Stars of Icarus Preview | PAX West 2025

When I was in high school, a good friend invited me to go sailing with him and his grandfather. I had never been sailing before, so it sounded like a fun experience. Soon I was scrambling around the deck, trying to make sense of starboard, stern, port, and leeway as my friend’s grandfather shouted the terms at me. It wasn’t a pleasant time, and I never went sailing again.

Fast forward thirty years, and I found myself in a similar situation at PAX West playing Stars of Icarus. Although no one was yelling at me this time, like during my maiden voyage, I still felt just as lost. Stars of Icarus is a spaceship PvP dogfighting game, and I was placed on a team of two players, with one acting as captain of a large ship. I still didn’t know the nautical terms being directed at me, but I definitely had more fun.

The other challenge I had, besides not knowing any sailing terms, was figuring out how to play the game. I was thrust into a game station without any explanation of the mechanics. Luckily, the controls were pretty intuitive. Soon I was jumping into gunnery stations, firing at enemy ships, running around to put out fires, and doing whatever I could to keep us alive. It was a frantic experience, but I wanted to play more. Given enough time with the game, I know I would learn the mechanics and have a lot of fun with it. As it was, my time with the game at PAX West was short. I’m looking forward to playing more; until then, I’ll have to gather my crew and learn some nautical terms along the way.