FTL: Advanced Edition

FTL is one of my all time favorite games. I've been gaming for over 3 decades. It's simple in concept but complex in execution. It can be brutally hard, but it's by no means impossible. There are people out there who can beat it on hard difficulty, and even a person on YouTube who plays it without pausing. Like any roguelike, it's got an element of randomness to it. Not only are the scenarios you encounter random, but the weapons you'll have available in shops are random. But in my opinion this makes it more fun, because every single run is different. It has an easy mode, but what consistently happens to me on easy mode is that I make it to the flagship, and the flagship kills me. That's because everything before the flagship on easy doesn't really prepare you for it. So I recommend playing it on normal. It makes the outcome less predictable. You'll probably die in the first sector to start with, fume about how unfair the game is, and maybe think you hate it. But if you stick with it, learn the game, maybe watch some videos online, you'll eventually get better. And after about 50 hours of being beat with a whip, you'll feel the satisfaction of destroying the flagship. You'll only have 27 more ships to go. Beating all 28 ships could take you a thousand hours. Which is what's amazing about this game. It's the simplest game I've ever played that has massive replay value. Warning: Addictive.

FTL features short real-time combat encounters with a pause button, interspersed with resource management, all served up with a charming sci-fi theme. Each play-through takes about two to two and a half hours, but auto-save means that you can leave and come back any time you feel like it. It is so addictive that it could almost be a negative but in theory you can play for as little as five minutes since that is roughly how long each encounter with the enemy takes. Being a well balanced game there are a multitude of possible winning strategies and you will quickly find one you like. However, the characteristics of each new ship acquired will force you out of your comfort zone. The game is hard, and yes, even unfair at times, but it is a testament to its quality that I often hit 'Restart' before I have finished cursing. Good music, good writing, good design and its bug-free as far as I can tell. Considering how many hours people sink into this little game it represents extremely good value for money.

Great game. The devs have mentioned that FTL was inspired by the space roguelike, Weird Worlds, and the cooperative board game, Red November. Totally makes sense. (Btw, if you haven't played them DEFINITELY check out Weird Worlds and Red November--the latter about a crew of drunken gnomes trying to keep their gnomish submarine together--ha!). Anyway, for $10 you can't go wrong here.

The concept is great and if you play smart and careful you can make it far. but I can't even get to the final section on anything other than easy, and it isn't because I don't know how to play. If this game had more option to buy equipment, hire crew, and survey system then the game would be more enjoyable. Like most other of this type is seem unnecessarily diffifult for the sake of sadism. It honestly ruins my enjoyment to be able to handle every encounter and then get creamed by a unfair boss who can regenerate 3 times and reconfigure itself every time. Meanwhile you have almost no options throughout most of the game unless you are extremely lucky.

I've been seeing FTL pop up quite a bit over the years, but resisted even looking into the game. I've played my share of super serious space simulators over the years, so the premise of and look of FTL did not appeal to me... until I started playing it. It's very much a crew and ship management game. Simple, intuitive, and just fun. FUN FUN FUN! There, I said it.