Icarus: Beginner's Guide & Best Tips

Introduction — Why Icarus Will Make You Smash Your Keyboard (And Love It)

Look, I'm gonna be straight with you. Icarus is not a friendly game. It's the kind of game that will let you build a beautiful log cabin for three hours, then send a lightning storm to burn it down while you're hunting a rabbit forty meters away. And you know what? That's exactly why I've sunk 400+ hours into it.

This isn't a survival game where you respawn with all your gear and a slap on the wrist. This is a game where you drop from orbit onto a death planet with nothing but an oxygen tank and a dream. The environment hates you — weather, wildlife, starvation, and eventually, exotic storms that literally poison the air. Every session is a timer: get in, do the mission, extract before you die. Or don't extract and lose everything. I've lost a full set of titanium armor because I got cocky and thought I could outrun a sandstorm. I couldn't.

What makes Icarus special is that every failure teaches you something. My first three runs I tried to be a bow main and stack bleeding arrows. The first bear I met laughed at my little bleed stacks and ate me in two bites. That failure taught me that this game doesn't care about your "build from YouTube" — it cares about planning, positioning, and knowing when to run like a coward.

And the atmosphere? Underrated as hell. When you're crawling through a cave at night with your torch flickering, and you hear that deep growl from a cave wolf echoing off the walls? Genuinely unsettling. The first time I heard that, I alt-tabbed to close the game. Not my proudest moment.

So if you want a power fantasy, go play something else. If you want a game that makes you feel like a desperate colonist clawing for survival on a hostile world, where a single storm can ruin your week — welcome, friend. Let me save you some pain.

Getting Started / First Steps — What the Tutorial Doesn't Tell You

First off, stop trying to build a mansion on Day 1. The game throws a starting pod, you get a map, and your instinct is to put down four walls and a roof. That's how you waste your first hour and get nothing done. Here's what you actually do:

• Immediately craft a stone knife and a bow — don't bother with the wooden spear, it breaks faster than my patience. The knife lets you harvest fiber and wood faster. The bow lets you kill rabbits from range, which is your only safe food source early on.
• Scout the area for a cave within 200 meters of your pod — you need oxite to make oxygen filters. Without them, you're on a 15-minute clock before you suffocate. Mark that cave on your map. Don't go deeper than the first chamber yet, because cave worms are invisible until they hit you and they do 45 damage per tick.
• Forget about a real bed — the basic bedroll is fine for the first three missions. You only need a proper bed for respawn points, and you should not be dying that much. If you are, you're playing too aggressive.
• Stack up on fiber — you need fiber for cloth armor, bandages, and oxygen filters. I aim for at least 300 fiber before I even think about building a roof. You will die to a papercut without bandages.
• Learn the weather patterns — if the sky turns yellow-green, that's a toxic storm. Get inside immediately. If it turns red, that's a firestorm. Either way, being outside for more than 10 seconds is death. I once thought I could make it to a cave 50 meters away during a toxic storm. I made it halfway.

The absolute first thing you should craft with your Workshop currency (if you have the DLC or season pass) is the Survival Knife. It's a small thing, but it never breaks, it does 35 damage, and it harvests everything. That knife saved me more times than any gun.

Core Mechanics & Progression — How the Game Actually Works

So you've survived your first few hours. Now the game opens up, and the real grind begins. Progression in Icarus is split into two layers: your Character level (capped at 60) and your Workshop/Tech Tree (which resets every mission unless you buy permanent unlocks).

Here's the kicker: most of your power comes from blueprints and talents, not gear. You can have a gun that does 100 damage, but if you don't have the Rifle Talent that reduces recoil and increases weak point damage by 40%, you're wasting ammo. The skill tree is simple but punishing — pick a role and commit. I went full Forest Survival tree first (reduced food/water drain, better harvesting), and I don't regret it. The combat trees are tempting, but you can't fight if you're starving to death because your food bar drains twice as fast.

