Each continent has its own cities, its own three continent-wide responses and its own five-piece gear set, found nowhere else. The Middle East, carved out of Asia, counts as one.
The first continent to open: six cities from New York to Nuuk, 22 people to infect.
Opens at Level 2
Population 600 million
Cities: New York, Los Angeles, Mexico City, Vancouver, Nuuk, El Paso
22 people to infect
Set: Liberty Strain (Legendary)
2 cities fallen · Political · MAP · bad for the virus: Federal Emergency Declared. An Immune Siege in every organ: 32 s long, squads of +2
3 cities fallen · Social · TWIST · good for the virus: Protests Against Mandates. Half of all doses are skipped; vaccine protection is halved
5 cities fallen · Medical · BOSS · bad for the virus: Operation Warp Speed. Boss attacks 15% faster; boss shields 50% thicker
From the Codex
In 1907 cook Mary Mallon, 'Typhoid Mary', was found to be a healthy carrier of typhoid who had infected the families she worked for. She was quarantined on North Brother Island in the East River.
Fun fact: United States · population 19.5 million · North America
Five cities from London to Moscow, 21 people to infect.
Opens at Level 4 · Gen 3
Population 745 million
Cities: London, Madrid, Venice, Berlin, Moscow
21 people to infect
Set: Old World Plague (Legendary)
2 cities fallen · Political · BOSS · bad for the virus: Schengen Borders Close. Key guardians are one stage older with 20% more HP
3 cities fallen · Social · TWIST · good for the virus: Summer Holiday Travel. Run modifiers drop twice as often; +20% nucleotides
4 cities fallen · Medical · CELLS · bad for the virus: EU Vaccine Pact. Memory B cells join every wave pool; vaccinated cells take only 25% damage
From the Codex
In 1854 a cholera outbreak in Soho killed over 600 people. Doctor John Snow mapped the deaths around the Broad Street water pump and had its handle removed, founding modern epidemiology.
Fun fact: United Kingdom · population 9.6 million · Europe
Five cities from Tokyo to Singapore, 25 people to infect.
Opens at Level 6 · Gen 6
Population 4.37 billion
Cities: Tokyo, Mumbai, Beijing, Novosibirsk, Singapore
25 people to infect
Set: Silk Road Vector (Legendary)
2 cities fallen · Medical · CELLS · bad for the virus: SARS Lessons Remembered. Detection cools only after 10 s and rises passively twice as fast
3 cities fallen · Social · MAP · good for the virus: Lunar New Year Exodus. Reinforcement waves arrive 5 s apart instead of 1; +1 projectile
4 cities fallen · Political · CELLS · bad for the virus: Regional Mask Mandates. Cells spawn with armor worth 10% of their HP; −10% damage
From the Codex
During the 1918–1920 flu pandemic Japan's government put up posters urging people to wear masks in crowds, the start of Japan's long mask-wearing habit.
Five cities from Istanbul to Dubai, 25 people to infect.
Opens at Level 7 · Gen 8
Population 385 million
Cities: Istanbul, Tehran, Baghdad, Riyadh, Dubai
25 people to infect
Set: Incense Caravan (Legendary)
2 cities fallen · Political · CELLS · bad for the virus: Fever Checks at Every Border. Every elite is Enraged: below half HP it moves 30% faster and hits 40% harder
3 cities fallen · Social · MAP · good for the virus: Eid Holiday Travel. Reinforcement waves are 30% of the first wave instead of 60%
4 cities fallen · Medical · TWIST · bad for the virus: Shared Reference Labs. Mutation orbs offer only 2 traits
From the Codex
In 1717 Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, wife of the British ambassador in Constantinople, watched Ottoman women inoculate children against smallpox with matter from a mild case, had her own son treated, and carried the practice to England, decades before Jenner's vaccine.
Fun fact: Türkiye · population 15.7 million · Middle East
Four cities from São Paulo to Manaus, 21 people to infect.
Opens at Level 8 · Gen 10
Population 440 million
Cities: São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Lima, Manaus
21 people to infect
Set: Rainforest Canopy (Legendary)
1 city fallen · Political · CELLS · good for the virus: Leaders Downplay It. The Immune Alert is frozen for the first 3 minutes of every run
2 cities fallen · Social · STATS · good for the virus: Carnival Season. +30% fire rate
3 cities fallen · Medical · BOSS · bad for the virus: Regional Vaccine Factories. Bosses enrage below 65% HP and stay exposed half as long
From the Codex
When bubonic plague reached the nearby port of Santos at the end of the 1890s, São Paulo founded the Butantan Institute to make serum. Today it is one of Latin America's biggest vaccine makers.
Fun fact: Brazil · population 22.6 million · South America
2 cities fallen · Medical · TWIST · bad for the virus: Africa CDC Coordinates. Doses 50% more often; dose effects linger 20 s after the swarm dies
3 cities fallen · Social · TWIST · good for the virus: Young Population. Rare host genomes are 5x as common on the street (stronger hosts)
4 cities fallen · Political · CELLS · good for the virus: Vaccine Nationalism Abroad. No vaccine vials in any wave pool; Killer T cells have 30% less HP
From the Codex
In 2014 a traveller brought Ebola to Lagos. Doctor Ameyo Adadevoh kept him isolated, and Nigeria contained the outbreak at 20 cases.
Fun fact: Nigeria · population 15.9 million · Africa
The last continent: four research stations with 27 people to infect, seen from above the South Pole.
Opens at Level 15 · Gen 24
Population 4,400
Cities: McMurdo Station, Vostok Station, Esperanza Base, South Pole Station
27 people to infect, the most of any continent
Set: Permafrost Relic (Legendary)
1 station fallen · Political · MAP · bad for the virus: Treaty Nations Suspend Flights. Reinforcement waves are 90% of the first wave instead of 60%
2 stations fallen · Social · STATS · good for the virus: Stir-Crazy Crews. +35% fire rate
3 stations fallen · Medical · BOSS · bad for the virus: Military Medical Airdrop. The boss arrives with 2 bodyguards and a Killer T cell
From the Codex
In 1999 the South Pole Station's only doctor, Jerri Nielsen, found a lump in her breast and treated herself with chemotherapy drugs airdropped in the dark of winter.
Fun fact: Research base · population 150 · Antarctica
