Even Better Than Plague Inc – Rebel Inc. Review

Just for background I’ve beaten all the vanilla maps on brutal difficulty. If you’ve played Plague Inc or particularly it’s expansions, such as the Simian Flu, then you will feel immediately at home with Rebels Inc. There is more depth in Rebels Inc with more meaningful choices to be made. It can quickly become chaotic at higher difficulties with the need to pause frequently in order to efficiently move troops with the goal of corralling enemy insurgents. Both tactical troop placement and timing are of paramount importance as insurgents must be either pushed out towards the edge of the map or completely surrounded in order to be defeated without having the option to retreat to an adjacent territory. This can be both frustrating and incredibly rewarding. There will be times where you won’t have enough troops available to cut off the insurgent retreat, but there will be times that you can take advantage of AI RNG that will move the enemy into a tactically advantageous position for the player. Much like Plague Inc, Rebels Inc features a timer system where the goal of domination must be achieved before the timer reaches zero. In Rebels Inc this comes in the form of reputation, which can be boosted in random events, purchasing upgrades, or by achieving stability in a territory. Reputation requires careful management and some of the most difficult choices will require sacrificing reputation for a short term benefit. Reputation is lost when insurgents capture territories, even more so when they recapture territories previously held. In higher difficulties this will encourage the player to think carefully about engaging in certain zones, and there will be times where it will be more beneficial to play passively and have troops guard stable territories, although this is something typically dependent on geography and troop availability. Achieving a high score in Rebels Inc is not necessarily straightforward since it requires a careful balance of antagonizing insurgent forces without letting them overrun your territories. In order to get a high score the player must reach 100% zone stability with the greatest amount of reputation. In the late game the player will be engaged in peace talks with insurgent forces that will ultimately resort in their surrender, should the player agree to the terms. This will usually result in a big reputation loss that I assume scales with difficulty level. Once peace talks are completed zone stability will quickly reach 100%, however completing peace talks will most certainly result in a score deficit. The late game challenge comes from rejecting a peace deal and quelling the resulting insurgent uprisings in unstable territories. This stretch out the game but it makes it fun to try to hold out on finishing peace talks while attempting to reach 100% stability. Very fun game, with a lot of strategic value. I will be looking forward to future expansions.
Review by _Xykon_ on Rebel Inc..