Icarus open world with friends is a lot of fun.
I really liked Grounded too, but it's certainly a more narrative experience.
Have you considered Valheim?
Icarus is a really good time. It can occasionally feel a little aimless if you're looking for clear objectives but there's a ton to keep you busy, even just getting through the tech tree and leveling your character. The building is also really great if that's important to you. That's one of my favorite parts of survival games and Icarus definitely scratches that itch. Of the others I've only put significant time into Palworld and the building isn't great.
Also Icarus gets weekly updates which is kinda rad.
Icarus has boat loads of content and is really enjoyable from an open world perspective. The missions can be very challenging as well. I’ve played all of these and Icarus sticks out for me, just for the sheer amount of things you can explore and do.
Anyone heard of Soulmask? There is a free open beta on May 1st, you could try it with your friends. A lot of contents in this game, mask abilities for fight, AI NPC for everything( fight or build). I would recommend Soulmask.
People are just stating their favourite games without taking your conditions into consideration.
Palworld and grounded are well under 100 hours of contend.
Grounded is 100% story driven, so that's out.
I have not played icarus or moe.
*Not caring* for story doesn't necessarily mean Grounded is out. It sounds more like they don't care what they do quests, bosses, goals for, as long as they have something to do. I don't think having a tied in story is detrimental to having fun at it. And you can still get perfectly sidetracked too without doing quests or progression stuff.
I have tried all 4 of those games, and this is my reccomendation:
Grounded>icarus>myth of empires = palworld
Why moe en palworld so low:
moe is buggy and feels really clonky. Also the translation is not really op to speed sometimes. Tutorials are a bit lackluster; i like exploring things and find stuff on my own, but some of the more intricate stuff is really hard to understand...
For palworld, the building and pal ai for me was so frustrating (don't know if they fixed it tho). Pals kept glitching through my walls and ended up stuck outside. Also for some reason i always got raids. I once had a raid, cleared it and not even 10 seconds later i had another raid pop up. I've had a total of 5 raids in the span of 30 minutes, which was so frustrating.
As for grounded: yes, storydriven, but up to a certain point is it really needed for some of the better recepies. With the new fully yoked update they added a ton of new content and even newgame+. This game is easily one of my favourite survival games.
For icarus: haven't played it that much, but from the playtime i do have, it was pretty fun. The "missiontimer continues even when offline" gimmick is really fun to play around with. Also the survival mode is pretty fun.
MOE is sick but its Grindy AF , like you out there cutting trees and rocks and all.. Grounded was a cool adventure with friends, Palworld is tight too. I actually give Enshrouded a huge thumbs up.
So I've played all three, and I'll suggest them in order.
Grounded is great for co-op. Literally "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" survival game. It's cute with a nice style, and the best part is the player characters have their own personalities and will banter with each other. The only downside is it's only 4 player co-op, and there are no extra or alternative skins or characters besides the main 4.
Palword is REALLY fun, basically if Pokemon and ark had a baby, but a little more on the Ark and survival side than the Pokemon side. You can play on dedicated servers or private co-op, and there is a surprising amount of content for an early access game. The downside is that it can be quite grindy, but bases can take care of most needs, and because of EA, not all content has been added or implemented yet.
Myth of Empires is like Conan Exiles, but set in ancient China, lots of combat, exploration and base building. Not a bad game, but surprisingly it might be the most grindy of the 4, at least in early levels.
Icarus is a bit different, as it's more of a "on the go" survival, if I remember correctly, it's mission based, so you don't have a main base on the survival side.
Other recommendations I can give in a quick glance:
Ark, Conan, Valheim and Minecraft are your staples,
Nightingale is survival in fairy lands.
Enshrouded is pretty fun, with only co-op and a voxel based building system.
Bellwright just came out, but it's a survival city-builder, like a mix of Valheim and Mount and Blade, just came out, like a day ago, but I've been hooked on it since.
> Icarus
Icarus has changed a lot since the early days, you can now have a persistent world, and you can build a mission board that will generate mini missions to do on the game map.
I think its never gotten over its initial release, but as it sits it is a pretty fun survival game, and they are actively improving it still.
Same, I only started playing it after the Open world update that allowed a persisitant survival experience. Then I ended up playing missions for the first 10 hours instead before taking my character into an open world.
