FTL: Faster Than Light

 PC
User Score
8.3

Generally favorable reviews- based on 1531 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,248 out of 1531
  2. Mixed: 185 out of 1531
  3. Negative: 98 out of 1531

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  1. Soullex
    Nov 15, 2022
    3
    Aslında farlı bir şeyler denemişler, ama birkaç saatin ardından mantığını çözünce, sadece düşmanın silahlarına ateş edip ilerlediğim bir oyun oldu.
  2. Tabbou
    Jun 1, 2022
    4
    I don't understand all the 9 and 10/10, just looks like others rogue-lite and strategy games, disapointed
  3. Molok
    Apr 24, 2021
    1
    FTL is composed of wide variety of possible scenarios that are arranged randomly to create a unique run. Each play is distinct and creates a personal story of individual player's struggle. Here is just another one of them.

    I started with federation cruiser. Defying odds I progressed through increasingly difficult sectors before arriving to the Nebula under the control of Slugs. There I    FTL is composed of wide variety of possible scenarios that are arranged randomly to create a unique run. Each play is distinct and creates a personal story of individual player's struggle. Here is just another one of them.

    I started with federation cruiser. Defying odds I progressed through increasingly difficult sectors before arriving to the Nebula under the control of Slugs. There I resolved a few challenging combat scenarios, taking heavy damage because I didn't encounter any appropriate equipment and didn't really have an opportunity to upgrade weapons in earlier sectors. Luckily I found one more advanced weapon in stock, randomly found earlier. But I couldn't power it yet, needing a separate upgrade. With that in mind I pressed on. Eventually I arrived at a sector that housed a planet with several moons. The slug found on the surface quizzed me about the number of natural satellites orbiting the planet and taking advantage of my momentous distraction stole some of my missiles, drone parts, all of my exp and most of my remaining fuel. With exp gone and without a way to upgrade my system I didn't have realistic way to win future altercations but I pressed on.
    I encountered a dangerous ship. I disabled shields using my remaining missiles so I could actually damage systems using my pitiful lasers. All of my shots missed and I without ammo I couldn't switch to missile weapons. I dropped the shields, disabled the weapons, ordered all of doors opened to vent the ship of oxygen and concentrated the crew in one large chamber so they would suffocate. After they slowly and (I hope) painfully died I uninstalled the damn game.

    FTL is based entirely on your luck. It is a digital version of Russian roulette. Some weapons, augmentations and systems are just better than others. If you luck out and get them advancing through the game becomes trivial. If you do not it is impossible.
    I understand that it is alluring to some people as they like the risk. But I would advise anybody who likes to have any actual agency to stay away from the game.

    There are achievements that you can collect and unlock bonus ships. Unfortunately a standard run seems to be at least two hours long and if you die before getting an achievement you don't unlock anything. In that case each minute of your life spent playing is retroactively wasted away. There is absolutely no payoff if you lose. A standard tagline for rogue-lites is "Losing is fun". But this game simply isn't fun.

    On the other hand soundtrack is awesome. I would say that if you can get it without the game it's worth buying. Just don't buy FTL and don't give it any bump in it's statistics.    … Expand
  4. Scruffey
    Apr 15, 2019
    0
    I can't see why this game gets favourable reviews.
    I started the game on the "Normal" setting and got beaten to death in the first system all the time.
    OK. Maybe I'm a bit dumb - I said to myself. I started the game on the "Easier" setting and got beaten to death in the first system all the time. OK. I'm really dumb - I said to myself. I modded the game with Twinge's Balance & Bugfix    I can't see why this game gets favourable reviews.
    I started the game on the "Normal" setting and got beaten to death in the first system all the time.
    OK. Maybe I'm a bit dumb - I said to myself.
    I started the game on the "Easier" setting and got beaten to death in the first system all the time.
    OK. I'm really dumb - I said to myself.
    I modded the game with Twinge's Balance & Bugfix Mod v3.0.6 which is supposed to make the game a lot easier < : 0 )
    I started the game on the "Easier" setting and got beaten to death in the first system all the time.
    OK. I'm not just really dumb, I must be a bit moronic !
    Enough.
    I'm going back to PacMan - at least I might get somewhere with that...    … Expand
  5. Loadstone
    Oct 26, 2018
    0
    This game is amazing. It is very fun and gets me exited. But one thing... how the hell do you even launch the game.

