Plague Inc. 'Mutation' update to include Neurax Worm

Ndemic Creations is coming out with a massive update for Plague Inc, the popular iOS game, that includes a new worm for players to use to try to dominate the world. Shacker James Vaughan gave us the early heads up on the details.

John Keefer

August 15, 2012 7:00 AM

If you've followed what we have been playing here at Shacknews, you'll recall that a few of us got hooked on Plague Inc., an iOS title where players are required to cultivate different plague types in an effort to kill off the world's population. Looks like I'm going to be picking the game up again because of a massive Mutation update coming that includes a new bug, the Neurax worm. "The Neurax Worm exerts control through neuro-chemical manipulation and you can evolve it to enhance/tweak it's control over humans in multiple ways," said James Vaughan, CEO of developer Ndemic Creations. "Humans are going to notice the worms eating into their skull so don't expect this to be easy. You will have turn people's brains against them in order to survive and it also lets you spread the plague in some cool new ways." The update, which is free, includes a host of refinements, including new events and achievements, as well as an updated interface and graphics. However, the Neurax worm will cost 99 cents to unlock, unless you have beaten all the other plagues on Brutal difficulty to unlock it. "I have two choices when adding new plague types to the game," said Vaughan, who is Shacker under the name jamiejme. One, create free, smaller, simpler plague types, or two, create paid, huge, complex plague types (like the Neurax Worm), which completely changes the way the game is played. Now, I believe that the players want extremely different plagues and will pay for it if it offers a truly unique experience."

A look at the new graphics and updated interface

Vaughan said he used a lot of community input in the update. "Feedback from Shackers and the broader community has been really helpful as it lets me understand what really matters to people. As a result, I added the ability to play your own music, added commas to the numbers in game (making it easier to see how many people are infected) and created a news item about the Hay–Herbert treaty to explain why Alaska is the way it is." The update is currently in Apple's hands for approval. Once it passes the bug test, it will be available for patching from the iTunes app store.

John Keefer

Contributing Editor

Filed Under

From The Chatty

Refresh Go To Thread

Shacknews

 reply
August 15, 2012 7:00 AM

John Keefer posted a new article, Plague Inc. 'Mutation' update to include Neurax Worm.

Ndemic Creations is coming out with a massive update for Plague Inc, the popular iOS game, that includes a new worm for players to use to try to dominate the world. Shacker James Vaughan gave us the early heads up on the details.
- Mad Brahmin Disease
  
   reply
  August 15, 2012 7:13 AM
  
  Cool, my Alaska explanation suggestion made it haha
  - jamiejme
    
     reply
    August 15, 2012 7:35 AM
    
    hell yes - I love it. Did a few actually for other countries as well.
    - Mad Brahmin Disease
      
       reply
      August 15, 2012 2:16 PM
      
      Do tell, what other border changes were there?
      - jamiejme
        
         reply
        August 15, 2012 2:26 PM
        
        Unified Korea, Denmark & Germany off the top of my head.
        
        Portugal + Spain and Ireland + UK got quite a few complaints as well. Luckily people understand the game logic once I explain it to them and clarify that I wasn't trying to insult anyone :)
        
        Mad Brahmin Disease
        
         reply
        August 15, 2012 3:05 PM
        
        Haha, yeah the latter ones are quite sensitive ones.
- Keefinator
  
   reply
  August 15, 2012 8:21 AM
  
  Can't wait to try the worm. Beat all the brutal levels, so hopefully I get the unlock ;)
- [deleted] 389995673
  
   reply
  August 15, 2012 2:18 PM
  
  [deleted]
  - jamiejme
    
     reply
    August 15, 2012 3:01 PM
    
    Android version making very good progress. Yes, the Neurax Worm expansion will make it onto Android as well