The Tech Tree (blueprints) is where you spend your permanent currency. Rush the Mortar and Pestle — it lets you make powdered ore from ore nodes, doubling your metal output. I wasted three days mining copper before I realized I could double it with a simple bench. Also, don't waste points on early guns. The pistol is garbage. The recurve bow with bone arrows (55 damage) outclasses it until you unlock the rifle at Level 30. Save your blueprint points for the Stone Furnace and Iron Anvil — those let you make steel, which is the baseline for mid-game survival.

About missions: never accept a mission that requires you to "scan" something at a location unless you know the area. Scanning takes 30 seconds of standing still, and during that time, the game spawns a wave of wolves or bears. I learned this when I tried to scan a node in a forest and got ganked by three wolves at once. I was dead in under 8 seconds. Bring a friend or build a small walled enclosure around the scanning point. Yes, it takes effort. No, the game won't warn you.

Your Workshop unlocks (the stuff you keep between missions) are the real endgame. Focus on the Oxygen Tank module first — it gives you +60 seconds of oxygen, which is a lifesaver in caves. Then the Food Container that preserves food for days. These small quality-of-life upgrades turn a 20-minute desperate sprint into a relaxed walk through hell.

Expert Tips & Tricks — The Stuff That Only Takes 200 Hours to Learn

Okay, this section is the gold. I've died in every biome, to every creature, in every stupid way possible. Here's what I wish someone had told me:

• The Flamethrower does 45 base DPS but ramps to 120 after 3 seconds of continuous fire — this makes it the best anti-bear weapon in the game. Bears have 800 HP and resist pierce damage. The flamethrower ignores armor and panic-staggers them. I've killed bears in 6 seconds with a full burn. Craft it at the Chemistry Bench.
• Stack two water canteens — one for drinking, one for crafting. You need water for concrete, for medical supplies, for gunpowder. Running out of water mid-build is the dumbest way to fail a mission.
• Use the "Crouch" button to harvest bushes without moving — seriously, this saves so much time. You can harvest an entire field of fiber in 20 seconds by crouching and clicking. Standing requires you to walk to each bush.
• The "Hunting Rifle" is overrated — everyone tells you to get the rifle for bears. Don't. The Crossbow with Explosive Bolts does 150 damage on impact plus 80 area damage. It one-shots wolves, two-shots bears, and the ammo is easier to craft than rifle bullets (just sulfur and charcoal, no lead).
• You can build a "scaffolding" to cheese cliffs — if you need to climb a sheer rock face, place a floor tile at your feet, jump, place another tile mid-air, jump again. It's a bit janky but it works. I used this to reach a crash site on a plateau that was supposed to be inaccessible. The game didn't plan for that.
• Caves have "silver veins" that look identical to copper until you mine them — the only way to tell is to hit them with a pickaxe. Silver gives +60% value at the exchange. Carry a cheap pickaxe just for testing. I wasted a week ignoring silver because I thought it was worthless rock.
• Storm shields (the building pieces) are a trap — they cost 15 steel per piece and break in one storm. Instead, build your base in a cave or under a cliff overhang. You don't need a roof if the terrain provides it. My base is literally a cave mouth with a wooden wall across the opening. Zero storm damage in 50 hours.

Common Mistakes to Avoid — What Got Me Killed and Frustrated

Look, I'm not saying I'm the smartest survivor out here. I'm saying I've made every mistake so you don't have to. Here's what kills new players faster than anything:

