Plague Inc.

1.24
Slightly Good
Price: $0.99
Ads: Yes
In App Purchases: Yes

iOS App Store
Google Play App Store

Temporal Dark PatternsTemporal Dark Patterns

This game has 96 reported Temporal Dark Patterns. There are 501 votes indicating the absence of a dark pattern.

2.33

94 votes
4 votes
Infinite Treadmill -
94 / 4 votes
Impossible to win or complete the game.

1 votes
86 votes
Grinding -
1 / 86 votes
Being required to perform repetitive and tedious tasks to advance.

1 votes
110 votes
Advertisements -
1 / 110 votes
Forced to watch ads or given rewards for watching ads.

73 votes
Playing by Appointment -
0 / 73 votes
Being forced to play according to the game's schedule instead of yours.

76 votes
Daily Rewards -
0 / 76 votes
Encourages return visits every day and punishes you for missing a day.

87 votes
Can't Pause or Save -
0 / 87 votes
The game does not allow you to stop playing whenever you want.

65 votes
Wait To Play -
0 / 65 votes
In-game timers that make you arbitrarily wait for something.

Monetary Dark PatternsMonetary Dark Patterns

This game has 119 reported Monetary Dark Patterns. There are 942 votes indicating the absence of a dark pattern.

3.14

119 votes
5 votes
Pay to Skip -
119 / 5 votes
Spend money to avoid waiting for a timer to expire.

117 votes
Premium Currency -
0 / 117 votes
Exchange rate between real money and in-game currency disguises the real price of items.

105 votes
Pay to Win -
0 / 105 votes
A player can spend real money to purchase something that gives them an advantage in the game.

115 votes
Artificial Scarcity -
0 / 115 votes
Limited time offers with unnecessary urgency.

66 votes
Accidental Purchases -
0 / 66 votes
Making it easy to accidentally spend money with no confirmation or ability to undo or refund the action.

98 votes
Recurring Fee -
0 / 98 votes
Encourages players to play as much as possible to get their money's worth.

85 votes
Gambling / Loot Boxes -
0 / 85 votes
Spending real money to play a game of chance for a reward.

96 votes
Power Creep -
0 / 96 votes
A permanently purchased item in the game becomes less valuable over time.

76 votes
Pay Wall -
0 / 76 votes
The game becomes impossible to continue playing without payment.

90 votes
Waste Aversion -
0 / 90 votes
Capped inventory forces you to destroy items or upgrade inventory. Also, having small amounts of left over premium currency.

89 votes
Anchoring Tricks -
0 / 89 votes
Placing a cheap item next to an expensive item to make it look more affordable.

Social Dark PatternsSocial Dark Patterns

This game has 104 reported Social Dark Patterns. There are 598 votes indicating the absence of a dark pattern.

2.53

104 votes
6 votes
Friend Spam / Impersonation -
104 / 6 votes
The game sends spam to your contact list or social media account.

121 votes
Social Pyramid Scheme -
0 / 121 votes
You get a bonus for inviting your friends and then they have to invite their friends.

106 votes
Social Obligation / Guilds -
0 / 106 votes
To avoid letting down your friends, you are obligated to play when you don't want to.

101 votes
Reciprocity -
0 / 101 votes
Feeling obligated to return a favor, share resources, trade an item, etc.

94 votes
Encourages Anti-Social Behavior -
0 / 94 votes
The game incentivizes players to lie, cheat, or backstab other players to get ahead.

82 votes
Fear of Missing Out -
0 / 82 votes
If you stop playing you'll miss out on something or be left behind and unable to catch up.

88 votes
Competition -
0 / 88 votes
The game makes you compete against other players.

Psychological Dark PatternsPsychological Dark Patterns

This game has 195 reported Psychological Dark Patterns. There are 523 votes indicating the absence of a dark pattern.

0.47

82 votes
1 votes
Badges / Endowed Progress -
82 / 1 votes
Reluctancy to abandon a partially completed goal, even one forced upon the player.

