Icarus

1. Summary

ICARUS is a first-person survival crafting game set on a badly terraformed planet, and most players who review it are glad they bought it. They praise a long climb from stone tools to concrete, electricity and firearms through large tech and talent trees, storms and lightning that can flatten or burn a careless base, and co-op that lets friends split the work. 12% of longer reviews praise the weekly patches and support that, by their account, developer RocketWerkz has kept up since launch, and returning players say the open world mode turned a mission-only game into one where you can keep a home.

Players with big saves describe stutter and frame drops that get worse as a base grows or when friends join a hosted game. Bugs leave characters stuck on trees and rocks, crash the game or eat items. The DLC comes up more than any other subject, in a third of longer reviews: some call the full package far too expensive, and others say the base game holds hundreds of hours on its own. Newcomers struggle with an opening that explains little and locks basic tools behind levels, and long-time players say several technical problems have survived years of patches.

2. What keeps coming up

What players praise

Playing with friendsHigh

25% of longer reviews talk about co-op or playing with friends, partners or family. Groups split the talent trees so one player hunts, another builds and another cooks or tames, and a few reviewers tell of a friend setting the cabin on fire. "Playing with friends is where Icarus really shines," one player wrote. Solo play has its defenders, some of whom point to a talent tree built for solo players, though a few reviewers find the late grind and bosses heavy alone. Players also note that only the host needs to own a map DLC for friends to join that map, and count it in the game's favour.

A long, deep progressionHigh

The tech tree, talents, blueprints or progression come up in 20% of longer reviews, mostly as the reason people keep playing. Players describe tiers that take them from thatch and stone knives to plumbing, power and guns, plus a workshop where mission currency buys gear to carry into new worlds. "The skill and talents system is satisfyingly complex," one reviewer wrote. Critics say the tree is hard to read at first, that it is easy to waste points before you know what matters, and that talent points stop at what they describe as a level cap of 60.

Looks and atmosphereHigh

Graphics, scenery or the world draw comment in 18% of longer reviews. Players single out forests, rivers, night skies and the sound of a storm rolling in; even one negative reviewer conceded "Only a fool would deny how pretty it is". A smaller group finds the image blurry or smeared, foliage especially, and says the visuals do not justify the hardware the game asks for (see Performance below).

Weather that fights backMedium

Wind tears apart thatch huts, lightning sets wooden bases and forests alight, and players learn to rush to stone or carve into a boulder to wait it out; 14% of longer reviews mention storms, weather or lightning. Several positive reviews joke about burning down their own house. "The panic when a flash storm hits and you're far from base is exhilarating," one player wrote. A minority find storms so frequent that early play turns into repair duty.

Taming, mounts and petsMedium

13% of longer reviews mention taming, mounts, pets or breeding. Players enjoy raising wolves, moas, horses and buffalo that fight beside them and carry loads, and a few ranch builders welcomed the breeding genetics that, they say, came with the Mendel update in February 2026. The same animals also turn up in the pathing complaints and sudden losses covered below.

Base buildingMedium

Building bases, houses or cabins is the subject of 12% of longer reviews. Players like upgrading pieces in place, the way materials matter against weather, and the freedom to build anywhere in open world; "Base building is fantastic and highly addictive," one reviewer wrote. A smaller group calls snapping and rotation clunky, dislikes crafting each wall as an inventory item before placing it, and wants more shapes such as half railings and angled pieces.

Weekly updates for yearsMedium

12% of longer reviews mention the update schedule or the developers' support, and they treat the long run of weekly patches as proof the team cares; "Weekly Thursdays updates are always fun to anticipate," one wrote. 7% of longer reviews describe coming back after time away or revising an older review. Some of them say the game has come a long way since launch ("this game has undergone one of the greatest redemption arcs in survival history," one reviewer wrote), while others came back to find old bugs still in place. A few find the weekly downloads large and slow to install.

