Icarus Starship Command Simulator

When I first heard about this game and saw the graphics, I thought it couldn't be real. It looked like something from 1997 and not 2017! But once you delve into the gameplay, it's actually a really great game, and an absolutely STEAL for only $3.99 USD. The game is very much like a 3D version of FTL, except with less of a restriction on time and resources. It also reminds me a bit of Star Trek and other space games. Players of FTL might notice some similarities in the way the ship layout is displayed on the tactical menu. But on top of that, you can get up out of your captain's chair any time you want and walk around the ship, defent the ship and fend off boarding parties, or board and take over other starships as well! The object of the game is to get to a star which is on the other side of the map, and hopefully save it from going supernova! The map is layed out like a large chessboard of squares. You begin in the top-left most quatrant, and have to maneuver to the bottom right tile. As you progress left across the map, the zones get progressively more difficult, and more rewarding. You'll come across spacial anomolies which will zap critical systems, or drive your crew insane. You'll also meet a lot of hostile adversaries along the way as well. Don't forget to board their ships and take out their crew, as you might be rewarded with more money and materials to upgrade your ship! Speaking up upgrading your ship, you will NEED to upgrade your ship's systems as you move along the map, You'll find materials along the way by storming enemy vessels, salvaging the wreckage of your enemies, or trading with colonies. The materials you find can be used to increase hull strenth, upgrade your power core, and other systems on the ship, like your weapons, shields, engines, computer core and more! I'll be honest. I bought this game because I was sure it was going to be garbage and I was going to pan the heck out of it on YouTube. But what I found is an absolutely awesome game that I've already spent a LOT more time playing than I had ever expected. And with the map being completely randomly generated every time you start a new game, the replay value is very high! My only real gripes about the game are few. First off, the graphics aren't going to win any awards, and are very simple. I wasn't joking when they look like they're from a game that is 20 years old. I was around then, and so I'd know!! But the gameplay MORE than makes up for it!! Another frustration is that even though we have the ability to hail other ships, I haven't once gotten a single reply. I was also disappointed that when you come across the occasional planet with a colony on the surface, we can't beam down to investigate, trade, to engage in combat. I've also encountered a few minor bugs, but nothing you can't work around. My BIGGEST gripe about the game is that upon release, you can only play the game at a 4:3 aspect ratio, with a maximum resolution of 1600x1200. The game doesn't currently support the now standard 16:9 (widescreen) layout, which is a complete mystery to me. The game developer DOES plan on supporting 1080p, but has stated that doing so many warp or otherwise change how the game's menus are displayed. I'll post an update to this review once those changes are fully implemented. In closing, I'd like to say that I love this game! It is a STEAL for the price! This is an incredible concept for a game, and I hope that the developer can invest in a Version 2, or maybe even sell his IP concept to make a modern and far more complex version of the game!! That would be amazing if it worked!! Overall, I give this game a thumbs up, and I think anyone who enjoys space games, or especially starship command type games, will love Icarus Starship Command Simulator!

I've been enjoying the game. It's a little rough around the edges but it plays close enough to a 3D FTL that those edges are easier to ignore. It doesn't have the amount of choices that FTL has, at least so far, but it fits within the spirit of the game. Actually having to control the captain brings it's own difficulty as well. You'll find yourself switching out of the chair quite often during battles due to boarding seemingly being central to the experience. Every ship I have encountered, the enemy has boarded me and your own crew doesn't seem to be able to handle this very well as they die quickly. There is no pause, so the pace is a little different and requires you to make decisions a bit faster. One of the cool things is that you can actually board and capture enemy ships. The only issue with it is you are trading your ship, so it is likely you won't be switching in the early section of the map. Still, it is a cool option. The graphics are not stellar and the 3D models could use some work or some alternatives, but I do not feel that it diminishes the experience. Even though the voice acting and general direction in the lines are quite cheesy, it was fun to listen to, and there's actually quite a bit to listen to optionally. The gameplay, I feel, makes up for the lacking art and sound. You sort of get the feeling that the game doesn't take itself too seriously, which is a plus for a game that can get a little stressful in parts. If you decide to pick this up, you might find yourself missing some things from FTL but I think it's important to remember that this is a 1 man developed game and it's quite a deal at $4.00. I am only scratching the surface here as I've only made it into the 'yellow zone', so there's still plenty more game here for me to experience. Do treat this as more of an initial opinion instead of a full review. Pros: 3D FTL-lite Can be just as difficult as FTL or harder Feel like an actual ship captain Many Random Suprises Can board and capture ships Easy to use UI Cheap as dirt Cons: 4:3 Resolutions only Voice Acting may bother Graphics may bother Player crew feels weaker than enemy crew No tactical pause (debatable con, imo) I recommend trying it out as it's cheaper than breakfast at IHOP and lasts much longer.

