ICARUS Week 32 Update: Time Pressure Mission, Outpost Deep Mining, and Future Mounts

Queue up the Queen because (finally) we are under pressure. Time pressure, that is. Add to that some outpost mining expansions, the long-awaited glass floor tile, and development progress toward mounts — and we have the makings of an excellent weekly update to ICARUS!

ABYSS: New Mission With Short Timer

Those who were fans of the mission timer, either when it was tied to the wall clock or the game clock, undoubtedly liked the time pressure. This week brings a new Styx mission that might actually make adrenaline junkies perspire.

For ABYSS: Research, you will have to investigate unique Abyssal Oxite ore deposits in the Ring Lake biome — and for extra exotics, determine how to safely process the new ore — all in a tight three-hour window. It might be a good idea to buy Insurance for a first run, but remember: it only saves your character, not your loadout.

Deep Mining Veins in Outpost

Those who are fans of the classic ICARUS Outpost maps will be happy to know that deep ore veins are finally appearing in these more peaceful, “creative mode” maps. No longer will you have to mine out the same caves over and over again.

Instead, deploy a few solar-powered electric Deep Mining Drills, and you can dig the ore up while you fret over the angle of your new base addition!

A Glass Floor, Ceiling That You Want

Anyone who has built a greenhouse or a cliff-side base on Icarus has had that stunned feeling when you didn’t find a glass-floor tile in the Glassworking Bench. Well, no more! You can now complete your glass-dome base or your precarious mountain observatory with the transparent roof or floor you always wanted.

Along with this tileset addition, here are a few more bug fixes and game changes that might catch your eye in this Week’s update:

• New muzzle flash and screen shake features for guns might make your Enzyme Geyser (aka tower defense shooting range) experience more immersive.
• Storms damage the character and not the armor again (allowing you to push through bad weather with health items and not workbench repairs, as the gods intended).
• The Glassworking Bench and Cement Mixer water consumption rate was rebalanced. (Now, if we could only pump water from beneath a frozen lake. Hmm…)
• Placing a floor on a foundation that already has a workstation will not cause it to lose shelter.
• The KillCam damage indicator is more accurate (not the 20x craziness we are used to), but accidental boss kills from an insta-kill intended for a different creature have been prevented.
• Audio improvements to sounds in tight places, like canyons.

ICARUS Mounts on the Horizon

Now that RocketWerkz is posting patch notes on their development branch as well as the deployed game, we get a healthy dose of rumors with each Week’s update. There were lots of interesting logs about work on the upcoming Mount system — including a saddle and training mechanic — which might mean we get to ride a polar bear some day!

Other interesting posts included work on a new Volcanic biome and a lot of updates for terrain graphics and swamp biomes. New plant types like blackberries and flax may be on the horizon, as well. We’ll keep a close eye on those patch notes to help you get your latest fix of hype!

We hope you found the Week 32 update energizing. The best way to experience it, however, is in the game, so carve out some free time this weekend if you can. If you try out the new mission, ABYSS, you can count on a hard 3-hour time limit!