    it wont even launch in discord or the folder even with administrator. It a good game just this is more about it doesn't work and is glitchy AF. It only works in a virtual machine and that sucks. remember the game is good but if you get it be warned it might not work.    This game is amazing. It is very fun and gets me exited. But one thing... how the hell do you even launch the game.

    it wont even launch in discord or the folder even with administrator. It a good game just this is more about it doesn't work and is glitchy AF. It only works in a virtual machine and that sucks.
    remember the game is good but if you get it be warned it might not work.

    It even says in one of the README folders that "We don't promise that this software works." WHAT... THEN... WHY PUBLISH IT FOR EVERYONE TO BUY YOU... ***A*F**GS*G*A*F*GS*DG. ITS JUST SO STUPID.

    They even put a fail safe in their game so if you launch it, it wont work; when you troubleshot it, it says that ITS INCOMPATIBLE EVEN THO THE BLOODY GAMESITE SAID ITS COMPATIBLE FOR WINDOWS. This is retarded and i don't want to go through the pain of opening a virtual machine EVERY BLOODY TIME i want to play... AND IT DOESN'T EVEN SAVE.

    ITS A GOOD GAME AND VERY INNOVATIVE AND ENJOYABLE BUT IF YOUR LOOKING AT THE USABILITY ITS IMPOSSIBLE TO GIVE IT A POSITIVE RATING!!!!

    "Beware that if you get the game it MAY or MAYNOT work."    … Expand
  6. tastybaldeagle
    Feb 5, 2018
    0
    An absolutely must play game. I don't like adventure games but this one goes above and beyond.
  7. JustSomeGamer
    Jun 27, 2017
    0
    pure cancer..........................................................................................
    100% luck.............................................................................................
  8. yosa1
    Mar 29, 2016
    3
    I played the original and liked it well enough for all its flaws. I figured I'd try this enhanced edition though, my line of thought being there would be some real improvements; there were, but not enough to make me like it.

    Aside from the labels it has been given, it is a progressive turn based side scroll styled game, there is some choice in the form of left or right path though they    I played the original and liked it well enough for all its flaws. I figured I'd try this enhanced edition though, my line of thought being there would be some real improvements; there were, but not enough to make me like it.

    Aside from the labels it has been given, it is a progressive turn based side scroll styled game, there is some choice in the form of left or right path though they could be randomly good or bad, very limited and any encounter is going to be an rng nightmare.

    This is one overrated game, its a snakes and ladders with some stats.    … Expand
  9. Darius_84
    Feb 24, 2016
    0
    This game sucks. Basically it's all about luck, no strategy nor skill is involved. Even on sale spare you this pain and use your money for something else... Anything else would be better, thrust me.
    Avoid this crap at all cost
  10. Unospazmatic
    Jan 21, 2016
    0
    Game is based purely on luck. I have spent too long just reading guides to make a ship viable for system 5 let alone come close to even beating the game. Save yourself some time and trouble and avoid this one.

    Basically you have to treat this like any other crap tier roguelike and if you don't get a perfect run in the first system(take too much damage, don't find the right weapons, make    Game is based purely on luck. I have spent too long just reading guides to make a ship viable for system 5 let alone come close to even beating the game. Save yourself some time and trouble and avoid this one.

    Basically you have to treat this like any other crap tier roguelike and if you don't get a perfect run in the first system(take too much damage, don't find the right weapons, make 1 wrong decision) you need to restart. Basically you have to streamline every possible combination and then have super good luck or restart until that happens.

