Hotkeys are simply keyboard shortcuts that allow you to accomplish tasks that you do over and over again throughout your game literally with the touch of your finger to a specific key. If you play using a game controller, then this guide is of no use to you. But if you play Plague Inc, Evolved on your desktop or laptop computer using nothing but your mouse or touchpad and a keyboard and are not familiar with the hotkeys included in the game, I hope that I can demonstrate to you why you might want to at least give them a try.

The above image is a screenshot of the Control Section of the Options Menu that you can access from your first screen after starting the game. Just look down the list on the lefthand side of the page and click on Options, then click the Controls tab to open the Hotkey list. You'll notice that all of the Commands that are listed down the right side of the screen have both a Default and an Alternate key that can be assigned as your shortcut to that command. These are initially set to Default values. But each of them can be easily customized to any key that you want to use to execute the command by clicking on the box next to the command and then pressing whichever key you've chosen to use for it.

Here are the available commands in the order listed.

• Move Left
  
• Move Right
  
• Move Up
  
• Move Down
  
• Disease Screen Hot Key
  
• World Screen Hot Key
  
• Zoom In
  
• Zoom Out
  
• Speed One
  
• Speed Two
  
• Speed Three
  
• Pause
  
• Back
  
• Continue
  
• News
  
• Active Ability Slot 1
  
• Active Ability Slot 2
  
• Active Ability Slot 3
  
• Overview
  
• Transmission
  
• Symptoms
  
• Abilities
  
• Ape Toggle
  
• Mini-Map Switch Hot Key

A couple of comments about specific commands. Hit the Disease (or World) hotkey once to take you into that set of screens. When you're ready to go back to the game, simply hit the hotkey again to go back to the game screen. You can also go from Disease to World and back again, accessing all of their subordinate screens, without having to go back into the game or try and click on the tiny symbols at the top right of each section.

I found it much more intuitive to use a key that would be either simple to remember or, if you need to access it quickly and repeatedly, one that is near to wherever you normally rest your hand. For example, my Disease Hotkey is D, Symptoms is S, World is W, and so on using things that are easily remembered. The Speed defaults are already set to Numbers 1, 2, and 3 just under your function keys, and that's where I left them.
The trick is to figure out which of these commands you use the most, and then make their associated keys the easiest to remember and to access for you. I have pretty much ignored the Alternate keys since I haven't found any occasion yet where I was unable to access my primary key.

I play Plague Inc, Evolved on a combination laptop that is also touchscreen enabled, and is equipped with a touchpad and the obligatory two bottom click keys. Depending on the type of mouse that you use - slider, rollerball, etc - you may be able to navigate very quickly and precisely all around the screen, clicking the tiniest arrow or box on the first try every time. It's not that simple with a touchpad, and can actually be even worse if you try to use your big fat finger directly on the screen to try and click the little box to switch from Disease to World.

I can only tell you that I use my hotkeys constantly - my biggest wish is that NDemic James (are you listening, Killer?) would give all of us good little gaming girls and boys the Christmas gift of separate red, orange, and blue bubble popping hotkeys! Wouldn't it be FANTASTIC not to have to follow some damn half-dead pilot all the way to the top western edge of Canada, or figure out where he's going to land in Russia THIS TIME? Wouldn't it be amazing if you could just hit a hot key and pop your bubble instead of dragging your pointer all over the screen? So if anyone reading this has an in with the dev - put a bug in his ear for me, ok?

We're finally to the end! I hope that this rather long and detailed explanation will be helpful to some of you. I decided to write it after realizing that there isn't a single mention that I could find anywhere about the existence and usage of Hotkeys in Plague Inc, Evolved. Maybe everyone else already knows about them and I'm just not very bright. On the other hand, maybe this will actually improve your game play if you use them enough so that they become second nature to you.

I hope you liked my very first guide. If so, please give me a good rating. You're also always welcome to leave comments in either the positive or the negative. I'm a big girl and can take constructive criticism - just be nice or I'll have to hunt you down and Plague you!

Now go out and kill everybody!