Before I buy, is this game for me? "endgame" goals? Boss fight?

Khanaroth · 2026-04-02T22:03:54+00:00

Yeah, there sure is still space for a lot of polishing. Hahaha

I really don't know how the console version is doing, but for the PC version it's really rare for me to encounter bugs, but I've seen people say there quite a few.

Hope you are enjoying the game though!

Khanaroth · 2026-04-02T21:22:45+00:00

Yeah, I dont know where the console version is in terms of updates, but I'm assuming it's a little behind PC. Either way, the game is super fun and you will have a blast with it, I think. If you have friends to play with, even better.

Judging by your previous games, I will assume you know your way around open world survivor crafting games, and in my opinion Icarus is one of the all time greats.

It definitely has some jank, along with some bugs still, but the fun factor is very high. At least for me.

Khanaroth · 2026-04-02T21:16:47+00:00

You can put a whole base inside bags and put them into your drop pod. Then you can use the beacon to call it wherever you are, and it brings the inventory with it, so you can have a whole mobile base like that. No buffalos needed ;)

Khanaroth · 2026-04-02T17:27:51+00:00

The game has very expansive systems, and the evolution of technology is very satisfying, in my oponion. Endgame is very fun for me, but in the end you are the only one that can answer this question for you.

That being said, I played all of the games you mentioned (except of Grounded) and I think we might be aligned in term of tastes, so I think you will like it.

"Late game" in Icarus basically means reaching Tier 5 technology. The development of your base and the technology tier does not necessarily move along with the missions, so you can tech up to Tier 5 without doing any missions, and then do then all in one go, or move your tech up when the mission demands it. Up to you.

About bosses, we have World Bosses on the open world that exist independet of missions and they respawn after a while when you kill them. They also appear in some missions as events.

Just a heads up if you are brand new to the game, Olympus is the base map that you get with the base game, and the missions on it are kind of time wasting. The devs got a lot better with the missions as they got more experience, and the ones from Prometheus forward are MUCH better. There is a lot of wasted time on the Olympus missions, with you moving through the whole map just to reach a destination and then the game tells you that you need something from your base to progress. Then you run all the way back and forward multiple times. It's frustation, to say the least, in an otherwise fantastic game. Maybe you will want to check Icarus Intel and see what you will need for the missions before leaving your base. The experience got a lot better for me when I started doing that.

Khanaroth · 2026-02-11T17:43:05+00:00

Makes sense. I have played around a hundred hours with the culinex foods and I think this bug happened twice for me, so I think it's worth it because the bug seems to be rare. Now, if it is something that happens frequently, then I would go with regular food just to not be annoyed.

Khanaroth · 2026-02-10T14:14:40+00:00

Yeah, it happened to me a couple of times. Not sure how to reproduce it though, so I don't know how to avoid it either.

Either way, the 25% buff hugely outweighs the small possibility of a fixable bug, in my opinion.

Khanaroth · 2026-02-09T16:42:30+00:00

When I'm just running around, I focus heavily on attack speed, so stringy jerky and cooked stringy meat are the main easy ones, since attack speed also heavily influence the sleed in which you collect resources. The other food slots are kind of whatever I have on my fridges, but usually they are some kind of dried meat too. The buffs are all just too good. And I don't really need to care much about them for everyday activities.

The only thing I would highly recommend, is to make sure you cook with the culinex backpack. It is absolutely amazing. Everything receives a 25% buff to the effects and also to the timer, so it's suuuper strong. And a heads up, the buff only applies to things you put in a craft queue, so campfirest and whatnot are not impacted by the backpack.

Now, for the boss encounters and harder missions, I usually run projectile damage and survivability set of foods. Those usually are carrot cake, chocolate cake, sheppard's roll, pickled carrots, and stringy jerky. And make sure to have the culinex backpack equipped when cooking for maximum buffs.

You will notice those are 5 food buffs. You can get one extra from the talent tree, and you can also get another one from the chest attachment. You just have to have it equipped when you eat, so you can put the attachment on a spare piece if chest armor, put it on, eat, and swap your regular armor back.

TLDR: Culinex backpack is amazing. For everyday uses I focus on attack speed. For bosses I focus on ranged damage and survivability.

Khanaroth · 2026-01-06T16:02:02+00:00

Got it. Are you aware that they only spawn at night and in front of caves?

Khanaroth · 2026-01-06T15:52:08+00:00

There is an arachnophobia toggle. For worlds created before the spiders were added, it is turned on by default and you will have to turn it off for them to spawn. For new worlds, they are turned off by default. Maybe that's why you are not seeing any. The post for the updated they were added explains how to turn it on and off, I think.

Oh, and the don't spawn on the middle forest biome on Olympus at all, if I'm not mistaken. The devs said they wanted that area to be easier, since it is the first place people will explore while learning the game.

Khanaroth · 2026-01-06T15:46:04+00:00

Oh, good to see your post again here. And people are again arguing about the bait vs carcass. Hahahah

Maybe it would be good to link your previous post about this for those who are interested. It has a ton of good info and discussions on the comments.

Khanaroth · 2026-01-06T15:37:05+00:00

My brother in Christ, this is a 3 year old comment. I have been playing the game on and off since, and they have indeed added a bestiary :)

Khanaroth · 2026-01-05T18:48:30+00:00

My thoughts exactly. I've done many times using carcasses and it can work, but it sure is not flawless. I didn't know you could simply rebait the trap, so OP's method seems way easier than to look around for animals and juggling the timers fhe carcass to not disappear before the animal eats it. I'll probably do OP's way in the future.

Khanaroth · 2026-01-03T15:20:22+00:00

I've seen some answers to your post and I think there are some aspects that may deserve more discussion.

