Difficulty is a feature in Plague Inc. and Plague Inc: Evolved that alters gameplay according to difficulty. If you beat a plague on any difficulty, all the previous difficulties for any scenario or plague type will be registered as beaten as well, indicated by biohazards. Some features are locked until you beat the game in the required difficulty (and above). For example, you can beat Bacteria on Brutal instead of Normal to unlock Virus.
A standard plague can be unlocked if all the previous (standard) plagues have been beaten in Normal, while a special plague can be unlocked if all the previous plagues have been beaten in Brutal.
Types[]
Casual is the 1st and "easy" difficulty, and is for those wanting a quick or easy game. It is the minimum to unlock a random gene of the Genetic Code respective to its plague type. In it, people are extremely lax. People do not wash their hands, doctors don't work, and sick people are even given hugs
"For new players or those wanting a quick game"
- No one washes their hands — Increased infection rates.
- Research doctors don't work — Reduced cure research speed.
- Sick people given hugs — Infectivity increased once spotted.
Normal is the 2nd and default difficulty, and is the minimum for unlocking the next standard plague type. In this difficulty, more people wash their hands, as well as doctors contributing to research.
"For experienced genetic strategists"
- 67.3% of people wash hands — Normal infection rates.
- Doctors work 3 days a week — Normal cure research speed.
- Sick people ignored — No change in Infectivity once spotted.
Brutal is the 3rd and "hard" difficulty, and was the hardest before Mega Brutal was introduced. Brutal introduces obstacles such as excessive hand washing, very determined doctors, and higher disease paranoia. Winning with all standard plague types on Brutal unlocks the Neurax Worm, and winning with the Neurax Worm on Brutal unlocks Necroa Virus and so on.
"For strategic geniuses living in concrete bunkers"
- Compulsive hand washing — Reduced infection rates.
- Doctors never go home — Increased cure research speed.
- Sick people locked in prison — When disease is spotted, infection rates are greatly lowered.
Mega Brutal is the 4th and "very hard" difficulty. Introduced in Plague Inc: Evolved and later added in the Mutation 1.8 update for the mobile version Plague Inc., this difficulty amps up the humanity's resistance in terms of cure efforts and discoveries.
"For players who thought Brutal was Casual!"
- Genetic drift impacts evolution - Symptom costs become more expensive with more people infected.
- Doctors invest in research — Greatly increased cure research speed.
- Random medical check ups — Plague will randomly be detected through "Anomalous blood test results". It will also be detected automatically once any country is fully infected.
Casual is the 1st and "easy" difficulty, and is for those wanting a quick or easy game. In it, people listen to experts, aware of fake news, and countries cooperate to eradicate the disease.
"For new players or those wanting a quick game"
- Full international co-operation — Increased cure development speed and 110 Authority
- Clapping scares disease away — Reduced infection rates.
- People love wearing masks — Reduced transmission rates.
Normal is the 2nd and default difficulty. People are still aware of fake news but politicians are incompetent and hospitals are not as prepared.
"For experienced genetic strategists"
- Politicians vaguely competent — 100 Authority.
- Experts mostly listened to — Normal Non-compliance.
- Healthcare systems unprepared — Normal fatality rates.
Brutal is the 3rd and "hard" difficulty. Brutal introduces obstacles such as fake news, politicization of science, and even arresting experts who report on the disease.
"For strategic geniuses living in concrete bunkers"
- Sick people inject disinfectant — Fake news and increased fatality rate.
- Leaders ignore science — 98 Authority; depletes more easily.
- Doctors arrested for reporting disease — Experts not listened to, increased Non-compliance
Mega Brutal is the 4th and "very hard" difficulty with slightly longer playtime. This features careless, ignorant and unintelligent citizens, politicians and doctors alike.
"For players who thought Brutal was Casual!"
- Sick people given hugs — Significantly increased transmission.
- Everyone believes fake news - Very significantly increased fatality rate and Non-compliance.
- Doctors play Plague Inc. all day — Very significantly reduced cure research speed and very significantly increased fatality rate.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Zombies don't count toward infected in Mega-Brutal and won't increase symptom costs.
- Completing a game in the Casual difficulty will not unlock a new plague unlike the other difficulties, but it will unlock new random genes (or an advisor if you are playing Cure Mode). This way, the same game setting can be played over and over again, and you will easily get all the genes without much trouble.
- Plague Inc: Evolved has "Pity Mode" in the settings, allowing the next plague type to be unlocked by beating the previous one in Casual.
- In order to access Mega-Brutal in Plague Inc., tap the biohazard icon below the Brutal difficulty, which caused Brutal to be replaced by Mega-Brutal. It also changes the icon into black-in-gold, and it can be activated/deactivated at will.
- In Plague Inc: Evolved, it's available separately.
- On Android, you must buy the premium version to access the Mega-Brutal difficulty.
- The description for Brutal Difficulty in Cure Mode contains reference to COVID-19
- "Sick people inject bleach" refers to the 45th American President Donald Trump, who suggested people to inject disinfectant to cure COVID-19.
- In Cure Mode on Mega Brutal difficulty, 1% of all recovered people will revert back to being healthy, meaning that allowing the disease to die off by killing all of its hosts is near impossible, even with the Bio-Weapon