Almost good

(keep in mind I wasn't necessarily playing this game the way it's meant to be played, I just wanted a solo experience, and didn't want to spend tons of additional money to unlock other planets, which seem like they may be more fun, I might even put a "Maybe" recommendation on the site specifically because its hard to say for this game)

Icarus is... Almost good. Technically I got my moneys worth of dollars spent vs time played, but it's lacking depth, or something.

I just played single player on one map, same way I play Ark - solo. The main things that stand out are decent graphics, nice atmosphere for the most part, the mining is satisfying and stuff like that. It just feels a bit soulless. As soon as you have your basic base built, you can just sit there and tame animals and farm, stuff like that, but it kinda turns into a base upkeep game, making sure the animals are fed, going on supply runs to build more stuff etc. The looming danger feeling just isn't there after the beginning when you are just constantly dying until you have a base built and everything you need.

The storms are a nice touch, but it gets a bit annoying having to high-tail it back to base constantly to avoid bad weather, makes exploration take a long time to get around to, which is kinda my jam in other similar games.

Tech-tree makes 0 logical sense, for the most part, which is annoying but not the end of the world, its not huge or overwhelming, just head scratching. Dangerous wild creatures are very dangerous, sometimes annoyingly so, but it doesn't have the ARK "Oh Shit" factor of having a super buffed up raptor or t-rex coming to destroy your life. Probably unfair to compare it to Ark, but that's what I know.

In the original planet (I didn't feel like spending tons of money on more content) exploration feels stale, all kinda looks the same, and accomplishing the quests is like... Whatever. Definitely not the WOW factor of finding cool natural beauty like you have in Ark, where exploration calls to you because its just so cool to explore and find nice areas/views. This isn't really that.

It was good enough for me to sink quite a few hours into, but most of that was just farming around my base, taming horselike things and wolves etc. until I had a small army, then finally deciding to push the boundaries with exploration, just to end up having to inevitably haul ass all the way back across the map for oxygen/food etc. Trying not to lose all my tames, due to stupidity, starvation, or wild animals. I quit playing before I committed to moving to a new location, or just as I was about to. So the entirety of my play was centered around one spot.

There are some cool mechanics, again, wacking apart rocks is fun. The weapons are fine, nothing wrong there. Loading up ox-like creatures with carriages is a nice touch for moving loads of stuff. Seems like it should be fun, but I just got bored and never logged back in. I might enjoy some of the other planets more, but I wasn't willing to shell out a ton of money just to find out. I kinda feel like i'll encounter the "This should be good but something is off..." regardless of the planet im exploring.

Maybe its just too empty, not enough variety. Just feels, soulless.... Like I don't feel very accomplished even having a super tech'd up base and all the best weapons etc.

I defeated one of the bosses, some pack of wolves fight, with a super wolf boss... Even that was just MEH. I liked Valheim better.

I played it at the end of 2024 and I am hoping that further work on it will improve it and give it a soul, so I can come back to it later and give it another shot, because I really wanted to like it, but just don't feel accomplished at all when playing it. At least with Valheim or Ark etc. im enjoying wasting my time starting new characters and enjoying the thrill of survival, over and over. This one feels more like a job after a bit, a job with shit wages.... Why am I here? It's missing some critical things thats hard to put my finger on, in general.

That being said, I do see them constantly working on updates, and again, its almost good, maybe its better now, but i'm not willing to drop more money on it to try a new planet etc... not yet.

Can't outright recommend this game just because I feel like you have to spend tons of money and time, just to discover whether or not its a game for you, and it's probably better playing with other people, but im a solo player.

I'll likely give it another shot at some point and may or may not switch my recommendation. You may like it more than I did, but don't expect it to scratch the itch if you are an ARK lover, just play more ARK, lol.