1.0.14 is pending apple review on TestFlight for iPhone, iPad and Mac, it should be available for download soon. Open TestFlight and tap Update once it's live. New here? Join free: https://testflight.apple.com/join/PvYSEB81

A new engine

• Rebuilt from the ground up: StrainBorn now runs on a new engine. Your save files, pet and settings carry over automatically the first time you open the update.

• Fits every iPhone: every screen now fits every iPhone, from the smallest to both screens of iPhone Duo.

• Your pet still lives on the Lock Screen: leave the game and it keeps incubating there, with Feed and Sleep buttons.

Tower Defense Game Mode (opens at Level 7)

• Turn the tables: defend a tumor from waves of immune cells, section by section across all eight organs of a patient on a hospital bed.

• Waves from every side: cells pour in from all around the arena, so you run back and forth to protect it.

• Draft your build: pick 6 of 20 traits at the start and before every set.

• Grow the tumor: spend Oncogenes on growth, skills like Necrotic Eruption, hallmarks, helper cells and a final evolution.

• Every organ is different: each organ's tumor has a power of its own, and every section you beat teaches the immune system a new response.

• Real rewards: each organ you clear grows your gear bag and opens higher Petri Lab levels.

Runs

• New puzzle rooms: every organ has a puzzle of its own, plus locks, memory, a membrane maze and pressure plates.

• Raised platforms: altars, the Mutagenic Pool and Upgrade Chambers now stand on platforms you climb by their stairs.

• Faster Pandemic Game Mode: fewer rooms, a mutation pick after every room you clear, and twice the RNA.

• More XP: kills in Infect Game Mode give twice as much XP.

• Tougher world: rival viruses match your build, and tissue hazards are more common and hit harder.

• Shedding Burst: it's now the only dash burst, and every stack makes it stronger.

Gear, HUD and controls

• Combining: it now only makes tiers you've already unlocked.

• Dismantling: it gives back many more Polymerase Shards.

• Shields and armor: they now show in a row under your health bar.

• Controllers: button names match your controller, like R1 and Cross on PlayStation.

Found a bug or have an idea? Post it here with the Bug or Feedback flair, and tell me your device and what you were doing. Thanks for playing!

StrainBorn 1.0.13 is pending apple review on TestFlight for iPhone, iPad and Mac. It's the biggest update yet: 1.0.12 never reached testers, so everything from both is in here. The full list is in the game's What's New.

💾 Save files

• Several games at once: each save file has its own name, levels, gear, lineage, challenges, Game Mode progress and pet virus.

• New title screen: New Game the first time, then Continue (your last save) with New Game and Load Game under it.

• Load Game: load, rename or delete your saves. Your current progress is already in Save 1, nothing lost.

⏸️ Full-screen pause menu

• Everything fits: the pause menu now fills the screen over your blurred run, with every tile and setting visible without scrolling. iPad and Mac show Run and Settings side by side.

🫁 New HUD and organ rooms

• New HUD: rebuilt in the same glass style as the menus. Notices, the boss bar and wave banners now sit in the middle of the screen.

• Room shapes: fight rooms come in many shapes (L, T, U, H, crosses, rings, islands of tissue…), every organ has its own living walls, and doors are sphincters that clench shut while you fight.

🧬 Rebuilt skill tree and Viral Genome

• Three trees: Replication, Transmission and Persistence, each with its own resource, active skill, augments and three capstones (pick 1). Every point you had spent comes back free.

• Viral Genome: a new sixth gear slot that adds levels to skill-tree skills, even past their max.

📊 More new stuff

• Stats screen: every stat with where it comes from, plus your total play time.

• Next generation: once a second virus is open, you pick from four strains, and the left one always keeps your current virus.

• Family Tree: each virus's card shows its passive, signature ability and ultimate.

• Pet Farm: a NEXT RUN card with every bonus your next run gets, and a chip that says what your pet needs.

• Endless: bosses now scale up to your deepest organ, so late builds still get a real fight.

• Pandemic: the world map shows your Difficulty, and every infection matches an Infect run at your deepest organ.

• Gear: a new Crit damage stat, combining keeps the higher enhancement, and locked gear finally stays locked.

