Generations and hosts
Lineage & Hosts
Each run is one generation of your virus. Strains mutate it, legacy bonuses carry forward, and every host has a genome and conditions of its own. Some hosts have fur, feathers or flippers.
Lineage
Every run is a generation
Each run in Infect Game Mode is one generation, and your lineage remembers how far it got, what it killed and which traits it picked. All four viruses share one lineage, so your level, skill tree, Petri Lab and gear carry over, and mutation decides which virus you play next. The Family Tree shows the whole story, with one lane per virus.
- Lab-style names: Every generation is named like a real strain, after a real place.
- Only Infect Game Mode: Runs in Pandemic or Endless Game Mode never add a generation.
- Abandoning: Quitting a run doesn't end the generation, so you get to play it again.
- Family Tree: Tap a generation for its strain and traits, or a virus to see how it plays.
- Growing lineage: Finished generations and levels open new strains, features and skill tree rows.
Strains
Born with a mutation
After every Infect Game Mode run, win or lose, you choose the strain your next generation is born with. Some are pure boons, some are mixed trade-offs, and curses make the run harder for a richer payout. Virus jumps go further and change which virus you play.
At a glance
- Three or four offers: Each pick comes from the strains you've unlocked so far.
- Stay or switch: Once a second virus is open there are four offers, and the left one always keeps your current virus.
- New viruses: Once one opens, the next offers include a jump to it.
- More kinds: Mixed strains, curses and elite strains join the pool as you progress.
- Strain colours: Each strain tints your virion and gives it a glowing corona.
Legacy
A family that grows stronger
Picking the same strain again stacks it and makes it stronger. Every finished generation also leaves a small permanent bonus behind, even after a bad run, and these add up toward a cap for each stat. The Inherited panel on the Family Tree shows how far along each one is.
At a glance
- Stacking: A repeated strain gets amplified and leaves a bigger legacy.
- Your choice decides: A strain's main benefit sets which stat its legacy raises.
- Kills count: The more cells a generation kills, the bigger its bonus.
- Curses pay forward: Finishing a cursed generation adds a nucleotide bonus.
- Any virus: Legacy bonuses apply in Infect and Pandemic Game Mode runs, whichever virus you play.
Hosts
Who did you infect?
Every run in Infect or Pandemic Game Mode lands in a random host, usually a person and sometimes an animal. After your first generation, hosts carry a genome from Common to Prismatic, with hidden traits that either help you or fight you. Rarer genomes swing harder both ways and pay more.
At a glance
- Reveal card: As you land, it shows the host's name, age, genome and traits.
- Mixed genes: People always carry at least one trait that helps you and one that fights you.
- Rarer genomes: More traits, stronger effects and a bigger nucleotide payout.
- Real biology: Every trait comes with a real-world fact, and some change names for Retrovirus.
- Pandemic hosts: Hosts are city locals, and some cities give every host a trait or make rare genomes more common.
Conditions
Some hosts change everything
A condition bends the whole run, with a big upside and a real downside. Raging Fever makes you faster but speeds up the cells too, and Hemophilia boosts your damage, but clearing rooms never heals you. Animals catch diseases of their own as well.
At a glance
- Top billing: Conditions sit above the genes on the host's reveal card.
- Rarer hosts: They're more likely on rarer genomes and on animals.
- Species diseases: Animals have their own, plus general ones any animal can catch.
- Virus matters: Swine Flu helps Influenza A but hinders every other virus.
- Codex: Every condition you meet is added to the Codex.
Animal hosts
Sometimes it's not a person
Real viruses jump between species, and so can you. Sometimes your host is an animal, from farm pigs to polar penguins, and each species brings a signature trait of its own. Where the host lives decides which animals you can meet, and some species favour one virus over the rest.
At a glance
- Settings: From farms to polar stations, the setting decides the local wildlife.
- Favourites: Birds boost Influenza A and primates boost Retrovirus, but both weaken other viruses.
- Wild odds: Animals get slightly better rare-genome odds and catch more conditions.
- Pandemic wildlife: Some species only live around certain cities, like camels in Cairo.
- Codex: Every animal you infect is added to the Codex.