FTL: Advanced Edition

I had a ship of energy beings, protected by a special energy shield, firing a powerful slicing laser. 3 sectors later no one of the original crew (or race) was alive, just a single human cruised a sector of aggressive insect people. Another 2 sectors later my ship was fully manned again, just to get forked by an elite rebel fighter. FTL is a space simulator which throws one danger after another at you, provides you with interesting weapons and technology and requires a new level of microing, defending and controlling your own ship while targeting and boarding the enemy ship. Get it here on gog, since you probably won't find a cheaper online version.

I don't give 5-star reviews lightly, but this game absolutely earns it. Pros: * Gripping tactical combat. It's challenging, and your choices *matter*. It's not easy to win, and there is an element of randomness, but that's part of the fun. There are players who can win fairly consistently, so it's not all luck-of-the-draw. * Lots of options (even more with the new AE content). Tons of ships to unlock, each with their own types of winning strategies. Several alien races to recruit, each with their own strengths. Tons and tons of ship enhancements available (mind control units, drones, hacking tools, fire bombs ... ) * You can play a whole game in less than an hour or two, and it's very easy to pick up and go. * Absolutely stupidly addictive, and just a joy to play. Beating the game is always satisfying, and having built-in achievements and ships to unlock enhances replayability. Cons: * Uh ... graphics, I guess? Some people might want something fancy and 3-D. This isn't for them. * It's a roguelike, so you can't save before a fight and reload if it doesn't go well. That's part of what I love about it (it makes fights much more exciting), but some people might not like that. Overall, it's one of the best games I've played in years.

I absolutely love the simulation aspect of this game: you really feel you are in a spaceship, with its crew bustling around while you, as captain, shout orders for Scotty to go repair the propulsion drive while the rest of the crew stand firmly on their jobs in order to get through yet another challenge in your quest. The space navigation, both in each system and in the larger scope, feel crips and engaging - if somewhat repetitive. The gameplay, however, is badly tuned. I am a huge fan of roguelikes: I'm certain I've put more hours into them than half the people here, easily. I'm not stranger to their difficulty curves (both in learning and in play) nor their inherent randomness and all the ups and down that come with it. The major issue with FTL: Advanced Edition is its balance. Unless you're playing easy (which, really is not what a hardcore roguelike fan would), the strategy pretty much boils down to finding a good scenario early on. If you do, you're set. If you don't, it's game over, no matter how good your strategy is. Roguelikes (and procedural games in general) should be informed by randomness, not dictated by it. A player with a solid strategy shouldn't lose a game because of a single overpowered encounter even when he immeditaly decides to run away ("make an FTL jump") and this happens way too often on FTL. In fact, that's what the gameplay is about. Even the best strategy is 80% at the sole will of what the RNG will put in his way, for good or bad, and while this makes FTL a roguelike, it doesn't make it a good one. Other than this major gripe with the game, the rest of gameplay is very repetitive - but also very enjoyable on its own. The brief texts are nice when you start but you'll find yourself ignoring them and just looking at the outcomes pretty soon since they're only for flavor and not really interesting. 90% of the prompts boil down to a "risk your resources for a possible reward" or "play safe and move on". Since you'll be given a prompt following this formula most of the times you take a step in the game, it gets old fast. Each of these having more options; more randomized (or even better, skill-based) outcomes or even them being less common would have done the game a service. As with these events, most of the gameplay is easy to figure out. Exploring a system boils down to "try to move through it as fast as possible because you're low in resources" or "since you're high on resources use them to explore". The larger exploration is also the same: "do I have enough resources to take a high-risk, high-reward sector next or should I stick to a friendly one since I'm low"? Can you see the pattern here? Most of the decisions in the game (except during combat) are binary and revolving only around how many resources you have to waste (or, conversely, to protect in order to stay alive). As with the event RNG, exploration is also dictated by randomness and not player strategy: you can get lucky and get a map with plenty of friendly sectors or one almost fully made of perilous, sensor-interfering, plasma-bombing nebulas which even the best player will be hard pressed to survive early on. The combat is amazing and it's a perfect blend of the best type of roguelike strategy, top-notch simulation and space opera that owes nothing to Star Trek and the like. I think the combat being so engaging is why so many people disregard the flaws of this game and look only at its good parts. If you like space operas, simulation and strategy, this could be the game for you. If you don't think that buying something where the random generation plays a more important part in the game than you do, better stay way though.

So, here I am, indeed what reviews said about this tiny game were true. I was leaving it pass by, but at its price gave him a go. Good I did! It is fun, entertaining, no grinding required. Get it, you'll enjoy. It's a roguelike, casual, but in one day I've had a few runs and I just want to be able to play it again. Totally worth it!

Full disclosure: I have not beaten the Flagship. I have gotten to the second phase, once to the final phase. I have some 40 to 60 runs. Some 20 to 40 hours. I think i got to the boss on my second run. And I am still tryng, because this is an amazing game. Praise: you can keep playin just unlocking ships and trying again. You can try both the old version or the advanced edition. It is quite stricking how much of a difference just 2 systems can have on the game. Lots of variations. Lots of potential challenge runs. The game is simple and yet no game has been able to replicate it. It is unique, it is great. You do not need to wait for a discount, because you will get so much out of this game. How to play: download it, try it, fail, lose a month just trying to win. Stop. Uninstall. Wait a year, try again. Fail. Uninstall. Wait a year. Try again. Ten years later: still love it.