ICARUS - Xenoplanet Sci Fi Survival Roguelite RPG 

Honestly seems like a survival hunting game they later added a sci-fi space theme on top of

I'm sorry but going down to a planet in a drop pod with radars but having to use primitive stone axe is dumb as fuck.

Sorry I LoL when people who mastered space travel and can accomplish a planetary landing step out of their landing craft and start harvesting leaves by hand.

I still cant get over spear and bow on space man when you have access to a space station.. No one thought to bring guns or even tools of any kind ? Feels like a half baked idea.

Honestly, I don't think I can get past the fact that you're a spaceman making stone tools. What? Why?

My brain just won't allow me to move past the fact that you are advanced enough for space travel, go and land on another planet, yet you're stuck working with primitive sticks and stones after landing? I know it's a game and all, but I just can't accept that under any pretense.

It would have made more sense to start with more modern/space age tools that break down or the environment effects their power source. Then you'd have to resort to primitive tech. Also some changes to the plants and wildlife to show they've been modified to live on an alien planet. As is, it kinda looks like they dropped you in Alberta and convinced you it's a hostile alien world.

I have super enjoyed the game. Sunk almost 50 hours into it, and several missions. I def agree on the difficulty spike though. We joke that the game lies to us when it says the mission is "easy". But, I like the new take on the instanced-based sessions. You're supposed to be going down, throwing up a camp, and completing these missions not setting up a homestead and living there. So it all sorta... suits me just fine. Someone else mentioned this too, but I like that you can take friends into different missions and you're all starting over, everyone is contributing something different... I've been the designated builder and I've set up some 15 different camps so far. It's... fun? For me. Certainly has its own niche, but it is pretty much what I expected and I love it.

Ah yes lets make a sci fi game! We could literally create a whole new world as original and mindbending as we want! *they proceed to make a stone age hunting game set in north america

Thanks for playing this! I have been watching this game and appreciate your time!

Be cool if your buildings stayed but suffered degradation in between missions, coming back and having to fix a bunch of your base would sell the hostile environment feel.

Thank you for doing a video on this game, it has let me know I have no desire to play it lol

The main thing that kills this game for me is the fact you lose buildings on mission completion. It makes it so I’m less likely to build a solid house over a small box.

I would agree, your buildings should persist. Its really not fun starting from square one from the start of each mission. Let me feel like I'm living in this new world.

The basis of the survival crafter are here and solid enough for a good experience it seems. I'm a bit confused by the contrast between space tech gear you land in and have to deploy on one hand, and the classic bottom tier stick and stone tools you have to work with to achieve said objectives. Maybe it's to spare the weight and materials, and your character is supposed to be both a trained astronaut and expert survivalist, which in the context of what's shown, would make sense I guess.

another fantastic vid splatty

That improvised rock whole lol. This part always gets me and i dont know what to do. Thanks for this!

I mean come on it's Dean Hall. When had he ever finished a game?

In the lore video, they grey over the lack of tech or tools by saying they had to pay everything just to get to the planet. Gold rush kinda thing. Watching it makes the concept make more sense, but in the end they are still spacemen making stone tools. Then again the game is built around starting with nothing, mining special material, going back to station, and coming back down with a working pickaxe or gun.

dont eat a stack. each berry has a buff and timer. Fish and berries, are good start. dont waste points on thatching or grass armor, doesnt take much to get to lvl 5 for wood. You can use your space bar or screen click to get thru the mission video., unless thats for first time users, but i dont have to wait for video. and when you die solo you are sending another teammate down to replace you technically, or perhaps a clone, unless you have a bedroll down.

waaw that character is strong as all hell, taking out bushes and young trees in one swoop, the muscles on that guy

The game makes more sense if you keep in mind that it is specifically designed around short, standalone co-op missions. Having everything reset is supposed to be a feature; if nothing carries over between sessions, it makes it easier to play any random mission with whichever group of friends happens to be on at the time - everyone joining a given mission starts in the same position (with nothing), participates in the entire mission start to finish, and contributes the same number of hours to (that iteration of) the world. So there's no tension over some players progressing faster or having more or less time to dedicate to the game or not being able to participate in every session. The problem is that this mechanic doesn't translate all that well to singleplayer....

this game feels like it has a identity crisis , and when i play sci fi i want to feel sci fi not feel stone age with a rocket behind me

