One of the more low-key successes within the 4X grand strategy genre was 2012's Plague Inc., which received even more attention during the unexpected and unfortunately timely period of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Since the release, game creator James Vaughan released a sequel called Rebel Inc. and has now launched his next game, which aims for an optimistic take on the post-apocalypse In a report from Game File (paywalled), designer James Vaughan looked back on the unexpected success of Ndemic Creation's previous strategy games during chaotic times, what led to his newest game — After Inc. — and its optimistic view of rebuilding the Earth after tragedy. "I have had quite a lot of people worry that our games tend to predict the future," said Vaughan to Game File.
2012's Plague Inc., as the name implies, is when you take control of a global pandemic, where you make the moment-to-moment decisions on how a catastrophic disease plays across in the world.
Much like an increase in viewership for the 2011 film Contagion, Plague Inc. ended up seeing a massive surge in popularity in 2020 for those with a morbid interest in playing a game about viruses while in lockdown from an actual global pandemic.
After Plague Inc., Vaughan released Rebel Inc., a grand strategy game about the political choices made with growing insurgencies across the world.