    If there were some way to actually customize your load out before starting the game or not making certain pieces of equipment a requirement to proceed then the game might be enjoyable, as it stands now its the "space cookie cutter ship with the identical build to everyone else is the only way to proceed" game and is not fun at all.    … Expand
  11. sealedinterface
    Sep 11, 2015
    4
    I don't have a lot of experience with difficult games, since I'm mostly a casual gamer. I was looking forward to the "space simulator" part of this game; managing a spaceship seemed quite appealing. Instead, the game puts far more emphasis on the "roguelike" part of this game. In order to do well in this game, you have to know exactly what to do in every situation, have the skill to do so,I don't have a lot of experience with difficult games, since I'm mostly a casual gamer. I was looking forward to the "space simulator" part of this game; managing a spaceship seemed quite appealing. Instead, the game puts far more emphasis on the "roguelike" part of this game. In order to do well in this game, you have to know exactly what to do in every situation, have the skill to do so, and of course befriend the forever hostile RNG. If anything goes wrong, you're doomed to die, and you lose all the progress in your entire game.

    The tutorial gave a basic tour of the interface and showed me how combat works, and left me confident enough to start an "easy" game. Little did I know that "easy", "normal", and "hard" translated to "hard", "harder", and "hardest". Just a couple of jumps in, the rebel fleet has already taken control of the start location, my pilot gets trampled to death by tiny blue horses, and I get blown up by the first enemy I run into because I can't penetrate its shields.

    I'm very much regretting buying this game, and I would recommend NOT to get it unless you're prepared for an extremely difficult and frustrating game.    … Expand
  12. The_Norwood
    May 18, 2015
    1
    A game that cheats like hell as its main feature. Unless you purify yourself every morning and enjoy cold showers, inserting nails into your scrotum, self-flagellation and such, then steer clear, it will just wind you up.
  13. CoSm1c_gAm3r
    Apr 6, 2015
    4
    At first try that game was annoying to me because player spend hour or more and then he is killed and every progress is lost. This is high score based game and not discovery/explore and for me that is very bad thing to make for game that may take long time to play. High score based games in majority are very short games so when high score system is put into game that can take more than 2At first try that game was annoying to me because player spend hour or more and then he is killed and every progress is lost. This is high score based game and not discovery/explore and for me that is very bad thing to make for game that may take long time to play. High score based games in majority are very short games so when high score system is put into game that can take more than 2 hours of gameplay then it is very frustrating and I personally hate this solution in this game that could be fun game if punishment would not be perma death. Yes I cheated and I copied save file to make myself safe :) Otherwise I would get mad and throw my computer out of my window :D That way at least I could hold my temper at bay :]

    So that degraded score the most. Rest is fun to play piece of game

    If someone is annoyed by this here is tip. After quiting game go into profile folder in my documents and my games. Find "continue" file and copy it somewhere. Like into created folder. Then if you want to save just quit+save. Go into that folder, copy "continue" somewhere so if you die go to that folder and copy it to original place. Repeat that every time you want to save. That way it can be less annoying for you if you cannot stand IRON MODE in games. I mean I personally very much like idea of iron man but here it is forced on every player! Because main point of this game is only to get better high score every time and nothing more. My first score was 0 for this game because it made me mad but after some time with it it can be fun for some time and it can be time killer if you have some time to kill and want to do it with fun :)    … Expand
  14. marc5477
    Apr 4, 2015
    2
    Insanely overrated. Its basically a casino game where you get lucky and get the items you need or you simply dont and there isnt a thing you can do about it. For example, i had a run where I did not find a single weapon (aside from starter weapons) anywhere and died in the 4th system... not fun. In another quickie run, the very 1st fight had me go up against a shielded missile shootingInsanely overrated. Its basically a casino game where you get lucky and get the items you need or you simply dont and there isnt a thing you can do about it. For example, i had a run where I did not find a single weapon (aside from starter weapons) anywhere and died in the 4th system... not fun. In another quickie run, the very 1st fight had me go up against a shielded missile shooting ship and as you might have guessed, I missed my 1st 4 salvos and he hit me every time, disabled my weapons, started fires and I simply couldnt do anything and lost on the 1st encounter (lol). In another run, i got to the end boss, but the only weapons I had were very slow (vulcan, starter stuff, and beams), somehow I reached the 3rd stage only to get get slammed on every surge with laser attacks that... as you might have guessed, took out my guns every time. Again, nothing I can do, it lasted 5 minutes but I could never peal his shield and he just whittled me down with his cheap surge (albeit I took out all the landing parties).

