Enshrouded or Icarus? This predicament can be confusing as both titles compete on top of the list of survival game releases. These titles offer distinct approaches to the genres yet give off a similar excitement. With this, you might be thinking on which one you should play with its different gameplay mechanics. Here’s a breakdown of the game features to help you decide.
Gameplay Core Mechanics
Gameplay core mechanics usually provide the distinctive feature of a game apart from its competitor. Earlier in 2024, a new survival game called “Enshrouded” came into the market that blends fantasy RPG mechanics. This generated buzz among the community as it features a robust crafting system and base building.
Moreover, they set the character progression within a mysterious world embroiled with supernatural elements. As months passed, the game expanded significantly, particularly in the recent Souls of the Frozen Empire. It added special in-game features like new biomes, dynamic weather systems, and, importantly, companion pets.
While Enshrouded focused on offering fantasy in survival games, the 2021 release of Icarus has taken a different approach. Instead, the session-based survival gameplay features a sort of extraterrestrial experience with the space station and alien planet. This game drops players from a space station onto an alien planet to accomplish time-limited missions. Resource management will be the players’ key to survival in this game since it has strict mission timers.
World and Environment
Enshrouded puts emphasis on fantasy elements with their world-building, unlike the sci-fi setting of Icarus. Its world features a new biome called Albaneve Summit, where dynamic traversal events happen such as the deep snows and updrafts. This takes the players’ gameplay experience to another level, given that they built the environment to feel more lived-in. Also, it gives the NPC daily routines that make it more realistic. They can also build permanent settlements across the land, which is a bit different from most survival games.
On the other hand, Icarus surprised with its features resembling Earth, such as the flora and fauna. While Enshrouded presents dynamic weather systems that replicate reality, Icarus tends to be harsh and unforgiving. This means that the systems inteded to destroy buildings and slaughter unprepared players. Besides, it did not introduce any alien life forms, as it relies on the environment to provide a challenging survival experience.
Building and Crafting
Crafting and building remain key features to any survival game and are often presented to bring intrigue to the game. With these games’ different nature, their building and crafting systems also go the opposite way.
A traditional progression system takes place in Enshrouded with the players ability to create their permanent settlements. Beside this, players can also add new crafting NPCs and townsfolk in these locations. Moreover, it expands the players’ capacity to establish multiple bases across the world. One of the unique things here is it lets you craft outerwear recipes catered to combat the weather effects.
However, if you prefer a temporary approach to building and crafting, then Icarus will be perfect for you. The game makes players create shelters and crafting stations only to abandon these structures once the mission ends. Since it has a sci-fi premise, it features tiers of technology, from primitive tools to advanced equipment like solar panels. The downside to this is that progress restarts for each mission.
Death and Progression
Icarus is extra challenging in terms of the death and progression in the game. It has a more punishing death system that imposes severe XP penalties on players upon death. Then, when in solo play, it doesn’t provide a self-resurrection mechanic that slims down the chances of survival. Besides, challenging enemy encounters appear right off the bat, barely making a progression into the game.
While Enshrouded takes a least intense approach to their player death and progression with the saving game feature. Players are allowed to maintain their progress despite setbacks in the game. They may continue to build their character without receiving any severe penalties for failing to survive. Looking at it, it seems that these games are on opposite extremes when it comes to death and progression systems.
Multiplayer Experience
Both games offer multiplayer cooperation, which is good for players with gaming cliques. In Enshrouded, players can build and survive together with their friends in the world. Besides, they add more social engagements through the companion pets and enhance the NPC interactions. Up to 16 players can interact in the cooperative play of Enshrouded, unlike the 8 players of Icarus.
On Icarus, the interactive play will center on the game’s mission structure and extraction mechanics provided. The players will have to survive through the intense moments by coordinating for survival and escape.
Which Should You Choose?
At preface, it is difficult to choose between these titles given their successful rise among competition in the survival games market. However, an in-depth sight on these games presents how distinctive these are from each other. Hence, your decision on what you’ll be playing will entirely depend on you. Yet, here are some guides before you make a final decision:
Choose Enshrouded if you
- Prefer a persistent world where your progress remains.
- Enjoy fantasy settings with RPG elements.
- Want a more relaxed survival experience with permanent base building.
- Like having companion pets and NPC interactions.
- Are looking for a game actively receiving major updates.
Choose Icarus if you
- Enjoy session-based gameplay with clear objectives.
- Prefer intense, time-limited survival challenges.
- Like coordinating with larger groups (up to 8 players).
- Don’t mind a more punishing difficulty curve.
- Want a more technical approach to survival mechanics.
Conclusion
Survival games are definitely a hit in the market, even if years have passed. Enshrouded and Icarus were among the standouts of this genre for their challenging adventures. With this, it assures that either of the titles is worth trying and playing. At the end of the day, it will all boil down to your preferences on the type of games played. If you prefer elements of fantasy, then pick Enshrouded, while choose Icarus if you lean on sci-fi challenges.
