Buy it we need players

I have waited nearly seven years to write this review. Statistics are split between the original PVP-only mode and the PVE expansion released years later, so while my displayed time is 1,400 hours, the true number is closer to 4,000 hours.

Guns of Icarus has contained my highest highs, and lowest lows of video gaming - and the truth of the matter is, I cannot recommend it to anyone. The gameplay in a vacuum is robust; the concept is strong and when achieved properly is a highly engaging and challenging experience that leads to a sense of camaraderie with other players rarely possible in other games. Unfortunately this experience is /entirely/ reliant on a community vast enough to homogenize the average skill level to a point where disparity is easily managed. As it stands now, and has for multiple years, the community is barren - limited to a die-hard few and an oblivious fewer that rarely if ever leads to a sense of progress or purpose for new players to experience. A jaded vet community that actively dissuades inexperience and a tonedeaf developer that consistently tugs at my heartstrings with the potential for greatness tires my soul of this video game. No amount of developer and community stat-fiddling is going to accelerate the /core paradigms/ of Guns of Icarus - the only thing that will achieve that is community. Muse has a communications issue when it comes to expressing how their game is played and what to expect when joining for the first time. This game desperately needed a single player campaign mode that more comprehensively expressed the mechanics before burdening others with their inexperience - I use the past tense because it is much, much too late for this.

While I could expound on a plethora of other technical issues with this video game, I feel that it is unnecessary - I believe a majority of these things will /never/ be updated and it is much more pertinent to what players will actually experience to focus on the aspects that keep the game running, or not running as it currently stands. It's a shame to finally admit - as a player that has been here from the very start - that I will never suggest this game to anyone.

Unfortunately I can't recommend this game anymore. Though there is a fantastic game system under the hood here, a multiplayer game ultimately is only as good as its community. For Guns of Icarus, the community has run away to other games, and what remains is incredibly toxic.

I had the opportunity to play with a dev from Muse games, who unfortunately was also one of these incredibly toxic players, who heckled me on voice chat and continuously yelled at me to quit. Sure, I'll quit. It's not like I owe Muse anything to keep playing the game.

The only way to enjoy Guns of Icarus nowadays is to get it with a friend group that is a perfect multiple of 4 and never play a public game, just run some missions co-op with each other. In that scenario, the game really shines. Otherwise, the game you wish you could be playing doesn't exist. The community's a drag, and clearly Muse itself doesn't even care.

I got it at launch and it's quite fun. PVE in Alliance is a game changer compared to the original game IMO. Previously when it was PVP only, there was a small extremely experienced community, and you'd just get wrecked as a new player. PVE provides an on ramp that was badly needed for new players. You join one of six factions that compete against each other (by completing objectives in PVE) to take control of different zones of the world map.

The maps are great, there are a variety of ships that look and feel very different (including some that are faction specific), special "boss" class ships you go up against, and lots of different weapons to customize your ships loadout. You can also change your character's loadouts, appearance, and class.

Note that it is class based and playing as the captain class can be a problem when you are a base level captain playing with randoms. No one wants a captain with zero experience to cost them the mission. However, if you level up by playing with friends it is no problem, and your captain(s) in your group can level up and learn to play well enough to be taken seriously by randoms. Each class has a variety of different ammunition types, items, and active abilities they can equip (such as automated repair kits, speed boosts, etc) and you should coordinate all of this as a crew so you are prepared for any threat.

A lot of the missions have multiple allied ships working together, so you have 2-4 ships each with a 4 person crew. Sometimes we'd have 16 people and the captains would coordinate with both each other and their own crews (which is totally awesome) or I'd just be playing with 3 other friends manning one ship as a crew, or we'd all be captains of our own ships and our crew members would be bots. (Great way to level your captain class)

It is very teamwork focused, naturally, and offers an experience that's quite different from the likes of Vermintide and Left 4 Dead. Everyone needs to work together. If you have a mic and at least one friend who would play it with you, I'd highly recommend it.

