Icarus RPG Review - The most exciting RPG I've played in a long time
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- Опубликовано: 6 сен 2024
- All civilizations rise and fall, Icarus allows you and a group of friends to tell the story of those civilizations from a truly unique perspective. It's been a long time since Wheels was this excited about an RPG, so join him on this (admittedly quite long) review of Icarus from Renegade Game Studio.
Grab a digital copy of Icarus here: www.drivethrur...
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"Leaving Home" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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"Floating Cities" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
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This sounds really good. Could we get a full Dicebreaker team livestream of it, please?
Roll dice. A random addition to a sum that leads to the collapsing the tower
I was just thinking this could be a good livestream if it is 90-120 minutes, since so DM and 2 players seems like it'll be enough, heck for a bit of fun could even have a player 3 in the form of the chat, with them alternating who's placing the dice, as there needs to be someone to blame when it comes crashing down - though depends on people there!
Your speaking is so evocative, every crisis you speak of, every choice you question is a hook to pull me toward the game.
On the one hand - fascinating game, sounds like it might even be useful as an actual tool for fiction writing.
On the other hand - not gonna lie cutting a little close to the bone for the present day for me to get into it anytime soon.
Still glad it exists and glad to know of it though.
I agree, but the format seems adaptable to anything.
It sounded like there were different types of Icarus you could play? He mentioned an ancient city at one point, I think.
@@bitnewt I assumed mfs meant the collapse of civilization in general, not the broken singularity. Seems over wrought to me, but the thing is... most people never see the big changes coming, and the ones who do still miss the when.
this sounds like a really interesting way to construct a setting for a game in a different system
I was thinking that also, to construct a backstory for a set of ruins one might explore with a team of plucky adventurers for instance.
Love the enthusiasm Wheels has discussing this game; it's all too easy to tell when a reviewer is trying to sound excited about something that they're really not that into, but here it's clear that there a real love for the game
Love that you guys are doing RPGs most people haven’t heard of! Can’t wait to try out Icarus! (And of course Blades in the Dark)
I'm running a Blades in the Dark game in a few days thanks to this channel.
YAAAS!!!
Definitley enjoyed the review. The story weaved in was a nice touch.
yeah nice video editing there. I don't personally want to play as it feels like you're simply choosing HOW things go wrong and everyone dies. It feels like there is no way to get a happy ending.
I really love how you've done this. It shows just how visceral a story telling experience RPGs can be. Icarus sounds really amazing to play! Great editing Wheels!
Y'know...I didn't think I needed friends, before I started watching this channel.
Great video format! Loved the review being interwoven with the "found tapes"- it really sucked me in. Would love to see a potentially more serious Dicebreaker let's play of this :)
Over the course of this video I've gone from thinking "that doesn't sound like it's for me" to "I want to play this but maybe not with my main tabletop group, perhaps I should try to pull together a slightly different set of friends for this one". Definitely the first game you've reviewed so far that I've flat out ordered instead of sticking on an amazon wishlist so I can pick it up at a later date.
I wish I had friends that would enjoy playing this as much as I know I would. :(
Amazing review Wheels! The combination of show/tell and effects made this video really special!
I love this game, it's the best! The playing card way is fine, it comes with an "oracle", to translate the usual faces to the Icarus cards. and you don't have to worry too much about if something happens to a card, like a spill or something.
It's amazing when you draw a card and while making a new aspect, your brain just sparks and like "wait, omg that makes so much sense!" and the new thing weaves in like it was always there in the background and you just discovered it. In my first playthrough, something that came out near the endgame made sense as like, an underlying thing that's been there since the beginning. Our language tech was malfunctioning, messing with people's brains, and causing first an increase in impulsiveness and then full on aggression. The aggression gave it away near the full societal collapse, but the impulsiveness was more subtle. It was there since the beginning and served to explain some people's actions as things went down. So it became that everything started to go downhill because of the tech but no one realized the issue until way passed the point of being able to do anything about it. The communications sector of the city accidentally caused Icarus to fall. lol
Beautiful video. Absolutely wonderful and truly unique approach to a review. I really got the feeling that I was witnessing the aftermath of your city. Just Absolutely wonderful
Reminds me very much of Fiasco, the first of these glorious downfall narrative games as far as I know!
