So far I've spent close to 36 hours in Icarus, and I'm really enjoying it. I typically play on a normal difficulty setting because I'm not a masochist. It's still pretty challenging on normal. There are a lot of things that want to kill you: animals, the water, the weather, hunger, etc. It's not as brutal as a game like The Long Dark, thankfully. Icarus kind of reminds me of Valheim, though you don't wake up naked in your shack after getting killed. The developers were kind in that regard. I haven't seen any weird glitches in the game yet besides my mount getting stuck sometimes. You can tame animals pretty early on, and I would definitely recommend that you do so as it will exploration so much easier.
I would recommend that you start this game playing the "classic" way, which involves being dropped on the planet in an unlocked zone of your choosing. You'll be doing a timed mission, but you'll have tons of time to complete your objectives. I recommend this simply because it might take a few hours to get a feel for what you need to do and how to do it, and doing a timed mission works like a tutorial that will help you unlock the necessary skills and technology to do an open world run. After you complete your first mission, start a new open world session and just treat it like you would Valheim or any other open world survival game. Definitely start out in the zone where you have easy access to food and water. If you drop into a desert or a snow-covered region, you're going to be scrambling to craft supplies and find basic necessities. Build a base near a water source that has easy access to trees and bushes. Wander around to find other materials like stone and ore, but don't wander very far until you have a saddle for your mount and proper weapons that don't break every 30 seconds. Once you have durable gear, containers for air and oxygen, first aid, and a means of transportation then go out further in search of more difficult biomes. Definitely try to set up bases in other areas so that you have a shelter when inclement weather strikes, and keep an eye out for debuffs affecting your stamina and health. Always have first aid. Always.