Does piloting a steampunk airship and yelling "dreadnaught approaching from starboard!" sound fun to you?

Here to lay my flowers at the grave stone. "Last 30 Days - Avg. Players 5.0"
Never will I have another great game like this
Never will I have another game fill the void of a team based managment game

Thanks Humble Bundle ❤

Wow... Uhhhhh where do I start?


I had the orginal Guns of Icarus Online back when it was popular (Logged about 42 Hours on it). The game itself is alot of fun dont get me wrong. However, without the playerbase numbers it used to have you simply just dont have a community to fuel a game type like this. Dont get me wrong: I love GOI, but I have some heartburn with this "game".

(For Referance:

Online = Guns of Icarus Online
Alliance = Guns of Icarus Alliance)


Alliance fixes a MAJOR issue Online had, the lack of PVE. Something that honestly could have kept the game alive from the start imo. However, today its released as a 20 Dollar DLC to a 5 Dollar game, which considering how little content is actually added? It seems more like a money grab than anything. While it acts like an actual game on the steam store it actually needs Online to function. To rectify this issue they actually bundle Online with Alliance and basically just leave Online (which was once the actual game provided by these people) as a now gimp'd version of Alliance. Stupid? Yes. It kinda spits on people who bough Online for full price back in its prime because now its basically just 5 bucks off this new game.

• Do I need to buy Guns of Icarus Online for this game to work?
  
  No, the game is bundled with Alliance, it seems that Muse's scope for this game changed rapidly multiple times and is listed as both a base game and DLC on their own FAQ part of their site. So naturally there is confusion there when it seems even the publisher doesnt know what this game is
  
  
• How good is the player base?
  
  Pretty empty, buy this game with friends. Otherwise its so low you'll be waiting forever to find a game. Plus Pubbies sometimes arent the best of players. Play with people you can communicate with and know are in your skill set
  
  
• You said that its not really added much content? What got added?
  
  Basically? Factions. New ships and guns THAT YOU HAVE TO LEVEL UP TO UNLOCK and just PVE mode where what you do is go around and fight your way through multiple enemy ships and not die as you shoot the oil rigs/manufacture plants/etc over and over and over again. Its the same search and destroy stuff repeatedly. Its pretty lackluster.
  
  
• You have to level up for the new ships and guns?
  
  Yes, you do. and from an hour of play? I didnt even level up once. You need to grind pretty hard to make any decent progress it seems and quite frankly? The gameplay is repetititve too. Rush B and destroy the tower and move on with your day at full speed.
  
  
  The Review:
  
  This game is pretty solid gameplay wise, dont get me wrong. It does what its meant to. you get on a flying boat with a giant freakin ballon taped to the top of it by some jank manner, add a few guns, and you play the worlds most hardcore game of battleship but instead its in the sky, steampunk, and you can move in all 3 Axis at will. Different ships offer different weapon mountpoints and each have their own stats. Pretty solid and fun if you're new. Grab a bunch of friends and get to gether and just go ham working together and its even better.
  
  That said if you're one of those early adopters from Online? This.... really doesnt seem that great. For 20 bucks or whatever price you get it on sale you literally buy the same game you bough back in 2012-whenever Alliance came out but with PVE and a pitiful discount. Good job Muse, this really does screw over your early adopter playerbase. If i got a notification that said: Hey alliance is like 5 bucks for you since you had Guns of Icarus Online before Alliance's release. I would say Hey man its 5 bucks, grab my buddies who used to play Online and we all hop back on. That's how you breath some life back into a playerbase by bringing the vets back who will likely be dedicated to the game if the content is good.
  
  However..... Muse decided to screw up and offer for a limited time no less the "Discount" they gave to those who already had Online. You still get gimp'd 15 dollars for a world map, factions, and shiny toys you have to grind to unlock.
  