Absolutely fascinating. Even if I'm sure it's a game I'd enjoy playing, I can easily see novelists or game developers playing a round of this and being inspired for the next story.
Icarus is one of my very favorite recent games. I love this game so much there are not even words.
Thanks for the review, it was really interesting to hear how this game works. It sounds a little like Caroline Hobbs’ Downfall as far as the theme, even if the mechanics of how you get there are quite different.
Another game along these lines which you might have experienced or want to check out is Avery Alder’s magnificent The Quiet Year, which I think is currently getting reprinted. It tells the story of a small post-apocalyptic community over a year. Each turn you draw a card with a question to answer, then you draw your answer on a map you’re all contributing to. It makes a lovely artefact by the end of the game, chronicling the growth and drama found in a community. I used it as town setup for Apocalypse World and for a Dungeon World game, telling a whole story and then zooming into a world we’d all made together.
The other game with a similar feeling is For The Queen, a tarot-style storytelling game about the servants of a queen accompanying her on a perilous mission. Each card is a prompt which inspires the fiction you’re all building together about your character and the queen. While it’s a lot smaller scale than Icarus or Quiet Year, the card reading/interpreting mechanism feels similar and that moment of looking at the card and letting inspiration hit you is fantastic.
For the Queen sounds interesting. I'm going to check it out.
Amazing video, and this game looks and sounds amazing! Would absolutely love a play-through by you guys :)
Very interesting video, nice combination of explanation and storytelling there! You might be interested in the book series Illuminae by Jay Kristoff, that somehow feels similar to this video (both in the escalation and the constructing a narrative out of small seemingly insignificant bits of information). Keep up the good work!
Did my first run of this game tonight with just my Son and myself. We had a fantastic time, and I can't wait to play this with my other usual gamers. That said, here is a recap of our very first Icarus.
So our Icarus used the setting of the "Final Frontier", a setting with aliens and humans living in one city. The two races could produce offspring, though rarely, and these beings, the "Kushar" were held as revered figures in society.
Bryce filled the role of Zorg, a Kushar who worked at the highest levels of government. He was aware that the planet was not the most structurally sound and so enacted strict laws that allowed only the government to construct buildings.
I was in the persona of Gorrzuk, an alien racist who wanted to throw down the government and cease the intermixing of human and alien.
The crux of the story saw a strange egg found out in the wilds. Zorg wished to hatch and study the egg while Gorrzuk thought it could be weaponized and used to overthrow Icarus.
Gorrzuk tried to encourage bombings, and the building of unauthorized fortresses, but everything he tried seemed doomed to failure.
When problems arose with insects ravaging the black pineapple crops, the government created a pesticide that as a side affect, got many sick. Seeing this as a chance at a chemical weapon, Gorrzuk managed instead to fix the pesticide and make it safe for use.
The egg was desired by an insectoid race, as well as Gorzzuk so it was sent off planet to hatch.When it did, it was revealed to be a quickly growing monstrosity that returned to Icarus and laid waste to it. Zorg, who had fought so hard for it's safety, was among the first killed.
Gorrzuk was hung by the citizens he had fomented rebellion among as a just reward for his villainy.
In the end, Icarus collapsed from it's structural flaws, and the damage caused by the insectoid monster. It is nothing but rubble in the bowels of the planet, serving as a nest for the beast...and all it's future hungry children.
Just because I'm an insufferable pedant: it's not the kinetic energy causing the fall, it's the fact that the line of action of the entire monument is no longer going through the centre of mass causing the potential energy to become kinetic energy. Love the game though!
❤️
(That's all.)
