The zombie survival gameDayZbegan as a mod for Bohemia Interactive Studio’sARMA 2: Operation Arrowheadby Dean Hall that became a game of its own after he was hired by Bohemia. It officially released in 2018 andcontinues to add new features on PlayStation 4 and Xbox Oneto this day, having contributed to a phenomenon of survival-based titles through the 2010s. Now Hall has debuted a new game calledIcarusthat promises to be the “future” of the genre.
Icaruswas announced on June 7 through news releases published on the game’s website, one of which promotes the reunion of Hall and formerDayZCreative Director Brian Hicks, called “two of the godfathers of survival games.” A full trailer for the game was shown as part of the 2020 PC Gaming Show, much of which should look familiar for fans of games like Beam Team Games’Stranded Deep, Endnight Games’The Forest, orStudio Wildcard’sArk: Survival Evolvedin terms of gathering materials and building structures.
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Where this new title stands out is in its aesthetic, asking players to survive and thrive on a “resource-rich frontier” alien world reminiscent ofHello Games’No Man’s Sky; and in its tense tone, with “harsh environments” and “easily provoked” wildlife that require players to return to their orbiting space station to craft new technology. It is going to be a free-to-play, multiplayer co-operative title according to the game’s website.
One ofIcarus' biggest selling points as shown in itsPC Gaming Show traileris its “persistent metagame progression.” Players can collect certain resources to make themselves more capable of surviving on the alien world, extending each session on the planet from 30-minutes to potentially days at a time.
WhileIcarusmay be missing the zeitgeist of survival games that titles likeDayZhelped spawn, the ongoing success of mainstays likeMinecraftshows the genre still has legs. Whether or notIcarusis the “future of survival” as it advertises itself will have to be seen whenever it releases.
At the moment,Icarus' release date is listed as “coming soon” on Steam, so it’s unclear when prospective fans can expect to play it.Hall announced the creation of RocketWerkz in 2014, and even though the studio previously put outStationeersin the survival genre it should be interesting to see how this reunion ofDayZalumni shakes out.