    Its just a rng based game... ive won several time (its easy if you get the items you need) but its just pure luck. There is little to no skill needed aside from timing firing salvos (something a 1st grader can figure out).

    The game is overhyped. It reminds me a lot of gem quest many years ago (around 10 years ago). It was all luck too and was the talk of the town but now no one even remembers that game. The same will happen here. It needs more depth and more strategy.    … Expand
  15. deweee
    Jan 1, 2015
    3
    Are you ready for a "literally" unbeatable enemy which spawns randomly in your journey when you think you are going really well which destroys you in 3 seconds even though you are with full crew? No, you aren't.

    This games presentation, playability is so good but I have to give it a low score because of its retarded difficulty system. If you are a lifeless moron who can take the    Are you ready for a "literally" unbeatable enemy which spawns randomly in your journey when you think you are going really well which destroys you in 3 seconds even though you are with full crew? No, you aren't.

    This games presentation, playability is so good but I have to give it a low score because of its retarded difficulty system. If you are a lifeless moron who can take the developers mocking which drives you to restart over and over again for no reason, go play it in endless cycles to finish the game. If you want to see your investments in game turn out to a good game play, don't play this game. The difficulty system is really retarded. Whenever when you are beaten (10-15 mins in easy mode, tops) your game will be RESTARTED! I mean, restarted. All the progress of yours are gone, probably multiple times in your gameplay.    … Expand
  16. Alpacalypse
    Aug 19, 2014
    0
    I'd like this to be formally renamed to FTL: **** than XCOM.
    Now that it's out of the way, let me explain why. The game is about 95% luck based. I think the only real skill is knowing when to restart because your luck ran out. I spent about 5 hours playing consecutively, and I only made it to the 8th sector once. Most of the time, it was because I would find a ship with 3 layer shields in    I'd like this to be formally renamed to FTL: **** than XCOM.
    Now that it's out of the way, let me explain why. The game is about 95% luck based. I think the only real skill is knowing when to restart because your luck ran out. I spent about 5 hours playing consecutively, and I only made it to the 8th sector once. Most of the time, it was because I would find a ship with 3 layer shields in the 1st sector, or all 3 of my crew would die in a single event, etc. Games like these need to understand that relying solely on luck make a game bad. You can have something like XCOM which incorporates luck into skill-based gameplay, but when your entire game is a living random number generator, you know you have a **** game. See: FTL. I wanted to like the game. Arguably, the most fun part is boarding. But, until you unlock ships that start with the capability of boarding enemy ships (Which can only be unlocked if you get LUCKY enough to find the sector the RANDOMLY placed event is in. Emphasis on the luck part. There is NO WAY that involves the slightest amount of skill or understanding of the game.), you have to be LUCKY enough to stumble across enough scrap, and then lucky enough to find a shopkeeper who will sell the teleporter bay, letting you board. Oh yeah, and you'll need to be lucky enough to find a suitable crew for boarding.
    If you couldn't tell my by obvious subtlety, let me give you a metaphor on how you win or lose. A computer rolls a 24 sided dice. If it lands on 20, you win. Anything else, you lose. If you try to roll the dice yourself for better odds, the computer burns your house down. If you're a person with a lot of luck, and you just won the lottery, go buy a car. Don't waste your time on this game. Even at 10 dollars, it was a pathetic waste of money.
    This is the constructive part of the review. The game has a nice way of telling you what happens, albeit a lazy one. You get a text box. But, the text box is charming, and less generic than the game is. So, 1/10. Other than that, dog **** Your entire experience is based around a random number generator. It's like if a game took the worst part of a strategy game, combined it with the worst part of an mmo (grinding), and then combined it with the worst part of Dungeons and Dragons (Random, uncontrollable outcomes), an then had it brained on the wall, you'd get FTL.
    Don't pick this game up. Ever. It's abysmal. And this is coming from someone who LOVED the luck-based part of XCOM. My only hope is that I'll be able to obtain a ship that lets me board from the beginning of the game (Because boarding yields more scrap, meaning more upgrades, meaning an easier time. It also triples the chance of recovering a ship augmentation, a potential crewmate, a weapon or a quest trigger), and until the unlocks are based less around throwing a dice at a speeding train, I'm not going to bother. Even the combat, the ONLY part that requires skill comes off as half-assed and generic. The starting ship has a gaping weakness to missiles, as enemy weapons charge 50% faster than yours, meaning they ALWAYS get off a first shot. If a missile hits your shields, it takes you 50% longer to repair it than the enemy ships, meaning that you might as well restart, because you're boned.
    TL:DR; A game that is only luck, with generic combat, and NO progressive rewards. So, nothing ever gets easier. There is no progression. There is no real plot. It's 3 words. "Run from rebels". There is no GAME. Just a number generator. And that is why FTL: Rapist's Delight is one of the worst "games" of the decade. It's definitely the worst strategy game.    … Expand
  17. Oscar_Crane
    Jun 28, 2014
    0
    This 'game' is not even worth playing unless you have a thing for either A) Modding files and making things easier, B) having the luck of a dozen leprechauns or C) enjoy failure. The game is mind-blowing difficult, requiring a restart from square one. No second chances or back-up saves. The difficulty starts out well for the first few sectors, but then it jumps to near-impossibility, evenThis 'game' is not even worth playing unless you have a thing for either A) Modding files and making things easier, B) having the luck of a dozen leprechauns or C) enjoy failure. The game is mind-blowing difficult, requiring a restart from square one. No second chances or back-up saves. The difficulty starts out well for the first few sectors, but then it jumps to near-impossibility, even on easy mode. I would have liked an option to turn the perma-death off, but until the producers add in an option to respawn at, say, the start of you current sector, I'm not wasting any more of my life on this game.… Expand
  18. rynoth
    Jun 21, 2014
    2
    Reposted because of steams one-sided review system.

