Infectonator 3: Apocalypse

Overview

Infectonator 3: Apocalypse is an upcoming hybrid arcade action game with sim elements and a sense of humor for Steam, developed by Toge Productions and published by Armor Games Studios. The game centers around the concept of growing a zombie army to take over the world by dropping a virus into each level to infect humans, along with special zombie types or additional objects like nukes or infecting mines, and then improving the strength of their undead by unlocking new mutations or improving various aspects of the virus. The player moves from one country to the next, ultimately fighting a boss to completely destroy every region, with each area becoming more difficult as humans begin researching a cure and carrying weaponry. The game ends when the player has completely destroyed every country, or if humanity manages to reach one hundred percent virus research beforehand.

Gameplay

At the start of the game, players will pick a continent to begin on, though they will unlock all the others as they play. The game is made up of randomized levels where they click to drop their virus into crowded areas; whichever people the virus hits turn into zombies, who will then attack and kill others, potentially spreading the infection as well. Zombies have a finite life span, and will topple over and "die" when it runs out, though this can be improved along with other characteristics in the lab between levels.

While these stages start out small and simple, as humanity becomes aware of zombies, defenses begin to get more aggressive as levels get bigger. Armed police will begin to show up, along with eventual military reinforcement, and other factors to amp up the difficulty can come into play temporarily. A cold front might be reported that slows zombie decay, for instance, or warmer weather might make them right even faster. Players can also click on certain doors to open and close them, potentially allowing them to trap humans in a certain location.

Every level has a set number of humans to kill, and successfully reaching this threshold opens up more areas to go to. The more players focus on infecting a particular area, the more difficult levels in that place will become. Moving to a new country will make things slightly easier as players are "starting from scratch" in that region, but the panic level will permanently increase worldwide the longer they play, which will result in greater challenge.

Between levels, players can visit the lab where they spend money earned from killing people or completing objectives on improving their zombies. They can increase speed and damage resistance, for instance, or buy single-use support items to drop in during levels to get the upper hand. By causing more destruction, players also earn DNA that can be spent on more upgrades, or unlocking different zombie types.These unique zombies must be crafted whenever players want more by using standard undead units, but can do things such as smash through walls, spit acid, leap on civilians from afar, and more. Some are only unlocked by completing specific achievements in the game, but have even more powerful abilities. They are deployed during levels when the player chooses, and are typically single-use, adding an element of strategy to more challenging encounters.

History

Infectonator began as a series of popular free online Flash games in 2009 that later moved to mobile. The games gained a fan following for their signature pixel artwork and sense of humor that frequently parodies current events and celebrities. Infectonator 3: Apocalypse is the first premium installment of the series with its traditional style and gameplay, with significantly more content and different mechanics.