Icarus is a co-op survival game that drops the player right into the heart of wildlife, with an emphasis on crafting, exploration, and combat. Icarus' intriguing gameplay mechanics left some room for improvement but also inspired the active modding community to create a plethora of mods, improving the game tenfold.
In front of you lays a list of the 10 best mods for Icarus in no particular order, ranging from cosmetic improvements to top-to-bottom overhauls.
related: How to unlock blueprints in Icarus
Top 10 best mods for Icarus
1 - WZG Balance Overhaul Mod
This mod is focused on minimizing the grind and helping you get to the good stuff sooner. Tier 3 and Tier 4 recipe prices have been lowered, while the items that remain expensive have been given a stat buff, making them more worthwhile. Food stored in a fridge or an ice box now takes 10 times longer to spoil, while pickled food is forever edible.
What I found most beneficial about the WZG Balance Overhaul mod is food will only go rancid after its buff runs out, so now I can make the most of my supplies! Pair that with rebalanced armor, added inventory slots, and increased tool durability (among other things), and you've got yourself a casual-friendly survival experience without sacrificing too much challenge.
2 - FreeBuild Mod
The FreeBuild mod lets your creativity run wild, enabling you to craft any item or crafting bench without worrying about elements and resources. Think of this mod as Icarus' variant of Creative mode from Minecraft. Roll up your spacesuit sleeves and start building!
3 - Icarus Quality of Life Mod
QOL is a mod pack that makes various minor tweaks to the vanilla experience. The highlights of this mod pack are Increased moving speed and stamina, removed fall damage, and weight capacity ramped up to 1000 kg — all of this combined lets you roam the planet without care. I recommend combining this mod pack with the FreeBuild mod for the best Icarus demigod experience.
4 - Bear Mount Mod
We're still waiting for RocketWerkz to deliver on their promise and add vehicles to Icarus. Until that happens, we'll have to make do with mounts. This mod turns tamed bears into mountable animals that destroy everything and everyone in their path. Their riding animation is a little janky, but look on the bright side: you're riding a bear!
5 - Gifts of Prometheus Mod
The Gifts of Prometheus mod focuses on crafting changes and stats boosts, particularly regarding weapons that have received a damage increase. Ammo stack and dropship loadout sizes have been increased, workshop tools are more durable, and power generators, such as waterwheels and solar panels, generate more electricity.
If this mod isn't challenging enough, try out the new and improved Horde Mode, which yields better rewards but with a reduced timer between waves. Good luck!
Related: How to repair items in Icarus
6 - Mini-Map Mod
Sometimes, the smallest mods make the biggest difference. As its name suggests, the Mini-Map mod adds a mini-map to the bottom right corner of the screen. Now, you can traverse the landscape of Icarus without switching in and out of the inventory screen. All of the visual map settings, such as icons or waypoints translate to the mini-map as well. A very convenient mod indeed!
7 - Wood Interior on Concrete Mod
Want to make your home look like an overpriced burger place? This mod is for you! The Wood Interior on Concrete mod expands the concrete walls selection with five added versions, boasting a sleek wooden finish.
8 - M&B (Modules and Backpacks) Mod
This mod boosts the existing upgrade modules in various ways. Backpacks have increased capacity and decreased weight, adding to your already buffed movement speed. Radar scanning is 50% faster to help you outmaneuver dangerous animals, and the increased poison and fire resistance comes in handy, too. All in all, the M&B mod brings welcome changes to the table, with more updates on the way.
9 - Zailfyer's Arrow Recipes Mod
This arrow-focused mod alters the arrow recipes and makes the ingredient requirements more realistic while increasing damage stats for black wolf, fire, obsidian, and poison arrows and decreasing damage for carbon arrows. The mod also adds bone arrows to the Anvil Bench to help you stock up on ammo. Finally, silica ores now provide more silica, which is essential for making glass and concrete.
10 - Blessing of Tartarus Mod
Cave debuffs are among my least favorite things in Icarus, preventing you from cave exploring. The Blessing of Tartarus mod turns those debuffs into buffs! With the Blessing of Tartarus mod, once you enter a cave, your status effect will change to 'spelunking,' which grants you more stamina, faster regen, and reduced action cost.
Pneumonia has been replaced by the Blessing of Tartarus, boosting your stamina and movement speed for 60 minutes. It's an Icarus mod perfect for cave diving enthusiasts.
For more Icarus content, check out our guides on How to get composites in Icarus and Icarus cheats and console commands.
Published: Nov 6, 2023 12:11 pm