Yeah, the spaceman using stone tools and learning crafting from square one really throws me for the plotline of this game. Its pretty and looks serviceable, but I don't play games to get frustrated by difficulty spikes, random (killer) environmental effects, outdated death penalties, and needlessly padded mechanics like having to harvest oxygen rocks on top of food/water/temperature concerns and a skill tree that requires me to learn what segments of walls and flooring are, for each material available, just to build a basic shelter (especially when you have a perfectly serviceable drop-pod right there). As it is I feel like this game needs an injection of both "sci-fi" and "weird." Your character should have some basic tech that covers what the basic tools do, except maybe ranged attacks. That tech may drain your resources like increasing hunger, draining stamina, or even using up oxygen, thus making some primitive, but less-costly tools and weapons more desirable. Build your base around your drop-pod and that'll explain why its gone when you leave (the drop-pod destroys it during takeoff), or even better, let it stay like Splatt said. Then, with "weird" change up the color palette of the plants at least, but even better would be to make the animals stranger and more alien. A mention of unknown contaminants warping the environment makes your character unwilling to exit his suit a lot more believable with obvious evidence running around trying to eat their face.

Plant a beacon for one of the first missions and 2 bears eat you alive and all you have is a sharp stick, quality game.

Your post-commentary blurb was VERY helpful. Clear that this is interesting, but not nearly there yet.

Love your content ❤️

It’s on my Wishlist I watched your twitch stream and enjoyed it but I’ll give it a few months to iron out the flaws .Thanks Splatt

Space guy uses stone age tools to conduct radar surveys for landing zones.

Nice, i was wondering about this one!

This game is made by Dean Hall, the man who created DayZ mod and then bailed with money from unfinished Dayz Standalone. This will be probably another unfinished mess

I love this game so far. Really fun with friends.

Played the heck out of this in one of the beta weekends. Made a house on an island in a lake. Fought constant bears and wolves. Explored my environment, maintained my house, accomplished my mission. The main challenge was the house and storms, but I really liked it. The things I didn't like were UI issues, skill point issues, and graphical bugs or game crashes. Also, as you mentioned, there are some serious difficulty spikes that are not easy to mitigate. Still, I dug it. I'll probably end up playing it again.

I really think that this game had a "forced" release. This really isn't the game they planned. For example the maps were meant to be procedurally generated each time, which would link well with any structures you build not being there...it's a new planet each time. Also the creatures were meant to be very alien (see early trailers) but looks like they've had to just make use of UE default assets for both the map & creatures. It's a real shame as I wonder if they just ran out of money ☹️ Release or Go bust and never release anything... just speculation on my part but it seems reasonable.

I think they should have at least made the option for single player construction would persist, but be degraded and so you would need to do repairs. I personally need some degree of believable immersion in general from a "survival" game cuz to me that's alot of what they are, an attempt at real-world survival but the basic of sending astronauts down to a planet who then need to collect stones and branches.... kinda looses me.

Art looks awesome.

Great review, the game is appealing, your input for improvement I agree with totally. It has potential....

It's so ridiculous how rain is damaging in these games, even as I child I would stay for hours in the rain. Summer rain is very pleasant.

I've been loving it so far. I really wish they'd let you markup the map a bit more. It can be very easy to lose cabins. Pro-tip: first tool should always be a knife or spear. Those wolves come out of nowhere sometimes and the XP debt is a pain in the ass. Also seems like the DX 12 engine leaks VRAM bad. Starts to get real chuggy after an hour or two.

When I first started out I also thought that the removal of buildings is kind of stupid. But after being more hours and way further in then my dear old Splatty is now, I found that it's rather logical when you see what one proper storm does to your building when you weren't there to repair it. So now I simply assume time passed the storms ripped it apart. Yes, they can improve a lot but for me with what is there now it will kill a lot of hours in a good way. I'm happy with my purchase.

splats a professional

I really like your little intro 'what's up guys and gals', because not everyone acknowledges female viewers in gaming. So, thanks for that! And thank you for all those indie games I discovered through you.

Regarding the Buildings vanishing, maybe get the Idea from Cryofall, with the Land claming. When your Land claming Item is there Building stays, if the Item decays the Building starts to decay also to the point where everything is gone.

Beginning of video: "Today in the world of video games..." so I'm hearing that it's not an indie game

I am looking forward to this. I saw some reviews and was super iffy

You think you are an astronaut, but in fact you are Bob, the prepper, an expendable human with a taste for adventure that wants to get away from industrial society. So they just grabbed this guy and said to him "Go there champ, it's not like you have a lively social life anyways. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but they also build shelters".

There are some survival games that, despite the hype that might surround them, I just don't bother watching impressions of until Splat makes a video on them.

My first impression: They took "Satisfactory" and "The Long Dark" and forced them to have a child.

When you arrow a deer and don’t kill it you can track it from the blood on the ground.

I would assume the lack of a full beard is due to air apparatuses not being able to seal against your face.

