Contagion is a procedurally generated first person zombie shooter that involves player(s) being stuck in a given location. Based upon the scenario you are provided with set objectives. Your objective is to complete as many of them as you can (if you possibly can). There is a plethora of objectives ranging from escaping a map through to finding and extracting survivors. There is even a battle royale style scenario being on offer.
This game is a zombie game that offers 5 different modes to play on. To make this game more challenging, the game uses procedurally generated levels. Due to the procedural generation, the chances of you suceeding is based upon how the level set up. This is the main factor on whether you can complete the map and biased on difficulty/mode selected. Provided you have enough people to play with you. Â However, regardless of what mode you are playing on and with whom you are playing with. This game is heavily orientated towards multiplayer even though there is a small amount of active players. Generally speaking, there is less than 20 people play this game at any one time.
Despite my past statement, it is possible to play on various modes without anyone joining you. Particularly the escape mode, however this is a multiplayer game by design. Also when I did find players more often than not they were more experienced than everyone playing. It wasn’t uncommon that they were unwilling to show anyone else how to play the games better. This is also more common, if you played the game in a way that was too slow/fast for them.
But the game itself is limiting as 3 of the modes are completely dependent on having other players. The first mode is hunted, which is a battle royale game. At the start of this mode you only have a pistol and a melee weapon to begin the mode with. But you can find more equipment in the field to use. However unlike other battle royale games there are no clouds shortening the playing field. Secondly there is Extraction which is a mode that is based around protect survivors. In this mode your only objective is to find any survivor(s) on the map. Once you’ve located them, your goal is to keep them safe until extraction.
Finally there is Panic which from my research appears to be a human’s v zombie’s mode. However there is no AI zombie present in this mode. The main issue with the 3 modes aforementioned is finding anyone who is willing to play with you. This is very difficult to do as hardly anyone plays this unless you have friends who are willing to play. There is no option of playing with AI instead of players which sadly is no option. As a result of this I resorted to only playing on the 2 modes that I could go on. Which are available for me to play on, with little to no hassle involved.
Firstly I played on Escape mode, which as insinuated is a survival horror game crossed with an escape room. Your objective is to escape from the map. However you have to do it in small steps in order to succeed. As you do it in mini objectives such as opening doors to each area or finding equipment needed.
However since this game is procedurally generated it isn’t guaranteed if you can actually escape. Purely because on some maps areas where I needed to go to were blocked off completely. In some instances I couldn’t find keys that I needed even after looking through the area twice. I would imagine it could be a lot more fun with others. Since each player could have a purpose in the game. As one player can carry any tools needed to open doors etc. Whilst other players could scout each room or protect other players.
The other mode on offer is a flatline which is a survival mode. In which you have to survive 10 waves of zombies that come at you. During the waves you get a small respite to plan your next move. In which you can place wood barricades, buy equipment or unlock more areas to run around in. Flatline essentially is this games answer to the zombie mode in Call of Duty.
Design wise this game is an attempt between having a more arcade like experience. Since, you get plenty of ammo in the easier settings and plenty of different weapons. But at the same time it also wants to be realistic as it will ration supplies (even on easier difficulties). Zombies take multiple rounds in order to kill. Some zombies even require taking multiple magazines in order to take them down; the riot zombies in particular are strong and require many rounds to be defeated.
This generally limits your combat styles to using firearms. Whilst you can use melee weapons that are on hand if needs be. Since, if you have no weapons on hand you can’t defend yourself. However it really isn’t advisable to do so. Also there are no more realistic options in game. Such as, weight having an effect on players that carry too many items/large amount ammo. Alternatively a characters avatar has no effect if they are fat. Since each character is just for aesthetic value. As a result of this fat characters can run as fast/long as an athletic character.
There are no options to select firing modes on firearms. This is because; firearms are either in single/fully automatic. There is also no other option to select other modes of fire when possible. I dislike this as sometimes you may want to switch to single fire to conserve ammo. Alternatively if you are fighting many opponents in close quarters being able to fire in fully automatic is preferential.
Technically this game is also lacking as it isn’t compatible with modern screens with the largest specifications being 1920×1080. Other issues I have found with this game are the zombies as they can be completely ignorant at times. One time I was firing a fully automatic rifle just meters in front of them with no repercussions. However, when I use a silenced pistol a few rooms away they know I am there. Also in some instances they can spawn kneeling on one knee (as seen above).
Overall I would recommend skipping Contagion. However, if you have friends who are willing to play with you then it may be worth looking at. Since Contagion really isn’t worth playing on otherwise. Since hardly anyone plays this game anymore.
