Icarus: How to get oxygen

The latest sandbox survival game from DayZ creator Dean Hall, called Icarus, has got its full release this weekend.

In the game, you play as a Prospector, who has packed their space bags and gone off to the planet of Icarus in the hope of extracting the planet's mineral wealth to turn a profit (how depressingly normal).

Icarus isn't as hospitable as once assumed, though, and while it does have plenty of riches in the shape of Exotics, it is very much a planet where survival will be your first thought, not get rich quick schemes.

Players need to keep an eye on three main aspects of their characters needs to stay alive on Icarus; hunger, water, and oxygen.

From a common-sense point of view, the first two are easy enough to work out. You will need to eat food to deal with hunger and drink water to stay hydrated, two things that are, if not easy to find, are easy enough to deduce and act on.

Oxygen is proving more tricky for first-time Prospectors, so with that in mind, we have put together a guide to getting and maintaining a steady supply of oxygen in Icarus, meaning you can get on with destroying the planet in pursuit of a profit!

How to get oxygen on Icarus

The oxygen levels on Icarus are not high enough to sustain human life, so you will have to acquire a consistent supply to keep you alive.

Luckily, there is a way of sorting an oxygen supply, first, in an ad-hoc way, and later by creating an Oxidizer which will give you a far greater supply, a necessity for longer explorations into Icarus' hinterlands.

Note: You can check your oxygen levels at the bottom left-hand corner of your HUD and also get an exact numerical value from your inventory.

The key to oxygen is Oxite

Oxite is a mineral resource found on Icarus. It comes in the form of blue-shaded rocks.

You may find larger mineable rocks (which you won't be able to mine straight away on account of needing a pickaxe) and also smaller Oxite Deposits, which you can pick up.

These Oxite Deposits can be used without manipulation to increase your oxygen levels. Simply open up your inventory and move an Oxite Deposit into the oxygen slot.

An Oxite Deposit will give you +9 oxygen, meaning you will need around 11 of these rocks to return your oxygen meter to full.

Refining Oxite Deposits

The next step in maintaining a steady supply of oxygen is by refining Oxite using an Oxidizer.

An Oxidizer is one of the first things you will learn to build as it's in Tier 1 of the Tech Tree.

Note: You will need a pickaxe for this.

First, learn how to create a Small Wood Create, and then after that, you can gain the blueprint for the Oxidizer.

To build an Oxidizer, you will need the following materials:

• 8 Sticks
• 24 Fiber
• 20 Leather
• 10 Bone

You will get Bone from the skeletons of deer. Use your pickaxe and pick at the deer's skeleton for this resource.

Once you have the blueprint unlocked and the required materials, head to the Crafting menu, craft the Oxidizer and then place it into your house.

You can now fill the Oxidizer with up to 50 Oxite Deposits at a time.

Over time the ballon will fill with oxygen, and it is from here you will now have a steady supply of this most valuable resource.

To get Oxite Deposits quicker, you will now want to mine Oxite rocks using your pickaxe.

Happy breathing!

• Read more: Are Icarus servers down? How to check Icarus server status

Want to be the best Prospector you can be? Check out our dedicated hub for more news and guides from the world of Icarus.