I only want to know how the gameplay is.

I don't care if the game is in bad taste. Or a cash grab. Or whatever other hip lingo you want to use to bash the game.

But is the game fun to play? Do the systems work well together? Is it fleshed out? Etcetera.

It needs some time for actual reviews to show up, I guess. The game just released afterall. But then I suggest you use the function to filter the reviews for those of people who actually own the game.

Even those aren't great reviews but more "its not a cash grab like others are saying it is". The 1 review on Steam is the same. I was hoping someone that doesn't care about the politics or whatever would give a brief rundown on whether it was fun.

Just wait a day or two and maybe some reviews will pop up. In the mean time you may want to watch the stream of it, saw something running on steam, maybe that gives you some insights. It looks a lot like DEFCON from what I saw there, I guess if you like that type of games it could be one for you.

Edit: Removed because I'm not going to be the one to derail this. Anyway, thanks.

You*re welcome

Thanks for this. I never noticed that options before.

My only gripe is that the COVID outbreak is still not over.
The developers could've made an even better game had they waited more to see what would happen in real life.
Thus, the game feels a bit unfinished, undercooked, raw.
Hopefully, the game can be updated and patched to tie in with the latest news.

All the idiot posts makes me want to buy the game tbh. The intro video looks like crisp gfx so i wonder about sound, playability, interface, ease of using, difficulty. And of course FUN. I might pick it up. I'll check steam reviews. Youtube has nothing i could find.

Agreed. IMHO I dont think it was a good idea to release a game thats about the current outbreak. if it were released a year after the pandemic, that would be a different story. but for right now I think ill take a pass.

Purchased. I also bought the music ost which isn't all that spectacular but isn't annoying either. For trial run I am not going to do anything. Let's see how this virus spreads and who survives. I think its interesting as a simulator. General indicators for cities is
Country Flag
Alive population
Immune:
Fear level
GHO inflUence

Floating above that in a bubble is
Infected
Skull (representing deaths)

I wish the time counter showed hours:minutes:seconds as well as date.

At the moment i see: 2019/11/07.

I hope i can let this idle and play out.

Across the top you see:
Total human population
Total infected
Total deaths
Total immune
Cash on hand
Medical supplies on hand
Science points
Vaccine Level
Virus level

Pause, play, fast forward

Date

Game Setting


Smack center bottom is a PANIC METER.

Bottom right is your global hud view center.
By default you are looking at Infection Spread view. It goes as follows:
1. Infection Spread view
2. Fear level View
3. Ongoing GHO Solutions
4. Global open transport connections
5. Transport Connections View
6. Air transport connections view
7. Sea transport connections view
8. Land transport connections view
9. Money contribution view
10. Medical supplies contribution view
11. Science points contribution view
12. Population view
13. Deaths view
14. Virus immune population view
15. Buildings operation range view
16. Units view
Clicking that global hud again close it.

Bottom left hud:
1. Global health organization
2. Country info
3. Buildings
4. Research and Regulations
5. Decrees
6. Vaccine research lab
7. Simulation charts.

Yhe crnter of the screen has various ! Information and a ? To suggest options to take. Below that are the various options. Since i'm not ACTIVELY playing and letting the virus run its course we'll see what would happen. I do wish options like Do Nothing was available atm as i'm trying to look at functions. A religious church if blue triangle ! Came up and i have options like:
Let them pray the virus away
Focus on quadantinjng the whole congregation and their families
Close the church, arrest the leader, and accuse him of attempted murder
Ban all religions in the country.
I guess i'll choose let them pray as thats akin to doing nothing. Perhaps all top choices are similar since it takes me a little time going through these buttons and typing this partial review.

Simulation charts how future prognosis per country. You can set parameters for each.
Vaccine research has a lor of goodness including vaccine tests, antigens, and caccine elements. You can evaluate a vaccine and produce vaccines.

Decrees:
You have global resolutions at the start. It seems you can do different things but they cost $$, medical supplies, and science points. Heres a list of resolutions atm:

Epidemic
Global Pandemic
Fundraiser
Food rationing
Animal control
Mandatory vaccinations
Information campaign
Border closure
Martial law
I'm sure these go into further detail and consequences.

At the start you csn opt to go through the turorial. The informative video at the beginning can be skipped. People can give this game their opinions without trying but i think you could be missing out if you love management games and simulations. I give it a double thumbs up and will post this in the reviews. I like what i see and will let tou know later if i have issues.

Cheers.

You mean, "the first outbreak", I think? Because Covid, according to science, won't be "over" after that's done, it may stay around as a seasonal thing or return every 2 years, the only difference in effect it'll have is a better prepared humanity the second time around. Because it was so new and <because money>, people didn't react and expect... well, all of this to happen and be so bad. Now we know. Also, research in medicine and vaccination will be a big help for the likely round 2 whenever that might happen.

At least, that's what I've heard about the topic. And, should that prove accurate, education on the subject will be helpful not just currently, but even more so going forward.



Now, that being said, last year I liked to play Plague Inc for quite a bit. Covid put me off of playing that ever since the current situation has been ongoing - but. It has to be mentioned, that Plague Inc teaches players quite a bit about what a virus is capable of, in terms of mutations. What effects certain traits like high, or low mortality, symptoms or mild symptoms have on the bigger scale. That basic understanding is, indeed, useful to have in real situations, especially when it comes to wrapping your head around an actual pandemic and the difficulties of finding cures and vaccines, and the importance of your own behavior, to not overwhelm health care systems.

In a way, it's almost like Defcon (the game). To this day, I have yet to play another game as unsettling as Defcon. It's eery, it's creepy, it's unwinnable and pointless to try to by design. That's the point - that it clearly isn't meant to be liked, because of the subject matter. Defcon is a bittersweet masterpiece and I dare not launch it, because of the feeling of dread it manages to convey, despite it all just being bleeps and blops on a monochrome map. It's got a real message, and that's what makes it so special.

Here is a previous post that I created.

https://www.gog.com/forum/covid_the_outbreak/game_strategies
**************************************************************************************************
****************** I would say this is a once and done game. ********************************

At least in the current state due to balance issues. I like the challenge, but if you use my strategy it should not be too hard, except for when you have to do the vaccine puzzle. (Your vaccine effectiveness is based on you putting the pieces of the vaccine in the right order. End game is LOTS of micromanagement with a very limited number of units so as soon as an assignment is done you have to send the unit to another country. Another problem is I do not know if the unit must stay in place until the action is totally completed since I notice a timer on the action icon once you initiate it. I do know if you fail the action you have to wait the timer before you can use it again. There are lots of overlays like building coverage, unrest, etc, but you mainly use just the building coverage, virus spread, and unrest overlays. There still needs to be more balance and explainations. The tutorial is ok. If you need help the "?" mark on the top right of the pop up screens can help.

I hope this helps.

I too was curious, then I saw its insane sysreqs and realized I won't be able to run it on this laptop anyway.