Much is left to your imagination, and it's probably a richer experience for it, as so much of it takes place in your head. The story is delivered by text boxes that pop up whenever you land in a new system, and there's nothing in the way of voice acting or fancy effects. You can pause the action when you need to analyse a situation via the top-down view, and it's easy to direct key crew members to repair broken systems, and keeping on top of everything in the heat of battle really is the secret to success. They could be better, certainly, but they're nothing if not functional. Some of it is clunky, granted, but there's a certain charm to the low-fi visuals. There's admirable clarity in the design, and it's very easy to keep track of everything that's going on in your ship at any given moment. That said, we wouldn't have it any other way, simply because their fragility makes them precious, and we care about them even more as a result.įrom a visual perspective, FTL boasts a simple yet charming aesthetic. Attachment to the crew grows stronger with every passing sector, and losing one of them can be a horrible ordeal if they've been with you since the start, especially if you named them something special. Permadeath is a serious word, certainly, but it only adds to the tension. The decent length of a typical failed run ensures that you feel like you're getting a complete experience here, even when you bust. There are lots of ways that you can upgrade your ship, and you can further enhance your overall effectiveness by recruiting and keeping key systems manned.įTL is a roguelike, which means every death is the end of that run, and the next game has you starting from scratch. For example, you might want to fire off lots of lasers and dominate your opponent with rapid-fire attacks, or you could go for a mix of lasers and missiles and target specific systems, or use a weapon that strips enemy shields and then send in drones to do the dirty work for you. ![]() And there is always a disaster just around the corner, you can pretty much guarantee it.Ī big part of the experience is ship building, and getting new parts that then allow you to change up your tactical approach to combat. Whether it's a battle with slavers or pirates, recruiting new shipmates or upgrading your ship, or deciding whether to help some random people out with their infestation of space spiders, FTL keeps throwing new and interesting decisions at you, and you're constantly thinking about what to do next, and how you might survive the next potential disaster. ![]() Each jump reveals a new scenario (including the odd one where there's nothing to see), and there's a decent selection on offer at launch, although after a few hours you will start seeing certain events popping up again. Each sector that you pass through (and there are eight before the endgame kicks in) is filled with star systems, and you jump from system to system before moving on to the next sector. ![]() There's lots of classic sci-fi storytelling involved, and FTL does such a good because of the amount of variety it offers to a player during a typical run. On the other, you're the captain of a starship, and you manage your crew, encounter strange creatures, fight aliens, make judgement calls, and deal with traders as you cross the galaxy with information important to your cause. On the one hand, it's a fascinating take on roguelike game design. FTL: Faster Than Light does a fantastic job of bringing together some of our favourite things.
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