Cure Mode is a game mode in which the player leads an international health organization attempting to save the world from a deadly disease outbreak in a realistic and powerful simulation inspired by real-world pandemic responses.[1]
Investigation: Track the spread of disease and try to find patient zero.
Control: Raise awareness to help the world through the crisis. Determine the best way to slow the disease and preserve your Authority.
Quarantine: Lockdown countries or entire continents from borders to airports with heavy handed responses; without popular support, these will have significant consequences.
Research: Study the disease and work towards a vaccine. Decide how much time you have to test its safety and efficiency.
Economic Support: People won’t comply with poorly designed quarantine/lock down measures; use furlough schemes and other policies to drive community support and consensus.[2]
The Task Force is the equivalent of Genetic Code for Cure Mode, players can recruit one of the members from their Task Force before they start their game. These advisers can help the vaccine development to be faster, better control the lockdown, prevent the plague from spreading to other countries.
Quarantines are measures unique to Cure Mode that allow the player to control the transportation routes of a country, allowing to isolate specific regions or to decree disease prevention and alert measures through prolonged quarantines, although these may cause an increase in Non-compliance, if the country does not take the necessary economic measures for the civilian population.
The player has the possibility to return the quarantine measures in case they are not needed in a specific region. Additionally there are quarantine measures that affect only one specific country, rather than the entire continent where it is located.
Responses are one of the unique mechanics introduced in Cure Mode, where the player can control outbreaks by taking actions that can improve the healthcare system by distributing medicines and strengthening hospitals.
Some plagues require the acquisition of responses more urgently, such as Prion, high priority should be given to measures that can reduce the disease's lethality, in order to prevent the country's health system from collapsing.
Within the responses, measures can be found to reduce both infectivity and lethality, as well as extensive monitoring to prevent the disease from being easily spread to other countries, in addition to measures that can increase the country's capacity to conduct medical testing.
Operations are one of the mechanics introduced in Cure Mode, their main purpose is to adapt society when a new outbreak starts to spread in different countries. These include measures to secure the player's authority, in addition to actions that help to manage the economic situation of a specific country to avoid non-compliance, as well as to improve the equipment of Field Operatives.
Special operations are extra measures that players have when dealing with a specific outbreak, because certain pathogens have special abilities that make them difficult to contain, so the player will have to use them to greatly reduce both infectivity and lethality.
Government Actions
<Country> sets up disease investigation teams
<Country> universally distributes facemasks
<Country> creates military containment zones
<Country> stockpiles aprons at hospitals
Plastic bags used as DIY gloves in <Country>
<Country> decontaminates imported goods
<Country> conducts nationwide blood tests
<Country> recommends hand washing
<Country> starts public awareness campaign
<Country> provides hygiene guidelines
<Country> begins disinfecting urban areas
<Country> recommends mask wearing
<Country> makes mask wearing mandatory
<Country> distributes hand sanitiser
<Country> isolates infected patients
<Country> cancels public events
<Country> recommends working from home
<Country> issues pandemic alert
<Country> closes non-essential businesses
<Country> closes universities
<Country> uses 'proximity sirens' in parks
<Country> deploys water cannons filled with bleach
<Country> approves use of 'disinfection robots'
<Country> imprisoning symptomatic people
<Country> puts hospitals on high alert
<Country> builds Advanced Vaccine Research Center
<Country> creates shielding guidelines
<Country> reviews medical stockpiles
<Country> rations essential supplies
<Country> starts central corpse disposal
<Country> uses mass graves
<Country> burns corpses
<Country> puts curfews in place
<Country> recruits retired doctors
<Country> seeks to recruit more medical staff
<Country> accelerates medical student training
<Country> uses hotels as hospitals
<Country> prioritises care for millenials
<Country> forces vets to operate on humans
<Country> deploys hospital ships
<Country> sets up Airbridges to protect supply chains
<Country> reports mental health support overwhelmed
<Country>'s hospitals overwhelmed
<Country>'s healthcare system collapsing
<Country> closes public transport
<Country> declares national emergency
<Country> closes all public buildings
<Country> declares martial law
<Country> establishes dirty wards
<Country> reports local infection clusters
<Country> reports infection growing exponentially
Leader of <Country> addresses nation
Government downplays disease in <Country>
<Country> declares homeopathy as key treatment
<Country> shuts down mobile networks
<Country> shuts down the internet
<Country> congratulates key workers
<Country> bails out banks
<Country> bans sale of alcohol
<Country> nationalises healthcare system
<Country> bans Plague Inc.
<Country> bans export of medical supplies
<Country> declares day of mourning
<Country> closes all hospitals
<Country> nationalises transport companies
<Country> moves government to secure bunkers
<Country>'s government has collapsed
Achievements
Combos
During the course of the game, there is the possibility that a certain combination of responses and operations will cause certain events or "combos" that may or may not help the player.
Video Call Software - (Note: This event refers to the Zoom software. This is a random event that is obtained if the global priority is greater than or equal to 15 and less than 50, and there must be at least 8 countries in lockdown.)
Frozen Virus is the only disease from the official scenarios that appears in Cure Mode, characterised by attacking particularly cold countries, requiring DNA analysis to unlock responses and other measures to contain it.
This mode was created with the help of infectious disease experts, including CEPI (Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations).[4]
While scientific input was garnered from CEPI and other infectious disease experts, it is worth highlighting that Plague Inc: The Cure does not provide 100% accurate or realistic scenarios to the steps needed to be taken to end a pandemic threat, and the speed and scale at which they can be achieved. It is a game, not a scientific simulation.[2]
The default disease name in cure mode is PAX-19, reusing PAX-12 (trailer/default disease name in standard mode) whilst referencing COVID-19.
Cure Mode currently does not feature any Special Plagues.
Plague Inc. players were able to access Cure Mode for free until COVID was under control. The mode ceased to be free on July 1, 2022.