    Gameplay: You play in a top down view of your ship as you jump to different star systems to warn your Federation of a Rebel invasion fleet. From here you control your crew to man stations, you fire weapons, repair systems, manage power output, defend against boarding parties, and can even have boarding parties of your own. If you like    Reposted because of steams one-sided review system.

    Gameplay: You play in a top down view of your ship as you jump to different star systems to warn your Federation of a Rebel invasion fleet. From here you control your crew to man stations, you fire weapons, repair systems, manage power output, defend against boarding parties, and can even have boarding parties of your own.
    If you like games where the majority of the events are determine by the RNG, you'll love FTL.
    Resources, rewards, events, maps, enemy encounters, shop location, shop items for sale are all determined by the RNG. After playing for 34 hours I have determined that very little is left up to player control.
    You may have a run where you get tons of resources and upgrades gifted to you, or where you're left a pauper scrounging for scrap to repair your ship. Standard fair if you've played Binding of Isaac.
    The biggest issue I have with this game is that it takes control away from the player.
    Binding of Isaac you took direct control of Isaac and had to aim your shot manually.
    Combat in FTL is largely turn-based where you sit around waiting for your weapons to charge.
    After that you target a system on the enemy ship and fire. It's up the RNG whether your shot will hit or miss. If you have transporters you can get guarenteed shots by porting crewman into their cockpit to attack their pilot so there is a way to mitigate this.
    But the word is "IF"
    If you had the scrap, if you found the shop, if the item in question was for sale.
    That is the one thing that every "strategy guide" fails to mention is that all encounters, loot, etc is determined by the game.
    Many [strike]fanboys[/strike] fans of the game will argue it's skill based rather than luck.
    Please don't be fooled.
    Every strategy I've seen on FTL fails to mention that pulling it off is contingent on HAVING the right gear for it. If the game doesn't give it to you during an encounter or for sale in a shop, you can't do it.
    Other useful "protips" include not repairing your ship to full health, juggling power between systems rather than spending money to upgrade your reactor to save money for future upgrades.
    Both those "strategies" are going under the assumption that you will run across a mission that will result in free hull repairs, or free system upgrades. (Which can happen)
    CAN happen doesn't mean it will. If you happen to run into an enemy ship that gets a few lucky shots it could kill you. What they're doing is playing the odds, but a card-counter can still lose.

