Icarus - PVE Survival

[DaleTheWhale]

ICARUS is a session-based PvE survival game for up to eight co-op players.

Endure a savage alien wilderness on Icarus, humanity’s greatest mistake. Survive its brutal environment as you explore, harvest, craft and hunt while seeking your fortune.

From their orbital station, prospectors drop to the planet surface for limited time sessions, where they learn to endure the alien environment, complete faction missions and search for valuable exotic materials. Those that survive return to orbit as seasoned veterans, converting their exotics into advanced technology, and taking on ever more challenging drops with newfound knowledge. Those that get left behind... are lost forever.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1149460/ICARUS/

https://surviveicarus.com/

Anybody been playing the BETA weekends? Game looks super promising and has scratched an itch I've had for a proper survival PVE game for a long time.

 

[Alan McFall]

Looks interesting, think i'll sign up

 

[Tombstone]

I've watched many streams of this and it looks pretty good, the mechanics and gameplay look good, the only thing that bugs me about it is that you come from a spaceship, you fly down in a pod and land on the planet and then for some reason you have to craft a stone axe and a stone knife etc. Doesnt make sense, why not just bring a futuristic knife and tools from your spaceship. I think they would be better off having it that you crashland on the planet and thats why you have no futuristic tools

 

[bimbleuk]

I tend to watch streamers and not sign up for Betas pre-release and similar so have watched Flipse & Capac Amaru (co-op).

Looks good and devs have fixed a couple of things mentioned by Flipse (setting trees a light) and one dev joined the chat too to say they were helpful streams.

Anyway looks good and weather affects will be a big part of course. Currently most annoying things are the animal AI is pants with bad pathing. Easy kiting of bears for example by swimming in circles assuming water is near.

 

[bimbleuk]

I've watched many streams of this and it looks pretty good, the mechanics and gameplay look good, the only thing that bugs me about it is that you come from a spaceship, you fly down in a pod and land on the planet and then for some reason you have to craft a stone axe and a stone knife etc. Doesnt make sense, why not just bring a futuristic knife and tools from your spaceship. I think they would be better off having it that you crashland on the planet and thats why you have no futuristic tools

Believe the limited backstory is to do with planet terraforming, exotic materials and being given limited initial mining permits or something before progressing to harder biomes/maps/areas.

 

[DaleTheWhale]

I've watched many streams of this and it looks pretty good, the mechanics and gameplay look good, the only thing that bugs me about it is that you come from a spaceship, you fly down in a pod and land on the planet and then for some reason you have to craft a stone axe and a stone knife etc. Doesnt make sense, why not just bring a futuristic knife and tools from your spaceship. I think they would be better off having it that you crashland on the planet and thats why you have no futuristic tools

As bimbleuk says, the idea is that you're part of the first cohort onto the planet to make your fortune but you spend everything on getting to Icarus so start without absolutely nothing but a one way ticket (The company sending you see you as nothing more than another grunt to make them money so have plans to help you). I'm hoping that after your first landing and return to the 'mothership' you have the ability to use the money made on exotics to purchase some fancier tools to start you off quicker on your next landing etc. or just keep the items in your lander as it's quite easy to get iron/steel tools and better armour.

Edit: The AI does need a bit of work, but the tweaks they made this weekend were good for the bears. Hopefully it continues to improve, but overall wasn't too bad once you get a better bow/knife to handle the wolves and bears.

 

[Tombstone]

As bimbleuk says, the idea is that you're part of the first cohort onto the planet to make your fortune but you spend everything on getting to Icarus so start without absolutely nothing but a one way ticket (The company sending you see you as nothing more than another grunt to make them money so have plans to help you). I'm hoping that after your first landing and return to the 'mothership' you have the ability to use the money made on exotics to purchase some fancier tools to start you off quicker on your next landing etc. or just keep the items in your lander as it's quite easy to get iron/steel tools and better armour.

Edit: The AI does need a bit of work, but the tweaks they made this weekend were good for the bears. Hopefully it continues to improve, but overall wasn't too bad once you get a better bow/knife to handle the wolves and bears.

Well I get that but hell, you would think that you would still be able to afford to bring a modern axe or knife or pickaxe, doesnt make much sense does it really. I mean the Americans who went to make their fortune during the Goldrush days gave up everything to go look for gold but they still brought axes, pickaxes, shovels and a weapon with them, they didnt just turn up and start making stone pickaxes and a stone knife. Which ever way you cut the lore its daft that I fly through space, jettison down to the planet in a pod, wearing a hi-tech spacesuit but have to then make a stone age knife and axe. I mean I am not a wealthy person but I can go to my kitchen now and get a metal knife, or to my shed and get a metal pickaxe, seems weird to me that in the future I have to make a stone axe because my spaceship doesnt have a metal one.

 

[DaleTheWhale]

Well I get that but hell, you would think that you would still be able to afford to bring a modern axe or knife or pickaxe, doesnt make much sense does it really. I mean the Americans who went to make their fortune during the Goldrush days gave up everything to go look for gold but they still brought axes, pickaxes, shovels and a weapon with them, they didnt just turn up and start making stone pickaxes and a stone knife. Which ever way you cut the lore its daft that I fly through space, jettison down to the planet in a pod, wearing a hi-tech spacesuit but have to then make a stone age knife and axe. I mean I am not a wealthy person but I can go to my kitchen now and get a metal knife, or to my shed and get a metal pickaxe, seems weird to me that in the future I have to make a stone axe because my spaceship doesnt have a metal one.

