FTL: Faster Than Light review

Exceptional

by Rafael Gazola Ghedini

FTL is a Game I always like to come back to. Because it simply manages to create a certain "captain feeling," as if you're standing on the Ship's Bridge yourself, roaring orders at its crew members. The Game lasts a Few Hours per round, depending on the individual Style. You try to travel as many Waypoints as possible as you flee from a rebel fleet as possible in order to improve your Ship. In the End, you have to go up against an Opponent. The Game follows the rougelike principle, so that you lose the Progress of the game with the End of each Round and With the Destruction of the Ship the round is immediately over. However, you can unplay new Ships and these in different Variations, which you can then select at the next RUnde. In addition, one tries to win the Game with as many different Ships as possible or also to win at higher levels of Difficulty. At First, the Rouguelike concept put me off. I couldn't make friends with the fact that my Progress is gone and I have to start the Game from scratch when my Ship was beaten. But by now I love it. Many also resent the fact that you so often bless the temporal and have to start over. But by now I think "for a new One" and look forward to the next RUnde, especially because you never know what to expect. The Saying "dying is part of the fun," which is sometimes displayed as a start tip, turned out to be true. And even if you have a Rage-quit every now and then you come back again and again. I find It Ingenious about the Game that the different Objects and Ship Systems all have a Tactical meaning. It's not simply about having a Gun that has more Wumms than the previous one. You have to think about how to get through the Enemy Shields to destroy the Ship. You have to plan for Missiles and Bombs that Ammunition is scarce, etc. Weapons and Systems work in different Ways and you have to think about a Tactic in terms of the further development of your Ship. At the Same time, everything is somewhat determined by Chance. You have to work with what the Game throws at you right now. One thinks to yourself, a Laser Cannon would round out my Layout well. But in the last three Shops none was offered and slowly it gets tight because you can no longer penetrate through the Shields of the more potent enemies with the Existing Weapons. So you think about whether you prefer to buy a Teleporter to send enemy Ships or rely on Hacking. Many complain that some is dependent on Chance. I think, though, that it makes the Appeal Even greater. It doesn't get a long rush because you never know what's coming, and because you can never develop your Ship exactly like last time. It's a Challenge to just come clean with what you find. If you know the Game at some point and think a little bit, you can win even despite Coincidences and Bad luck. The whole Game System seems to me to be very coherent in itself, even after the Advanced Edition has been inserted. The fact that the Developers gave the Advanced Edition (an Expansion pack) for free is also very positive. FTL is clearly a Game for People who like to have a tactical game to think about and plan and at the same time like this "Captain feeling" like in Star-Trek. But even beyond that, you should give the Game a Chance. After some Ragequits, you really discover the Fun of it.