    FTL's most impressive accomplishment is the psychology based around it.
    The gameplay is tedious and repetive, but addictive. This is accomplished by rewarding the player at random intervals with scrap, weapons, new crewman. Sometimes just for jumping into a system.
    By bestowing these rewards upon the player, it encourages the player to continue pumping in hours of their life into the game. If you're having a good run you're motivated by greed and a sense of empowerment. "I want more weapons more scrap, give me MOAR!! I am invincible! HAHAHA!"
    If you're having a bad run you're motivated by hope and desperation. "Just have to make it to a shop to repair. I can do it. Maybe this system...no...maybe the next system."
    The point being to get the player to get sooo close to victory or even die based on bad luck so you’ll run it back.
    Regardless of whether you're having the most amazing run ever, the final boss can still curb-stomp you into the dirt with just a few well placed shots.
    I had one fight where the Rebel Flagship couldn't hit the broad side of a barn and every shot that did connect would hit systemless rooms.
    On the other hand I had encounters where I couldn't hit the Rebel Flagship to save my life and everyone of their shots seemed to hit just the right system at just the right moment.
    There are intances where the boss fight will rage on and it feels like you're both on equal ground, or somethings his first volley will cripple every system you have and you'll die in mere minutes.
    FTL is a game where you can do everything right and still lose.
    That's not a game. Not a good game anyway.
    In FTL you win or lose based on the randomness of the enemy AI and everything that followed before that.
    It's not skill when you defeat an opponent who spent the entire fight teleporting bombs into systemless rooms.
    And it's not a lack of skill if you lost because you all your shots missed thanks to the RNG.
    It's luck, plain and simple.
    If this review keeps one person from buying this travesty I've done my job.
    FTL is more roulette than space simulator. Avoid.    … Expand
  19. neemz
    Apr 12, 2014
    0
    A very boring game that is difficult to enjoy. It is filled with many circumstances that ruin your game, simply to force you to keep playing their game as it is near impossible to beat. I would recommend not wasting your time with this "indie" piece of garbage.
  20. Lamring
    Apr 11, 2014
    3
    First I want to begin by saying that I really wanted to love this game, however after playing though for many many hours I can say with confidence that this game is completely luck based. If you wanted a space exploration game based on skill and cunning look elsewhere. I was able to beat the game on one of my first five playthroughs, ever since then I have not been able to beat the gameFirst I want to begin by saying that I really wanted to love this game, however after playing though for many many hours I can say with confidence that this game is completely luck based. If you wanted a space exploration game based on skill and cunning look elsewhere. I was able to beat the game on one of my first five playthroughs, ever since then I have not been able to beat the game once! I have been playing the game for months now and I just give up. I hope they patch the game to make it more fair soon, because I like the mechanics of the game and would love to play a fair version of it.… Expand
  21. BSim500
    Dec 12, 2013
    4
    Very mixed feelings about this game. On the one hand it's a great example of what indie games can achieve with just 2 developers. The general idea is good. GFX are "old school", but that's certainly not a problem in itself (I like retro gaming in general) and has zero bearing on my score.

    On the other, as others have said, the mechanics are more about luck or "dice throwing" than skill    Very mixed feelings about this game. On the one hand it's a great example of what indie games can achieve with just 2 developers. The general idea is good. GFX are "old school", but that's certainly not a problem in itself (I like retro gaming in general) and has zero bearing on my score.

    On the other, as others have said, the mechanics are more about luck or "dice throwing" than skill or strategy. It's not "hard" in the positive sense of "if you make a mistake you can learn from it and improve", it's hard in the tedious sense of "what a random number generator decides no matter how well you play". When you get "dealt a bad hand" something like 14 times in a row (happened to me) right from the start and there's no manual save, the game gets very tedious very quickly. And playing games should be about enjoying them, not killing off all enthusiasm during the first couple of hours.

