Nose to brain
Organs & Bosses
A full run goes nose to brain through eight organs. Each has its own look, music, local cells and tissue hazards, a key guardian holding a gene, a cancer, and a boss you must beat to break through.
The route
Eight organs, one way down
A full run travels from the Nasal Passage through the Lungs, Bloodstream, Lymph Node, Gut, Liver and Bone Marrow to the Brain. Every organ has its own map, local cells, hazards, key guardian, cancer, music and boss. Once you break through there is no way back, and from the Lymph Node on each organ gets much harder.
At a glance
- The Nasal Passage is the gentlest place to learn
- Deeper organs have more rooms to cross
- Every organ brings its own local cells and hazards
- Beating the boss opens the passage to the next organ
Nasal PassageBoss: Mast Cell
LungsBoss: Alveolar Macrophage
BloodstreamBoss: Plasma Cell
Lymph NodeBoss: Follicular Helper T Cell
GutBoss: Paneth Cell
LiverBoss: Kupffer Cell
Bone MarrowBoss: Hematopoietic Stem CellBosses
Bosses that keep you guessing
Every boss waits on the far side of a sealed room and picks its attacks at random, aiming where you are heading rather than where you are. Wound it badly and it enrages, and its shield phases call in reinforcements until you break the shield. Push it into its FINAL PHASE and it turns frantic, adding extra rings to its attacks.
- Big attacks are called out first, like SNEEZE!, ENGULF! or SHOCKWAVE!
- Dodge a charge and some bosses are left EXPOSED
- Bosses that engulf you take extra damage to their core
- The Mast Cell never sneezes while you stay close
- Bosses drop gear, a named set piece outside Pandemic Game Mode, and leave a DNA upgrade orb before you descend
Key guardians
Sealed doors and the genes that open them
Each organ seals one door with a mucus plug, a tight junction or a fibrin clot, and it only opens for a virus carrying the right gene. The door usually stands on the way to the boss and otherwise locks the Upgrade Chamber. The gene waits in a chamber you can always reach, held by a key guardian mini-boss, and its bonus lasts the rest of the run.
- Mucolytic Enzyme stops mucus from slowing you
- Fusion Peptide makes your dash damage cells
- Plasminogen Activator stops clots from slowing you
- Meet the same gene deeper in and its guardian is Awakened, then Ancient
- Every guardian throws a hook that reels you in
Tissue hazards
Turn the body against the immune system
Every organ has its own hazards, and they hurt cells as much as they hurt you, often more. Lure enemies into them, shoot near nerve endings so the host blames its own cells, or shove cells into an abyss pit. Hazards unlock for your save once any virus reaches a set level.
At a glance
- Air sacs clear enemy shots, and red blood cells block shots from both sides
- Stem cell niches heal you but release neutrophils
- Shoot a neuron to fire its synapse early
- An abyss pit is a heavy blow rather than instant death, and you can't fall while dashing
- Rare drop shafts reshuffle the layout and shake off Killer T cells
The ending
Total Infection
The Brain is the last organ, behind a blood-brain barrier that makes every cell there, Microglia included, take less damage. Beat Microglia in Infect Game Mode and the host falls to TOTAL INFECTION. The eight organ medallions light up one by one along a spreading green line, from the nose to the brain, before your run summary.
At a glance
- The blood-brain barrier protects every cell in the Brain
- Microglia is the final boss between you and the host
- The whole screen pulses green as the host falls
- Your run summary follows the medallions