ICARUS LANDING

the sea was not the bottom

You did not drown. You fell through — into the Landing, the labyrinth Daedalus truly built, sunk under the water and open at its crown to the sun.

Your wings are still wax. Heat them and they melt and lift. Chill them and they harden into hooks and blades. You will need both to climb out.

Phase 1 build — the Drowned Landing. Keyboard or controller.

CONTROLS

A / D or ← →Run SPACE or WJump — press again in air for Feather Beat; hold while NORMAL to glide, and inside a rising draft ↑ that glide carries you upward. There is no flight: heat never lifts you. S/↓ + JUMPDrop down through a ledge you are standing on JSlash KSun-Cut dash (only while your wax is COLD — cold wings are blades) toward a wallCling, in mid-air, while your wax is not HOT. Jump to leap off. FLight or douse the TORCH — carried fire. Lit, your wings run HOT anywhere. Water puts it out, and moths come to a flame. GTake up or stow the RIMESHARD — carried cold. Held, your wings run COLD anywhere, and no furnace can reach them. Real fire melts it out of your hand. You can hold only one of the two — and NORMAL wax, the only band that catches air, belongs to empty hands. ERest at a Nest (heals, saves) MMap of the Landing TABWings & abilities ESCPause J / KIn any menu: J confirms (starts the game, takes the ability, wakes you at the Nest), K goes back. SPACE and ENTER also confirm.

CONTROLLER

Left stick / d-padRun. Push down + A to drop through a ledge; push up to glide or rise, same as holding jump AJump — again in air for the Feather Beat; hold to glide or rise XSlash B / RB / RTSun-Cut dash (COLD wax only) LTLight or douse the torch RTTake up or stow the rimeshard YRest at a Nest LBWings & abilities BACKMap STARTPause · A confirms a menu, B goes back

Plug the pad in and press a button — browsers hide gamepads until they see one press. Standard-layout pads (Xbox, DualShock/DualSense, most third-party) map automatically.

Your WAX is your temperature, your moveset and your fuel at once — COLD, NORMAL or HOT. Embers heat you. Water quenches you. What your wings can do right now is always printed beside the word.

PAUSED

THE LANDING

Only what you have walked is drawn. ✦ you § nest + seal

WINGS

THE SEAL HOLDS

Wax poured hot and left to set for an age. Only a HOT wing opens it — and nothing in the Drowned Landing burns hot enough to still be burning by the time you have climbed up here.

You are carrying everything that has been put in the world so far — check WINGS (TAB) and you will find nothing missing. This is where the build stops: past the gate are the Hollow Cistern, the Mirror Stair, and the aperture the labyrinth is open to. Nothing further is hidden below you. You have finished it.

You will never fly out of here — heat is what ends you, and wax was never wings enough. What the Landing lends you is rising air.

YOUR WINGS FAIL

The Landing keeps what falls.

You come to again at the last Nest you touched. The Landing does not forget the way you have already opened.