Last Updated on Dec 15, 2025 @ 11:53:53 AM.
Recently, we had the opportunity to talk to the developer Dean Hall, founder of RocketWerkz, and Michal Kolejak, Head of Studio Bratislava, GRIP Studios, regarding the upcoming release of ICARUS: Console Edition and how this will impact the current PC version of the game, as well as what players can expect from this new console edition.
During this interview, we will touch on what will be joining the ICARUS: Console Edition in regards to content, how this release will affect updates for the PC version, how their previous experience on other survival games helped shape how ICARUS: Console Edition was developed, and so much more!
| EDITOR’S NOTE |
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| Due to this being a written interview, some answers have been edited for clarity/brevity, without removing intent or context. |
ICARUS: Console Edition has now been announced. Do you mind telling us what led to the Long wait between ICARUS arriving on PC and console, and why it is happening now?
Dean Hall: Absolutely! Bringing ICARUS to console is something that I wanted to see for quite some time, but it was important to me – and to the rest of the team who developed the original PC version – that we found the right partner.
Candidly, we don’t have a lot of in-house console experience, so we knew that it would require external support to bring the game to Xbox and PlayStation. In GRIP Studios, we’ve found that partner. They get what makes ICARUS a great survival game, and they’re doing a fantastic job on bringing ICARUS: Console Edition to fruition.
For those who have been keeping up with ICARUS throughout the years but haven’t gotten their hands on it till this console release, will they be getting all of the content that has been released over the years, or will they have to wait a short while?
DH: It’s been four years since the PC version of ICARUS launched, and since then, we’ve been building out the player experience with weekly updates and substantial expansions. To port all of that content would be difficult because ICARUS on PC never stays still. Console players will benefit from over three years of PC updates since launch, with more to come.
What we’ve done is work with GRIP Studios to identify a natural border between where the PC version is and where the starting point for the Console Edition will be. At its core is the New Frontiers Expansion, which doubles the size of the base world to 128km2 with the additional Prometheus map, adds a ton of new resources and items to craft, and a stack of hostile extraterrestrial creatures. That does mean that ICARUS: Console Edition will be different from the PC edition. There will be subtle differences, and unfortunately, crossplay won’t be possible for now.
ICARUS: Console Edition will include both the base PC experience and New Frontiers Expansion, which is what I wished I could have done with the original PC launch four years ago.
How did your experience of making DayZ – and the modern survival genre, in fact – impact your approach to making ICARUS, and what lessons did you learn along the way?
DH: There were many, many lessons from DayZ that we incorporated into ICARUS. One was that failure should be a process, not an unfair surprise event. Players should feel the tension, the constant need for food and water, and oxygen, even while focusing on a hunt. They should be able to plan and prepare themselves before setting out on an expedition.
With missions in ICARUS, we wanted better pacing and a clear direction. Many open-world games can be aimless, and you don’t know what to do next. We also wanted it to be just as much fun solo as with friends, as survival games often play both ways. For example, there’s a talent tree dedicated to when you play solo.
Due to ICARUS being a survival game, tasking the player with creating outposts, fighting off enemies, and even exploring a new and unique world, there are undoubtedly a lot of complicated mechanics and UIs to tweak to transfer it to console. Did you come across any issues with this, or was it a relatively smooth process?
DH: This is one of the reasons why we needed to work with a partner that was fully immersed in console development, finding a way to bring the mechanics and interfaces of ICARUS to console without getting lost in a finger-twisting maze of menus, sub-menus, and buttons. GRIP Studios is doing a great job at ensuring ICARUS: Console Edition plays and looks great on the Xbox Series and PlayStation 5 consoles. They’ve done console ports of other complex survival games before, including Subnautica.
Now that ICARUS is making its way onto consoles, will we be expecting more content to drop in the near future in the form of new DLC, or Will there be a relatively large Gap to accommodate the additional workload you have on yourself?
Michal Kolejak: Our priority right now is making sure the console version runs smoothly and meets our standards of quality. Once that’s in a good place, we’ll shift our attention back to creating new DLC and gameplay content. So there might be a small gap while we balance both workloads, but long-term, players can expect a steady flow of updates.
Talking more about the game itself, even though ICARUS has been out for a few years, some of our readers may not be aware of it, so let’s talk a bit more about the overall game. Can you talk about some of these features and how they are improved/Different compared to games like DayZ?
DH: ICARUS sets out to be a PvE (Player vs Environment) survival game, rather than a PvP one like DayZ was, so you’ll see a lot more focus on character development and talents, environmental threats including storms, building, teamwork, and missions that hint at a greater storyline.
Icarus, the planet, was humanity’s greatest mistake. We found an Earth-like planet, messed up the terraforming process and atmosphere, and are now trying to exploit what mineral wealth we can. You drop down from orbit with no supplies and have to survive while completing missions for the agency and other factions.
ICARUS: Console Edition includes both Earth-like regions with forests and deserts, as well as more alien landscapes where the terraforming failed, including alien plains, swamps, and volcanoes. It starts out familiar, which helps immerse players, before testing them on truly alien creatures and environments. You can choose to do particular missions and operations or just survive the open-world map.
A big issue that survival games like ICARUS have when they get ported over to console after being live on PC for so Long is allowing new players the opportunity to get to grips with so many overwhelming features that were originally drip-fed into the game. Did you come across this issue during your testing, or is this something that you managed to avoid?
