This is my first Survival and from looking at the forums I can tell I'm not the only one who's confused.

Does anyone have a basic guide to Survival? Like what the different features are, how they work, etc. Or if someone could take a few minutes to explain that'd be awesome :)

I would suggest you check out the Survival FAQ post on the Survival forums. It pretty well explains both kissing (which gets you candy hearts to use in Louis' parlor) and viruses.