A Pandemic Playlist, Part 4: Games

If you're staying inside to stop the spread of COVID-19, you'll need entertainment, so I've put together a "pandemic playlist" of disease-related media for your consumption (of course, while this list is lighthearted, do please heed the health and safety recommendations of the WHO and CDC).  For the final installment of the series, we'll dive headfirst into some plague-related games...


Pandemic (mobile, Xbox, Switch, PC)



My friends weren't too hot on "Pandemic" in its original board game form, mostly because it felt like a spreadsheet of data to optimize rather than a tense battle against deadly viruses.  Some of that tedium is alleviated by the digital version, which speeds up card draws, automates virus spawns, and keeps tabs on the ever-advancing "Outbreak" track.  If you ever wanted to step into the shoes of exhausted CDC workers mapping out a quarantine strategy, this is your chance.



A Plague Tale: Innocence (PC, PS4, Xbox One)



As scary as the coronavirus is, at least we have modern medical technology to combat it. The characters in "A Plague Tale: Innocence" are not so lucky; they're stuck fighting the Black Death in medieval France. In this narrative-driven single-player adventure game, you play as a young noblewoman fighting to keep her kid brother safe. The stealth mechanics borrow an awful lot from the classic "Thief" games, but they are buoyed by high production values and a surprisingly emotional story.



Plague, Inc. (mobile)



This game puts you in the peplomers of an infectious disease bent on wiping out humanity. You don't directly control your virus; instead, you pick a starting location and evolve its characteristics as the game goes by, reacting to world events and the best efforts of public health officials to eradicate it. The premise would obviously be morbid on its own, but coupled with our current crisis, it's positively chilling.


Tom Clancy's The Division 2


Ubisoft's open-world third-person looter-shooter "The Division 2" imagines Washington, D.C. brought to its knees by a genetically engineered smallpox strain. You'll shoot it out with Mad Max rejects in a number of famous tourist locations, like the White House and the National Air and Space Museum.  The game fixes most of the problems with the first title (enemies are only rarely bullet sponges, and player progression and matchmaking have been smoothed out), but there are some niggles remaining, like game-breaking bugs and braindead AI.