Faster Than Light is a leaf on the wind. Watch how it soars... and then buy it. Here's the gist: you're a captain for the nebulous "Federation," teetering the verge of being overthrown by an equally-nebulous "Rebellion." Your ship serves the role of Leia's Corellian Corvette in Star Wars, with information regarding the enemy that would cripple its fleet and win the war. You and your crew move from point to point across the galaxy - racing against the rebels to reach the Federation fleet on the tail-end of the galaxy and face the rebels in a big final showdown. You get little customization of your crew to start, but you can add other characters of various races as you go, all of which have unique abilities - Rocks are immune to fire, Zoltan provide extra power to systems, etc. Crewmen gain skills over time, so leaving them in one place leads to specialization and a form of characterization - you get attached to your helmsman, for instance, and feel the impact if he dies. Like any good roguelike, players don't have the time or resources to do everything. You must choose all actions wisely. Bad decisions tend to snowball, and, as you're often flying blind, luck does play a factor. Games like that have a risk of feeling arbitrary, but FTL manages to avoid that for the most part. I will say, though, the final boss made me throw my wireless mouse more than once. The game's pixelated aesthetic is simple but quite pleasing to the eye; however, what gives the game its atmosphere is Ben Prunty's remarkable soundtrack. It's eerie and charming all at the same time. Play-throughs can go fast, often lasting less than three hours, and players unlock new ships as they go. Coupled with a robust modding community, the game's potential is limitless. This is a really, really good game, and if you have even a fleeting interest in it, you will be richly rewarded.
Banished has the foundation of a great game. On that foundation, it builds a ranch house - strong and functional, but limited and sometimes rather dull. Mechanically, Banished is very well designed. The labor system is one of the biggest highlights for me, with limitless flexibility to move people where they're needed. Looking to boost yields in the next harvest? Put those miners to work in the corn fields. Need a new priest? Fit a fisherman for some robes. Some jobs are seasonal, but their labor forces don't stay idle; if I put the order in to collect resources from the wild, idle professionals hop to work. Players also have tremendous control over the production of resources like firewood (which comes at the expense of timber, an essential building resource). It's easy to spend six or eight hours at a time working on sustaining and growing the population and finding housing and work for them all. Once you've done that, though, the game kind of peters out. Sure, I could fabricate my own culture with its customs and beliefs and respect (or lack thereof) for the ancient forests it has formed around, but there's nowhere in the game to document that. Once I got my agriculture up and running, everything became less about survival and more about growth, but with no real incentive to build more advanced buildings than them being available to build. There is no story to speak of beyond, "Hey, we're exiles, let's start a town together," and there is no research or development besides making everything out of stone and steel instead of wood and iron. That might be a fair way to depict most human life, but it doesn't make for the most enthralling game. Overall, this feels like a game begging for mods or expansion, but neither has materialized since the game launched. Despite my complaints, I still had plenty of fun with Banished in the time I spent with it. I'd just like a reason - any reason - to go back and play it some more.