Wow great review! Looking forward to trying this game out. Love the creative story telling mechanism. Dicebreaker is now my favourite RUclips channel.
great editing on this video! really enjoyed it!
i remember seeing this on the new games table at my FLGS and didn't even pick it up to look at it because the cover and title didn't grab me. i'm planning to go there tomorrow, so if they still have it, i might have to pick it up!
It's rare that a review of a game is both informative and genuinely moving. Like damn. Just damn
This game looks great. You've sold me on it.
Also, wonderful video Wheels.
Sounds like a game me and a few fellow Nanowrimo's would enjoy. 🙂
This sounds like a really good DM story telling exercise
You guys are so talented in presenting these reviews. Ive seen a lot of people in the comments begging for you guys to do live streams and/series on these RPG's.
This remained me of Microscope - one of my fab games ever!
A detail that's missing from this, is it's not just 'do you want to tell a story.'
It's 'do you want to tell a *tragedy*.'
Right now, maybe you're really grooving on something that ends with everyone feeling miserable as the thing they created is hucked down the stairs. But framing it as just 'do you want to tell a story' implies that the story doesn't come with a huge caveat of 'and the ending will suck and we'll die.'
It's worth noting that this game doesn't have to tell a dark story, which is what I hinted at with the martian game which was very silly, it depends on how you and your friends interpret the text on the cards which are pretty open ended questions. You can be as light hearted with it as you like and just because your civilization/city comes to an end, that doesn't mean your characters will
@@dicebreaker It would have been super nice for you to make that more clear. As presented this looks like a misery box, which is a fine thing to want, but if the game has more breadth than that, it's worth mentioning.
Fun thought: Play another RPG with this game serving as a prologue session. This will build a setting that is familiar (so the tone won't be broken as often as other games) yet unique and fresh (allowing for a sense of wonder while playing that you won't get as often with a setting you know). Elect a dm/gm at the end of this session to minimize potential bias.
I know it doesn't say that much because you guys are really just starting out, but this has to be your best video so far. Top notch quality, and the story inserts are great.
Pretty nice review, I like it. But I wouldn't consider Icarus an RPG according to this description. Doesn't sound like there's a lot of interpretation, or role-playing itself, under the common construction of the story. So it sounds closer to Once Upon a Time, or other collective story building games, than RPG. Still, will try to take a look at it if possible, sounds fun!
Hey man this is the first time in a long time that someone has excited me by a role playing game, most of the time I am like "Oh that's interesting" but it usually stops there, my brother and I are now looking for the game after that video great job!
Please remain indoors, and DO NOT THINK ABOUT THE EVENT!
Local 58, anyone?
Mitchell and Webb reference?
This aged well
Great video! You sold me. I saw this video and immediately ordered the game. Looks like exactly my kind of game, I can’t wait to play it!
Well this sounds amazing. I thought I was up to my eyes in RPGs, but it's completely blindsided me.
Wheels' story would make a great Mini series or even an episode of "Love, Death and Robots"
I'm super here for this. I loved Microscope, but it did occasionally feel a bit lacking in inbuilt focus - this seems like it very much addresses that concern!
Ok I am sold. This review was absolutely awesome - great editing and concept.
Wow, great video! I could see a group using this game as a world building exercise to then play another RPG in
Alright, I'm sold. This looks amazing.
Thanks for the wonderful review Wheels, I found the warning about who you play that with very helpful and important. It's easy to forget about that after watching such an entertaining video. Thanks!
The video flashbacks were well done and acted, sounds like it was an epic sci-fi tragedy.
Not only does the game system sound fascinating and adaptable, but it seems like Wheels and his fellow Icarus-players are brilliant gamers.
I love the review/editing/narrative. Wonderful work and I want to play the game! Loving this channel!
Just ordered this today! So excited
absolutely love the sound of this game, and the video is amazing!!! i love how much work you put into it, and honestly the story you told had me on the edge of my seat!!!! 10/10 would watch a lets play of this game
Great video, I really liked how you experimented with the review format. I hope it encourages you to experiment more!
