The recent announcement that Sony is pulling out of PAX East due to concerns about the current coronavirus outbreak got me thinking about how this current event might make its way into video games at some point. It’s not like it hasn’t been done before. Just look at all of the games out there based on wars. But what kind of games would we see if the coronavirus, aka COVID-19, was used as a plot device? So I have come with some rough pitches for different kinds of games.
But before I start, I just want to say that I am in no way trying to diminish the horror and tragedy of the current outbreak. What is going on is heartbreaking and, hopefully, can be resolved swiftly and without further loss of life. There will always be the debate about how soon can video games incorporate real-life events (Six Days in Fallujah) and, for those personally affected, there is no good answer.
Resident Evil COVID: Wuhan’s Awakening
Genre: Third-person action game with single and co-op campaigns
Chris, Claire, Ada, and Leon are sent into Wuhan, China to deal with a new virus. The Chinese government, after getting its hands on the T-Virus years ago, has spent that time combining it with the Coronavirus to create COVID-20. This new virus is an exceptionally virulent and contagious strain that doesn’t require the affected subject to bite someone. Instead, it is transmitted through the air and anyone who gets too close to the infected, without proper protection, is instantly exposed and turned within minutes.
It is up to these former survivors to find the lab where COVID-20 was created, gather every scrap of information they can find, and hopefully discover a cure if there is one. But in order to do so, they will have to go in wearing hazmat suits and avoid being bitten or have their suits ripped. If either happens, they will become what they have fought against for years: the living dead.
Of course, things aren’t that easy. The group gets separated as their helicopter is shot down. Chris and Ada are forced to land on top of a skyscraper while Leon and Claire end up at the Yellow Crane Tower. The two groups will have to make their way to the laboratory where it all started. But Wuhan isn’t like Raccoon City. Boasting a population of 11 million and a hostile Chinese military trying to eradicate the infected population and any witnesses, these heroes have their work cut out for them.
Dead Rising 5: COVID’s Cross
Genre: Open-world, single-player action game where you will have to wipe out bands and even hordes of zombies as you try to figure out a way to escape China.
The plot is as follows:
China is no more. The entire country has succumbed to the COVID-20 virus, a type of mycovirus that immediately kills anyone infected and reanimates the corpse. What few survivors there are have been slowly dying from hunger, thirst, disease, or being discovered by the Coronas (zombies). Cross Da is one of only a few survivors in the area trying to survive until help from another country can come or he and the rest of the survivors can find a way to get out of China.
For now, being out in the country when it all happened has been their best defense due to the scattered and scarce population of that region. But it won’t stay that way for long. Groups of the undead are roving around the country in massive hordes and will eventually come to where Da and his group are surviving. It is up to Da, and his friend Chen Shuwei, to keep everyone alive by any means necessary.
However, time is not on their side. To further complicate matters Da’s mother, Victoria Cross who is a United States senator, has informed him that the US is planning to systematically bomb China to reduce as much of the Coronas as possible before a joint-military operation involving the world’s superpowers send in troops to take out any surviving infected.
But Da has a secret. One that would turn everyone against him if they knew. He was one of the scientists who helped create COVID-20 which broke contamination while he was on vacation.
So time and the truth are not on his side.
Left 4 Dead 3 – COVID Crisis
Genre: A first-person shooter with co-op and multiplayer options available.
You are a family of four (Grandfather, mother, brother, and sister) living in Wuhan during the outbreak of the COVID-20 virus. But instead of people just dying, their bodies have been re-animated. But it isn’t just the undead you have to deal with. You have to flee from the Chinese government who is determined to contain the virus and deal with any survivors.
However, you won’t be dealing with just zombies. Some of them are evolving into deadlier creatures.
Plague Inc: The COVID Chronicles
Genre: Simulation, Strategy
You are COVID-19 and you have broken free. Free from the laboratory that created you and kept you locked away. But now you can finally do what you were created to do. Wipe out all of humanity! But in order to do that you must adapt and evolve in order to prevent the world’s scientists from finding a cure to destroy you.
You are the head of the CDC and you just found out about the Coronavirus outbreak in China. However, China has kept it secret for months, putting you behind in dealing with the outbreak. But what can you do to stop it? Quarantine China? Stop all travel? Focus on preventing the spread of the virus in the US or the entire world? Procure a sample of the virus and devise a cure? How will you stop the virus and prevent more people from dying?
The Journalist: Wuhan Coronavirus Circus
Genre: First-person RPG where you take pictures and video recordings of the population, dead bodies, government response and actions to the outbreak.
You play as a Chinese-American journalist who is trying to cover the start of the Coronavirus outbreak and it’s eventual spread into the Wuhan population. It is up to you to take pictures and gather information on the virus, its origin, and who is responsible while trying to relay everything you find to an outside news media agency.
However, the Chinese government is trying to find you and track you down in order to silence you. How far will you risk yourself in order to report the truth? Will you risk infection? Will you risk being caught by the government? All so that the world can know what really happened in Wuhan? Or will you eventually stop and just try to survive and escape?
SimCountry: Covid Aftermath
Genre: Simulation, Strategy
It is the aftermath of the Coronavirus outbreak. Millions have died and China’s economy is in ruins after being under a global trade ban for a year and suffering a major labor shortage.. As the new leader of China, after the death of Xi Jinping from the virus, it is up to you to restore China’s infrastructure and economy while fending off foreign powers’ attempts to take over. But you will also have to try and stay in power as form Xi Jinping loyalists try to take away control of the country for themselves.
Restore the economy by enticing businesses back, get your citizens back to work, and become the world’s leading manufacturing power. Restore the country’s infrastructure and keep the population in good health and prevent any further riots and resistance. But most importantly, keep the foreign powers from establishing a foothold by preventing them from buying up businesses or attempting a coup.
China Rises: Call for Freedom
Genre: Real-Time Strategy
Your family is dead. Your town, and the neighboring towns, have been wiped out. Whoever the Coronavirus didn’t kill, the soldiers under order from President Xi Jinping took care of. But they didn’t get everyone. With nothing left to lose, you gather the survivors and start to forge a new destiny.
Your goal is to tear down the Xi Jinping dictatorship. And to do that you will need a base of operations and an army. Your old town is the place to start. The survivors the beginning of your army. But it won’t be enough. You will need to continue to build up your base of power as well as recruit and train other people who have grown tired of living under the Chinese Communist Party.
Build a base to operate from. Gather the survivors in your town, and the neighboring towns, while looking elsewhere such as Hong Kong, Tibet, Taiwan, and Foreign allies to fill your ranks. Once you have the ability to fight, it will be up to you to devise a strategy to topple the evil government and propel China into a new golden era.
So were there any video game ideas here that piqued your interest? What kind of game would you play that revolved around the Coronavirus? Sound off in the comments below!