Where players are split

The DLC and what the base game is worthHigh

34% of longer reviews bring up DLC or expansions, the highest share of any theme counted. One side says too much sits behind payment, listing three of the four maps, the Great Hunts campaigns, some pets and late-game materials, and puts the price of the full set well above the base game's. "Game is alright, but 80% of it is locked behind almost $300 of DLC," one reviewer wrote, and others dislike paid items showing up in the tech tree and a main menu built around a purchase button. Base-game owners also note they cannot get the bundle discount on the editions that include what they already own. The other side says the base game alone holds hundreds of hours, that the cosmetic packs are optional ways to support the studio, and that "only the host of a world needs the DLC. Thats great design." 8% of longer reviews tell readers to buy on sale or wait for one: "Honestly, the game is worth it on sale."

Missions versus open worldHigh

28% of longer reviews talk about missions or operations, and 14% mention the open world mode. Reviewers describe the original design as a timed contract on the planet that wiped your base when you left; some players still love that roguelike loop, and others say it had them rebuilding the same hut over and over. Returning players praise the open world mode, which they say now lets you run most missions from a persistent base. The missions themselves divide people. Fans say they give purpose and teach the systems, "almost like an extended tutorial", while critics describe fetch quests that send you across the map, reveal what you need only on arrival, or turn into an unannounced defence. "missions are wasting your time with long walking," one player wrote.

The grindHigh

Grind, tedium or chores come up in 18% of longer reviews. For one group the grind is the appeal ("AMAZING SUPER GRINDY AND HARD THE WAY IT SHOULD BE"), with slow tiers that make each unlock feel earned. For another it is the main reason to quit: thousands of stone for a single building mission, a long chain of crafting stations, no automation and cave ores that run out. "it's a chore. looking for a second job? this one is for you," one reviewer wrote.

A hostile start with little guidanceMedium

Players land with nothing and can die to wolves, a horse or a bear within minutes, and reviewers say the first objective asks for a crafting bench that unlocks only at level 10. 6% of longer reviews mention tutorials, guidance or needing YouTube and Google to get going. "took me 3hrs to figure out i need to reach level 10 to get the crafting bench lol," one reviewer wrote. Some like that the game does not hold their hand and say it clicks after the first missions; others refunded before reaching that point.

What frustrates players

Bugs, crashes and getting stuckHigh

19% of longer reviews mention bugs, glitches, crashes or getting stuck. Walking near a tree or rock and getting wedged against it is a familiar complaint, along with jokes about the unstuck button; "YOU STILL GET STUCK ON TREES!!!!" one returning player wrote. Others describe Unreal Engine crashes, logs and resources falling through the ground, dead mounts losing their cargo, gear vanishing from the death bag, and multiplayer desync. 2% of longer reviews report losing a base, character or hard-won items to a crash, a bug or an update, which lands hardest on players with hundreds of hours in one world.

PerformanceHigh

Performance, optimisation, frame rate, stutter or lag come up in 17% of longer reviews. Players with recent graphics cards still report stutter and heavy VRAM and RAM use, and some describe freezes during lightning storms; "The game is quite enjoyable IF you simply ignore the horribly optimized graphics engine," one reviewer wrote. Two patterns repeat in long-running saves: frame rate falls as a base fills up ("the more stuff you build in the game, the more unplayable the game is"), and the host loses a large share of frames when friends join, which pushes some groups onto a dedicated server. A few AMD and Linux players report extra trouble. A minority say the game runs well after lowering settings or switching between DirectX 11 and 12.

Animal AI, pathing and combat feelMedium

7% of longer reviews complain about AI, pathing, hitboxes or creatures getting stuck. Tamed animals catch on rocks and fences or wander into danger; "the AI and the pathing is the worst i have ever seen in any game in my life," one player wrote about mounts and pets. Wild animals ignore each other and team up on the player, attacks land from a distance, and some reviewers describe enemies respawning around them right after a fight.

Long walks and no fast travelMedium

Travel draws complaints in 5% of longer reviews, about walking simulators or the lack of fast travel. The maps are large, mounts tire and get stuck, and a mission or a corpse run can mean a long trip out and back. "Too much long walking from spawn points to objectives, and the storms just slow game play rather than enhance it," one reviewer wrote. These complaints tend to come from players with long playtimes.

