Survivalist: Invisible Strain is a Survival Sandbox Simulation Game developed by Bob The PR Bot and is the 2020 follow up sequel to the original game Survivalist. The game takes place 10 years after the Zombie Apocalypse began, and settlements of survivors are collapsing one by one from the mysterious "Invisible Strain". You play as yet another refugee from one of the said settlements, and your goal is to carve out a new life for yourself in the wastelands... by any means necessary.
There are currently two game modes: Sandbox and Story. Sandbox gives you a vast, randomly generated world for you to explore, while Story Mode is set in a fixed map with a more linear plot, continuing the events of the previous installment.
Survivalist: Invisible Strain contains examples of the following tropes:
- After the End: The game takes place 10 years into the Zombie Apocalypse.
- And Then John Was a Zombie: If a character dies while carrying an infection, they will rise as a zombie shortly after.
- Anyone Can Die: ANYONE. Not even the plot-important characters in Story Mode or the Player Character are safe. If someone dies or turns, you can't bring them back.
- Armies Are Useless: Averted. The remnants of F.E.M.A., which is the closest thing there is to an army, is shown holding out well against the zombies and the people in there are living in relative comfort. Shame that most of them are Jerkasses. Subverted if you complete the "Unite Or Die!" quest, which involves defeating FEMA in order to take green passes by force.
- Artificial Stupidity: While the NPCs are oftenly praised for being realistic, they still suffer from some... issues. For example, they can easily be overwhelmed and killed by Green Strain zombies, the weakest type there is, if they are alone and don't have a loaded gun/bow.
- Downer Ending: By the end of Story Mode, you are forced to either betray and abandon everyone else in order to reach a FEMA safe zone or hit the road after Moose Valley becomes completely overrun by Invisible Strain infected.
- Choke Holds: You can choke a person/zombie unconscious by sneaking up behind them and pressing "Choke Hold", which prompts a QTE. Succeeding results in said person/zombie getting knocked out for a while. However, if you fail, your target will break free and every single enemy around will be alerted to your presence.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The colors of the zombies' eyes (and their mini map symbols) will tell you which tier of infection they are carrying.
- Cutting Off the Branches: In story mode it's confirmed that the "Follow Your Heart" ending from the previous game is the canon one, and Connie, Isham, Sarah, Juanita, Eleanor and others joined Joe's on his journey and survived the trip.
- Darker and Edgier: The second game clearly has a bleaker tone to it compared to the first one, which was pretty much your average Adventure Game with the occasional scare here and there.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Several examples.
- One of the dating sidequests involves helping your girlfriend/boyfriend confront their ex and take care of unfinished business. If the Random Number God is kind to you, you might get something as simple as helping them leave on good terms, but at worst the ex could be revealed to be downright abusive, forcing you to kill them and their posse. The name for this quest is even titled "(Insert Character's Name)'s Dark Past"!
- One of the friendship sidequests involves your friend asking you for back-up to deal with a tracking party coming after them, sent by slavers they previously escaped from.
- Kelly Salas from Story Mode can be tell you about her backstory if you max out her Relationship Values and agree to her plan of taking down F.E.M.A.: F.E.M.A. tried to force her to marry and have kids. She planned to agree to the marriage first and ditch him after she reaches a Quarantine Zone, but her green pass application was rejected when they discovered she was infertile. After revealing this, Kelly shuts down the conversation and refuses to elaborate further.
- Due to the Dead: Burying a deceased community member increases your community's opinion of you.
- Hypocrite: Survivors with this trait will be upset if somebody else commits an immoral deed, such as murdering an innocent person, stealing from another community, or lying, but will be perfectly fine with doing the very same things themselves.
- Last Disrespects: If a character Talking to the Dead at a grave has a low opinion of the dead person, they will spit on their grave.
- Mood-Swinger: Characters with the 'Bipolar' trait are this, and their morale bonuses/penalties are greater/more severe. Kelly Sala from Story Mode is a notable example: she is introduced trying to rob you. After defeating and sparing her she immediately becomes more friendly, offering to be your guide. Some of the dialog implies this behavior is caused by a mental disorder, as Emma mentions worrying about Kelly having "one of her episodes" and Kelly herself admits to drinking a lot then forgetting stuff.
- Multiple Persuasion Modes: Most scenarios only offer you one or two of the following options, but you have the choice to reason, threaten, lie, bribe, or seduce your way out of a situation.
- Our Zombies Are Different: They can sprint, have color-coded eyes, can be killed through means other than Removing the Head or Destroying the Brain, and their bites can be cured with antigens... Most of the time, anyways.
- Orange And Blue Morality: Characters with the "Amoral" trait are this, including Kelly Salas from Story Mode. She is apparently okay with robbing others, constantly lying, manipulating people for her own benefit, and committing mass murder, but thinks it's cruel to cancel her best friend Emma O'Connor's green pass application.
- Permadeath: Dead or fully zombified characters cannot be revived. The best you can do is bury their corpses and pay your respects.
- Pregnant Badass: Emma O'Connor is a pregnant woman with some decent combat skills.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: "The Real Treasure" plot line is this. After facing off many dangerous obstacles and successfully obtaining anonymous green passes, Paul Powers tells you that the passes are outdated and therefore invalid.
- The "trapped" questline is also this. Carter Moreno promises you green passes in exchange for finding the stranger. When you actually bring him the stranger's corpse, he admits that he didn't really think you could find him and refuses to give you anything other than adding you to the "waiting list".
- The Sociopath: Characters with the 'Sociopathic' trait are essentially this. They will refuse to give someone medical attention, food, or water without payment, even if said someone is on the brink of death, as long as the person doesn't belong in the same community as them. More sympathetic dialog options are also disabled while you play as them.
- Stealth-Based Mission: To complete the "You Don't Need a Weatherman" quest, you need to plant the gold necklace into Christina Riley's backpack without anyone finding out. This requires you to sneak up behind her while no-one is watching, choke her unconscious, put the necklace into her backpack, and then sneak out the fort again without being detected.
- Sudden Sequel Heel Syndrome: The gang from the last game returns... as a camp of looters, led by Joe Wheeler himself. Joe can reveal that his search for Alice Ivers went nowhere and the Survivalists are now just simply trying to get by like everyone else.
- Third-Person Person: Charlie Gant from Story Mode, who often refers to himself as "poor old Charlie".
- Wizard Needs Food Badly: All survivors need to manage their hunger, thirst, sleep deprivation, and temperature meters to survive.
- Wham Line: "Your kind has had its day. It's our turn now!"
- This line from Story Mode, near the very end: "You're not going anywhere!"
- Yandere: Survivors with the traits "Aggressive", "Flirty", "Jealous", "Bipolar", and "Amoral" are basically this.
- Exploited in "You Don't Need a Weatherman". The whole point of the questline is to find a way to make Jeremiah, a paranoid and controlling man, suspect his wife Christina of having an affair with a leader of another faction in order to trigger a war between the two groups.
- Zombie Infectee: Downplayed with normal strains of the infection. If someone gets bit, they will still eventually expire and come back, but if you administer the right antigen before they completely turn they can be cured and saved. For Invisible Strain however, it's different. The Virus doesn't affect their higher brain functions or their physical appearance, but the infected develop Lack of Empathy and Ax-Crazy tendencies, as well as a desire to actively bite infect others secretly, one by one. This can quickly become your settlement's demise if you
recruited the wrong people.
