Icarus Preview SciFi Meets Survival

Icarus Preview: Sci-Fi Meets Survival

Icarus is an upcoming science-fiction survival game by the creators of DayZ that promises a new, original experience for fans of both genres.

You Are Reading :[thien_display_title]

Icarus Preview SciFi Meets Survival

Wilderness survival and science fiction are genres that can be tricky to balance properly, but New Zealand developer Rocketwerkz’s newest title Icarus looks set to deliver on the promise of that combination. Icarus is an upcoming first- and third-person survival title from Dean Hall, creator of DayZ, that places players in the middle of an intergalactic gold rush. Individual explorers or teams of up to eight can explore the landscape of the “second-Earth” alien planet Icarus and gather resources across its various biomes. Similar to other survival titles like Rust or Valheim, survival on Icarus depends on the explorers getting enough oxygen, food, and water to survive, building structures that can withstand even the harshest weather conditions, and crafting weapons and tools to fend off some of the most aggressive creatures.

The thing that promises to set Icarus apart from other survival games is the concept of sessionizing. Explorers will land on the planet Icarus for a period of time, then return to the safety of their ship, where they can trade resources for better equipment, regroup, and select a new area to explore next time. This, Hall says, is meant to give players a sole objective or objectives, allow drops onto the planet to go many ways, including badly, without completely ruining hours of a player’s hard work, and provide an opportunity for developers to introduce or experiment with new features without totally breaking a player’s experience.

Hall is drawn to both science fiction and survival. An avid fan of the sci-fi genre, he says, “science fiction is a great setting because, to me, it’s quite grown up. That’s what I like about it. Science fiction can be very serious.” His goal in blending the two genres is to create new emotional experiences and responses for players as they react alongside their character avatar to the relative unknown. In typical survival games, landscapes are likely more familiar; trees, rocks, water, and even foraged food look like they do in real life. Even in games like DayZ or Valheim, which include monsters, players can pick up resources and know what to do with many of them. On an alien planet, however, this changes significantly, and players have a more authentic experience of learning to navigate and survive within a different world.

See also  Stranger Things ’80sStyle Ad Teases Season 3 Premiere; New Cast Member

Explorers on Icarus will start searching for resources in the safest and most familiar parts of the planet first. One of the very first zones is a forest that contains terraformed flora and fauna that will feel familiar to players: berry bushes, trees, deer, and bears will dot the landscape. Here, explorers can begin gathering materials with which to craft the most basic tools from the Tech Tree and begin building a base. These explorers need to be careful, however, as even the calmest and most familiar-feeling areas are still fraught with danger. Strong storms roll in to threaten unfortified structures. Hungry bears will not be deterred by a Workbench like Greydwarves are in Valheim, continuing to attack the structure and the explorer. Oxygen levels can drop over time, and oxygen must be mined from alien-looking blue stones. Explorers who fail to account for these environmental hazards will die, losing their knowledge and equipment and forcing players to roll a whole new character.

Once the resources have run dry in the forest, explorers will move on to harsher, more difficult terrain, including a vast Arctic region, a desert, and a tropical biome, among others. As described in the announcement documentary, “Icarus: No Rescue,” outside the terraformed zone, the planet becomes even harsher and more alien. Hall emphasized wanting to allow players to explore and face challenges with their friends.

“I really like exploration and the challenge of explorations,” he says. “Many of the games I play are extensions of that. It’s something I understand that translates between the real and the virtual world. I find going in and exploring a challenge with friends really fun. It’s like a board game or even a tabletop roleplaying game. You’re coming together and exploring a scenario and world together. You’re presented with this unknown challenge, and we don’t know if the challenges are solvable.”

See also  Sony Is Committed To Quality Games And SinglePlayer Experiences On PS5

The landscapes in Icarus are breathtaking, and the physics and level of detail in the world and mechanics are bound to delight players. From felling trees, either with an axe or by simply, as Hall refers to it, “yeeting” saplings out of the ground, to being caught in a flowing river current, to needing to skin and carry a deer to the campfire to cook a meal, there is a true sense of immersion to Icarus as the player learns the world and succeeds or fails alongside their prospector.

Icarus is poised to redefine what a survival game can be and to create an original experience for fans of the genre. Icarus seems conceived and created by a passionate team looking to push the boundaries of established genre conventions and explore innovation in gaming. The concept also has legs: each chapter will aim to introduce new lore, biomes, and threats, and there are many opportunities for growth. The session-based gameplay will also allow developers to try as many new things as they want without the fear of breaking the immersion for established players. Icarus has all the trappings of a new staple with the possibility to evolve the survival genre, and it will be exciting to see how much further it can go as it develops.

Link Source : https://screenrant.com/icarus-preview-sci-fi-meets-survival/

Movies -