Icarus Error 020: Real Fixes & Hero Troubleshooting Guide

Icarus Error 020 — The Prospect Rescue Flow

Icarus Error 020 isn’t some random crash — it’s a backend communication failure that stops you from loading your prospect (your save/game session) and can even delete your character if not handled carefully.

Players worldwide have reported it and tried different fixes in carus community threads on Steam and this guide is built from that real‑world data to help you recover fast.

What This Guide Covers

You hit “Resume Prospect” and instead of dropping to the surface, you get Error 020 and a stuck character timer. This guide is built to answer one question: “Can I save this run, or is it gone?”​

• What Error 020 actually means

• Why it happens (based on community reports)

• The Prospect Rescue Flow — a community‑tested 4‑step framework to fix or work around it

• What tends to work for many players (not just guesses)

• When there’s realistically no fix yet and you’re waiting on the servers or a patch​

Let’s break this down without the gamer fluff.

What Is Icarus Error 020?

When you hit “Resume Prospect” and instead of dropping into the world, you get:

The full message you’ll see is:

“Failed to resume prospect – 020. Failed to resume prospect against backend (rpc error).”

That means the game tried to load your saved session, but the backend (the server that stores your save state) didn’t respond correctly.

Because Icarus uses cloud-linked saves and server calls, the game can’t proceed without a successful sync — so it throws Error 020 instead.

In plain language:

• The game tried to load your saved prospect (your session).

• It failed because it couldn’t talk to the backend/server properly.

• Because your progress is stored online and syncs remotely, the game throws this error instead of loading normally.

This isn’t:

✅ A graphics driver issue
✅ A hardware problem (GPU/RAM/CPU)
✅ A rendering or shader bug

This isn’t a renderer bug, shader error, or graphics glitch — it’s a data sync/connection issue.

Why It Happens (Real Player Insights)

Here’s what the search data from forums and discussions shows:

Server Outage vs. Your Prospect

• If lots of players are suddenly posting in Discord, FeatureUpvote, or forums that they can’t join any prospect, it likely points to a server‑side outage rather than your PC or save.​

• If other prospects or characters load fine but a specific one always throws Error 020, that usually points to a single‑prospect corruption, not an account‑wide issue.

1. Backend Connectivity

Players repeatedly report the same sync failure happening after crashes or when reconnecting to a prospect, often right after an update.

2. RPC (Remote Procedure Call) Failure

“RPC” errors mean the game couldn’t complete a backend call, so the server sync failed, which is common with cloud‑dependent saves discussed in community threads about Icarus RPC errors on Reddit.

3. Multiplayer Prospect Issues

Some players see Error 020 most often when joining friends, switching hosts, or rejoining after being idle for a while.

One community workaround in multiplayer is to temporarily switch hosts: have another player host the prospect, get everyone to load in and trigger a clean save, then swap back to the original host and try resuming again.

This does not always work, but for some groups it has been enough to push a stuck prospect back into a valid state.

4. No Official Patch Notes Yet

Patch notes mention improvements to joining sessions and handling backend errors in the game’s updates, but there’s no specific, documented permanent fix for Error 020 in the Icarus patch notes on SteamDB.

Bottom line: It’s almost always a backend/save state sync problem — not your GPU or RAM.— so your fixes should focus on connection, session state, and prospects rather than reinstalling everything.

Introducing: The Prospect Rescue Flow

This is a community‑tested, practical framework for troubleshooting Icarus Error 020 — based on what tends to work for players (and what doesn’t):

Step 1 — Safe Disconnect & Soft Restart

Before panicking:

1. Quit Icarus completely.

2. Close Steam.

3. Wait 60 seconds.

4. Restart Steam.

5. Relaunch Icarus.

Right-click Icarus → Properties → Local Files → Verify Integrity of Game Files

This won’t always fix Error 020 — but it removes local file corruption as a possible cause.

This ensures the client gets a fresh handshake with the servers. Many players reported reconnecting at this stage.

