Survivalist: Invisible Strain

About

Survivalist: Invisible Strain is a single player and multiplayer survival role playing game. It was developed by Bob and was released on April 25, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

"Survivalist: Invisible Strain" is an open-world game about building a community after civilization's collapse. Recruit survivors by earning their loyalty or fear, and manage their needs for food, warmth, and safety from dangers. Interact with living characters who have unique personalities, remember your actions, and give quests. This is the sequel to "Survivalist," but no prior knowledge of the first game is needed.

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Survivalist: Invisible Strain screenshot

+10

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87%

Audience ScoreBased on 1,665 reviews

gameplay74 positive mentions

grinding57 negative mentions

Unique blend of community management, survival mechanics, and zombie apocalypse elements.
Dynamic NPC interactions with personalities and relationships that evolve based on player actions.
Regular updates from the developer, showing commitment to improving the game.

Combat mechanics can be clunky and frustrating, especially with AI behavior during fights.
The fog of war limits visibility, making navigation and combat challenging.
Steep learning curve for new players, with little guidance on mechanics and controls.

gameplay
272 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
66%
7%
The gameplay of this title is a complex blend of survival mechanics, base-building, and strategic combat, reminiscent of games like "State of Decay" and "Kenshi." While it offers deep community interactions and unique mechanics such as the "invisible strain," players have noted issues with bugs, clunky controls, and inconsistent combat mechanics that can detract from the experience. Overall, the game provides a rich and engaging experience, especially for fans of the genre, but may require patience to fully appreciate its depth and nuances.
- “The gameplay blends third-person action with real-time strategy elements, allowing you to switch between directly controlling characters and issuing commands from a tactical overview.”
- “The game features deep crafting mechanics, a solid dialogue system, complex community simulation, and is overall just a real solid foundation for future expansion.”
- “The freedom to approach challenges in multiple ways kept the gameplay fresh.”
- “I wasn't expecting perfect graphics, but the mechanics are terrible too.”
- “The combat is so bad, with a really poor mouse mechanic that ensures you are never hitting the correct zombie.”
- “The game just drops you in, with no explanation of its mechanics or systems, and while I'm not opposed to that type of system, this game just became frustrating to try and even learn its UI and controls.”
story
223 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
80%
7%
The game's story mode has received mixed feedback, with some players appreciating its depth and the way it introduces game mechanics, while others find it frustrating and poorly balanced, particularly due to frequent enemy encounters. Many users highlight the potential for rich emergent storytelling through character interactions and quests, but express a desire for more structured narratives and improved quest variety. Overall, while the story mode offers a compelling narrative backdrop, it is still seen as needing refinement and additional content to enhance the player experience.
- “The story mode serves as an introduction to the game’s mechanics and world, while the sandbox mode opens up a more open-ended, emergent gameplay experience.”
- “The game offers dynamic gameplay, countless tasks, and a mysterious storyline, making it an addictive and challenging post-apocalyptic survival game.”
- “Rich emergent storytelling arises naturally through character interactions, betrayals, relationships, and battles for survival.”
- “Don't even bother trying the story mode; it is absolutely pointless.”
- “The main story of this game is unfinished and personally, not at all worth playing.”
- “Story mode is incredibly frustrating.”
graphics
136 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
26%
70%
4%
The game's graphics feature a distinct comic book-inspired art style that sets it apart from other titles in the genre, though opinions on its execution vary. While some players appreciate the unique visuals and find them charming, others criticize the graphics as dated or underdeveloped, suggesting they detract from the overall experience. Overall, the graphics are functional and support the gameplay, but many players feel there is room for improvement, particularly in texture quality and optimization.
- “Visually, the game embraces a unique comic book-inspired art style that helps it stand apart from other survival titles.”
- “The graphics are a comic book art style, which runs really well even on my toaster.”
- “The graphics and HUD are highly based off most comic books, which is a huge twist on most graphics.”
- “Graphics, combat, interface, base-building, and the story (in story mode) are all okay, but not great.”
- “Core elements such as the combat system, animations, graphics, art style, audio, models, environments, AI behavior, UI, roleplaying, depth, lore, and overall optimization all appear underdeveloped or poorly executed, and nothing unique about them.”
- “Even if this game had been released back in 2009, it wouldn’t have stood out graphically among its peers.”
grinding
60 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
95%
Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience. While base building, farming, and resource management are engaging and allow for strategic gameplay, some tasks, such as cement production and item collection, can feel tedious and overly time-consuming. The ability to assign NPCs to various tasks helps alleviate some of the grind, but many players still express a desire for improvements to streamline these processes further.
- “It isn't too grindy, but it also isn't too oversimplified. The entire relationship system, where you can make friends or foes for life, definitely adds flavor to the game. For example, when a guard dies in a zombie attack, but you killed the zombies first, the trader comes in thinking you killed the guard, which shows that you can make two factions hostile towards each other by basically implicating them.”
- “Base building is fun, not tedious.”
- “Pretty fun resource management, not too grindy and not too easy.”
- “It's just a bit tedious and gamifies what is an otherwise fantastic survival experience.”
- “While this seems exciting, it's quickly become apparent how tedious it is.”
- “I have spent easily 30 minutes grinding trying to get something useful.”
optimization
32 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
19%
47%
34%
Overall, the game's optimization is widely criticized, with many players reporting significant performance issues, especially in co-op mode, where lag and frame drops are common. While some appreciate the potential for improvement through regular updates and mod support, the current state is deemed underdeveloped, with core elements like AI and map performance needing substantial refinement. Many users suggest that the game is unplayable in its current form due to these optimization shortcomings.
- “Open to mods, very regular updates, great performance, and great price.”
- “Such an underrated game replayability 10/10, with the frequent updates and mod optimization it's hard not to pick the game back up after a few months, even with the small team that works on it.”
- “This is a game that can deliver high performance on today’s hardware.”
- “Do not get it for co-op, it is just not optimized for it.”
- “The worst performance I have ever seen. How come you need a NASA super PC for a 2 GB game? My PC can run games that are 30 times bigger than this. This game has some good things going for it, but the performance is so bad that it makes it unplayable. For now, this is a 2/10 game.”
- “Very poorly optimized, hopefully this changes.”
replayability
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
58%
29%
13%
The game boasts exceptional replayability, highlighted by its procedural generation, customizable sandbox modes, and ongoing updates, which keep the experience fresh and engaging. Players appreciate the potential for hundreds of hours of gameplay, even in early access, with many noting the game's ability to remain enjoyable through modding and varied scenarios. While some users mention a lack of content in the current version, the overall consensus is that the game offers significant replay value.
- “Such an underrated game; replayability 10/10. With the frequent updates and mod optimization, it's hard not to pick the game back up after a few months, even with the small team that works on it.”
- “The depth and replayability is absolutely amazing for how this game is.”
- “Fantastic sandbox game with endless replayability potential.”
- “Despite it being early access, this game feels complete and has plenty of replayability.”
- “Although the game has some way to go, the replayability is there for sure.”
- “The randomly generated sandbox map gives a constant replayability, which compared to the first game, I hadn't played again since completing the story.”
music
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
61%
22%
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the calming orchestral melodies and active electronic tracks, while others find the overall quality to be mediocre and occasionally annoying. The soundtrack enhances the atmosphere during gameplay, but the menu music is widely criticized as particularly poor. Overall, while the music may not be the standout feature, it contributes positively to the game's immersive experience.
- “Most importantly, I really like the soundtrack as it has both calming orchestral melodies and active electronic tracks - are you sure that your composer is not Jesper Kyd, by the way?”
- “The feeling that the sound effects and background music gave me while roaming around the empty, zombie-infested world was, in short, amazing!”
- “The gritty graphics and low-key music bring to life its austere environment (with seasons, dynamic weather, and day/night cycles that dictate character body temperature and crop viability).”
- “The music has strange patterns that can be a bit annoying, but it's not a dealbreaker.”
- “The musical score and sound effects world is also a bit bland, but not low quality.”
- “My main complaints would be the music in the game; it's not completely awful, but a lot of the time it just feels like some kids banging on random instruments and calling it a day.”
stability
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Overall, the game's stability is a mixed bag, with many users reporting various bugs and glitches that can disrupt gameplay, particularly in combat and AI behavior. While some players find these issues manageable and appreciate the game's potential, others feel that the bugs detract significantly from the experience. Regular updates from developers are noted as a positive aspect, indicating ongoing efforts to improve stability.
- “Super buggy for something released three years ago.”
- “The idea is good but for me it's too buggy to fully enjoy.”
- “Good game but it is very buggy in multiplayer.”
humor
21 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
95%
14%
