FTL is a spaceship simulation with roguelike elements like permadeath and randomisation. You choose your path through an array of sectors along jump beacons, the enemy rebel fleet on your toes and ready to bounce on you if you idle too long. At every beacon you face an event, usually a combat encounter with an enemy ship, but you might also find things like a friendly base that provides you with supplies or a mining colony asking your for help. I actually wrote this review because of the many 1-3 star reviews I read here that referenced the "randomness" and "rolling the dice without having influence over the outcome". This is a very false assumption. The game has incredible depth and many underlying mechanics that might not be obvious when trying it for the first time (or even the 10th time, regarding some reviewers here). While the general structure of the game is random, you can influence the outcome in various ways. Just as an example, someone mentioned being boarded by 4 persons in the first sector while only having 3 crewmembers and was mad about this "random injustice" that makes him automatically lose the game. The truth is that advanced players solve this encounter effortlessly with micromaniging their crewmembers around the medbay of the ship and starving the enemies out of oxygen via opening and closing airlocks to fight them on your own terms. And there countless nuances like these that make you survive and win encounters without problem that you thought to be absolutely impossible. While it is true that advanced unlockable ship types rely heavily on a good start and may require you to start over some times, these are actually "challenge" modes. The game gives you some very strong and solid ships at the beginning, which are capable of getting about 95% win on Easy and 75+% win on Normal mode regardless of your RNG (if played properly). You just have to know your stuff and learn from your mistakes. Always remember, giant alien spiders are no joke.