    The game also crashed twice, which further underlies the need for a manual save/load, as after the second crash, I just couldn't be bothered to replay it all after losing all progress through no fault of my own. If the game had a better balance between skill & luck (say 75% skill, 25% luck) it would be really good, but right now it's almost 10% skill, 90% luck, which greatly detracts from the gameplay.    … Expand
  22. happy-argentine
    Nov 10, 2013
    3
    It's been said by the top reviews: game starts out a lot of fun, you feel that if you'd just got that shield upgrade in time you'd take on the entire galaxy, so you try again, and again, and again..

    Then it hits you: winning has very little to do with you and more to do with a RNG decreeing whether or not you get that upgrade, or the store sells the weapons you want need. Battles    It's been said by the top reviews: game starts out a lot of fun, you feel that if you'd just got that shield upgrade in time you'd take on the entire galaxy, so you try again, and again, and again..

    Then it hits you: winning has very little to do with you and more to do with a RNG decreeing whether or not you get that upgrade, or the store sells the weapons you want need.

    Battles are always the same: target weapons, disable them. Then shields. Accept surrender, proceed.

    The difficulty curve is non existent: it's not a curve, it's a series of grades you are forced to climb.
    First level, ok getting the gist of this.
    Second level: well this is getting heavy.
    Third level: "holy where did THAT come from?".
    Fourth level: "oh COME ON, how am i even supposed to fight that? Time to run away"
    AND I'm not mentioning the completely cheap three stage final boss (well, I kind of am, aren't I?)

    I ended up feeling cheated.    … Expand
  23. Birrhan
    Sep 30, 2013
    0
    This is easily the worst game I've played in recent memory. Imagine fetch missions, a la WoW, set in the Space Quest universe, and lacking the tongue-in-cheek humor of that universe. This game tries to appeal to our nostalgia, but it fails on a visceral and basic level. Should you choose to waste your money, take this very basic primer on "advanced" tactics: buy a second tier weaponThis is easily the worst game I've played in recent memory. Imagine fetch missions, a la WoW, set in the Space Quest universe, and lacking the tongue-in-cheek humor of that universe. This game tries to appeal to our nostalgia, but it fails on a visceral and basic level. Should you choose to waste your money, take this very basic primer on "advanced" tactics: buy a second tier weapon ASAP, target weapons first, then shields--often this is enough. In case of boarders, move your little 8 pixel crew around into a secure room, pretend that one of the pixels is Mal, and vent your 2D Firefly class ship into space.

    See? I summarized a "tactically challenging" and "textually deep" game in about 100 words, and saved you $10 to find that out. There is no challenge and no replay value. There are better games on Facebook, and you don't have to pay for them. Save your money.    … Expand
  24. upi
    Sep 25, 2013
    3
    It is my fault, really, for picking up this game. I guess the "running the spaceship" and "saving the galaxy" part got me confused. Or perhaps the "strategy" and "simulation" categories made me think that the actual gameplay would involve either of these. I must admit, that I missed the "rogue-like" part mentioned in passing on the steam store page. (BTW "saving the galaxy" part is theIt is my fault, really, for picking up this game. I guess the "running the spaceship" and "saving the galaxy" part got me confused. Or perhaps the "strategy" and "simulation" categories made me think that the actual gameplay would involve either of these. I must admit, that I missed the "rogue-like" part mentioned in passing on the steam store page. (BTW "saving the galaxy" part is the galaxy is never in peril throughout the game. It's there in all its randomness, and it's feeling just fine.)

    So please, if you do not have a deep love for the rogue-like genre, do NOT pick up this game. Being at the mercy of the random-number god for scraps (literally) will not be fun for you as it was not fun for me. The game goes out of its way to make running your starship feel static and lifeless. The scenery never changes: there's your ship on the left, there's a smaller enemy ship on the right. You wait for some bars to fill, and occasionally pause to ponder where to shoot next. The interface follows the "hover over icon if you want to understand this" principle. (Except when it doesn't, in case you want to know the systems or weapons of an enemy ship, you have to look for a similar icon on *your* ship. In case of weapons, just forget it.)

    The soundtrack starts feeling repetitive about 10 minutes in and is basically the same two tunes over and over. Ugh.