Keep your gear when dying ? Then why worry if you die? Why worry how difficult things get, why play at all ? Maybe keep your toolbelt items only, definitely drop your backpack items. Or permanently lose some of them if they stay on. Otherwise where's the challenge, where's the risk, why play. If there is no penalty or too little penalty for playing poorly and dying, why not watch a movie since the game essentially becomes a story on tracks, you're then more watching than playing. Games are made to solve things and get a reward, the reward doesn't bring the player any satisfaction if it was obtained at no risk or skilled play. So without enough penalty you're taking out the satisfaction from any achievement. That is the basic psycho-emotional reality. BTW - I really enjoy your game streams/reviews. Keep it up!

I recently just heard of a game called Star Shift Origins that has some people giving pretty good reviews. I'm not sure if _I'd_ be interested in it myself, but for that reason -or regardless of that- you could maybe consider doing a video covering it? Maybe you have other stuff to cover already, but if not there's that.

Anything regarding Hall is a wait until it's released and then wait maybe a year for it to be stabilized.

all NMS players when he digs into a rock to escape a storm, "Noice"

The 'unskippable video at the start' is a loading scream and you can skip it as soon as the game loads

I understand why they made multiple building 'skill/techs' but there's absolutely too many, you don't even need windows/corners/roofs (you can use a floor as a roof) so I think it needs to be condensed but not necessarily into 'wood/thatch/better wood' per se. but it can be like floors/walls/extras. I also understand why there isn't a respec (you can just create a new character nbd) but I agree that there should be a super rare way to do so and the devs have said they are looking at something like that based upon feedback. The devs are super quick to fix things and are all over surviveicarus on reddit. I love this game very much but it is flawed and is a jank (though in both a frustrating and endearing way)

their 7min trailer video explains it all pretty clearly.

The illogical choices of this game (no tools, buildings removed between missions, not able to breath the atmosphere) doesn’t make any sense and just add a lot of grinding and repetitive tasks. I will stay clear from this game even that survival games is my favorites.

What If You Were Hunting But You Also Couldn't Breath: The Game.

I was interested in this as a solo player until I found out about the 'wiping' between missions. The idea of prospecting properly, and building up between missions was neat... Also, the stone stuff is stupid.. even the Forest gives me the orange airplane axe... this toon is dropping in on a pod from space FFS, should have some metal tools to start... Even an escape pod would have survival equipment in it..

I know this isn’t what this game is but the idea of a Hunt: Showdown/ Tarkov gameplay loop that leans into more roguelike rng sounds like sumn that needs to happen

I've been waiting for this

No sound as you descend from space. Then you get sound as you hit the atmosphere. That all sounds pretty normal

nooooo dont start the solo tree xD start in the most left tree on the left branch that lets you get MORE wood//stone per swing. say you only get 1 rock per swing, theres 100 rock in the node, with the uppgrade youll get 200 stone from the same node... this is more important att the start and the first 5 lvls just flies by. but yeah. stamina is important too =P side note. should mention that the solo tree only works if your playing by your self. as for the wolfs, ive never had that problem... oh and you dont fall of edges while sneaking =P as for thatch, its really useful since its camo on the outside. doesnt stand up to anything but its a good emergency get away if you need it. also handy for making small bridges or hunting blinds... wood makes better hunting blinds tho... just put 3 or 4 ramps with dem log like thingies under, put a wall and a door and a ordinary floor at the top and just sneak and wait for animals to come =P very handy on that scanner mission. [SPOILER!] you get a pack of woolfs attacking (i had 7 i think) 2 bears and lastly 2 or 3 big ass cats...

do you think that after killing many critters your player begins to stink and that is why the wolves spawn so close to you? is there a hidden bathing mechanic, to where diving for a swim every so often removes your stench?

They made this game out to be a harsh Man vs Nature game with tight timers. Instead, you hunt deer and press interact for countless hours until your number increases, and it lasts 6 days? Nah dawg, we good.

I love DayZ. Definitely giving this one a go.

This game looks like modded Skyrim.

In space, no sound.

So, this is supposed to be a xenoplanet? There's literal bears and deer, grass, berry bushes, literal coniferous trees, ferns... it's just a carbon copy of earth's temperate north american biosphere. You might as well be roughing it in Colorado. The lack of imagination here is just staggering.

This is how the UI in a sci-fi game should look like :) Pretty stuff.

🖤

6:15 yeah but the things you "unlock" and craft at the space station are ALL consumable (except the suits). What I mean is, yeah you can drop with a starting set of hatchet and pickaxe and etc. but only for THAT drop. After that you have to either buy those again at the station or go barehand, and considering the amount of money generated by the mission and the cost, it isn't that interesting (unless the later missions give you way more money, but I never got that far). Maybe a fixed progession would be a little better, aka you unlock the tool and then you can always take that with you without having to buy it again each time so the starting progression (base, O2, food) in the planet doesn't become a repetitive chore. Edit: As pointed out on comments below you can actually take the tools back, didn't know bout that.