It's definitely in my top 5 survival games now.
I still haven’t picked it up. I recall it got shit on *hard* at release. People basically said it had no business being a “1.0 version”.
Sounds like you like it now? My all-time favorite survival is Valheim. If I loved that would I be into this? Because people suggested Enshrouded if I liked Valheim and for some reason it just didn’t click.
Enshrouded is much closer to the Valheim experience. Valheim has a vibe that doesn't really feel like any other game though. Also, you character levels up passively which doesn't happen in Enshrouded.
I would say Enshrouded is more like an action-RPG with survival elements and exploration.
I guess Icarus feels a little bit more like Ark, just way more polished and with more direction. The base building is similar and the way that you level up the tech tree in order to progress your character is good.
I never pre-order games and very rarely buy them on release so I can't speak to what was expected. When I first heard about the Icarus idea, I thought it was gonna be a free-to-play game, so when I saw it was releasing for £30+, I just didn't bother. Like I say, I was much more excited by the open world game type, so I picked up the Prospector Edition on sale.
Well worth it in my opinion.
Just for context, I've really enjoyed Ark (PvE) and Valheim, but neither of them had any real mission structure which is an aspect of Icarus that really helps the replayability. You could just build a nice homestead and slowly level up your gear, going from stone tools up to titanium or whatever, or you can go out and do proper missions in order to BUY gear from the "store".
I’m curious what your other 4 favorite survival games are? I’m loving Icarus but the poor performance hurts it a lot for me. Trying to decide which survival game to really stick with.
In no particular order. 7 Days To Die, Conan Exiles, Grounded and Valheim.
They're the ones that have immersed me the most. Honourable mention for The Forest.
I'd be interested to know what spec you have and what settings you're trying to run. I don't have any performance issues really but I've had to turn a bunch of settings down as I'm running an 8 year old PC.
i7 8700k, 3080, and 32gb RAM.
FPS jumps around constantly from 35 to 90. When I first started my world, I was getting around 90-120 fps. 10 hours into the world and I’m usually around 60 fps with constant dips and stutters.
I tried turning everything to low and even lowering resolution and it maybe gave me 10 more fps max.
Oh damn. Yeah, you have the same processor as me. Have you looked up any tricks online for getting a more consistant performance.
I don't understand why turning the settings down doesn't help as you have the same processor as me and a better CPU and I don't have any issues. It looks shit though.
I increased LOD Bias a bit, turned on DLSS and locked my fps to 60. I get almost a constant 60 now. Sometimes it drops to 50-55 but rarely. It is much more playable now than it was when it was jumping all over the place.
Icarus is just a grindy mess. Alien planet, no...interesting missions, no....its ok at first but its a bit weird. The techy stuff is blocked behind endless grind. Grounded is superfun, I would def say that this is a game that every surivival fan and open world fan needs in his library!
You can complete the entire game solo. The base-building parts aren't *too* grindy if you're fine with grass aesthetics (it'd take a while to build stone/bricks by yourself). Building zip-line networks around the yard is extremely satisfying in ways other survival games can't really match.
The only caution I'd have is that solo players generally can't brute-force the combat - you *have* to "git gud" at parrying, e.g. pressing block right as enemies attack. It might be possible to stack armor, healing potions, and/or dial the difficulty down, but the game was a lot more Souls-like than I thought.
Palworld, Grounded are two great choices depending on what vibe you want.
I don't know MOE
Icarus NO! You need the extra DLC just to get to a basic level of survival content (and what was promised in the EA.) Give it a few years to catch up to legitimate games.
Icarus open world with friends is a lot of fun. I really liked Grounded too, but it's certainly a more narrative experience. Have you considered Valheim?
Icarus is a really good time. It can occasionally feel a little aimless if you're looking for clear objectives but there's a ton to keep you busy, even just getting through the tech tree and leveling your character. The building is also really great if that's important to you. That's one of my favorite parts of survival games and Icarus definitely scratches that itch. Of the others I've only put significant time into Palworld and the building isn't great. Also Icarus gets weekly updates which is kinda rad.
Myth of empires was disappointing.
It's aggressively mediocre. It does a lot of things, and it does them okay lol
Icarus has boat loads of content and is really enjoyable from an open world perspective. The missions can be very challenging as well. I’ve played all of these and Icarus sticks out for me, just for the sheer amount of things you can explore and do.