111 votes
3 votes
Complete the Collection -
111 / 3 votes
The urge to collect all the items, achievements or secrets in a game.

2 votes
117 votes
Invested / Endowed Value -
2 / 117 votes
Having already spent time and money to improve your status in the game, it's difficult to throw it away.

97 votes
Illusion of Control -
0 / 97 votes
The game cheats or hides information to make you think you're better than you actually are.

110 votes
Variable Rewards -
0 / 110 votes
Unpredictable or random rewards are more addictive than a predictable schedule.

104 votes
Aesthetic Manipulations -
0 / 104 votes
Trick questions or toying with emotions or our subconscious desires.

91 votes
Optimism and Frequency Biases -
0 / 91 votes
Overestimating the frequency of something because we’ve seen it recently or memorably.

App Store Ratings

iOS:  (4.50) with 203,042 votes.
Google Play:  (4.50) with 2,933,900 votes.



Recent Dark Pattern Reviews

Invested / Endowed Value reported on Jun 7, 2022
Completing certain modes and difficulties 'unlock' others, and I am attached to the gold trophies I've earned.
Grinding reported on Nov 26, 2020
While all game features are unlockable just by playing the game, some tasks are too difficult for beginners (such as "win game in Mega Brutal difficulty using Bioweapon").
Invested / Endowed Value reported on Sep 27, 2019
Play to unlock more tiers
Friend Spam / Impersonation reported on Aug 23, 2019
There is an option to infect your friends via Facebook
Pay to Skip reported on Aug 23, 2019
Pay to unlock genes early, instead of getting them through playing the game.


Report a Dark Pattern

Screenshot Can you infect the world? Plague Inc. is a unique mix of high strategy and terrifyingly realistic simulation.

Your pathogen has just infected 'Patient Zero'. Now you must bring about the end of human history by evolving a deadly, global Plague whilst adapting against everything humanity can do to defend itself.

Brilliantly executed with innovative gameplay and built from the ground up for touchscreen, Plague Inc. from developer Ndemic Creations evolves the strategy genre and pushes mobile gaming (and you) to new levels. Its You vs. the world - only the strongest can survive!

#1 top game globally with 200 million+ games played

Plague Inc. is a global hit with over half a million 5 star ratings and features in newspapers such as The Economist, New York Post, Boston Herald, The Guardian and London Metro!

The developer of Plague Inc. was invited to speak at the CDC in Atlanta about the disease models inside the game!

The game creates a compelling world that engages the public on serious public health topics The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Best Tablet Game of 2012 - New York Daily News
Plague Inc. will snag your attention in all the right ways and keep it there - Touch Arcade
No denying Plague Inc.'s high-level of quality - Modojo
Plague Inc. should not be as much fun as it is London Metro
Will leave you hoping to destroy the world, all in the name of a bit of fun Pocket Lint
Plague Inc.'s gameplay is infectious - Slide to Play
Winner Overall Game of the Year Pocket Gamer
Killing billions has never been so fun IGN



Features:
Stunning HD graphics with a highly polished interface (Contagion guaranteed)
Highly detailed, hyper-realistic world with advanced AI (Outbreak management)
Comprehensive in-game help and tutorial system (I am Legendarily helpful)
12 different disease types with radically different strategies to master (12 Monkeys?)
Full Save/Load functionality (28 Saves Later!)
50+ countries to infect, hundreds of traits to evolve and thousands of world events to adapt to (Pandemic evolved)
Full game support for scoreboards and achievements
Expansion updates add the mind controlling Neurax Worm, the zombie producing Necroa Virus, Speed Runs and real life Scenarios!

Localised in English, German, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, French, Japanese, Korean and Russian. (more coming soon)

P.S. Give yourself a pat on the back if you got all the themed literature references!

Special sale price to celebrate being the 15th most popular touchscreen game of 2012!



Like Plague Inc. on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/PlagueInc

Follow me on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/NdemicCreations