[h1] A truly [i] hidden [/i] gem, ignored by many for its graphics. [/h1] What's your favorite space strategy game? Many will say FTL. [b] Well, FTL fans (and space game fans), let me introduce this fantastic game to you! [/b] Icarus SCS is essentially FTL but in first person. Sure, it's a bit rough around the edges but once you look past all of that, a really complex and fun game lies underneath! In some cases, it's even more complex than FTL! The main premise is basically the same. You have to get somewhere quickly, and you can jump around in a fixed "sector-by-sector" kind of path. Every "sector" you will come across a random encounter, whether it be a random enemy or a group of people in need of help. However, this game pushes it just a bit further. The game allows you to hop out of the captain's chair and walk around your ship! You can interact with your crew members, ♥♥♥♥ around with ship modules, access your captain's log from your computer in your quarters etc. But the most fun thing to do that you can't do in FTL is the boarding. That's right, you can jump into a teleporter and get on the enemy's ship! From there, the game turns into a type of FPS, where you have to kill the enemies inside the ship, or stealthily sabotage their ship modules (like sabotaging the oxygen module to make them suffocate!). You can also steal enemy resources and ammo to upgrade your own ship's modules and systems, which allows you to provide more power for systems in need to make encounters a tad easier. You can also bring along a crew with you to the ship, but the game's AI isn't super duper good and you might get hit from friendly fire when facing a ship full of enemies. The sheer amount of cool unscripted action moments from this game make you feel like a classic 90's sci fi hero. The game is DIFFICULT. I've started at least 3 playthroughs on the "easy" difficult and have died in my first or second jump every time, but every single time has been loads of fun. Keep in mind that you'll need to be patient with the game, as it doesn't explain everything super well to you (like modules, crew functions, etc.), but if you are patient I'm sure the game will reward you. [h1] TL;DR: [/h1] Overall, this game is very rough around the edges, yes. But if you can bring yourself to get around that, you can find a complex space game, where you'll really feel like a captain of a ship! And for $5? It's a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ steal! [h1] [b] Recommended at full price. [/b] [/h1]

Best FTL experience I had since FTL itself. I had the opportunity to play the game when it was on Groupees and enjoyed it a lot. I can only be thrilled about the mod compatibility and can also recommend this game to anyone who'd wish to take command of a starship. A great indie game at a very low price (maybe too low?!) it's a steal, contains great game mechanisms. And my compliments to the devs!

