Surviving High School is a choice-based visual novel with elements of Choose your Own Adventure and interactive fiction. It follows Centerscore High, a typical high school with very recognizable cliques of students. Players control several unique Centerscore students throughout the game. They are given scenarios where they must choose between two or more decisions that may negatively or positively affect the outcome of each story. Stories are presented through episodes, which are grouped within volumes or sets. Volumes typically contain around eight episodes.
Prior to the September 2012 update, the game came with two free playable stories: "The Football Star" and "The New Girl". While both allow the customization of the player character's name, only the former allows the changing of appearance. All further content must be purchased via the in-game store "More Episodes" or downloaded in the Now Airing feature.
On April 30, 2014, it was announced during one of the episodes that the game would be ending soon. The final episode was released in July 2014.