Step 2 — Repair First, Fix Second

Use Steam’s Verify Integrity of Game Files:

• Right-click Icarus in Steam → Properties → Local Files → Verify integrity of game files.

This doesn’t always fix Error 020, but it eliminates corrupted client file issues that can aggravate backend failures.

Step 3 — Load Offline Then Join

This is a community trick that works surprisingly often. Some players report that this Offline → Online trick helps them resume their prospect.

1. Launch Icarus in Offline/Freeplay mode.

2. Let the game load fully.

3. Exit back to main menu.

4. Switch to Online mode and rejoin your prospect.

Why it works: It forces a local load first, then tries the backend sync from a fresh local state — reducing the chance of an abrupt RPC fail.

Many players have confirmed this on Steam forums.

Step 4 — Backup & Safe Restore

If it still fails:

1. Backup your save files (outside installed location).

2. Delete local save folder.

3. Launch game — let it create fresh data.

4. Restore only essential files (not the corrupted ones).

On Windows, Icarus save data usually lives under a path like:

C:\Users\<YourUser>\AppData\Local\Icarus\Saved\

In some setups you may also see .json.backup files created alongside your normal save data. These can sometimes be used as emergency fallbacks, but only if you know exactly which file belongs to which prospect and you keep a separate copy before overwriting anything.

Treat this as an advanced option: always duplicate files to a safe folder first and never delete backups unless you are 100% sure they are no longer needed.

This is the nuclear option if everything else fails — but it can save your character progress.

Things That Don’t Usually Fix It

Here’s what players tried that almost never works:

❌ Reinstalling the game entirely
❌ Updating graphics drivers (unless they’re extremely old)
❌ Reinstalling Windows
❌ Refund / reinstall copy (just a short-term avoidance)
❌ Creative workarounds posted without community consensus

The issue isn’t your hardware — it’s the backend sync failing.

When It Might Be Unfixable (Temporarily)

Some threads report:

• Persistent inability to join a saved prospect.

• Character deletion risk if the prospect timer runs out.

• You keep getting the same RPC error

• Other players are reporting outages

• No other prospects load either

In those cases:

✔ Report the bug on official Icarus feedback boards (FeatureUpvote etc.)
✔ Wait for an official patch from developers addressing backend stability.

This error has historically lingered between updates, so patience + good backup habits help.

Quick Troubleshooting Checklist

Final Words

Icarus Error 020 isn’t a dead end — it’s a backend sync issue that you can often work around with the Prospect Rescue Flow above.

If you still see it after multiple tries, it’s likely a server-side problem not yet fixed by the developers. In that case, backing up your saves and waiting for patch support is the safest path.

Icarus Error 020 stops your prospect — but with the Prospect Rescue Flow, most players get back to the game without losing progress.

Key FAQs 

Q1: What is Icarus Error 020?

A1: It’s a backend/server sync failure that stops the game from resuming your saved prospect, often showing a “failed to resume prospect against backend (RPC error).”

Q2: Why does Error 020 happen?

A2: It usually appears after a crash, failed reconnect, or server communication problem — not because of your PC hardware.

Q3: Will I lose my progress?

A3: Some players report characters being stuck or at risk of deletion when prospects can’t load, but this isn’t always guaranteed.

Q4: Is there an official fix?

A4: There’s no dedicated official patch specifically for Error 020; most fixes are workarounds reported by the community.

Q5: Does this error affect solo and multiplayer?

A5: Yes — it can occur in both, though multiplayer hosting issues can make it more common.

Q6: What’s a quick workaround?

A6: Restarting the game/Steam, waiting briefly, and retrying often helps. Some players also use offline mode first.

Key Takeaways

✔ Error 020 means a backend sync failure — the game can’t fully load your prospect. 
✔ It’s mostly a server/connection issue, not hardware or driver related. 
✔ No official patch explicitly fixes it yet — community workarounds are the best support currently. 
✔ Restarting and retrying often works if servers cooperate