Icarus (video game)

The planet Icarus is located 4 light years from Earth, and was once terraformed in an attempt to make it hospitable to life from Earth.[4] Something went wrong, however, and rare materials not found on Earth called “exotics” interfered with the terraforming process. Ultimately, players investigate these exotics and impact to life on Icarus, and attempt to acquire them for eventual sale back on Earth.[5]

Icarus is a session-based survival game, where most gameplay occurs during timed missions. Players accept contracts for missions on a space station orbiting the planet, and drop down to its terrain to attempt the objectives.[6] Once a mission timer is complete, the drop-pod returns to the station. If the player fails to return in time, their character’s body is left on the surface and their progress is lost.

To survive while on the surface, players must gather resources including oxygen, food and water, and seek or construct shelter from the hostile environment.[7] Players have the usual health and stamina bars, which can be depleted by taking damage or by perfoming tasks like mining. Transplanted wildlife on the planet is often hostile, and a variety of storms also pose dangers to the player. Players who do not seek shelter from storms suffer movement and stamina debuffs, and spending too much time in certain storms will deplete health.

Elements of the game world are persistent, such as the locations of caves and lakes; others are procedurally generated, including the mineral formations found in those caves.[8] The scope of the playable map also varies between missions. Nothing the player does or builds persists on the surface between missions.[9]

Initially, the player is supplied with nothing except an exposure suit, and they must harvest materials essential to survival.[7] As they progress, their character can unlock talents that improve their abilities, and access crafting blueprints that enable more advanced tools, weapons, and materials.[10] On subsequent missions they retain their talents and blueprints, but begin most missions with little in the way of material supplies.

Hall and his team at RocketWerkz began development of Icarus in their New Zealand studio in 2018, and announced Icarus on June 13, 2021 at the PC Gaming Show. [11] In interviews, Hall suggested the survival genre he helped pioneer with DayZ still held his interest. He also indicated the survival games face limitations in how they challenge players and introduce new content and concepts.[6]

Initially planned as a free-to-play game,[12] RocketWerkz made the decision in June of 2021 to release Icarus in chapters, with a fixed price for each installment.[9]

• Official website
• Icarus: No Rescue on YouTube