Survivor Strain - Season 1

Roger
3 days ago
4 min read

The End of The World Cannot Stop Lust & Desire

Follow the journey of our main protagonist through the undead apocalypse, facing new challenges behind every corner and likewise with romance but also trouble.

Witness his story as he tries to survive and thrive in the current community that he has been welcomed into. Helping strangers outside during missions and creating new safe houses.

Story - Content

Survivor Strain Season 1 is an apocalyptic visual novel, following our protagonist through three long episodes/chapters.

At the start of his story, we’ll see his backstory while getting some lore/information about the infected and apocalypse all around. We got to know that he and his two friends had gone on vacation and got stuck here because of the outbreak.

During a scavenger mission for a wealthy man who promised the three a way out of this country and back to their home, it goes smoothly until one of the friends screws them over by alerting the alarm.

Everything ended with only our protagonist left alive and roaming the streets until he found a new community where he met Anais, who was just as broken as he was. Together they healed and got their strength and joy back.

From there on, our protagonist needed to find work to be able to sustain a living and food during these harsh and difficult times. And it's here where his story truly begins, where he meets Ethan, who changes his world but also his future.

Try it out yourself to find out more about his story and the spicy scenes that come along his difficult and intimate journey.

Codex

The Codex will be available once every episode; it contains four tabs surrounding the protagonist's tab.

Where it informs you of how many non-infected lives you have taken during the story and if your path is leading towards the Warlord Path or Peacemaker Path.

Characters

Within the characters tab, the player can see the main female characters, their status, age, origin, skills, and relations. Also, a bit of lore about them.

Factions

Factions are currently unavailable in season 1 and only have the title “This will be soon” when entered.

Replay

Replay allows the player to rewatch intimate scenes and remake the decisions during that act of the story. Once the intimate scene is over, the replay ends.

Replay can also be reached from the main menu.

Creatures

The Creatures tab is like the Characters tab; it displays the different types of infected that you have met as of so far.

And displays their Status and Abouts, like Weakness, Intelligence, and Endurance.

Season 1 only displays three types of infected, but the tab holds fourteen cards. So it could be that we’ll encounter more during season 2, or the dev just used the same card format for the characters tab as for the creatures tab.

Visual & Audio

Visuals

For a brief while in the very beginning, I judged the book by its cover. The first images on Steam and the image that loaded while opening the game did give one a second thought if this truly would look any good.

But once I entered the menu, oh lord, my mind changed immediately, and I was hooked on it.

Graphics/Light & Shading

All I can say is fantastic. The light and shading along with the detailed environment and textures for each little detail.

The background props give life to a place or a room, completing the whole theme with its style and placement to truly give the feeling of the end of the world, undead apocalypse. And the feeling of home within protected cities where somewhat of the old life remains.

Characters/Outfits/Texture

A lot of the characters have their own unique body physique, clothing, theme, and backstory. Making the encounter with each and every one different from another.

Their close-up bodily textures, how the light bounces off their skin, and how they shimmer during the times they’re wet from sweat or a shower. The depths and life within their eyes and facial expressions.

Each encounter truly is its own special moment.

Animations/Lewd Scenes

The intimate animations truly are remarkable and look fantastic, but they’re not always smooth and perfect animations.

During the intimate scenes, the animation can shift from unrecognizable smooth continued movement to sprite swapping/frame-by-frame animation.

While during some of the smooth continued movement animations, there are times when it is too obvious that it's a short animation on repeat. Most of these higher-quality animations are done well, though there are a few encounters of these poorly connected high-quality animations.

Audio

Music

The music gives a South American vibe while in the main menu and most of the time during the story.

The reason why I say South American is because it’s a mix between the different and combined/similar styles that are played through the different countries within South America.

Throughout the game, it will change depending on the scenario and its theme, like combat, serious or sad, and vulnerable moments.

While intimate scenes either have their own unique music to them, sometimes fitting and sometimes just something to have in the background. And in some cases, there is no music at all.

Sound Effects

There are no sound effects at all during intimate scenarios or acts; the only sounds that are audible are those of gunfire, machine tools, construction noises, and the infected during particular scenes.

Even with such few sound effects, it still gives more life to everything than not having any sound effects at all.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Story
Music
Animations
Character details/textures
Envrionment details/textures

Cons

Minor Collisions During Animations
Undead Looks Like Vampires On Steroids
Too Little Credits For The Character Artists

My final little thoughts

For being an Indie Developers first self-created and published visual novel, it’s very well done and interesting, both in story and character styles and the graphics in the game.

After finishing season 1, the achievements felt kind of "belt-loaded," as in, if you decided to romance/follow said character's path for all possible ones. The achievements would just unlock one short after another throughout the end of season 1.

But overall, from experiencing the entire season 1, it took approximately 8 hours to finish. The story is good, the music is good, the animations have high-quality and lower-quality scenes, and the graphics are extremely good and detailed.

I cannot say anything else, but I highly recommend this game.

Rating: 9/10

The Only Bad Thing With The Apocalypse... No Condoms......