Survivalist: Invisible Strain
Survivalist: Invisible Strain
Game
Game2015
Survivalist
Developer Bob
It's one year after the collapse of civilization and self-centered hedge fund manager Joe Wheeler emerges from his specially constructed bunker in search of food. This is a huge open-world RPG where you have the freedom to play how you want - but your choices have consequences. From the Steam store page
216 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Nov 4, 2026 · last updated Nov 5, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
78
LovedLoved
129 positive · 36 negative
95% range 71–84%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 129 | 36 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 18 | 1 | 28 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 3 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Very Positive
1,255 of 1,559 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
77% recommend · 133 yes, 39 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 172 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Very Positive (2,059 of 2,569 positive).
Players praise the game's deep survival mechanics and community building despite its dated graphics. [1][2][3] Some reviewers find the game clunky and frustrating, with a heavy grind and poor balance. [4][5][6] A few players note the game is a hidden gem that rewards patience and offers unique features. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [4]
This game has a lot of positive aspects and I would very much like to give it a positive review, but this game just straight up wastes your time for no reason. There is absolutely no reason for building materials to weigh so much. It takes 10-30 minutes of real time to build one fence and that's only with no interruptions from the horrid base attack system, which brings me to the next point: There is absolutely no …
- [1]
If you can get past the rough graphics this is actually a really great squad based survival game. Provides a great sense of community, you'll focus more on how to build your town and how to defend it. Diplomacy will come into play often with so many important decisions to make as events occur and time passes. If you are looking for a more involved zombie survival sim then definitely give this a try! Tons of content …
- [8]
The only zombie game where diabetes is a mechanic and techno music plays every 20 minutes. I robbed the dev absolutely blind by buying this on sale for $1.69 and I will rot in hell for not paying more for this masterpiece
- [9]
I tried to get into it several times, and on my final successful attempt finally got to enjoy this game. It's ugly but charming.
- [2]
It's better than it seems. A simple but well made survival game where you have to build your base and keep your survivors alive. You get to meet other people which might be recruitable or not, there are other factions, some more friendly than others. Basically build, fight, survive.
Summarised from 34 of the 213 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 10, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
77% of the 172 Steam reviewers we collected recommend Survivalist. The complaint that keeps coming up: dated and rough graphics. Deal-breaker or nitpick?
Reactions
60 of 216 · most liked firstThe Survivalist from Fallout New Vegas, a game I can’t help but revisit often. Someone should give me an excuse to draw more Fallout stuff
positive · AI labelView post →Pro-Death Game Survivalist Thriller "Playing Death Games to Put Food on the Table" TV ANIME OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCED! Based on the LN by Yuushi Ukai & Necometal about a badass girl participating in death games because she lives off the prize money. (Shibou Yuugi de Meshi o Kuu)
neutral · AI labelView post →If you can get past the rough graphics this is actually a really great squad based survival game. Provides a great sense of community, you'll focus more on how to build your town and how to defend it. Diplomacy will come into play often with so many important decisions to make as events occur and time passes. If you are looking for a more involved zombie survival sim then definitely give this a try! Tons of content for just $5!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has a lot of positive aspects and I would very much like to give it a positive review, but this game just straight up wastes your time for no reason. There is absolutely no reason for building materials to weigh so much. It takes 10-30 minutes of real time to build one fence and that's only with no interruptions from the horrid base attack system, which brings me to the next point: There is absolutely no reason for your base to be constantly attacked. Seriously, this game will spawn…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've gotten embarassingly addicted to Survivalist: Invisible Strain this stupid zombie game is hitting all my buttons too well.
positive · AI labelView post →One word to describe it, clunky. Absolutely do not bother. It's a one-dev game, and sadly, it is painfully apparent. The UI plus many systems in the game render it a frustrating experience. They don't lift up the game or make it more interesting - they just drag it down. Survivalist feels more like work than a game. While the game has its challenges, it lacks depth and quickly becomes monotonous. The lack of stealth mechanics plys zombies detecting you before you see them, makes avoidance…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →36. Splatoon Raiders Knee deep into the post-game. Fantastic experience. Played the entire thing in multiplayer on Survivalist and am loving the pushback.
positive · AI labelView post →I’ve added the Survivalist perk to my dark fantasy game, Crimson Rest. It makes survival easier by improving health regeneration. What other mechanics should I add? ➡️ Wishlist 'Crimson Rest' on Steam: store.steampowered.com/app/3993140 #darkfantasy #indiedev #gamedev #psx #godot
neutral · AI labelView post →‘The Dog Stars’ Review: Jacob Elordi’s Sensitive Survivalist Can’t Sustain a Dreary Dystopian Adventure.