Would love to see a lets play or live stream. It sounds really interesting
I think you would enjoy The Quiet Year if you haven't played it, Wheels. The game makers, Buried Without Ceremony, deliberately make it financially accessible. You can buy the pdf rule book for $6 US, and then play with a standard 52 card deck.
If it's still at the local store come Sunday, I'll grab one. If not, it was never meant to be.
Is there actually much *roleplaying* in this RPG? It sounds like an (albeit truly interesting!) card-driven story experience.
To be fair, the front of the box does say it's a storytelling game, no mention of RPG.
There's nothing wrong with card-driven story experiences, but the fad of referring to them as RPGs is counterproductive when people are just trying to find the kinds of games which they're looking for.
We definately a game of Icarus right now
Icarus is a great game and I want to play more of it
Very stylish presentation, this. You've got my interest!
This seems like a streamlined version of Microscope, solves the problems I had with the otherwise great game. I'll see when I can pick this one up, but judging from other comments that might be a while
Purchased a few copies while blaring Emperor's "Eulogy to Icaros." Thank you!
That was a hell of a review, well done!
good way to collaboratively create a world (aftermath) for a d&d campaign
I love this type of videos. Pls keep them coming!
What happens when The Great Cosmic Cat knocks down your Ziggurat?
This was definitely interesting, though probably not entirely my cup of tea. I appreciate that Wheels accounted for its biggest drawback - if even one player is not committed to telling a story and improvising around it, the game will not work. However, I enjoyed the review a lot and I'd love to hear about more less known RPGs that offer something different. For instance, I love the idea of Ten Candles and I bought the book, which apparently has come just in the right time for its creator. Also, I love the Blades in the Dark setting, it reminds me a lot of the Thief video games from the late 1990s.
@Zhivko Yakimov -- i'm also a fan of Ten Candles, but i know my group aren't fans of "Overly Narrative" RPG's(all but 2 are former Munchkin players that i managed to break of the bad habits). If you want to see a great playthrough of the system, i'd recommend going to Hyper RPG. They managed to link 3-4 Narrative style game systems into one Universe, it's really neat how they did it...
At first I though you meant Kid Icarus from the classic nintendo consoles...but this might be better.
Love the unique video to suit a unique game. Great job, Wheels!
This was really well put together Wheels. Absolutely worth all the effort you put in. 👏 Thanks!
This game sounds super interesting, I definitely want to try it out and all that, but most importantly Astrid looks cool as hell.
I'm nervous about having drinks on a table when I'm gaming, never mind a teetering tower of dice.
This sounds cool. Can we have a stream of you and a few friends playing this game? It certainly caught my interest.
This would be a great prequal to a legacy life among ruins game.
I politely demand this story be told. I need to know the epic of that tormented Icarus.
That was a very well presented review and those footage clips were a great addition.
Mate, this is spectacularly well made!!!
This was genuinely great. I’d read that story, though.
Sounds very cool! Never played anything like it before but this video has definitely encouraged me to try. Not sure I’ve got the right gamer-friends for it though...
Can you all do a game list of 6-8 cooperative games? You lot always have game lists of things I’ve never heard of which just expands the game world!
Amazing, inspiring review! Thank you.
That review was amazing!!! That was some top notch editing. Are the lights in your eyes in the Icarus tapes a nod to the glow in the replicants' eyes in Blade Runner per chance or just a happy accident?
I didn't intend for it when filming but was struck with the same idea when I first watched the footage back - Wheels
This game is most definitely inspired to some degree by The Quiet Year, and it deserves a mention.
Please do a let's play of this with some of the OX crew!
Could we get a let's play? Pretty please?
Also, let's play of ten candles for Halloween? You know it makes sense ;)
Watching this in 2020 thinking that our actual world would make a great game of Icarus.