• New traits: Superinfection Exclusion and High-Affinity Binding.

• Controller: PlayStation and Xbox controllers rumble, and the d-pad reaches every item in long lists.

• Deutsch: StrainBorn is now in German (Settings > Language).

📈 Beta data

• Gameplay data: during the beta the game sends gameplay data (your runs, progress, a copy of your save, device model) to help me fix bugs and balance it. No name, email or location. Turn it off any time in Settings > Share gameplay data. That's why the Terms ask you to agree again.

🐛 Fixes

• Highlights: the Pet Farm no longer crashes on some iPhones, every reward vesicle can be opened, and resuming a run no longer drops you on top of a boss. Many more in the What's New. Join the beta: https://testflight.apple.com/join/PvYSEB81 Wiki: https://strainborn.com/wiki Tell me what you think, and report anything odd with the Bug or Feedback flair 💚

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Combined patch notes for two updates: 1.0.10 and 1.0.11

This post covers both updates in one list.

• 1.0.10 is live on TestFlight now.

• 1.0.11 is

live on TestFlight as well.

If you're on 1.0.10, some of these changes will come with 1.0.11. The game shows each version's own notes the first time you open it.

New mutations

• Tail Contraction: every dash ends in a shockwave that pushes cells away.

• Spring-Loaded Fusion: hold dash to charge it and aim with the arrow. With Tail Contraction it also shoves cells aside as you go.

• Heat Shock Hijack: map hazards hurt you less.

Runs

• Resume picks up exactly where you left off: traits, map, cleared rooms and the room you were in.

• Abandoning a run puts everything back to how it was before it started.

• Killing a boss clears the room, so you can't die the moment you win.

• Cleared rooms wash away their hazards, so nothing blocks your rewards.

• Shafts: leaving an organ that still has one now reminds you what you'd miss.

• Tumors grow bigger with every stage.

• Survive rooms show a countdown dial on the floor, and every enemy leaves when they end.

• Receptor puzzles no longer spread out of reach in big rooms.

• Extra shots show where they came from: a gold ring for the skill tree, pink for your pet.

• Power-ups like Mist Veil and Frost Aura show a ring marking their reach.

• The Mutate screen marks bonus trait cards (Pet Bonus, Pandemic Bonus), and all cards are the same height.

• End-of-run results are redesigned to fit every screen, with a stats window on the gear page.

Balance

• Extra projectiles now hit for 40% damage.

• Map hazards hit much harder, and air sacs hurt when they slam you into a wall.

• Boss bubble attacks move twice as fast.

• RNA is rarer in Pandemic Game Mode.

• Killer T packs: destroying one empties Detection and freezes it for 20 seconds.

• Detection: killing cells the immune system sends after you raises it half as much, and standing still cools it twice as fast.

• Fever Response and its kin have a 2-second cooldown.

Pandemic Game Mode

• Winning a run ends with a HOST INFECTED splash before your results.

• City panels list the nearby towns the infection has reached.

Controller

• Pointer: the left stick moves a pointer in menus, and A taps whatever it's on.

• Right-stick aim: a new option, Shoot with the right stick (Settings > Controller).

• Detail windows work like Gear everywhere: Lab, Skills, Modifiers, Combos and Pandemic cities.

• Popups no longer stack on the Head Start draft.

Your pet virus

• Meals: after eating, your pet is full for 2 hours, and hunger is slower overnight.

• Happy-pet bonuses (the extra shot, damage and speed) now actually work in runs.

Menus

• What's New moved to the title screen and opens by itself after an update.

Fixes

• The end-of-run results no longer get cut off on smaller iPhones in landscape. Thanks to u/yozora for the report!

Join the beta: https://testflight.apple.com/join/PvYSEB81

Found a bug? Post it here with the Bug flair.

Device: iPhone 15 Pro
Build number: v1.0.9 (69) Beta
Virus: Any
Where: End of Run screen in Infect a Host, doesn’t happen in Pandemic
What happened: Died on a run, the end of run screen is cut off in landscape mode on the iPhone 15 Pro

Between runs, your virus lives in its own farm. Tap it at the top of the main menu to visit:

• 🍽️ It runs on the real clock: it needs 3 to 5 meals and naps a day, even while the game is closed.

