As Santa did his rounds for the 2021 festive season, Icarus, a PvE take on the survival genre, was an ever-growing presence under the Christmas tree and in Santa’s late deliveries bag.

Icarus is a new take on an increasingly-popular survival genre in the gaming world, pitting players against artificial intelligence in teams of up to 8 real players playing together to beat the odds and survive, explore, and develop in the harsh world that is Icarus.

Exploring vast forests and open grassland. Image by Icarus.

Icarus is described as “humanity’s greatest mistake,” an effort to colonize planets other than Earth that went terribly wrong when Icarus’ atmosphere collapsed and the planet became a deadly environment crawling with “savage wildlife” and being ravished by “game-altering weather events.”

In Icarus, players can play in teams of up to 8 by using the game’s co-op feature. Players must run missions on Icarus to explore the planet and retrieve valuable exotic materials that can be used for the development of advanced tech and/or sold.

Players have the choice to run time-based missions, or for the more cautious ones, to build a permanent home in a server with no time limitations. 

Exploring the desert in a buggy. Image by Icarus.

Missions can yield great rewards including technology and material for research, however, failing to reach the dropship on time means that the character will be lost to the deadly trap that is Icarus.

Players must explore Icarus, research and develop new weapons and technology, collect resources, and build a home while fighting to stay alive.

Icarus is available on Steam and is becoming an increasingly popular choice among the survival genre fans, with the PvE factor playing in Icarus’ favor by presenting players with a fresh and unique take on the genre.

Icarus is developed by RocketWerkz, a team of “veteran” survival developers, and despite receiving mixed customer reviews on Steam, is still trending in the Steam Store.