(NB this is a really long comment and I apologize in advance!/ TW for talking about mental health disorders/social difficulties towards the end)
♡ This is all love,
But
Aaaaa
I'm not sure where the sensibility for
-music
-creative VA work
-pithy length
-shot composition
...went but I love and respect y'all enough not to hide that this didn't feel compulsively watchable.
I feel like when the format of every other video has been closer to Penn and Teller than Shakespeare by way of V!Lives, this video couldn't get justice done by it. I'm trying not be anything but enthusiastic but I do feel like you guys set out to make a statement that had to stand solidly on its feet with very nuanced takes on things like mass protests, and I hope that I can make it clear that the soul behind this was to be open and honest in discussing my opinions even when theyre wrong so we can all grow. I wish RUclips in general was more for discerning and giving folks resources to be better than Yukio Mishima is kEeEwLlL type hatemongering, among other wishes such as that (who gives a fook if others perceive it as that I'm nitpicking or ungrateful or even bein a grifter), that Wheels doesnt hate me. I just want at LEAST that 😳 I promise that I meant it in an earlier draft of this comment when I said that this reminded me of the work in Brows Held High by Kyle Kallgren >w< This trans boy is looking forward to MORE I swear !!
And If it isn't clear (in the wake of y'alls mentioning the "I hope Johnny gets comfortable on camera" dude who I think I encountered before in the comments and who said that they were depressed in that comment), one last wish is that I and other folks don't just turn our brains off and get real "toxic internet stan" just in favour of being given access to a social circle that memes and roasts each other in these really lonely, lean times. I hope things stay healthy safe transparent and authentic and if some people don't come correct that folks are accountable even if they're not neurotypical lol. Everyone being a step away from insulting presenters and also being "fandom uWu rise up" sounds unhealthy, feels unhealthy; and tastes and just is unhealthy. Ion want parasocial relationships like Dicebreaker is kpop: time to elevate.
PS. The list I just wrote needed some clarifying I think so here I am to explain it here and there
I liked previous Dicebreaker videos' sensibility wrt: ●music (Sushi Roll's synth-trillwave violins were so compelling I fell in love with Dicebreaker early on into looking at your Uploads!) ● creative VA work, whether flippantly-done or not ●shot composition that I would describe as flitting from graphic design-savvy to minimalist to maximalist (Sushi Roll's LP has such simple, beautiful shots while still being a Let's Play) ... also names for P.I.P. thingies becoming "violence cam" is A1 ●-pithy length (set a watch's LP was cut in parts beautifully and made for suspense plus that banging music again) ●lacking dead air and having layered sound, to the point ppl said this past week in comment that the BGmusic had been louder than other tracks
Love it. I would enjoy seeing more videos like this one.
Me: "Oh yeah! This game sounds great! Let's play it with my friends!"
Me a few seconds later: "Wait... it's in English... and my friends can't speak English... Fuck."
What a cool sounding game.
Great review Wheels!
wow! i am definitely getting this game!
Is it possible to make CC available?
This feels like a spiritual descendant of Caroline Hobbs' Downfall (lessthanthreegames.com/downfall.html), an RPG that similarly describes the rise and collapse of the characters' home city. Icarus seems a little more structured and adds in the dexterity element of the dice tower, but if someone likes the theme of Icarus' stories but can't get a copy, Downfall is worth a look.
Is it possible for the city to not fall? What about those fighting for peace? Can they win?
I’m thinking this is like Fiasco - where the bad thing is going to happen no matter what, you’re just working on the story of how it comes to happen.
Gregory Krakovich which is still cool
Martian independence isn't bonkers. It's extremely likely to be a thing - once the colony gets going.
what an excellent review!
RIP Silas
F
Seems really similar to Kingdom by Ben Robbins, like to a degree that is slightly suspicious. Icarus seems like it's a very polished hack of even like a Kingdom 2.0
Ordered this and it’s on it’s way!!
I hope that's an affiliate link.
I have a group of whimsical players that will enjoy this.