100% agree, I think it would be good for the lore if they just gave you a basic survival kit for when you land. Something along the lines of a basic axe/pick that's as good as iron but isn't repairable until you get the repair anvil so you can do some stuff with it but might need stone to fill in the gaps & then some bandages, a water skin and a bit of food (chocolate bar/sandwich style). I do like that making the initial tools is very simple though and they're repairable, but it does take away from the story a little bit.

 

[Tombstone]

100% agree, I think it would be good for the lore if they just gave you a basic survival kit for when you land. Something along the lines of a basic axe/pick that's as good as iron but isn't repairable until you get the repair anvil so you can do some stuff with it but might need stone to fill in the gaps & then some bandages, a water skin and a bit of food (chocolate bar/sandwich style). I do like that making the initial tools is very simple though and they're repairable, but it does take away from the story a little bit.

Yup, that would make sense, you bring some metal tools which have a limited span until they break, so you have to either have reached the ability to repair them by then or then have to make basic tools. That makes far more sense to me than its the 25th century and I dont have a metal axe in my spaceship, thats as illogical to me as when you see a future sci-fi film and they dont have torches attached to their suits/rifles in a dark area despite us having both of those options in 2021. (used to irritate me that the marines in Aliens didnt have lights )

 

[Kainz]

I was up for it until I saw the insane spec requirements. I was hoping this would fill a gap between Satisfactory content updates.

 

[TonyTurbo78]

Looks amazing, I'm definitely interested.

 

[Bickaxe]

Been playing it a bit this weekend.
Looks great, love the crafting, weather is insane.
The animal modelling is very impressive.

Its a huge grind to get up to a decent level before you can survive fully though, the xp deficit when you die can be brutal.
I've been eaten by far too many bears (taken out just as many).
The storms will ruin your little hut you need to shelter in and bears will shred it on seconds.
Thirst and oxygen are an ongoing concern. Find a water source and stay near it at the early levels.

So far, very much enjoying it, more so than Ark and No Man's Sky.

 

[Tombstone]

I was up for it until I saw the insane spec requirements. I was hoping this would fill a gap between Satisfactory content updates.

Update 5 soon.....

 

[Datamonkey]

Surprised this thread isnt busier.

Does the Beta weekend start tomorrow or on Sat?

 

[Random Guy Esq.]

Is this the new one from the Day Z guy?

Edit: Dean Hall, and yes it is.

 

[Digital X]

Might jump on this this, looks really good. Arctic biome sounds fun to play in.

Beta weekend starts on the 25th, unsure of the time though. Saw this game mentioned a bit but never really looked into it much and now I may have to purchase it.

 

[Datamonkey]

It looks stunning, lots of streamers have got coverage up on it.

The environment looks stunning, the fact that lightning can destroy your base sold it to me

 

[jasoncb]

How is the co-op in this game? If its any good might give it a try.

 

[Bickaxe]

Beta 2 was good, felt like a full game similar to Ark.
There are still some issues though as the bears are relentless and the respawn penalty to high.

Not sure how the cold environment will work, can see many frost bitten players not being happy if that's where you spawn as it takes too long to level up to where you need to be for that environment.

 

[DaleTheWhale]

BETA Weekend #3 - Arctic

The arctic has been the most anticipated biome from our community. It’s home to a Mammoth, Polar Bears, Wolves, its own weather events like blizzards, and ice caves. Yes, that’s right! Ice caves!

Patch Notes

• All prospects have been cleared
• Characters who were on drops have been returned to the station ready to head to a new prospect with their current talent and skill unlocks intact
• Buildings constructed on cliff-faces will no longer destroy themselves when players reload into the prospect
• Animals will no longer try to path through dropships
• When placing a full Oxygen Tank into a hotbar slot, it will now fill the player’s oxygen to 100%
• Left clicking the Oxygen Tank in the hotbar now consumes oxygen
• Lightning can no longer destroy items inside caves
• Arrows will no longer duplicate when they are recovered from skinned corpses
• Players can no longer be struck by lightning while inside a house
• Logged out players no longer show as a dead prospector
• Logged out players no longer show as a dead marker on the map
• Players no longer fall through the world when reloading their prospect into a cave
• Animals can no longer attempt to path through cave voxel coverings
• Animal corpses now despawn after 10 minutes
• Animal corpses no longer respawn when the player reloads into the prospect
• Repaired building pieces (floor, wall, beam etc) can now also stack with newly crafted building pieces inside the player’s inventory
• Rifle rounds now break on hit

Quality of Life Updates

• Modular Kitchens
• Functional Curtains

https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1149460/view/2900871576032347734

Also

The BETA is up early (released about 20 minutes ago), you can load it early by opting into the experimental branch of the BETA (Right click Icarus Beta -> Properties -> BETA -> Enter password: danceswithwolves -> load Experimental) which will update the games files. They're currently verifying it's all OK before releasing the update outside of experimental so expect a few updates first.

Otherwise, it will go live at 5PM PDT / 1AM BST as planned.

Edit: Experimental is having issues, worth ignoring for now.