neutral · AI labelView post →The sale may be over, but The Final Queers is still available for purchase! Play as some of your favorite horror tropes: - The Artist - The Beauty - The Gaymer - The Survivalist - The Jock - The Witchy Queer - The Lover - The Wallflower - The Survivalist - The Circuit Queen
neutral · AI labelView post →The developer deserves major respect for releasing a patch that supports the Steam Deck and allows playing on Linux. The game itself is a hidden gem, sloppy but nice. There's something almost spiritual about the way it captures survival and human interaction.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game allows you to control multiple survivors in RTS mode or a single one in full control mode. The AI survivors are surprisingly smart in this old game. They have their own ecosystem and faction, can interact with each other and will remember your deeds towards them. The game is kinda an open-world game, but ties in with a time limit feature if you want to complete the game. For me personally, it is a big turnoff, since I want to play it slowly, but I have to do certain quest to extend…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is a good post-apocalyptic zombie survival builder game. You'll meet lots of characters with different personalities, and many of them will have backstories to delve into. Most of them will belong to various good, neutral, or evil factions. There's also an overall story to the game, You are Joe, a fairly wealthy guy, who built a bunker in the desert just in case SHTF during your lifetime. Well, one year ago it did... in the form of a zombie apocalypse. Now your food supplies are…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →4 video game ideas I want to eventually make that include VR modes: 1. Post apocalyptic cyberpunk shooter 2. Survivalist hunting and fishing on an alien planet 3. Silent Hill clone about an anthro rabbit girl with daddy issues 4. Dead Island clone
neutral · AI labelView post →reminds me of fallout series with zombies cool game runs good on my older pc great for offline play
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The only zombie game where diabetes is a mechanic and techno music plays every 20 minutes. I robbed the dev absolutely blind by buying this on sale for $1.69 and I will rot in hell for not paying more for this masterpiece
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's better than it seems. A simple but well made survival game where you have to build your base and keep your survivors alive. You get to meet other people which might be recruitable or not, there are other factions, some more friendly than others. Basically build, fight, survive.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried to get into it several times, and on my final successful attempt finally got to enjoy this game. It's ugly but charming.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After basically completing #SplatoonRaiders I think I can say this was a solid 9/10 game for me. I really enjoyed this, for it's first spin off they nailed it! Experiencing it on Survivalist with two friends throughout the whole story, it was an amazing time! Also, I have adopted the Mechanic now.
positive · AI labelView post →This is honestly a pretty fun game once you know how the game mechanics work and where most of the locations and resources are. There are also plenty of options when it comes to building up your community, although I personally feel like the game is a lot easier with a smaller community, especially once you find your first Sniper Rifle. You can pretty much go solo against entire armies through the whole game with just one character holding that gun! My advice: don't get discouraged if your…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →SURVIVALIST GAME PLAN RESIST SELF-PRESERVATION
neutral · AI labelView post →Bob is one of those guys who keeps working on his games and this game was an odd ball that came across my discovery queue years ago. This game is so much fun with friends and very challenging. 10/10 recommend. I will also recommend the Invisible Strain because that was a nice change of pace to the gameplay.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not so bad Survivalist 5/10 Heisen
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great game, it's worth way more than what it sells!!