• Not respecting the night cycle — nights are dark, cold, and full of aggressive predators. Wolves have +30% movement speed at night. If you're stuck outside at 2 AM without a torch, you're dead. I spent my first ten hours thinking "I'll just sleep through it." Then I realized you can't sleep without a bedroll placed on the ground. I had to mine coal for fuel to rush-build a bed. Plan your day around being indoors by nightfall.
• Ignoring the "Storm Shelter" skill — there's a talent in the construction tree that gives you +50% storm resistance when inside a building you built. It sounds boring but it's the difference between your roof collapsing or not. Without it, a single firestorm can destroy a stone house in 3 minutes. Take the talent.
• Using basic arrows on predators — basic stone arrows do 15 damage. Wolves have 200 HP. That's 14 arrows to kill one wolf. By the time you fire the fourth arrow, the wolf is eating your face. Use bone arrows (35 damage) or flint arrows (50 damage) for anything that moves. The extra resources are worth not dying.
• Carrying too much weight — each item has a weight value, and your carry capacity is 100kg. Once you hit 100kg, you move at a crawl. If you try to run from a bear while over-encumbered, you're just presenting a slow-moving target. Drop everything except your weapon and bandages when combat starts. I lost a full set of steel tools because I thought I could outrun a bear while carrying 90kg of ore. I couldn't.
• Not using the map markers — you can place custom markers on your map. Use them. Mark good hunting spots, water sources, and cave entrances. I once got lost for an hour because I didn't mark a cave entrance and the terrain all looked the same. 0/10 experience.
• Forgetting to refill oxygen before entering a cave — this is the dumbest, most common death. You rush into a cave for that sweet ore, then realize your filter has 30 seconds left. You're 200 feet deep. You sprint out, but the oxygen depletes. You start taking 5 damage per second. If you have bandages, you might survive. I didn't. I died 5 meters from the entrance. My friend laughed at my corpse.

FAQ — The Questions You're Too Embarrassed to Ask

Q: How do I get more blueprints without grinding for hours?

A: Focus on completing Bonus Objectives in each mission. They give +300 to +500 Ren (the currency for blueprints) and are usually simple things like "kill 5 wolves" or "gather 100 fiber." I grinded one mission for 3 hours doing the bonus objectives and walked away with 1200 Ren, enough to unlock the Chemistry Bench and the Cement Furnace in one swoop.

Q: Is the bow or the knife better for early combat?

A: The knife is faster but has less range. The bow is safe but consumes arrows. For rabbits and birds? Bow every time. For wolves that are already on you? Knife. The knife has a 40% damage bonus when attacking from behind. Strafing around a wolf while clicking attack works. I've killed wolves by circling them like it's a Dark Souls boss.

Q: Why do I keep dying to random storms even with shelter?

A: Your shelter needs to be fully enclosed. Four walls, a roof, and a door. Even a single missing wall tile will let the storm damage you. The game's building system considers "enclosed" as having no gaps larger than 0.5 meters. I once left a window hole for light and got cooked during a firestorm. The hole was the size of a dinner plate. The game does not care.

Q: What's the best way to transport large amounts of ore?

A: Build a sledge (requires Leather and Wood). It's a towable container that holds 200kg of items. You drag it behind you like a shopping cart. It slows you down, but it's better than making 10 trips. I filled mine with 500 iron ore once and dragged it across 3 biomes. Took 30 minutes but I felt like a god.

Q: Is the "Workshop" progression worth it long-term?

A: Yes, but only specific items. The Workshop Oxygen Tank and Workshop Canteen are non-negotiable. They never run out and they save your inventory space. The Workshop Pickaxe is okay but not worth the cost unless you're swimming in Ren. The Workshop Meat module is actually really good — it cooks your food passively as you carry it. I never eat raw meat anymore.

Q: How do I deal with the "sandworm" enemies in the desert?

A: Sandworms ignore armor and do 60 damage per hit. They burrow and re-emerge under your feet. The only counter is movement speed and hearing. When you hear the rumbling, sprint perpendicular to the sound. They have a 2.5 second delay before they surface. If you're still moving when they appear, they miss. I've dodged them by sprinting in zigzags. Also, they can't climb rocks, so stand on a boulder and shoot them with arrows. They just sit there and take it. Cheesy? Yes. Effective? Absolutely.

Q: Final advice for a brand new player?

A: Accept that you will die. A lot. Icarus is not about being the best, it's about being the most stubborn. Keep your first shelter tiny. Never stop moving during storms. Learn to love the bone knife. And for the love of all that is holy, never trust a cave that has a flat floor. If the floor is perfectly flat, it's a bait. There's a bear underneath. I walked into one of those caves, saw the flat floor, thought "this is nice," and then the floor broke. I fell into a pit with two bears. I didn't survive. But I laughed.

Good luck, rookie. Try not to burn down your base. I've done it three times.