ICARUS
In the codexActionAdventureSimulation

ICARUS

ICARUS is a solo or multiplayer PvE survival game. Explore a savage wilderness in the aftermath of terraforming gone wrong. Complete narrative quests as either Open World operations or Individual Missions. Explore, build, craft and hunt while seeking your fortune and prospecting for exotic matter.

DEV: RocketWerkzPUB: RocketWerkzAppID 1149460
UPDATE PULSEevery ~7d·last 16d ago·27 recent on record

Is ICARUS still being updated? — the short answer, with the evidence.

92.3
Excellent

Elixir Rating

74.7% of 68,828 Steam reviews are positive, which after adjusting for sample size gives a reception score of 74.4. The developers have shipped 23 substantial updates in the past six months, adding 17.9.

reception 74.4·support +17.9·Excellent

Computed from Steam’s own review tally and observable developer activity — never from anyone’s opinion of the game. How this is calculated

Should you look into this?

From Steam's own record

Current price

$17.49$34.99−50%

Development

Actively supported

Last heard from developers

16 days ago

Usual rhythm

every ~7 days

Substantial updates (6 mo)

23

Current silence

2× normal

The developers post roughly every 7 days and were last heard 16 days ago — within their normal range. 23 substantial updates landed in the past six months. It is currently 50% below its usual price.

Distilled by the oracle

Our coverage

1 dispatch written from this game’s announcements

releaseAug 28, 2026

ICARUS Week 241 Adds Single Barrel Launcher and Reverts Screw Recipe

ICARUS's Week 241 update, published 17 July 2026, introduces a new weapon category — the Launcher — with its first entry being the Single Barrel Launcher, a Tier 2 device designed to fire grenades with greater precision than hand-throwing.

According to developer Exctoris, the Launcher grew out of work on Elysium missions, where the team first created the Flare Gun and then saw potential for a more generalized platform. The Single Barrel Launcher is positioned as an early taste of a tiered system, and the name itself is described as a hint toward what higher tiers may look like.

What changed

  • New weapon archetype: Single Barrel Launcher (Tier 2), fires grenades with improved accuracy over manual throws
  • Steel Screw recipe reverted: output ratio restored from 1→10 back to 1→100, following community feedback on last week's change
  • Pouch/Bag weight fix: contents weight was not being calculated or updated correctly
  • Food buff removal fix: on clients, clicking the remove button was only clearing the UI element, not the underlying effect
  • Underground debuff fix: debuffs were not being cleared when using the unstuck command inside caves

The update also previews a new Workshop item arriving next week, though no further details are provided in the source.

For players, the screw revert is an immediate quality-of-life restoration, while the Launcher marks a deliberate expansion of utility combat options that the developers indicate will continue across future tiers.

Two years of development

■ substantial ■ routine

Nov2025FebMayAugNov2026FebMayAug

51 announcements · 35 substantial · 15 months with nothing

Recent Transmissions

30 entries in codex

Community AnnouncementsSep 17, 2026
Icarus Week 250 Update | Electric Seed Extractor

Welcome to Week 250. This week we are adding a brand new deployable to the T4 Tech tree - the Electric Seed Extractor. This new deployable will help farmers harvest seeds from plants at a much faster rate than its T1 equivalent. We also hav…

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Community AnnouncementsSep 10, 2026
Icarus Week 249 Update | Inaris Powerbank

Welcome to Week 249. This week we’re adding a brand new item to the Workshop: the Inaris Powerbank. This allows you to bring a pre-charged power bank down with you, giving you a portable way to charge items on the fly. We’ve also updated th…

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Community AnnouncementsSep 3, 2026
Icarus Week 248 Update | Scoria Deep Ore Veins

Welcome to Week 248. This week, we’re introducing Scoria Deep Ore Veins to all maps, meaning they will no longer be exclusive to Prometheus and can now be found across Icarus. We also cover a fix for a long-standing issue where fire could a…

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Community AnnouncementsAug 27, 2026
Icarus Week 247 Update | Slinker Saddles

Welcome to Week 247. This week, we've updated 11 existing Saddles to work with the Slinker, bringing the total number of Saddles available for the Slinker to 14. We've also made a range of optimization and cleanup improvements to Elysium, w…

