Posted on 18th Mar 2026
| 6 Minute Read
If you haven't checked back into ICARUS lately, now's the time to. The latest expansion, Dangerous Horizons has just released and it's already storming the Steam charts and getting a lot of praise from the Icarus community. There are a ton of new things released with the Dangerous Horizons update. You also get the new map called Elysium.
Elysium is a lot bigger, weirder, and way more punishing than the base maps. The whole ecosystem on Elysium has been overhauled and the map has a new 8 x 8 km region. You also get a new Geothermal as well as a Radiation biome that you need specialised gear just to survive in.
As well as the new map Rocketworks have also introduced a whole load of new things you can craft. Included are 30 or more new creatures with which some you can tame. Like the new Raptor that's an amazing mount. You get some nice weapons as well as oil as a new fuel source and a whole host of other structures and crafting benches. The new DLC comes with a new Tier 5 crafting tree with so many new features.
I have been playing this myself and noticed that you get access to all this on the previous Olympus, Styx, and Prometheus maps. Some new items like the laser weapons need materials that you can only get on Elysium to craft them. But the new oil veins that you can place structures on to farm oil are on every map. Oil allows you to make the new plastics as well as an easy way to craft Epoxy, which was a bit of a pain to get before.
You can also complete a mission on the new Elysium map that unlocks the first vehicle, the Hoverframe! So getting around the map is now a lot easier. It also allows you to travel certain terrains that were previously extremely hazardous in relative safety.
Elysium includes a lot more new creatures to deal with and also to tame in some cases. You also get some NPC enemies in the form of soldiers to fight as well as drones. They have also included the game's first NPC settlement called Eden.
The update also adds friendly tradeposts to all the initial maps so you can trade things like hunting goods and fruit and veg for Ren. This gives you more ways to gain currency in the open world than just farming Exotics or doing missions.
What's great about the update is that you get the Tech 5 tier for free without needing the DLC to be able to use most of the new stuff like oil geysers, lithium tools, and the new higher speed crafting table. It also looks pretty cool and high-tech if you ask me.
If it's been a while since you played Icarus, a lot has changed in the game, definitely for the better. Instead of the old way of playing where you would land on a mission, build a base and spend ages to complete the mission, only to leave the mission and start again with a new base. For most this made the game extremely repetitive. Now you can start an open world and complete all the missions on that one world and invite all your friends to come and join you.
The best way to do this is to host an Icarus dedicated server for an open world. Not only is this easier, but it also takes the performance stress off your pc if you are the one hosting the open world game. It also keeps the connection reliable and lag-free for you and your friends.
In the Open World version of the game on a Icarus dedicated server, everything is persistent. This means your builds and tamed creatures stay there and you will need this to progress with the new narrative-driven missions in Elysium, your Tier 5 bases are going to be massive. On a rented server, your friends can jump in to refine fuel or reinforce walls while you're offline. They can also start and complete missions while you are offline, and you get the benefits and points when you next log back in to the server.
One thing about the way the devs have released this new DLC is that if you play with a group in an open world, only one of you needs to own the DLC and start the open world. Your friends can join whenever they want without owning the Dangerous Horizons DLC.
When a forest fire or a Group 15 strike team levels your hard work, having a recent backup of your server is a literal lifesaver. Especially if you also lose anything from bugs. You can always revert to a backup from a previous snapshot of your world.
From my experience playing it, the new Dangerous Horizons is amazing and has given the game a whole new lease of life. Between the laser rifles, the NPC factions, and the sheer scale of Elysium, there is more to do than ever.
Get yourself a server today with our top-notch Icarus Server Hosting. We hope that you all enjoy the new DLC as much as we have!
