Icarus Week 184 Update | Mission reward improvements and UI updates

Welcome to week 184.

This week we have updated the item rewards from missions and split them out a little more around the tree.

We also briefly go over some changes and QoL being made on the Tech Tree and the Contact Device.

We offer an update on Great Hunts and then go into detail about last week.

Last week some larger terrain changes where made to the Styx map. Specially at map locations I6, O8, and K15. These changes where made as part of our maps enhancements and to add content for the upcoming Great Hunts Campaigns. If you need to revert to a previous build to be able to dismantle your base and move gear there is a branch on Steam called 2.2.57 which we will leave up for a few weeks

This Week: Mission Reward Changes

In Icarus, players occasionally receive special rewards for completing specific missions, such as the ability to craft Sandworm, Caveworm, and Scorpion gear. While these items were powerful and exciting, they lacked visibility because they weren’t integrated into the tech tree. As a result, many players either forgot about them or never discovered them at all. To address this, we’re making a few key changes.

Tech Tree Integration

Previously, these recipes were granted directly upon mission completion without being tied to the tech tree. We've now added them as blueprints that appear in the appropriate spots on the tech tree. Completing a mission will unlock the ability to unlock the related blueprint in your tech tree, making their presence clearer and easier to track. We’ve also adjusted some crafting locations to better reflect their placement within the tree.

Account-Wide Unlocks

Originally, only the character used to complete the mission could access the reward recipes. This reinforced the idea of each character being unique. However, with the ability to take multiple characters across different prospects, that uniqueness has become less meaningful. We're moving these reward unlocks to the account level, so completing a mission with any character will unlock the associated blueprints for all characters on your account.

We’ve also implemented upgrade code to convert existing character-based unlocks into account-wide ones. So, if you log in with a character who already has the reward flagged, the system will automatically upgrade it and unlock the blueprints across your account.

Reward Distribution

Some missions previously granted six or more items upon completion, which made certain missions feel overloaded in terms of rewards. We've redistributed these items more evenly across the mission tree. This should create a better sense of progression and help balance the reward structure.

Upcoming Item Buffs

Finally, we’re planning a round of buffs for these items. Many were added in the early days of Icarus, and while powerful at the time, they’ve since been overshadowed by newer gear. Given that they often require players to complete nearly the entire mission tree, we feel they deserve to pack more of a punch. Expect updates in the coming weeks that bring these items back into relevance.

This Week: Tech Tree Update

This week, the tech tree received a few updates, including visual and functional improvements that aim to make it easier to understand and navigate.

Preparing for The Great Hunt Campaign

You might notice some gaps in the tech tree—don’t worry, that’s intentional. We've created space for all the upcoming gear tied to the Great Hunt campaigns. These items will be unlockable by all players, but acquiring the necessary materials will depend on defeating specific bosses, both old and new.

Blueprint Hover Tooltips: Crafting Context

We've added a handy feature where you can now hover over a blueprint and see all the recipes associated with it. For example, hovering over the Campfire blueprint will now show you everything that becomes craftable once you’ve built it, helping you plan your tech path more efficiently.

Hover Tooltips for Blueprint Sets

In addition to individual blueprints, you can now hover over blueprint sets to see everything that will be unlocked together. A great example is the Wood Building Set—hovering over the core node now reveals all the structural pieces included in the set, making it easier to know what you’re investing in.

Armor Set Consolidation

We’ve streamlined armor blueprints by grouping full armor sets into single tech tree nodes. If you’ve already unlocked individual armor pieces, any spent points will be refunded automatically if those blueprints no longer exist. When hovering over an armor set node, you’ll now see:

• All armor components included
• Materials required to craft them
• Total stat bonuses when wearing the full set, shown clearly in the tooltip

These changes should make unlocking and planning your builds smoother and more transparent while laying the foundation for the exciting gear to come.

This Week: CONTACT Device Update

We’ve made some updates to the Contact Device to improve usability and clarity. You can now view all missions through the device, even if they haven’t been unlocked yet. This lets you browse rewards, descriptions, and other key information beforehand, helping you plan your next steps. We’ve also added clearer messaging to explain why specific missions are unavailable. Whether one is already in progress, located in a different region, on cooldown, or affected by other restrictions, you’ll now see the exact reason. Alongside these functional improvements, we’ve made some light UI tweaks to clean things up and improve the overall experience.

Looking ahead, we’re in the middle of redesigning this interface's visual layout, with a focus on consistency and usability. You can expect more updates in the coming weeks as we continue refining the Contact Device.

Coming Soon: Great Hunts Release

We are hard at work with the Great Hunt Campaigns, as our staff plays through the various elements. We have decided to make some large changes to some of the content, particularly improving the rewards and legendary weapons. Unfortunately, this does mean we have decided to push back the release date. We covered some of the reasoning in last week's post. We appreciate your understanding in this.

If you didn’t catch our new trailer in the PC Gaming Show, you can watch it here:

Next Week: Mission Item Buffs

As mentioned above, we are planning on buffing many of the existing mission rewards (Sandworm, Caveworm, Scorpion, and Black Wolf Equipment) so they better reflect the current state of the game and are once again noteworthy items as they should be.

Your support makes these updates possible.

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/40692/Icarus_Pets_Bundle/

https://store.steampowered.com/bundle/35727/Icarus_Complete_the_Set/

Hotfix Changelog v2.2.59.138676

• Fixed issue where players could not start many missions due to the the menu mission list lacking upgrades as if it was an open world mission board.

Changelog v2.2.59.138512

New Content

• All Character Flag Rewards from Missions are now Account Flags, when loading in with a character a conversion process occurs
• Adding Blueprints for All Account Blueprint Unlocks from Missions so they items are no longer hidden in the tech tree
• Adjusting quests to grant the correct account flags during missions as opposed to the character flags that where granted before
• Split out some of the items granted from missions and spread them out amoungst the mission trees (for example one mission was granting 6 items before -> now the mission grants 2, and the other 4 are granted from other missions)

Fixed

Future Content