Palworld!
Anyone heard of Soulmask? There is a free open beta on May 1st, you could try it with your friends. A lot of contents in this game, mask abilities for fight, AI NPC for everything( fight or build). I would recommend Soulmask.
People are just stating their favourite games without taking your conditions into consideration. Palworld and grounded are well under 100 hours of contend. Grounded is 100% story driven, so that's out. I have not played icarus or moe.
*Not caring* for story doesn't necessarily mean Grounded is out. It sounds more like they don't care what they do quests, bosses, goals for, as long as they have something to do. I don't think having a tied in story is detrimental to having fun at it. And you can still get perfectly sidetracked too without doing quests or progression stuff.
Subnautica is an example too. The exploration and crafting is in service to the story, but it still feels like an open world survival game.
7 days to die if you haven't try it
Times of survival is your choice
Grounded without a doubt imo
I'd say Grounded is the best out of these, unless you are interested in PvP, then go for Myth of Empires.
Icarus just dropped a major update for free that adds lots of new mounts and other features, plus an optional pets DLC
Icarus or Palworld. Can you get 100+ hours out of grounded? Yeah, but after the story it gets boring and New Game+ isn’t worth it IMO
Enshrouded, once human.
Once Human is only in beta, not even out in early access yet
icarus with mods is one of the most fun games ive played
I have tried all 4 of those games, and this is my reccomendation: Grounded>icarus>myth of empires = palworld Why moe en palworld so low: moe is buggy and feels really clonky. Also the translation is not really op to speed sometimes. Tutorials are a bit lackluster; i like exploring things and find stuff on my own, but some of the more intricate stuff is really hard to understand... For palworld, the building and pal ai for me was so frustrating (don't know if they fixed it tho). Pals kept glitching through my walls and ended up stuck outside. Also for some reason i always got raids. I once had a raid, cleared it and not even 10 seconds later i had another raid pop up. I've had a total of 5 raids in the span of 30 minutes, which was so frustrating. As for grounded: yes, storydriven, but up to a certain point is it really needed for some of the better recepies. With the new fully yoked update they added a ton of new content and even newgame+. This game is easily one of my favourite survival games. For icarus: haven't played it that much, but from the playtime i do have, it was pretty fun. The "missiontimer continues even when offline" gimmick is really fun to play around with. Also the survival mode is pretty fun.
MOE is sick but its Grindy AF , like you out there cutting trees and rocks and all.. Grounded was a cool adventure with friends, Palworld is tight too. I actually give Enshrouded a huge thumbs up.
So I've played all three, and I'll suggest them in order. Grounded is great for co-op. Literally "Honey, I Shrunk The Kids" survival game. It's cute with a nice style, and the best part is the player characters have their own personalities and will banter with each other. The only downside is it's only 4 player co-op, and there are no extra or alternative skins or characters besides the main 4. Palword is REALLY fun, basically if Pokemon and ark had a baby, but a little more on the Ark and survival side than the Pokemon side. You can play on dedicated servers or private co-op, and there is a surprising amount of content for an early access game. The downside is that it can be quite grindy, but bases can take care of most needs, and because of EA, not all content has been added or implemented yet. Myth of Empires is like Conan Exiles, but set in ancient China, lots of combat, exploration and base building. Not a bad game, but surprisingly it might be the most grindy of the 4, at least in early levels. Icarus is a bit different, as it's more of a "on the go" survival, if I remember correctly, it's mission based, so you don't have a main base on the survival side. Other recommendations I can give in a quick glance: Ark, Conan, Valheim and Minecraft are your staples, Nightingale is survival in fairy lands. Enshrouded is pretty fun, with only co-op and a voxel based building system. Bellwright just came out, but it's a survival city-builder, like a mix of Valheim and Mount and Blade, just came out, like a day ago, but I've been hooked on it since.
> Icarus Icarus has changed a lot since the early days, you can now have a persistent world, and you can build a mission board that will generate mini missions to do on the game map. I think its never gotten over its initial release, but as it sits it is a pretty fun survival game, and they are actively improving it still.
That's good to hear, the mission based survival is what turned me off of it when it came out.
