ICARUS PC Keyboard Controls and Shortcuts Guide

Movement

Character movement in ICARUS relies on the standard PC gaming "WASD" keys. Sprinting is assigned to the Left Shift key, jumping to Space, and crouching (stealth movement) to Left Ctrl. Since it follows a standard FPS/TPS control scheme, anyone who has played other PC games on a mouse and keyboard will feel right at home.

Where things get specific to ICARUS are the camera control keys, which are incredibly useful for exploration:

• C: Instantly toggle between first-person (FPS) and third-person (TPS) camera views.
• Hold Alt: Freelook camera, allowing you to look around your surroundings while maintaining your direction of movement.

Surface exploration in ICARUS is fraught with surprise attacks from predators and unpredictable, dangerous weather like storms. Make sure to use the Alt key's freelook constantly to keep an eye on your flanks and rear.

For a natural left-hand grip, we recommend keeping your ring, middle, and index fingers in the WASD home position, while resting your thumb on the Alt key so it's always ready to use.

Inventory & Crafting

Here are the shortcuts for inventory and crafting, which make up a massive part of the core loop in ICARUS.

Keys for opening screens and menus, like I to open and close your backpack (inventory), are clustered on the right side of the keyboard around I, O, and P. It's usually best to take your hand off the mouse to press these with your right hand.

The following time-saving shortcuts will drastically speed up resource management during exploration or while organizing your base. They are mapped to the left side of the keyboard near WASD. It might take a bit of getting used to, but try to commit them to muscle memory:

• Q: Loot all items from a container / Drop an item from your inventory.
• G: Open/close the backpack-specific hotbar.
• Ctrl + Left Click: Instantly transfer an entire item stack between a container and your inventory with a single click.
• Shift + Left Drag: Split an item stack in half and move it.

Combat & Tools

These are the action controls for survival tasks like hunting wildlife, mining, logging, and self-defense.

Most of this relies on mouse inputs. Use Left Click to attack or perform a tool's primary action (chopping with an axe, mining with a pickaxe, firing a bow). Use Right Click to aim down sights (ADS) with bows and firearms, or to trigger a tool's secondary action.

Reloading bows and guns is bound to R, which is another standard PC gaming layout you'll want to master.

Pressing L toggles your suit light to secure visibility at night, in dark caves, or during heavy storms. Holstering your tool with H is also great for exploring—it frees up your hands, prevents accidental clicks, and keeps you alert. The only downside is that these keys are located towards the middle-right of the keyboard, requiring you to move your hand away from WASD.

Since you won't use them constantly during combat, it's fine to just remember what they do and glance down at your keyboard when you need them.

Building Controls

Here are the building shortcuts you need to quickly set up a shelter.

There’s surprisingly little to memorize here. While holding a building piece, tap R to rotate it, or Hold R to open the variations menu (where you can change the shape of roofs, walls, etc.).

Next, you can instantly tear down misplaced pieces or dismantle temporary bases by pressing Y (Deconstruct / Deconstruct Mode).

Make sure you get these two basic commands down solid first.

To speed up your building process even further, we highly recommend using PageUp (increase offset) and PageDown (decrease offset) to fine-tune the height of your foundations and grids.

This is a lifesaver when placing foundations on uneven terrain, allowing you to build clean, aesthetically pleasing bases even on slopes that are hard to level out.

General & UI

These are the system controls for interacting with the environment while exploring the planet and managing your overall status.

One major thing to note is that the primary "Interact" key—used for gathering plants, skinning hunted prey, opening doors, and accessing workbenches—is mapped to F instead of the traditional E key.

Since "E to interact" is the overwhelming de facto standard across PC gaming, this might feel a bit awkward at first for veteran players.

Additionally, some equipment and items have special functions that require the X key (Secondary Interact).

The global map, which is absolutely essential for long-distance travel and checking mission objectives, is bound to M. Use Tab to cycle through menus containing character and mission info, and press Esc to pause the game, open the settings menu, or back out of any UI screen.

Outside of the interact key, these bindings closely follow standard PC gaming layouts.