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Community AnnouncementsAug 20, 2026
Icarus Week 246 Update | Metal Weapon Rack

Welcome to Week 246. This week, we’re adding a new Metal Weapon Rack, giving prospectors a stylish new way to display their tools. We also go into a bit more detail about the power cut that occurred in the studio during last week’s livestre…

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Community AnnouncementsAug 13, 2026
Icarus Week 245 Update | Tusker Breeding & Phenotypes

Welcome to Week 245. This week, Tuskers are getting a major expansion with the introduction of breeding and new phenotypes to discover, collect, and breed into your herd. We’re also taking a sneak peek at the Tier 3 Metal Weapon Rack, givin…

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Community AnnouncementsAug 6, 2026
Icarus Week 244 Update | In-World Fish

Welcome to Week 244. This week we're making the waters of Icarus more diverse, with fish now accurately represented in the world based on their fishing locations. Alongside this, we're introducing the Carbon Fishing Rod to help you catch th…

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Community AnnouncementsAug 1, 2026
Hotfix Version 3.0.21.155391-rel-DangerousHorizons

We've released a number of hotfixes this weekend to address important issues and get improvements into players' hands as quickly as possible, rather than waiting for the next scheduled update. Thanks for your patience and continued support …

Community AnnouncementsAug 1, 2026
Hotfix Version 3.0.21.155383-rel-DangerousHorizons

This hotfix address issues encountered in the following missions. These will fix both new missions and missions in progress once updated. Contains the Following Fixes LIVEWIRE - Fixing issue if you kill the wolf pack before triggering the t…

Community AnnouncementsJul 31, 2026
Hotfix Version 3.0.21.155335-rel-DangerousHorizons

Contains the Following Fixes Fixes for many missions involving prebuilt structures, where the structures would not spawn preventing mission start Fixes for many missions involving prebuilt structures, where the structures would not cleanup …

Community AnnouncementsJul 30, 2026
Icarus Week 243 Update | Livewire Revamp

Welcome to Week 243. This week we're revamping one of the very first missions ever created for the game: Livewire on Olympus. Our goal is to continue revisiting older missions like this, bringing them in line with the quality and design sta…

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Community AnnouncementsJul 24, 2026
Icarus Week 242 Update | Workshop Flashlight

Icarus is free to play this weekend and to celebrate we are enabling a double experience weekend! Not only this but all of our DLC is on sale with a special 'Free Weekend Bundle' which packs the base game and all our major expansions into a…

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Community AnnouncementsJul 23, 2026
Free Weekend & Double XP Event

ICARUS FREE Weekend & Double XP Event So grab some friends and jump into the game, with Double XP which lasts throughout. ICARUS 80% Off & Special Discounted Bundle Icarus and all DLC are on sale, with a special limited time 'Free Weekend B…

Community AnnouncementsJul 17, 2026
Icarus Week 241 Update | Single Barrel Launcher

Welcome to Week 241, This week we're introducing a brand new weapon archetype: the Launcher. The first weapon in this category is the Single Barrel Launcher, allowing you to load and fire grenades with far greater precision than throwing th…

Read our dispatch on this

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Community AnnouncementsJul 10, 2026
Icarus Week 240 Update | Foundry Update

Welcome to Week 240, This week, we've updated the T4 Foundry Mesh, reducing its size while preserving its full functionality - a popular community request. We also perform a slight balance of the recipes found on this, the anvil and the for…

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Community AnnouncementsJul 3, 2026
Icarus Week 239 Update | MXC Oxite Dissolver

Welcome to Week 239, This week brings a brand new item to the Workshop, joining the growing set of Deployables: the MXC Oxite Dissolver. We’re also sharing updates on a planned rework of the Olympus quests, as we begin revisiting and improv…

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Community AnnouncementsJun 25, 2026
Icarus Week 238 Update | Cured Leather Backpack

Welcome to Week 238, This week's update introduces the new Cured Leather Backpack, giving prospectors another craftable storage option while on the surface. Made entirely from materials gathered while on planet, it's designed to help you st…

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Community AnnouncementsJun 18, 2026
Icarus Week 237 Update | Expanded Norex Trader