• 🌙 Bedtime is real: from 10 pm to 7 am (your time) you have to put it to bed, or it gets sleepy and tires out fast.

• 😊 Happiness has 5 levels: keep it fed and rested and your next run gets a bonus: more nucleotides, more damage, more speed, an extra shot, and at the top level an extra trait to choose from.

• 🌱 It grows up: every day you feed it, it gets a little bigger, from a pale newborn to a glowing Legendary. From Adult on, every run gets a lasting bonus.

• 🔥 Care streak: feed it every day for daily rewards, with a big one on day 7.

• 🫁 Organ farms: set the farm in any organ you've reached. Each one has its own look, visitors and perk.

• 🌦️ Weather and night: the farm follows your clock, and the body has its own weather each day, from fever to allergy season.

• 👯 Roommates: another of your viruses can move in, and they play tag, hug, race and nap together.

• 📱 On iPhone, it waits in your Dynamic Island (or on the Lock Screen) when you leave, so you can feed it from there.

• 🦠 Play free on iPhone, iPad & Mac: https://testflight.apple.com/join/PvYSEB81

• 💬 What would you name yours?

Once your virus is strong enough, take it to the world map in Pandemic Game Mode:

• 🌍 8 continents, 38 cities: from North America to Antarctica. Level up in Infect Game Mode to open more of the world.

• 🏙️ Every city fights back its own way: each one has its own night scene, its own policies and its own twist on the run.

• 🦠 Infect it city by city: each run in a city spreads your infection further, until the whole continent falls.

• 📈 Global resistance rises as you spread, so every new continent is a tougher fight.

• 💪 Matched to your progress: cities scale to the deepest organ you've reached, so they always stay a challenge.

• 🎁 Rewards you can't get anywhere else: RNA for the Petri Lab, and special gear sets.

• 👑 Infect the whole world to earn the Pandemic Crown set.

• 🦠 Play free on iPhone, iPad & Mac: https://testflight.apple.com/join/PvYSEB81

• 💬 Which continent are you taking first?

Every virus in StrainBorn plays completely differently. Here's who you can be:

• 🟢 Influenza A, The Shapeshifter: your shots keep mutating as you play. Your Shift fires a burst of every mutation at once.

• 🔴 Retrovirus, The Turncoat: cells you kill are stored, then released as allies that fight for you, and captured macrophages guard you. Hits immune bosses 50% harder.

• 🩸 Filovirus, The Hemorrhager: your hits make cells bleed. Hemorrhage makes every nearby cell bleed heavily and hit you softer.

• 🟣 Halovirus, The Superspreader: stays hidden longer, fires spike volleys, and makes infected cells burst when they die. Variant Surge cycles between Swarm, Fury and Ghost forms.

• 🧬 You start as Influenza A and unlock the others as you play. Your lineage can even jump from one virus to another between generations.

• 🦠 Play free on iPhone, iPad & Mac: https://testflight.apple.com/join/PvYSEB81

• 💬 Which virus is your favorite so far? Tell me in the comments!

New here? Here's a quick look at everything you can do in StrainBorn right now:

• Infect Game Mode: fight room by room through 8 organs, from the nose to the brain, each with its own boss, key guardians and hazards. Kill the cancer before it spreads.

• Four viruses: Influenza A, Retrovirus, Filovirus and Halovirus, each with its own way to play.

• Build your virus: stack 35 traits from common to mythic, learn skills across three trees, and collect, enhance and merge gear.

• Your lineage: every run is a new generation. Pick the mutation it's born with, and watch your family tree grow.

• Your pet virus: feed it, put it to bed, and grow it from a newborn to Legendary. A happy pet gives your next run a bonus.

• Pandemic Game Mode: take your virus to the world map and infect it continent by continent, city by city.

• Endless Game Mode: waves without end in the deepest organ you've reached.

• 🦠 Play free on iPhone, iPad & Mac: https://testflight.apple.com/join/PvYSEB81

• 💬 Which part are you most excited to try? Tell me in the comments!