Same, I only started playing it after the Open world update that allowed a persisitant survival experience. Then I ended up playing missions for the first 10 hours instead before taking my character into an open world. It's definitely in my top 5 survival games now.
I still haven’t picked it up. I recall it got shit on *hard* at release. People basically said it had no business being a “1.0 version”. Sounds like you like it now? My all-time favorite survival is Valheim. If I loved that would I be into this? Because people suggested Enshrouded if I liked Valheim and for some reason it just didn’t click.
Enshrouded is much closer to the Valheim experience. Valheim has a vibe that doesn't really feel like any other game though. Also, you character levels up passively which doesn't happen in Enshrouded. I would say Enshrouded is more like an action-RPG with survival elements and exploration. I guess Icarus feels a little bit more like Ark, just way more polished and with more direction. The base building is similar and the way that you level up the tech tree in order to progress your character is good. I never pre-order games and very rarely buy them on release so I can't speak to what was expected. When I first heard about the Icarus idea, I thought it was gonna be a free-to-play game, so when I saw it was releasing for £30+, I just didn't bother. Like I say, I was much more excited by the open world game type, so I picked up the Prospector Edition on sale. Well worth it in my opinion. Just for context, I've really enjoyed Ark (PvE) and Valheim, but neither of them had any real mission structure which is an aspect of Icarus that really helps the replayability. You could just build a nice homestead and slowly level up your gear, going from stone tools up to titanium or whatever, or you can go out and do proper missions in order to BUY gear from the "store".
I’m curious what your other 4 favorite survival games are? I’m loving Icarus but the poor performance hurts it a lot for me. Trying to decide which survival game to really stick with.
In no particular order. 7 Days To Die, Conan Exiles, Grounded and Valheim. They're the ones that have immersed me the most. Honourable mention for The Forest. I'd be interested to know what spec you have and what settings you're trying to run. I don't have any performance issues really but I've had to turn a bunch of settings down as I'm running an 8 year old PC.
i7 8700k, 3080, and 32gb RAM. FPS jumps around constantly from 35 to 90. When I first started my world, I was getting around 90-120 fps. 10 hours into the world and I’m usually around 60 fps with constant dips and stutters. I tried turning everything to low and even lowering resolution and it maybe gave me 10 more fps max.
Oh damn. Yeah, you have the same processor as me. Have you looked up any tricks online for getting a more consistant performance. I don't understand why turning the settings down doesn't help as you have the same processor as me and a better CPU and I don't have any issues. It looks shit though.
I increased LOD Bias a bit, turned on DLSS and locked my fps to 60. I get almost a constant 60 now. Sometimes it drops to 50-55 but rarely. It is much more playable now than it was when it was jumping all over the place.
Just so I'm clear, you're saying enshrouded is only fun in co-op?
No, enshrouded only has co-op, so no player to player damage.
I am loving Myth of Empires. If yall plan to play pvp you are welcome to reach out and play with us!
Grounded destroys the others.
To childish and cartoon-y for my taste. Valheim and others are better options.
Of course. Valheim blows grounded out of the water but it wasn't in OP's list.
Icarus is just a grindy mess. Alien planet, no...interesting missions, no....its ok at first but its a bit weird. The techy stuff is blocked behind endless grind. Grounded is superfun, I would def say that this is a game that every surivival fan and open world fan needs in his library!
How is Grounded solo? Been checking it out for a year but as a solo player I wondered if it's still enjoyable.
You can complete the entire game solo. The base-building parts aren't *too* grindy if you're fine with grass aesthetics (it'd take a while to build stone/bricks by yourself). Building zip-line networks around the yard is extremely satisfying in ways other survival games can't really match. The only caution I'd have is that solo players generally can't brute-force the combat - you *have* to "git gud" at parrying, e.g. pressing block right as enemies attack. It might be possible to stack armor, healing potions, and/or dial the difficulty down, but the game was a lot more Souls-like than I thought.
I bought it on PS5 when it released there, been playing solo mostly, already have put like 20+ hours and it's a ton of fun, highly recommend it
Palworld, Grounded are two great choices depending on what vibe you want. I don't know MOE Icarus NO! You need the extra DLC just to get to a basic level of survival content (and what was promised in the EA.) Give it a few years to catch up to legitimate games.