Hole in a rock. Classic lol!

I've played since saturday and I'm able to skip the intro after 5-10seconds by hitting esc. Also, it's not just one map. There are different ones (with different biomes) once you progress a bit.

Unskippable intro movies are unforgivable. Right, Ubisoft....?

I think it's more likely survival exploration Survival roguelike (Muck) 🏃

I wonder if dean hall will finish this one, or if he will cash out on the EA and go climb a mountain.

Another game that releases without being finished, surprise surprise. Fuck new games!

I agree with what a bunch of people are saying. For me it looks like a really good core for a survival game but it needs more unique interest. Especially more alien content since the idea is that this is a terraformed planet. They do have some alien looking creatures in the trailers so my hopes are high.

Upload kewl

You guys should check the live action videos they have made explaining the lore and the story! They are AMAZING!

I'm at the point where if a game doesn't say it's in early access, I assume it is anyways until it's at least a year old. It's even sadder when I have to apply that to non-AAA games.

on a different world with alien bears, alien wolves, alien rabbits... what ever happened to the alien fauna they featured in last year's trailer?

Supposedly, military aviators are forbidden from having facial hair because it causes leaks when you put on an oxygen mask, though whether that was something going through the developers' heads is an entirely separate matter.

I got to the first scan location, placed the scanner and the game just spawned TWO bears out of thin air which then immediately mauled me. Also I find the whole "lvl up to unlock crafting recipes" counter intuitive to the whole survival thing. Refunded and spitted.

It looks almost like a merge of Stars End and Novus Inceptio. I like it. The deleted building thing seems perfectly logical if you take into account the time. If you've got 6 days on this planet, per mission, then you're not really talking about missions. Every mission is its own game, and it's given you enough time to play it out as much as you want. I love any tool-break mechanic that allows for repair. No problem with that, whatsoever. I don't want to carry 12 pickaxes with me... Better yet, the ability to upgrade it on the fly rather than creating a better tier tool on its own. I'm a big fan of Minecraft mods like Tinkers, or Tetra. If you like this game, you really need to check out Vintage Story. I'm surprised you haven't already. The wolf situation is actually worse... but it has the most realistic survival mechanics I've ever seen, from knapping stone tool heads to molding clay dishware and rotating your crops with the best soil you can find. The only drawback is people who don't like Minecraft aren't going to like it due to it's look, as it was originally based on the TerraFirma mod. It's grown quite a bit since then, though.

Maybe there was no sound when landing because you were going faster than the speed of sound. Is that how that works?

I have to say I have been keeping an eye on this one. I'm not a fan of the whole de-spawning thing either. Its different I guess.

How does the persona eat without removing helmet? It seems very weird…

I think this games setting are a little bit wierd. Spacemen with bow and arrows

This game is frustrating in the current state if you are a single player. You die very easily, be it a bear that comes out of no where, or a bear in the spawn zone, or maybe you were just walking, a weather event kicks in, and you get ragdolled into the air, and die. What's the problem you say? Because dying accrues a HUGE penalty, you basically loose all your level progression, and It is even worse at SP because when you get downed, you can get revived by a teammate and no loss occurs, well, there are no temates on SP so if you get down, better start sucking on that XP drain baby. I still not sure how I feel about the session based progression though. I know there are outposts but they don't have any threats so it isn't the complete game? Jury still out on that one. Edit: The game is fun, don't get me wrong. I like the skill tree, building system, combat. THey are all very well done imo, even the way debuffs and healings are implemented (some debuff persist on death, making healing items REALLY useful), but the XP reset and the whole time based mission, I am not sure it does it for me. As a dad with not enough time to play, I sometimes go a couple days without being able to play, so I can only jump into a contract if I know I will finish it or I will have to abandon it because it will run out of time before I can play again. Not a very thought out system imo

Description of capabilities of character face customization is something what people waiting from all games review… u kidding ?

Even if they had the intelligence to tell you, you got shipwrecked and have to survive, develop skills and tools to repair the space relay on your crashed vessel and hence you use stone and bone while you skill up to higher tech.... it would make sense. Devs: No.

It seems like a decent game, but it's not my cup of tea. An earthlike planet where there are animals like on earth, but you can't breathe? You can kill animals and eat them, but how can you eat/drink in a poisonous environment? I just can't wrap my head around the inconsistencies and it hurts the immersion imo.

Uhhh, huh huu wood

7d2d but structured like Tarkov and without zombies

"Alien" planet. >_>

I-Car-Us

So basically ark without the dinosaurs.