After Inc.

App Store Editors’ Notes

Learn to be a government leader

So far I have done two levels and I am enjoying it. Simple gameplay but robust decision opportunities. Graphics are simple but sufficient for the needs of the game. I am playing on casual so the pace is slow enough for the average 10-year old and the supports in-game provide suggestions but few requirements. You can even continue your level after you complete the goals but it will be tech limited. It would be easy to call this a civilization game, but so far, it is teaching what government does and how to manage the limited resource of stamina to achieve the goals. Do you build extra water wells in case there is a fire or do you build the tavern to make folks happier? You can wait, but another need will pop up so the choices matter. And decisions do matter with the game showing clear short-term consequences and rewards, but there can be long-term consequences, too. Take that fire, for instance. If you put out the fire, your villagers may not have water, but if you give a half-hearted response, you might lose buildings or reduce villager’s ability to create stamina. If you like a farming and exploring game, this is a great one. I am sure there will be increasing zombie fights but so far, the pacing is great. If you like a game that requires thought and lets you explore managing and leading people, this is also a great game. If you like a civilization war game, it might be a great game if you played on hard mode.

Good game but…

Starting off by saying I’m a huge fan of plague inc, I like what they were trying to do with After inc but it feels underdeveloped in comparison to plauge inc/cure inc. Waiting for beyond the bunkers after purchase, still waiting for shadows of the past. I understand it takes a minute for things to get made and released but we had more to do with the other 2 above. Plus both story modes all feel the same. Feels independent not like a continuation; when advertising on plauge inc. it kinda makes it sound like it would be a true continuation of the series: allowing us to rebuild settlements based off the disease type from the previous. Probably more playable with minor/less lethal plauges and the special ones. Maybe the ones with immunity. Or having a mode where you get to build Special settlements/empires from the special races pov: Apes, zombie, vampires and having to survive and build against infected humans or dealing with situations they would have to deal with trying to build a civilization of their own. Idk there’s plenty potential just feels like you guys had a half cocked idea, not full fleshed out, rushed and given to public. It only took me maybe a month or 2 to finish the entire base game before the recent update expansion. It took me over 3 years to beat the entire Plauge inc base game. With that being said replay ability is mid. It’s cool if you don’t have anything to do/need-have 20minutes-1hr to kill, but feels the same build this, survive this season, fight zombies, etc.

Not worth it

You pay $2 for only 8 levels anything more is locked by bonus packs. If it were $5 to unlock the rest of the game I could see people paying that but who is paying $17 to unlock more levels for a mobile game? That just doesn’t make sense to me when there are free iOS strategy games coming out every day. I do have to say it’s a great concept for a game and the developers did a good job with it as I did enjoy the gameplay. But come on James, making people pay for only 8 levels is insane, the beginning levels at least should be free. I should have never paid for this and I loved all the other inc. games so honestly it was kinda hard for me to write this review. I loved rebel inc. and also the new concepts you’re exploring so just please make this game more affordable, to be honest I think your sales could increase from that as well, seeing an in app price of over $10 for a mobile game is only gonna attract a certain amount of customers. If you want to expand faster consider lowering prices or even having ads in your games. Letting customers watch ads for certain in game benefits would allow you guys to be paid more and keep costs low for your customers. Please consider this suggestion maybe not the part about in game ads tho idk tbh. I do really like your games but I can’t pay for this on principal, I’m not gonna pay more than $10 for a mobile game when I could just play another one for free. Seriously not trying to be rude here but think about the value of a dollar.

Very quick game, still in development

I think the problem with Apple is that you don’t see if a game is “early access” or still in development. That’s no fault of the creator, but it certainly surprised me when I finished the campaign within one day. I was shocked by the price, because I remembered paying more for Plague Inc. many, many years ago, but I guess the quickness in which I completed the game explains it. I’m still a little disappointed. The campaign was really short and some of the levels weren’t adequately balanced either. They’d take way too long to complete and would lower your authority by quite a bit before you could finish- and I even restart them to see how efficiently I could do them. I was also expecting an open world aspect to the game, similar to Plague Inc where you can control your settlement. Maybe even play on a randomly generated map (that’s a lot harder and maybe too beefy for a 2d game/old Apple devices). I understand Ndemic is a small studio, but I think I just had higher expectations given their success of Plague Inc. Not a bad game but I think it has a lot of room to grow. Might buy the expansions another day, but a little bit bummed out it wasn’t what I expected it to be. And by the prices. At a whopping $60 for all future expansions (but it’s “on sale” for $16), I’m a little shocked- this is a mobile game. And it’s paywalling basic mechanics that could probably just be stuck onto the main campaign to make it a little longer. I could go to the store and buy a board game - a base board game that would include this and the novelty of physicality- for $60!

