Icarus softens its stance on permadeath with mission insurance

Permadeath in Icarus continues to be something of an issue. Back in late December, developer RocketWerkz raised thousands of characters from the grave, victims of being left behind on the planet after the mission timer expired in the session-based survival game. That’s the only way to experience a true character death in Icarus—if you don’t catch a rocket ride back up into space before the mission timer reaches zero, you lose your character and all their skill progress forever (though items crafted in the space station will remain available to your other characters).

December’s mass resurrection was due to a potential misunderstanding by players of how permadeath works in Icarus. “We may not have been clear enough to new players learning the game that unless you return to your dropship before the timer expires, then you lose your character permanently – abandoned on the planet surface,” RocketWerkz said at the time. “While these issues don’t affect all players, when you lose a character unfairly it hurts.”