the bottom bar |
| Keyboard | Only used once, to type the name of your disease before the outbreak starts |
How to play Pandemic 2
- Press Play on the splash screen, then New Game. Tutorial and Guide on the same menu explain every system if this is your first run.
- Choose Realistic for the full list of traits and a longer, deeper game, or Relaxed for a shorter outbreak with fewer options.
- Pick a class. Virus evolves fastest but suffers most from climate, bacteria sits in the middle and resists drugs, parasite evolves slowly but stays hidden.
- Type a name and press Done. The outbreak begins in one region, and the counter on the bottom bar starts collecting evolution points.
- Open Disease to buy symptoms, resistances and transmission routes. Open World to read infected, dead and healthy totals, vaccine progress and which regions are still clean.
Tips
- Spend early points on spreading, not killing. Airborne transmission costs only a few points and lets the illness ride the wind into neighbouring countries.
- Keep an eye on the visibility bar. Loud symptoms like coughing and vomiting help infection but draw attention, and attention speeds up the vaccine.
- Buy resistance to the climates you are struggling in. A virus without cold or heat protection stalls in places with harsh weather.
- Selling a symptom also costs points, so plan purchases instead of buying and undoing them.
- Hold off on raw lethality until most regions are infected. A disease that kills its hosts too soon burns out before it reaches distant islands.
Questions about Pandemic 2
How do you win Pandemic 2?
The aim is to spread the illness to every region and wipe out humanity before the vaccine is finished and deployed. The World screen shows both the death toll and the vaccine bars.
What is the difference between virus, bacteria and parasite?
Virus evolves fastest and gets a bonus to infectivity but is hit hardest by environment. Bacteria is balanced with a bonus to drug resistance. Parasite evolves slowest but has low visibility.
Is the game violent?
There is no blood on screen. It is a numbers and map game about a fictional disease, but the theme of mass death may not suit young children.
Can I play on a phone?
It works with taps alone, apart from typing a name. The interface is small, so a tablet or computer screen is far more comfortable.