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I really enjoyed this game, took a while to get into it and follow the story line I also have type one diabetes and following alice gives me hope that I will too survive if zombies take over the world. Really good game made by one person 10/10 I am looking forward survivalist two being finished
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game changed my life. Ever since this game came out all I can do is play Survivalist from the moment I wake up, to the moment I fall asleep. Originally, I purchased this game to play with my friends but after forcing them to play about five hours in a row, they all decided that they have had enough for the day; however, my intense desire for Survivalist wasn't satisfied. I continued playing countless hours after, honing my skills with AI teammates. Its now been ten days and I haven't…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →There is great potential here for a good game, however the grind of constantly finding meds for one of the main characters, however realistic, means I feel like I'm making no other progress in the game and that's frustrating.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Couldn't get the game to continue past the first mission, at all. Tried several instances and still came up with nothing, reached out on here in an old review just to have an extremely toxic community respond back; whom dev's cheer on others to respond poorly to any negative review if comments are enabled? Uh okay, someone doesn't like constructive critics, not my fault the game doesn't work. I've played countless survival games in my time, this one feels like a poorly managed and made mobile…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I absolutely love this game. I've bought it for all my friends and none of them actually wanted to play it because they're just so put off by the whole intro (and look). You really just gotto play past that and you've got an amazing, OPEN world game. Do I save and reload after every interaction I have? Yes. Do I let the diabetus-chick die everytime because the game lets me and I can't remember her name but why would you when Sarah Slaughter exists? What was my point? pls play
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The Developer abandoned this game when they realized it was very poorly written. So you will go buy the next version, like a good sheep. It is badly out of balance, poor breadcrumbs and game play, and a massive time sink. You play it the way they intended or not at all. Go figure it out yourself, no documentation, very little and restricted support or documentation. Why? Super fast zombies - just figure it out. the game handles your targeting - just figure it out. You want to build your base?…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →#14: Splatoon Raiders Probably my most anticipated game this year and it does not disappoint! I think this has something for series newcomers and veterans alike! I appreciate that there are difficulty options (I played the whole thing on Survivalist and it does live up to it) too! (1)
positive · AI labelView post →I was about to be like "This game is cool and all but it does feel like moseying through the lower levels of Salmon Run" but then I bumped it up to Survivalist and it's a lot more exciting now lmao
positive · AI labelView post →This is not a very good game. And on top of that, bland.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Really tried, but god no Some old games need to stay in the past, and this is definitely one of them, Mechanics are awful, music is wtf, and just the entire thing is confusing as f. Just give it a miss, it is a top down micro manage mishap. Avoid
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A flawed sandbox that you can play with a friend
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Absolutely stellar game once you look past the amateurish / dated graphic style, with quite a deep story (if a bit simplified) that reflects society of today. Sadly two times now I have had late game issues break the game - No progression possible since quest is borked due to doing things out of order, which is 100% possible in such an open ended game. Kind of defeats the concept of the kind of game sadly, when you must look up 'quest guides' to see how / where you messed up and have to reload…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →An amazing game I have played again and again over the years since it's release. Never gets old. This game is the grandpa of Last Day on Earth and Westland Survival
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Looks cheaps, feels cheap, IS cheap. You get what you pay for. I will say, though, that the idea of this game is excellent, which is why I bought it. If this game had been made by a team, with more polish and balance, it would be an amazing game. As it is, it's clunky and slow. Once you really get going, you'll spend most of your time managing your community. That's exactly what attracted me, but managing your community is really poorly designed, so it's very tedious to do.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In a weird way I would recommend Tales Of Maj'Eyal, Tangledeep, Golden Krone Hotel or Shattered Pixel Dungeon *<-- free and open source* as good ways to dive into this kind of game, and have more fun learning the mechanics, Caves Of Qud overwhelms me too which might make my main suggestion sound insane but *shrugs*... https://store.steampowered.com/app/259680/Tales_of_MajEyal/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/628770/Tangledeep/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/497800/Golden_Krone_Hotel/…
neutral · AI labelView post →This is more of a first impressions but I just picked this game on discount n its a very interesting sandbox. Here's my early experience: The game starts me with a gentleman in a suit in the middle of nowhere in the Sonoran desert n his car crashed n after an easy zombie fight, I loot a gun n a fair amount of ammo from that then the game asks me to follow a marker so I decide to go opposite to the marker instead then the game warns me its recommended I go in the marker's direction but I don't…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Try Outward! It's a eurojank, old-school, semi open world RPG that's often on sale bundled with all the DLC, and it has SPLIT SCREEN COUCH CO-OP??? Or try Survivalist Invisible Strain, an indie zombie survival game that feels like Zomboid meets The Sims! There's so many good games out there!
