FTL: Faster Than Light (2012)

This game created a brand-new genre. A genre that I love. If there was nothing else, this would be a 4, but the presence of mods like FTL Multiverse turn something great, into the peak of excellence. It may be a cop-out to rely on mods outside of developer intentions. I really do think that the foundation that was built here makes this a true 5 star game.

This is one of the best rougelikes I have ever played. When I first saw gameplay footage I was skeptical, but I picked it up on sale and I am so happy I did. FTL immerses you in its world by making you the captain of a pixelated ship that is on a life or death mission to deliver data about the enemy rebel ships that threaten the galaxy. This game is HARD, but not unfair. Every decision you make matters and I found myself feeling personally attached to my crew members by the end of each run. The satisfaction of just barely winning a dogfight by the skin of you teeth is unmatched. Gameplay: 10/10 Story: N/A

The single biggest factor in this game is luck. As every encounter is completely random it removes any real sort of skill or challenge from the game, or a sense of achievement to more accurate. When you do 'finish' it you realize it wasn't because you did anything in particular, but because you happened upon the right encounters. The gameplay is fun, but the sheer amount of luck in the game completely detracts from it.

After revisiting this game for a second time (and actually making some progress), I've come to realize that I am no longer interested in roguelike games. Unlocking things and exploring is cool on a single playthrough, but just about everything resets on the next attempt. That's a little too demoralizing for me, since it leaves me with nothing to show for my efforts and my time. Moving on.

FTL: Faster Than Light is my first experience with the rogue-like genre, and I feel like I'm floundering. After just one run, I have a feeling that the game is really dense from a strategy/tactics viewpoint. I can't visualize any of these strategies right now, and I think I'm facing a steep learning curve. Can someone offer a bit of advice on this? Is there a way to ease myself into the game?

The perfect game for when your newborn won't sleep and in an effort to let your wife get some rest, you offer to stay up from midnight to 6am letting the kid sleep on your chest. That was my life for our first few weeks with our daughter and this game helped me keep my sanity in my sleep-deprived state. This game is addictive, but never feels like it's being cheap. I mean, sometimes your success is contingent on what you can buy in the procedural generated shops, but I never felt like it was unfair. I could play this forever.

As a roguelike, FTL manages to meet all my requirements for a worthwhile play: it's got better than average visual and musical presentation, gameplay that demands your attention, a gruesome difficulty curve (that you can tone down as needed), a wide selection of extremely varied starting ships, plenty of unlockables and optional challenges, and more than enough story and scripting to keep it from becoming a straight numbers game. On top of that, the real-time, action-heavy combat hides many of the more onerous aspects of roguelikes really well, making FTL an excellent choice if you're looking for a way to introduce friends to the genre without boring them silly. An excellent game overall, even if it is extremely painful at times.

FTL for what it's worth, is perfect. It has in it all of the pieces that it needs. Nothing more and nothing less. One of the first Kickstarter funded video game projects to be released FTL is very well designed and continually fun, and ALWAYS challenging. I have only made it to the end twice, the first time I played and the last time I played. I lost both times. I have made about 10 attempts.

Best Traits:
- Random and sporadic adventure that feels fresh every time.
- Music that compliments the setting and source martial very well. Very chilled out.
- Combat is intense and engaging and has multiple modifiers. It can change depending on your ship, your crew, your weapons, your upgrades and the environmental setting for the battle. And you can be boarded!
- Every time is completely different than the last. No two play-throughs are entirely similar. Except for the dying.
- Independent game design at its best.
- Higher difficulty is necessary to keep the player coming back for more punishment.
- All in game design inherent in Rogulikes is still a fresh concept. Knowing that there are no saves is an awesome feeling.