Survival rules that break immersionLow

4% of longer reviews bring up oxygen or oxite, often to ask why a sealed suit needs oxygen rocks on a planet full of trees and breathing animals, or why caves make you ill. "Why do I need to mine a mineral for breathable oxygen on a planet where wolves, deer, boar, and bears all live and breathe comfortably?" one player asked. Others question arriving from orbit only to make stone tools.

Missing quality-of-life featuresLow

3% of longer reviews ask for basic conveniences: crafting from nearby storage, more than one map marker, splitting stacks by amount, pinning recipes and scaling the interface text. "There is no auto deposit. There is no craft from chests," one reviewer wrote. A few also want an intro that can actually be skipped.

Balance changes that undo setupsLow

Under 1% of longer reviews, largely from long-time players, object to changes they name and date: the Mendel update's new animal feed chain in February 2026, the fix to the pouch weight exploit in July 2026 and the nerf to noxious crust in September 2026. "Feeding more then 2 or 3 animals just became enough of a problem playing solo, its not worth the time anymore," one rancher wrote.

No full controller supportLow

About 1% of reviews raise controller support. Movement works on a pad but menus need a mouse, and players who cannot use a keyboard for long, or who expected the console version's controls, call this a dealbreaker. "250+ weekly updates and still no controller support is insane," one wrote.

3. The player conversation

The tone is warm overall, and the short reviews are mostly a line about having fun or playing with friends. The longer reviews go into detail, and the recommending ones among them regularly raise the same DLC prices and bugs that negative reviews do. A handful of reviewers say they wish Steam offered a middle option.

Who raises what follows how far people got. Players with little time logged write about the hostile start, the level-gated crafting bench, the missing tutorial, oxygen logic, controller support and small interface text. Veterans of large open world saves write about frame rate falling as bases grow, host performance, mount pathing, lost items, travel time and the cost of owning every map, and they also account for much of the praise for the weekly updates and the improvement since launch. The free-weekend and gifted players were close to evenly split.

Specific releases leave a mark too. A small number of reviews about the Mendel update, which reviewers date to February 2026, praise its animal genetics or are angry about the new feeding chain. Reviewers place the Dangerous Horizons expansion and its Elysium map in March 2026 and write with excitement about Tier 5 gear and new enemies, with a few reports of frame drops on the new map. Some reviews mention the console release, describing lag and bugs there, and a few ask for crossplay. Because the slice favours recently edited reviews, these moments show what players were discussing at the time, and they do not show a change in overall opinion.

4. What the developers could do

1. Make performance hold up as bases and groups grow. Stutter, freezes in storms, frame rate that sinks in large open world bases and the host's frame loss in co-op are technical complaints players describe at length, often on strong hardware.
2. Fix the long-standing bugs before adding new systems. Getting stuck on trees, items falling through terrain, gear vanishing from death bags or dead mounts, and crashes are what lead veterans to say content is outpacing fixes.
3. Make the DLC fairer and clearer for existing owners. Players ask for bundle prices that credit what they already own, a way to hide or clearly mark DLC-only items in the tech tree, and a main menu that leads with play instead of purchase.
4. Improve mount and pet pathing and wildlife behaviour. Tamed animals stuck on rocks and fences, predators ignoring prey to gang up on the player and attacks that land from a distance cost players mounts, gear and patience.
5. Shorten the trips. An unlockable way to move between discovered bases, or missions that list their requirements before you set out, would answer the complaints about crossing the map and back.
6. Give new players a real start. A short tutorial, earlier access to basic shelter and a crafting bench, and guidance on early talent picks would help the newcomers and free-weekend players, some of whom refund in their first hours.
7. Add the small conveniences players keep requesting. Players ask for crafting from nearby storage, multiple map markers, splitting stacks by amount and scalable interface text.
8. Finish controller support. Players who rely on a pad, or who expected the console controls on PC, want menus that work without a mouse.