"For two decades I have played every survival game I could, trying to find the one that matched this platonic ideal that existed in my head, each falling short in some key way. And then last week I installed Icarus."
"It's precisely that perfect balance between the sense of evading danger but still being able to explore in relative safety that I have always sought. Minecraft came extraordinarily close, but the game's greatest strength-its lack of purpose-also robbed you of a need to survive."
"Blyton, a truly wretched human being, was also a terrible writer, but if she had one skill it was conveying an adventurous freedom, where children could wander off unsupervised into the forests, mountains or valleys for days on end, discover an abandoned castle, thwart the actions of a group of gruff-voiced smugglers, and be home in time for vast chocolate cakes."
The author spent two decades seeking a survival game matching an idealized vision formed by early Minecraft experiences and childhood readings of Enid Blyton novels. Blyton's stories conveyed adventurous freedom where children explored unsupervised, discovered abandoned locations, and returned to safety. This created a desire for games balancing exploration with secure refuge from danger. Minecraft came close but lacked purposeful survival mechanics. The author tested numerous survival games, each falling short in critical ways. Upon installing Icarus recently, the author believes this game finally achieves the perfect balance between evading danger and exploring safely.
Read at Kotaku
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