MK: That’s a great question. Fortunately, the original PC version of ICARUS already had excellent game design and a very natural learning curve. Even though the game doesn’t include a traditional tutorial, players gradually learn everything through gameplay in an organic way. Because of that, we didn’t need to make major adjustments for the console release. Of course, we made some small refinements to make the early experience even smoother, but the core experience remains the same – approachable yet deep.
Understandably, with ICARUS being a survival game, the world is a very dangerous place filled with harsh lands and dangerous weather events. Can you talk to us about the design choice of having ICARUS split into different biomes that have unique weather effects, rather than an overall weather system that changes over time?
DH: The weather and storms in ICARUS are one of the things we’re most proud of. We wanted the planet to be a character, to be an enemy, in the game. The environment of this terraformed world is out to get you as much as any creature. That means the threat is constant.
Varied biomes, like the desert, arctic, volcanic, or swamp regions, mean you need different strategies to survive. You’ll need to level up and craft the right suits and furs to survive blizzards, or you’ll have to manage overheating and sandstorms in the desert. We want players to always be able to problem-solve as they explore more and more of this huge planet.
With ICARUS being around for so Many years now, have there been any community interactions/Creations that you have seen related to the game that took you by surprise, but in a good way?
DH: The PC ICARUS players have been pretty creative over the last few years. There have been some amazing bases built: over waterfalls, inside waterfalls, around cliff faces, with electrical setups powered by waterwheels and wind turbines.
I think I’ve been most impressed by the strategies teams have come up with for taking on some of the bosses. They’ve prepared well, allocated roles, and even built fortifications encroaching on some boss areas for extra cover.
A big challenge in creating a survival game is making sure that surviving is fun and challenging without going too far in either direction. Due to your experience with games like DayZ were you able to overcome this challenge easily, or is finding that perfect balance something that you still find difficult to generate?
DH: To help find that right balance, we aimed to design layers of challenge. There are multiple challenges, threats, or resources to manage at any one time, whether that be your oxygen supplies, defending a drill site, or planning what skills to invest in next. Ideally, those are never sudden death moments, but constant pressures to manage.
For those who are looking to play ICARUS on both PC and console, will there be an option for cross-save, or is that something that would be too complicated with the two different versions of the game?
MK: No, I’m afraid that cross-save functionality isn’t possible between ICARUS on PC and ICARUS: Console Edition on Xbox and PlayStation.
Another important question most readers will want to know is, now that ICARUS will be on PC and console, will crossplay be enabled, allowing them to survive with their friends on other platforms, or Will there be restrictions?
MK: Crossplay between the two console versions, or between the consoles and ICARUS on PC, isn’t something that’s possible, no matter how much we and everyone at RocketWerkz would love it to happen. The folks in New Zealand update the PC version on a weekly basis, so we had to work together and discuss where the cut-off point would be for ICARUS: Console Edition to be created.
Now that ICARUS is coming to Xbox and PlayStation, are there any hopes to potentially bring ICARUS to other platforms, such as the Nintendo Switch 2?
MK: While, of course, we would love it. A Nintendo Switch 2 version isn’t something we’re planning. ICARUS: Console Edition is a technically demanding game; it’s built around high-fidelity environments, as well as complex simulation systems, and large-scale world streaming. So even with the extra grunt work under the hood compared to its predecessor, the optimization required to achieve the level of performance and visual quality we expect would be significant.
Right now, we want to ensure that we deliver the best possible experience for current and next-gen PlayStation and Xbox consoles, where the hardware more closely matches the game’s requirements.
For those who are looking to follow in your footsteps and enter the video game industry or work on a survival game similar to ICARUS, is there any word of wisdom you can provide to aid them?
DH: Just start. I got my start modding, obviously with the original DayZ mod, and that’s a great way to get results fast since you’re building on an existing framework. The tools are freely available. Talk with your players, with your community, and keep iterating.
MK: Start small and prototype often. Build things, break things, and learn from the process. Play as many survival games as you can, analyse what works, and study why players behave the way they do. Get used to cross-disciplinary teamwork — designers, artists, programmers, and producers all shape the final experience. And finally, share your work publicly. A strong portfolio opens more doors in this industry than anything else.
A question we like to ask everyone we interview is, “What is one misconception that the outside world has regarding the world of video game development that annoys you?”
MK: The misconception that annoys me most is that games are created by a few ‘rockstar’ developers. In reality, the entire studio — QA, UX, art, design, engineering, production — contributes equally. Games are the result of dozens of disciplines working in sync, and removing any of them makes the whole thing fall apart.
Now that ICARUS has been announced to be coming to consoles, are you able to provide us with a potential release window that you are aiming for, or is that too soon?
MK: What we’ve said is that ICARUS: Console Edition will be coming to Xbox Series consoles and PlayStation 5 during the first quarter of 2026 – so there’s not a long time to wait!
Thank you for taking your time to talk to us about ICARUS. Is there anything that we haven’t discussed during this interview that you feel our readers would like to know?
MK: Only that we’re incredibly grateful for the players supporting ICARUS, and we’re excited about what’s coming next.
For more Thumb Wars Gaming coverage, check out our review of Death Howl, or check out our article talking about the recent announcement of Silent Road and its spooky horror game aesthetics.
Liam is a Senior Editor, Writer, and Critic for Thumb Wars and has been working with the team since day one. Liam is a big fan of all things gaming, as you will catch him playing all of the new releases from every genre you can imagine. Whether you find Liam gaming just for fun or spending his free time streaming, you will always find a smile on his face when it comes to all things gaming.
