Icarus Beginner's Guide: Survive Your First Drop (2026)

What Is Icarus?

Icarus is a session-based survival game by RocketWerkz. You play a prospector who drops from orbit onto a terraformed alien planet, completes a mission, and rides a dropship back up before time runs out. The twist is in that loop: most matches are timed sessions, not an endless open world.

The planet went wrong. The atmosphere is unstable, the wildlife is hostile, and the exotic materials you came for are guarded by the environment itself. Survive, gather, build, and extract.

Sessions vs Open World

Icarus has two main ways to play, and new players should understand the difference before their first drop:

• Prospects are timed missions with objectives. You drop in, complete the goal, and extract. Your character keeps their XP, but the world resets.
• Open World mode lets you stay on a map indefinitely with no extraction timer, which is the relaxed way to learn.

Tip: Start in Open World or a long, low-pressure prospect. Learn the systems without a countdown breathing down your neck.

First Session: Getting Started

The Drop

You begin in a drop pod with almost nothing. Your immediate priorities are simple and always the same:

1. Gather sticks and stone off the ground (no tools needed)
2. Craft a Stone Tool set: pickaxe and axe
3. Build a Campfire for warmth, light, and cooking
4. Put up a small shelter before nightfall

Core Early Resources

Tip: Build a Crafting Bench as soon as you can. It unlocks the recipes that take you from bare survival to a real base.

The Survival Systems That Will Kill You

Icarus tracks several needs at once. Ignore them and the planet wins.

Oxygen

Some caves and storms have thin or toxic air. Your oxygen drains in these zones. Early on, avoid deep caves until you craft an Oxygen Bladder or carry enough to get in and out.

Temperature

Cold biomes drain warmth fast, and heat exhaustion is just as deadly in the desert. Manage it with:

• A campfire or other heat source for cold nights
• Appropriate clothing for the biome
• Avoiding travel during the worst of a storm

Hunger, Thirst, and Stamina

Eat cooked food, drink clean water, and do not sprint until your stamina is empty in the middle of a fight. Cooked meat and simple meals give far better buffs than raw scraps.

Tip: Carry a few cooked meals and a water source location in mind before you explore. Most early deaths are slow ones from neglected stats, not sudden ones from predators.

Talents and Tech Trees

Icarus has two progression layers, and mixing them up is a common beginner trap:

• Talents are per-character perk trees (Solo, Hunting, Building, and more). You spend points as you level to make your prospector permanently better.
• Tech Tree (blueprints) unlocks recipes you can build during a session, like better tools, furnaces, and electricity.

Early talent picks worth grabbing:

• Solo survival perks if you play alone (extra carry weight, slower stat drain)
• Hunting perks for better meat and leather yields
• Crafting perks to reduce resource costs

You can respec talents, so experiment without fear.

Combat and Wildlife

The planet's animals range from harmless to deadly:

• Bows are your bread-and-butter early weapon. Quiet, cheap, and good for hunting.
• Spears handle close encounters and can be thrown.
• Dodge and kite. Many creatures hit hard but are slow. Backpedal, fire, repeat.

Tip: Never fight a pack head-on in the open. Use terrain, rocks, and chokepoints to face one enemy at a time.

Extraction: Don't Miss the Dropship

If you are running a timed prospect, the most painful way to lose is to forget the clock. When your objective is done:

1. Head to the dropship marker
2. Make sure you are carrying what you came for (exotics and quest items)
3. Board and extract before the timer hits zero

Anything left in your base or on your body when the session ends is gone. Bring the important materials with you.

Multiplayer: Surviving Together

Icarus supports co-op for up to 8 players, and a dedicated server keeps your group's world available around the clock. Co-op changes the math:

• Shared objectives: everyone works the same prospect goals
• Role splitting: hunters, builders, and miners get more done than generalists
• Revives: you can pick up downed teammates before they bleed out

Coordination Tips

• Assign a base builder so you are not all placing walls in each other's way
• Pool food and water at a central campfire and storage box
• Explore caves in pairs because oxygen and ambushes punish solo runs
• Call out the extraction window early so nobody gets left behind

Common Beginner Mistakes

1. Diving into caves too early. Oxygen runs out fast and the dark hides predators. Gear up first.
2. Ignoring temperature. A cold night with no heat source is a quiet killer. Always have a campfire plan.
3. Eating raw food. Cook everything. Raw meat can make you sick and gives weaker buffs.
4. Forgetting the extraction timer. In prospects, check the clock often and leave a margin.
5. Hoarding instead of building. Turn resources into tools and a base. Materials in a backpack do not keep you alive.
6. Spreading talents too thin. Focus a build (solo, hunting, or crafting) before branching out.

What's Next?

Once you survive your first few sessions:

• Build a proper base with a furnace and bench to unlock metal tools
• Push into harder biomes once your clothing and oxygen gear can handle them
• Start chasing exotics for the high-end tech that defines the late game
• Read our Sons of the Forest server guide for another co-op survival setup

If you like this style of game, our Enshrouded beginner's guide and Valheim base building guide are great next reads.

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Icarus is unforgiving but fair. Respect the planet's systems, watch the clock, and extraction becomes routine.