FTL: Advanced Edition

It's a fun game with interesting core mechanics, all too often ruined by arbitrary RNG. Often enough there's just nothing you can do - 4 - 6 empty scan locations in a row, or getting 3 2 missile launcher gunships when you have no missile defenses ruin a good run quite often. It's unfortunate when the strategy choices are otherwise good, the game looks polished and the music is mesmerizing.

FTL: Faster than Light is a space fearing rogue-lite with galactic proportions. Having to deliver critical information across the galaxy is not an easy task with threats lurking all around. The game features a ton of content to keep one coming back again and again, with the advance edition content offering even more variety. Some content will start repeating over multiple playthroughs. Over tens of hours the game slowly started feeling more like a grind. Most of the game is reading or skipping over different text boxes. The combat is mostly waiting in anguish for something to happen. The battle can very quickly snowball out of control. Luckily the game allows pausing at any time, allowing one to consider their choices. The game features a lot of strategy in choosing the loadout of the ship, targeting in combat and positioning crew members etc. but it also is very luck dependent. This can be infuriating sometimes. The high level game can additionally quickly turn bad if one falls behind on upgrades when compared to the enemies. Some strategies are clearly more efficient than others. The difficulty feels quite steep with even the easy mode offering a considerable challenge. Be prepared to lose many runs early. This made finally beating the final boss that much more satisfying though. The retro-inspired art style works well and the soundtrack is incredible in setting the mood for different situations. The weapon and alert sounds feel appropriate. The game captures the scale and scope of an epic space adventure. like something straight out of Star Trek. The story, as minimal as it is, works in setting the scene. If one has the patience to read, the game features many interesting encounters.

Play through the base game. Think you've finally mastered it. Download a few mods, get humbled, then become the hero across dozens of new galaxies full of never before seen aliens, weapons, cruisers, and events. Hundreds of hours of content! It's a must have. A great way to kill (lots) of time.

This game makes me as angry as a game can, because the loop is so good, and the feeling of managing the ship and systems is like controlling my own limbs after a point, that when I die I feel as if my arm was cut off

I have been playing this game for years and have only beaten it twice, with the second time being yesterday. It is endless fun and just a great management/stratagy game. Highly recommend this!