  NOT COOL
  
  20-15 bucks is what this game is worth without a sale if you're completely new to this francise. NOT something you should have to pay for literally buying the base game a couple years back. Not to mention that you dont even get an extra copy of Online if you already have it Which would have made this a bit more worth it if you did. Which really does completely screw the customer here.
  
  Furthermore: The gameplay thats added is..... lackluster....
  
  Drive, Shoot stationary target while rushing through a crowd of AI ships to not die, kill said target, rush to it, repeat.
  
  There really isnt any challenge here. And if you know what you're doing its even less difficult. Theres no massive 4 crew battles, theres not enough playerbase to support it, and if you're lucky you'll find a 2 crew battle MAYBE a 3 crew.
  
  On top of this you are only paying for:
  -A rather repetitive game mode
  -New stuff you have to grind to unlock anyway
  -A world map that probably wont get much action due to poor player base counts or will be dominated by a clan that snowballs
  -Some new maps to play on
  
  Thats.... really it. Not much else. And the grinding is SLOW. When you're level 1 in a faction you'd expect a few wins and a loss to result in at least SOME EXP that gets you out of level one in said faction.
  
  Nope, barely over halfway..... greeeeeeeeaaaaat. And you need to hit presumably something more akin to a prestiege to unlock the other factions ships so you can use them. Let alone the painful grind to levels 6-8 to just unlock your factions special weapon and ship.
  
  This has just resulted in some really poor incentive to play. The player feels like they're getting nowhere and the content they PAYED MONEY FOR is something they cant even use because of a steep level gap. Which I personally cant justify under any reason. This is hindered further if you're solo. Because you'll struggle to find the games to even gain EXP with to begin with if you dont wanna just constantly rely off AI gunman/engineers constantly. Which is stupid anyway.
  
  At least with a few friends you can play multiple roles and switch in and out and have a blast together, not constantly get railed by a poor playerbase.
  
  
  Pros & Cons
  
  Pros and Cons are weighted by "+" or "-" symbols respectivly, 1 being not too impactful, 3 being very impactful to the game and its quality
  
  Pros:
  +Fun with friends (you'd need 3 plus yourself at a minimum)
  +Good Visuals
  +Solid gameplay
  +Rather extensive character customization which is nice
  +The items you can take for loadouts are pretty well balanced
  +It seems Muse will continue to support this game
  
  Cons:
  ---Almost impossible to unlock any of the weapons/ships solo rendering a solid portion of this DLC unsuable which for 20 bucks they should all be automatically unlocked for you
  ---Repetitive PVE
  ---Massive price for what is really just a standalone DLC that should be 5 bucks, 10 for the Online/Aliance bundle
  ---If you own Online you're screwed. You get secondhand updates from the Alliance update pipeline. Its an afterthought by this point. Not a good way to treat past customers Muse.
  --Nearly dead player base
  --Some people have complained of crashes and visual issues
  --The playerbase CAN be toxic. Especially if you deny a reccomended loadout or run something that somebody doesnt like.
  --8 Dollar costume pack? Really Muse? You're bleeding your playerbase as it is.
  -Some weapons tend to have a must have ammo type. Like Greased in the gatling gun.
  
  
  Overall Rating:
  
  2/10
  
  You screwed yourself Muse. You overcharged for this DLC that should be a 10 dollar bundle for Online and Alliance, 5 for those who already have Online. Your steep price isnt going to put any extra life into this dying game's playerbase. I am refunding this "game"

If i had a time machine i wouldnt even bother stopping world changing events or spend time learning dead tongues or cultures, i would just go back to the good old day's where people actually played this game.

add sex

I got this game for free during a Humble Bundle giveaway bit over a year ago, and jumped in having no idea waht I was getting myself into. I quickly found my place as a pilot, flying a tank/defense ship known as the Junker. Naming it the Skyfarer's Hope, I ventured on to get myself into the faction politics. Now, a year later, I'm a known member of the community, with actons of mine appearing in official lore. My next goals here? Get my name into lore, and become a better pilot.