The worst part of ICARUS is the XP. If you die, you instantly lose all your progress toward the next level. Later in the game, that can be long stretches of gameplay — and all totally wasted because you didn’t notice a rampaging polar bear rushing straight for you. A single slip-up can end your run. Whether its surprise wolves or dropping down a ledge that’s just a little too steep. If you’re sick of losing all your XP, there is a way to save yourself a whole mess of grinding.
If you’re less worried about XP and more worried about your lost inventory on death, there’s another separate trick you can utilize to keep everything in your inventory. We’ll explain both tricks in the full guide below — anyone can do them and they don’t require mods or cheats or anything like that. Just remember that you will need to be playing solo or be the host of a session for these tricks to work. If you’re playing with someone else in multiplayer, these methods are not guaranteed to save your XP.
More ICARUS guides:
Beginner’s Guide | How To Earn Credits Faster | How To Reach Level 15 Easily
How To Save Your XP / Inventory After Dying
When you die in ICARUS, you’ll respawn at your bedroll and lose all current XP. If you recover your body, you’ll be able to get back your inventory — including valuable workshop items from space. There are two simple tricks you can use to get back your gear / XP faster. They both have drawbacks, so you’ll have to decide for yourself which to use in your situation.
- Method #1: Alt+F4 – For this trick, simply press Alt+F4 right after you die. Immediately! As fast as you can. Do it right away instead of respawning — this will automatically close the game and exit before your current state can be autosaved. When you return, you’ll respawn a few minutes before your death, usually near where you left off and with all your inventory / XP intact.
This method is great for keeping your XP and your inventory. There are two drawbacks: you will lose anything that you gained in the interim (between the autosave and death), and you have to press Alt-F4 immediately after death. If you don’t do it fast, you can lose your window. You won’t be able to recover. There is still a way to keep your inventory by sacrificing your XP.
- Method #2: Quitting Prospect – This method will not save your XP, but it will save your inventory if you don’t think you’ll be able to recover your body. After death, instead of respawning, simply exit to the menu then remove your character from the current prospect. You’ll lose all the XP you earned but you’ll reappear in space with your full inventory.
Using these two tricks, you can avoid catastrophic failure in ICARUS. It is better to just stay alive and not get killed at all, but if the worst does happen, now you know how to fight back against some serious punishment.