Expectations too high….?

I guess maybe this is a rating based on expectations more than anything. Years and years after Plague inc (no really, it’s been calendars years!) I was really excited and immediately downloaded. It’s a bit like a very poorly balanced civilization game to sum it up in one sentence. But everything you do upsets the resource balance. A razors edge off the optimal causes an hour of gameplay to be ruined and you throw your device. And I’m playing on the easiest level. The scenario replay value is so bad you don’t even want to pick it up again for a week if you fail. It’s very out of character I’d say, Plague was so polished, so well thought out. You see the seeds of greatness here but even with a lot of polish…. I have doubts. No one enjoys struggling with every resource at once at all times. It’s just work. A rethink might be in order here. Update. After finishing the initial campaign with no clue and zero replay ability the $$ wall is thrust upon you. I feel stupider after finishing the first campaign too. All resources on a razors balance. It’s just dumb. Any mistake you make? A complete catastrophe. Ug. I don’t even know what I did right when I win? It’s like a thinking person’s kryptonite. This is such a disappointment after loving and playing plague for years. Downgrading to 2 stars.

Good, but lacks replayability

I’ve been enjoying what the game has to offer for some time now! However, I’ve reached a point where I’ve completed all of the story missions and now I’m left just with the challenge missions which reset after 2 or so days. These challenge missions don’t take that long to complete either so, once they’re completed, I’m effectively left with no content until said challenges reset. I wish I had more to do in the game beyond replaying the same selection of maps again and again until a new challenge mission pops up. Which is why I have a few suggestions to solve this! Freeplay - As the name suggests, the mechanic functions by allowing the player to play either on a given selection of maps, or a randomly generated map with random modifiers in which they can play like normal. Custom Play - Much like Freeplay, but the player can choose what modifiers they have. Map Builder - This can be either bundled into with the game for free, or as a paid expansion, but the whole purpose of it is that it allows the player to create their own maps using a tile-based system which they can either play on, or potentially publish onto some kind of in-game, user made map catalog. Custom Challenge Builder - Works closely with Map Builder to allow users to make their own challenges which can be published in a similar manner as the custom maps.

Different and entertaining - wish the UI was a bit better

Definitely reminiscent of plague inc. but with really fresh new ideas. Personally I find it a bit slow and harder to navigate. The resource bars on the side are nice indicators but having to navigate to them when the indicators aren’t there is not smooth. I definitely got my moneys worth but would love to see some quality of life updates that really bring it up to that 5th star. Dropped a star because I was thinking this wasn’t a cash grab, unfortunately they conceal the fact that you’re not getting a MAJORITY of the content until you complete the first few levels. Totally understand the price but this should be up front on the start screen. I shouldn’t play a game, really enjoy it, rate it highly, to be met with a screen telling me I’ve not actually paid for the full game but basically a 3rd of it. In all honesty I probably would have paid that full prices but be upfront. I prefer transparency and while I totally agree with having people pay more and support a game as it grows and adds content. I don’t think this is the way to do it.

Suffers the same issues as Rebel Inc

Plays exactly like Rebel Inc. Suffers the same issues such as enemies popping up out of nowhere in your settlements but it’s worse because the game artificially limits your Fighters (soldiers) to only two, so imagine playing Rebel Inc but you only get TWO soldiers to help fight off all the rebels instead of 5. Also the game doesn’t make a lot of sense for its mechanics. You could be creating the best settlement in the world but because you didn’t build a toilet as soon as the game started your moral just utterly collapses and you lose. That’s right. Your settlement could be a sprawling utopia and you’re dominating the map but you lost because you forgot to build a toilet. Lowering review to one star. This game launched with only 7 levels unlocked. Even though you paid for the app already, you HAVE to fork up $60 once you complete the first 7 levels (about 2-3 hours of content) in order to continue playing the “DLC” levels. If the game launches with those levels already made, it’s not DLC, it’s you paywalling off the games content. Absolutely scummy and greedy practices and you should not be supporting this behavior.