neutral · AI labelView post →Day 1 of Splatoon Raiders booked. BANGER AS HELL game, already another game top contender, this is a PvEers DREAM game, so MANY mechanics, went 10 hours just having SO MUCH fun even on Survivalist mode & failing stages due to their sheer difficulty. Expect another VERY long stream session tomorrow!💜
positive · AI labelView post →This is one of those indie gems that focuses on the actual survival part of the apocalypse. It’s not about flashy graphics; it’s about managing people and resources. It can be a bit of a grind to keep everyone fed and happy, but the simulation is deep enough to keep you coming back to see how your community holds up. [The Breakdown] Graphics: Potato-friendly Gameplay: Addictive survival mechanics Story: Solid for an indie title Difficulty: Hard to master Grind: Heavy Worth the price?…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is not a game it is a test of willingness, it not hard nor easy but time consuming, the g key will be your friend and I will Invite him to my wedding. This game is a mixture of zombie games Dead Rising 2 = gameplay mechanic Kateys Zomberx but with insulin Days Gone a little = story/factions they even suck in both I hate the factions more in this game than DG State Of Decay = world GAMEPLAY Like The Sims™ but dam if the gameplay loop is run to one location then forgetting…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →By the way, the classes in the game (that are available) are Landsknecht Survivalist Protector Dark Hunter Medic Alchemist Troubadour I all ready have a medic and a alchemist and I think there is a max of 5 party members
neutral · AI labelView post →Survivalist, developed by Bob and published by Ginormocorp Incorporated, offers a gritty and immersive take on the post-apocalyptic RPG genre, blending open-world exploration with tactical combat and complex survival mechanics. The game puts you in the shoes of Joe Wheeler, a self-interested hedge fund manager who emerges from his personal bunker one year after society has collapsed. What follows is a harsh and unpredictable journey through a world teetering on the edge of chaos, where players…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →8/10 - Very good zombie apocalypse game, with a nice story. The controls take some getting used to, but otherwise very recommended.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →man, I just heard about "I Am Your Beast" and the premise legit seems like the dev just wanted to make a game about the Survivalist from the Honest Hearts DLC in New Vegas which is cool as hell
neutral · AI labelView post →This is a cheap and old game, and as such you can't expect much.. I've played it for two hours, and from the first second I found the controls very cumbersome and the overall layout of the game is annoying. The battles are horrible. But hey, it's cheap and old, so might be worth it if you are into survival games. This was not for me.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A very well made cartoony top-down shooter game with plenty possibilieties. It may look not like it deserves ur attention, but believe me - this game is actually pretty good. Don't mind graphics and controls - after that it will be hard to stop to play =) Keep in mind that only 1 person made this game on XNA
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A truly great survival builder game. Slimmed down mechanics and simple combat put the focus on exploration, characters and story. Plus: this game contains one of the most mind-shattering "wait - what the hell?" moments I can remember from any game. Ever. Absolute recommendation here.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is hellishly bad
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →In my latest video I got to play Survivalist: Invisible Strain, a game that is equal parts jank and neat mechanics. #indiegames youtu.be/BKDtcm0_edM
neutral · AI labelView post →A pretty chaotic mix but I tried to imagine games that would deeply reward close engagement over long stretches, a game like Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead is a game you can come back to again and again for the rest of your life! ::: spoiler long list ___ Farm Together 2 https://store.steampowered.com/app/2418520/Farm_Together_2/ Survivalist Invisible Strain https://store.steampowered.com/app/1054510/Survivalist_Invisible_Strain/ Chronicon https://store.steampowered.com/app/375480/Chronicon/ Apico…
neutral · AI labelView post →Beat the main story of Splatoon Raiders today and I think this image summarises my thoughts. Also, Survivalist was the perfect difficulty level for me. It certainly made me work for it but at the same time it never felt too challenging.
positive · AI labelView post →I guess I gotta be the one guy going to bat for Survivalist. I revisited your video on the older game and I really wanna see if their design sensibilities sharpened or not
neutral · AI labelView post →In the post-game of Raiders, I guess maybe the difficulty is the point because you are otherwise doing the same stuff you've been doing the rest of the game but with the intensity cranked up, but it's lame that they enforce Survivalist Difficulty for them. Just let me play the difficulty I selected?
negative · AI labelView post →“Bigs Bunny” / “Wahder, Wahder, Everywhere” “Porky the Disorderly” / “Game, Set, Wabbit” “Lucky Duck” / “Free Range Foghorn” “Love It or Survivalist It” / “The Porklight[“ “Best Bugs” / “Lewis and Pork” “Daffy the Stowaway” / “Superscooter 3000” “Hoggin’ the Road” / “Timmmmmmbugs”
neutral · AI labelView post →going live soon checking out Survivalist: #InvisibleStrain, a recent indie colony sim set in a zombie apocalypse! big thanks to @keymailer.bsky.social for providing me with a copy of the game to play for you tonight! tune in only on #Twitch - twitch.tv/zachopotamus...
positive · AI labelView post →Survivalist is an engaging post-apocalyptic survival RPG where you build a community, make moral choices, and face characters who remember your actions, though its simple graphics and sometimes weak AI make it more appealing to those who value story and impactful decisions over polish.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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