Our Experience
We played season one with 4 people (4 characters) until about September and then switched to 2 people (2 characters) for the remainder and think that it scaled pretty well. In some areas it gets harder and in some ways it gets easier...the style of play just changes a bit. It may become easier to collect cards of a certain color and to coordinate with your team...but you have to be more creative in how you keep the virus at bay because you are now lacking the variety of special abilities (granted with more characters) that allow you to do more things.
Design
I think that it is all by design (props to Rob and Matt). With the story as good as it is, I believe that they have taken the time to ensure that when they say the game is for 2-4 players, that they mean that. The mechanics in the game are such that the amount of people you play with does not effect the story...It may effect your play style or your overall game play experience but that is only by your choice. If you like games with more people then play with more. If you only like playing with a single friend/spouse then go for it. You will have fun either way and the difficulty will scale appropriately.
Chance
However, this does not guarantee consistency across the board (hehe) because there is an excessive amount of chance built into the game from the decks of cards being drawn from. There a some people that will experience a harder game with 2 and there are some that will experience an easier game with 2.
Conclusion
Overall, even if there are slight differences in difficulty, it is very minute. The game is designed to be hard. So even if you win a bunch of games in a row, that doesn't equate to it being easier (with 2,3,or 4). You could win by the skin of your teeth every time or lose by the same token (I'm killing it with these game puns). The point of the game is to feel challenged and have fun...Every game I have played in the Pandemic universe - My wife and I are 1 month into season 2 - has felt difficult yet beatable. Whether we have won or lost, it felt challenging and it was fun to play...which is the whole point of gaming especially with this amazing legacy game. We will not soon forget any of the experiences that we have had in this game world. Play it your way and I believe you will enjoy it regardless.
We played season one with 4 people (4 characters) until about September and then switched to 2 people (2 characters) for the remainder and think that it scaled pretty well. In some areas it gets harder and in some ways it gets easier...the style of play just changes a bit. It may become easier to collect cards of a certain color and to coordinate with your team...but you have to be more creative in how you keep the virus at bay because you are now lacking the variety of special abilities (granted with more characters) that allow you to do more things.
Design
I think that it is all by design (props to Rob and Matt). With the story as good as it is, I believe that they have taken the time to ensure that when they say the game is for 2-4 players, that they mean that. The mechanics in the game are such that the amount of people you play with does not effect the story...It may effect your play style or your overall game play experience but that is only by your choice. If you like games with more people then play with more. If you only like playing with a single friend/spouse then go for it. You will have fun either way and the difficulty will scale appropriately.
Chance
However, this does not guarantee consistency across the board (hehe) because there is an excessive amount of chance built into the game from the decks of cards being drawn from. There a some people that will experience a harder game with 2 and there are some that will experience an easier game with 2.
Conclusion
Overall, even if there are slight differences in difficulty, it is very minute. The game is designed to be hard. So even if you win a bunch of games in a row, that doesn't equate to it being easier (with 2,3,or 4). You could win by the skin of your teeth every time or lose by the same token (I'm killing it with these game puns). The point of the game is to feel challenged and have fun...Every game I have played in the Pandemic universe - My wife and I are 1 month into season 2 - has felt difficult yet beatable. Whether we have won or lost, it felt challenging and it was fun to play...which is the whole point of gaming especially with this amazing legacy game. We will not soon forget any of the experiences that we have had in this game world. Play it your way and I believe you will enjoy it regardless.