Welcome to Week 237. This week, we are expanding the Norex Trader inventory to provide access to boss vestiges that are not normally available on all maps. We are also making a few balance adjustments to the Sandwyrm Queen and its associate…

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Community AnnouncementsJun 12, 2026
Icarus Week 236 Update | Ubis Husbandry & Phenotypes

Welcome to Week 236. This week introduces Ubis breeding, allowing Prospectors to establish their own breeding populations of these iconic swamp birds. Looking ahead, next week's expansion of the Norex Trader will provide new ways to access …

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Community AnnouncementsJun 5, 2026
Icarus Week 235 Update | Deep Cycler & Obsidian Veins

Welcome to Week 235. This week, we're expanding access to Obsidian by adding Deep Ore Veins to Olympus, Styx, and Elysium. This makes the resource readily available across all maps and gives prospectors more opportunities to gather it, rega…

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Community AnnouncementsMay 29, 2026
Icarus Week 234 Update | Curved Building & Railing Update

Welcome to Week 234. This week’s patch adds new Interior Wood flooring pieces, expanding your options for building and decorating indoor spaces. These pieces are designed to fit smoothly with existing assets for more variety and flexibility…

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Community AnnouncementsMay 23, 2026
Hotfix Version 3.0.11.152253-rel-DangerousHorizons

Contains the Following Fixes Fixed interactable which was preventing from hoverframes and damaged hoverframes from being able to be filled with refined oil

Community AnnouncementsMay 22, 2026
Hotfix Version 3.0.11.152237-rel-DangerousHorizons

Contains the Following Fixes Fixed culling performance leak on Gas Flyer VFX by setting effects to Kill instead of Sleep, this was causing a lot of performance degradation in the swamp and volcanic biomes Tweaks to Biolab pin positions on T…

Community AnnouncementsMay 22, 2026
Icarus Week 233 Update | Timber Extraction Unit

Welcome to Week 233. This week marks the launch of the Timber Extraction Unit, a brand-new Legendary item purchasable from the Biolab. Designed for high-efficiency harvesting, this powerful tool can rapidly decimate forests while also doubl…

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Community AnnouncementsMay 14, 2026
Icarus Week 232 Update | Gribbler Husbandry

Last week, we said we would be releasing a new legendary item this week - the Timber Extraction Unit. While testing it, we decided to make some additional changes to improve how it feels and to properly integrate it into Icarus. As a result…

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Community AnnouncementsMay 8, 2026
Icarus Week 231 | New Unique Fish & Optimization

Welcome to Week 231. This week brings four new unique fish subspecies to Icarus - one per map, plus a rare catch found only in the Mushroom Swamp on Elysium. We have also performed a decent amount of texture and LOD optimizations on knives,…

Community AnnouncementsMay 1, 2026
Icarus Week 230 Update | Boar Husbandry & Tame Slaughtering

Welcome to Week 230. This week brings Boar Breeding to Icarus with a new Juvenile version of the Boar, new Fertility Serum to craft and 7 new Phenotypes to explore. Coincidentally, we've also added what we're calling the "Slaughtering Mecha…

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Community AnnouncementsApr 24, 2026
Icarus Week 229 Update | Atmospheric Update

Welcome to Week 229. In this week's "Atmospheric Update", we have improved several areas that help piece together the world of Icarus. First, we updated our Waterfall shader to give a more realistic and consistent visual whilst also improvi…

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Community AnnouncementsApr 17, 2026
Icarus Week 228 Update | Ruby Resource Pack

Welcome to Week 228. This week we added Ruby to the Workshop which allows you to call down those precious resources on any Icarus map via the Orbital Exchange Interface. Supported Mount icons on hovered Saddle info windows have also been up…

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PC GamerApr 12, 2026
DayZ creator Dean 'Rocket' Hall has over 2,000 hours in Kerbal Space Program and played the original XCOM at Mount Everest base camp: 'I think when I die, I will still be playing that game'

Dean 'Rocket' Hall, founder of New Zealand-based studio RocketWerkz, first encountered games via a Commodore 64 belonging to his cousins. "I think I played it constantly for about five hours. Then, at dinner, I looked basically green from t…