The humor in the game is a standout feature, with players finding amusement in the absurdity of situations, such as the clumsy behavior of zombies and the unpredictable antics of AI characters. Many reviews highlight the comedic value of chaotic gameplay moments, like hurling molotovs or encountering quirky survivor interactions, which contribute to an overall fun and entertaining experience. Despite some technical issues, the game's humor adds a layer of enjoyment that keeps players engaged.
- “Hurling dozens of molotovs over the walls of a bandit faction's base while laughing maniacally can be fun.”
- “The interactions with the different survivors are pretty cool; I like the different things they say, and it's been pretty funny what kind of things happen just from trying to learn the game and not knowing what to do in some situations.”
- “It has some of the most hilarious, terrifying, and zero-fucks-given NPC/AI I've ever seen.”
- “I'm having a lot of fun; it's almost not funny.”
- “The jokes fall flat and feel forced.”
- “I expected more clever humor, but it mostly misses the mark.”
atmosphere
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
25%
25%
The game's atmosphere is a mix of tension and nostalgia, effectively capturing the survivalist themes reminiscent of the Walking Dead comics, enhanced by engaging audio and a comic-style aesthetic. However, some players note that technical issues, such as limited draw distance and AI quirks, can disrupt immersion, making strategic gameplay both challenging and rewarding. Overall, the atmosphere is praised for its richness and ability to evoke a sense of being an ordinary person in a zombie apocalypse.
- “The atmosphere and the sounds bring me back to childhood running around in the woods with BB guns and friends.”
- “Survivalist Invisible Strain gives you a fantastic atmosphere, where you really find yourself in a zombie infection trying to survive, and by that I mean that it sure feels like you're an ordinary person caught in the middle of it all.”
- “The introduction of the 'invisible strain,' a new variant of the infection, creates a tense atmosphere where suspicion runs high—anyone could be infected, forcing you to carefully manage your group and make difficult choices to ensure survival.”
- “When I first read the Walking Dead comics, I always dreamed of a game that captured that same atmosphere and survivalist feel: Invisible Strain feels like it was born from that very inspiration.”
- “Pretty but dated feeling graphics make the apocalyptic atmosphere better.”
emotional
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews highlight a mixed emotional experience in the game, with some players feeling a lack of depth in character interactions, reduced to simplistic like/hate dynamics. While the game offers a unique blend of gameplay and engaging AI relationships, moments of disappointment arise from unexpected hostility, such as friendly bases turning aggressive, which can be disheartening. Overall, the emotional impact is described as both rewarding and frustrating, contributing to a complex player experience.
- “I'm happy to be a part of this wholesome experience, can't wait for the final product.”
- “One of the first quests is to find a friendly base and yet every time I finally made it through a crazy spawn surrounded by zombies to a base, in the middle of a conversation about their name or trade, they would suddenly say 'you've been on this land too long' and start asking for gold or attacking...heartbreaking.”
- “The game is punishing in the most unwholesome ways.”
character development
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Character development is highly praised for its depth, allowing players to cultivate specialists and enhance skills as they progress. The constant threat from zombies adds an engaging layer of tension, ensuring players remain vigilant and invested in their character's growth.
- “Character development is pretty great and makes you want to have specialists around, providing more options as you progress in any skill. However, any three zombies at any point can hunt you down, and I like that; you never have to lose your awareness.”
- “The depth of character development keeps the gameplay engaging, as each choice you make influences your abilities and interactions with the world.”
- “I love how character development allows for unique playstyles, making every player's experience feel distinct and personal.”
monetization
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization strategy has been widely criticized as a blatant "cash grab," with users expressing strong dissatisfaction over its aggressive and exploitative nature.
- “I can't put into words how horrible this 'cash grab' is.”
- “The monetization system feels exploitative and ruins the overall experience.”
- “It's frustrating to see so many features locked behind paywalls.”

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30h Median play time

71h Average play time

14-110h Spent by most gamers

*Based on 20 analyzed playthroughs

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Survivalist: Invisible Strain is a survival role playing game.

Survivalist: Invisible Strain is available on Xbox Series X|S, PC, Steam Deck, Windows and others.

On average players spend around 71 hours playing Survivalist: Invisible Strain.

Survivalist: Invisible Strain was released on April 25, 2025.

Survivalist: Invisible Strain was developed by Bob.

Survivalist: Invisible Strain has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

Survivalist: Invisible Strain is a single player game with multiplayer and local co-op support.

Similar games include Survivalist, HumanitZ, Dead State: Reanimated, SurrounDead, Night of the Dead and others.

Survivalist: Invisible Strain

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