Dan Hall and the survival genre have a long history. He’s taking everything he learnt from Day-Z and starting fresh with Icarus.
Icarus is a brand new exploration and survival game from Dean Hall, the creator of Day-Z. After leaving Bohemia Interactive in 2015, Hall set up a new studio called Rocketwerkz. Based in Auckland, the studio has been very hush-hush about its upcoming projects.
So what is Icarus? Hall wants to reassure us that it’s not “just another” survival game. Hall is promising a fresh experience focusing on PVE co-operative combat in a session format, similar to Escape from Tarkov.
The game takes place on a planet 30 light years away from the solar system, the eponymous Icarus. The planet was going to be terraformed by the world’s brightest scientists, however, some incident caused the air to become toxic.
You play as one of the independent prospectors who orbits the planet from your cosy space station. You make frequent trips down to Icarus on the hunt for materials called exotics. You can bring these materials back to your station and sell them for better gear or use them for crafting.
You’ll only have a limited amount of time to do said exploring, as you’ll be constrained by the size and quality of your oxygen tank. If you don’t make it back to your ship on time, you’ll experience perma-death and lose your character.
The main point of difference between Icarus and other survival games is that the studio is putting a lot of resources into story and concept development. The game is striving to provide a bit more narrative substance than just being dropped into a random environment with no other goal than endless survival.
For a taste, check out the game’s seven-minute, documentary-style trailer.
There are no further details as of yet, but Hall has eluded to an episodic release of the game’s story. The first episode will be called ‘First Cohort’ where the player will be dropped into the forest as an early prospector. The second chapter will be called ‘New Frontiers’ which will open up new areas to be explored, of course populated by more dangerous enemies.
Hall also wants to place emphasis on PVE co-operation, putting pressure on players to battle the elements together. Whether it’s roaring forest fires or biblical levels of rain and thunder, you’ll need to work as a team if you want to get out alive.
If you are intrigued by this upcoming project from Rocketwerkz, they’ll be live-streaming gameplay this Friday at 9pm AEST right here.