[b]General Description[/b] A game about space exploration and saving lives of billions. Your main mission is to go towards a star and find some means to stop it going supernova. [b]Gameplay[/b] You start with your ship, the Icarus. A fine ship, but it is up to you to keep it or not for you can board hostile or non-hostile ships and capture them in the name of Mankind (or your personal greed). There are many races that you may encounter. Some of them are Mankind's allies others are not. Plus there might be some strange space bugs that are in need of being blown to dust (or explored). So as you can see this game has choices: shall you blow out of the sky enemy ships without caring who they are? Board and slaughter the crew? Study them? ([i]Note:[/i] communication is not an option. I have never been able to actually talk to a NPC either through ship channels or directly in person. This needs to be fixed in order to get a FULL immersion). Then there is upgrading and salvaging. There are 2 main resources in the game: I) Salvage parts that are used to upgrade your ship upgrades come in various forms: 1) Hull 2) Energy distribution (which come in bars to be assigned to individual systems (e.g. Shields, Life Support, Security System, Armaments (which come in 2 variants: lasers and torpedoes)) 3) Individual systems upgrade (the higher the energy assigned to it the more efficient it becomes but the more energy distribution bars it needs) [i]Note:[/i] salvage parts are also used to repair your ship. II) Money used to buy salvage parts or crew members Your ship will be undermanned in the beginning but you'll encounter many people who are willing to join you either for free or for a price. Strange occurrences produced from odd and unknown entities are likely to occur. Space is vast and unknown so you don't know what will be next (casuality factor that adds even more immersion, playthroughs will not have the same chain of events). I actually never found a different gun other than the one which has been provided to me at the beginning. Maybe I have not explored the various cells that well or maybe other kinds of weapons have not been implemented just yet (please note that every race has a different gun, the humans have a 12 round plasma gun which is rather balanced). Shootouts remind me the ones that were common during 1990s FPSs (note that enemies are not very accurate so you can easily strafe left and right to dodge their shots). There are several ship classes: shuttles, frigates, battleships (and even space stations). Boarding is an important aspect of the game: 1) Assemble your boarding party by selecting the needed crew and sending them to the transporter pad (I usually go alone because with a boarding party chances are very high you'll get shot by friendly fire); Note: allies from friendly ships might help you with the boarding effort and send some of their men as a reinforcement during toughest battles) 2) Energize 3) Once you are inside kill the enemy crew and/or sabotage their systems depending on your objective and fighting power ratio. Most ships have some money and/or salvage parts that you can plunder so it is pretty useful to board every ship you encounter (the larger the ship the larger the payoff from boarding them) Thanks for reading and congratulations to the developer if you are reading this please know that I thoroughly enjoyed your game (it really made me feel a captain of a starship). PS: While playing this game I recommend putting Ligeti's Requiem as a soundtrack: it adds more immersion if and only if you can endure the twisted and dark choral parts.

Refund requested! Horribly hard and clunky.

I picked this up as it happened to come across my queue and I am glad I did. I can only echo what others here have said - if you liked FTL; this in my view is a no brainer; the price makes it a steal. One again it shows that clever ideas well executed can provide far more enjoyment than triple A development done half baked. *cough* Andromeda *cough*. This is a fun game, and it does a nice job capturing some atmospheric things that even Bridge Crew (and I love that game) currently does not. I recommend this game highly...less than $5? You have spent more on worse, and so have I so what are you waiting for?

If you read nothing else of this review, read this: This game was made with the id Tech 4 engine - the same engine that runs Doom 3, released in August 2004. I challenge you to compared screenshots of Doom 3 to Icarus. (spoiler: Icarus looks better) It seems Midwest pushed the engine to its limits, and still produced, in my opinion, a good-looking, well-performing, and downright fun starship sim. Many limitations mentioned in other reviews are to be expected from a 16 year old engine, and holding Midwest accountable to such limitations isn't fair (again, in my opinion). I'll always have a special place in my gamer's heart for indie games. Their charm, their spirit, their character - more often than not, indie games are products of passion, and with Icarus that shines true. $4 really is a deal for such a game.

Idea is good, but techincal execution is so bad that the game is unplayable. Crashes occasionally, loading times are like hour long, max screen reso is like 1000x1000...

A great game and not quite like like FTL. I have bought FTL twice and I never really got to like it. Icarus, on the other hand, is great. It is not as close as repetitive as FTL is and the fact that you can create a crew, walk around, board things, etc. make this a really great game. Of course, the graphics are not up to date but for a mere three bucks, there is nothing wrong. In fact it is a gift. There are a lot of games more expensive and not as close as good as this one! For the devs, I hope that they will keep working on the game. Add some more content, maybe a sandbox more or whatever. The game has a lot of potential.