Icarus

Icarus boldly stakes its claim amongst giants in the field and swiftly proves to be a worthy contender. Everything I saw in the lead up to the release of Icarus made it seem too good to be true, but my faith and patience was rewarded many times over when I finally got to drop planetside for the first time, and the time after that, and the time after that. Icarus is going up on my list of favourite things to come out of New Zealand, alongside pavlova and Lord of the Rings.

A refreshing take on the survival sandbox with a robust approach to progression and countless ways to tackle each mission. Sadly, harsh penalties, bugs, and crashes combine to make this a frustrating off-world expedition.

Icarus is an absolutely gorgeous, engaging, and challenging survival crafting game. When it’s working correctly, it is a fantastic entry into the genre. When it’s not, the problems are deep and varied. Disconnects, corrupt characters, bugs, and balance problems abound. I look forward to seeing it reach its potential, but it’s hard to see it as anything other than a game that exited Early Access too soon.

Unfinished, buggy, and broken, Icarus should not have released at this stage. With mind-numbing repetition and baffling design decisions, it's a survival game that's more frustrating than challenging.