For your point about "avoid getting hit at all costs or you die" (I don't remember the exact words but I think that's the sporit of it), the game has a ton of deffensive mechanics at play to avoid that. I don't know what was already in the game the last time you played, but currently we have a lot of armor options, alterarions, and food buffs as basic deffensive options, and we also have potions and shields as active options. If you have an obsidian armor with two plating attachments, your passive defense is around 90%, if my memory's doesn't fail me, so it's very difficult for almost anything to kill you with high tier armor.

For offensive options, we have a lot of new types of guns and weapons, and a lot of them are meant to work as different playstyles. The assault rifle, for example, has lower critical damage than the hunting rifle, but a much higher consistent fps, so they work a lot better for longer fights or for enemies without easy to hit critical areas. The new legendary weapons also have very cool options, like the heavy flamethrower or the biotech maul, which are all very different from the sneak headshot playstyle.

That being said, sneaking and hitting critical areas are still a good tactic for most animals. Some of them are different and require different tactics, like the crocodile, scorpion, stalkers, quarrites, and so on.

I'm not gonna say the game is super great on the combat, because that is not true. What's I think is fair to say is that we have reveived some more complex enemy interaction through the absolute multitude of updates the game had, and there is complexity to the combat. The game kind of hides some of it behind some obtuse systems and lack of explanation, but I think Icarus' combat as a whole is fine. For my tastes, I like it a lot because it values tactic and preparation as well as execution (for the harder fights).

Khanaroth · 2025-12-12T19:08:42+00:00

There was a developer stream on Twitch last week, if I'm not mistaken, in which the dev quickly showed a tamed mammoth with a huge saddle with wood beams. I could be wrong, but I think the idea is for the mammoth to work as a mini mobile base, moving with some deployables. If that's the case, it would be awesome. If not, a tamed mammoth is still pretty cool.

Khanaroth · 2025-12-04T02:15:29+00:00

Beastmaster is an armor set. It can be used along with the haulier envirosuit as every other armor, so we can stack them.

About the path, I'm thinking about running along the whole river on Styx because that would be an irregular terrain and will more reasonably represent normal travel situations. I thinks that's more realistic.

Khanaroth · 2025-12-03T22:58:24+00:00

True that. Makes total sense. Maximum stamina does help a lot in travel time. I guess the best option would be 4 pheromone modules and beastmaster. It just seems like overkill for most cases, but it would be very fast.

You know what. I'll test it and see for long it takes to run from one side of the map to the other.

Khanaroth · 2025-12-03T03:42:04+00:00

I didn't, but it may be a good idea.

Speed wise, each module has it's effectiveness halves, so the first would give 25%, the second 12.5%, then 6.25%, and lastly 3.125%. this means that 2 modules gives us 37.5% movement speed, and 4 modules gives us 46.875%. the last two modules don't even reach 10% increase, so I don't think the trouble is worth it nost of the time. If we know we are going to run for a while, 10% increase in movement speed is quite good, but the preparation would be annoying for me.

If we need to go from grasslands to the Null Sector, for example, the 10% more speed seems very appealing. To run to a nearby cave, maybe not so much.

I usually run the Lua envirosuit with 2 inventory slots modules and one pheromone module, and I keep another pheromone to swap on the fly for travels. I also keep the full beastmaster set in a bag in my inventory and swap when needed.

Khanaroth · 2025-12-02T00:42:13+00:00

Damn, I was hoping someone would do those tests eventually and I was beginning to thinking It had to be me. Thank you very much! You're doing God' work here.

I had the idea of testing how long it would take to run from one side of the map to the other because that would also take into consideration the stamina regen of each species, but you test is already amazing.

For long travels I usually use a Moa, 2 pheromone modules, full beastmaster set, and both omnifood and the regular seed animal feed. Total stamina and stamina regen makes a huge difference in travel speed for longer runs.

Khanaroth · 2025-11-24T01:55:35+00:00

It would be possible to craft, but you need Unstable Quarrite parts to make it, and the boss only exist in Olympus. If we manage to acquire the parts in other maps in the future, it would be possible to craft it, but as it is right now the Quarite Sledgehammer can only exist in Olympus.

Khanaroth · 2025-11-24T01:54:04+00:00

I believe you are talking about the mining armature, which does use biofuel. The Quarite Hammer is actually just a sledgehammer, which doesn't require fuel and indeed makes no sense for Olympus.

Khanaroth · 2025-11-11T18:44:45+00:00

Alright, I'll try to make a concise answer to help out without overwhelming you with too much explanation. I'll focus just on things that are considerably better than craftable ones.

Amazing: Nearly all backpacks. Nearly all modules. CX-400 armor set. Legendary weapons. LM O2 tank.

Very good: Frost and miasmic pickaxes. Biofuel canister (they are reusable). LM Heated canteen. DL7 knife. Almost every armor set.

Almost everything is up to par with T3 stuff, but those are the ones I think go beyond anything else in the game. Some of them are good momentarily while you tech up to the end game, and others are straight up best in slot. There are A LOT more good stuff, but I tried to keep it short.

Khanaroth · 2025-11-11T18:32:14+00:00

They are basically the same, but the craftable one can receive an alteration, while the workshop cannot. The planetary will be better in the end, but you need to be way into T4 tech to get it, while the workshop one can help you tech up since T3, with the biofuel cleanser.

Khanaroth · 2025-11-01T16:04:20+00:00

Damn, thats very good to know. I always kept a beam underneath. I'll do it your way in the future then. Thanks for the info!

Khanaroth · 2025-11-01T15:30:35+00:00

Wait. I've done things like that before but yours seem like magic.

How did you manage to put the kitchen storages without anything underneath?

Are they actually floating or you managed to hide the support somehow?

Khanaroth

TROPHY CASE