    Gameplay 2/10 (ymmv, more if you enjoy a Random Events Plot)
    Sound: 5/10 (decent quality, but very repetitive and gets boring quickly)
    Design: 3/10 (see above)
    Visuals: 3/20 (very 90's)    … Expand
  25. Ursa
    Aug 13, 2013
    1
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Like others here, I really enjoyed the game at parts. Unfortunately it is not quite finished, and extremely unbalanced towards the end. (spoiler alert). The endgame consists of 3 battles with the enemy mothership, however the second encounter is impossible to finish. For some reason the enemy ship will board endless times, and also extremely often, so you cannot defeat the first one before the second comes on. Also the enemies are unable to suffocate via the doors for some reason And as if that weren't enough for some reason the ship loses it's shields every 10 seconds or so, and it's impossible to stop this from happening. When developers fix this bug, I will raise score to 8. It's really annoying, because when you're defeated at the second endgame boss encounter, you realize you've wasted 10 hours of your life because of this bug. Hope this will be fixed soon. -Ursa… Expand
  26. Planex
    Aug 7, 2013
    4
    Frustrating. People are quick to point out that the game is this or that. It's a "roguelike." It's brutal. It's unforgiving of mistakes. All these are true, but what does that add up to? Pure frustration. Yes, the game is fun for a few hours, but once you realize that you can do everything right and still lose the game due to random chance, then all the novelty is gone. No matter how hardFrustrating. People are quick to point out that the game is this or that. It's a "roguelike." It's brutal. It's unforgiving of mistakes. All these are true, but what does that add up to? Pure frustration. Yes, the game is fun for a few hours, but once you realize that you can do everything right and still lose the game due to random chance, then all the novelty is gone. No matter how hard you try, the game will always decide your fate for you and without a real sense of fair play there's no point in playing the game at all.… Expand
  27. urbanrot
    Aug 7, 2013
    4
    The game has merits but it needs to be noted that this game is intended for people that have a great deal of time to sacrifice as you could easily become attached to a ship & crew you’ve built up, only to have it completely annihilated during a random stacked encounter. This can literally fill you with anger and frustration, something adults prefer to avoid when playing games.

    It’s    The game has merits but it needs to be noted that this game is intended for people that have a great deal of time to sacrifice as you could easily become attached to a ship & crew you’ve built up, only to have it completely annihilated during a random stacked encounter. This can literally fill you with anger and frustration, something adults prefer to avoid when playing games.

    It’s important to understand that "spaceship simulation roguelike-like" means there's no saves or checkpoints, whatever time you invest can be easily wiped and you need to start from scratch simply because of bad luck.

    Pros include an enjoyable ambient sound track, an intuitive interface, a varied experience due to the random nature of the game and plenty of unlockables with achievements.

    Cons include a poor method of enhancing longevity by introducing an artificial roadblock in terms of checkpoints which really aren’t necessary what with all the unlockables and achievements the game provides.

    I’d probably rate this game considerably but the minority of diehard fans that troll anyone who innocently asks on forums how to save has soured my experience of the game and thus I’ve advised my friends to avoid it.    … Expand
  28. speedycerv
    Jul 21, 2013
    3
    This game is good for about 4 hours of entertainment and that is about it. The game is fun until you realize how random it is and how a stroke of fate can make your playthrough impossible and you have to start over. The worst is randomly you'll move to a new location and there will be a star close by starting fires all over and at the same time a ship is attacking you along withThis game is good for about 4 hours of entertainment and that is about it. The game is fun until you realize how random it is and how a stroke of fate can make your playthrough impossible and you have to start over. The worst is randomly you'll move to a new location and there will be a star close by starting fires all over and at the same time a ship is attacking you along with teleporting crew onto your ship to kill you. In this situation it's basically a coinflip if you die or not, and if you do survive most of your crew will be dead and make future encounters hard to catch up. One playthrough can take about 2 hours and if you get to the final boss, even on easy, there is no doubt you will lose and have to start over.

    Though no doubt as you play more you learn to curb the randomness to a degree as the same situations come up every playthrough as there isn't that many of them. After about 2 hours you will find yourself not even reading the dialog as it's just meaningless and timewasting to read since no matter what you do, more times than not you will find yourself near a star while another ship teleports everyone over and kills your crew so it burns to a crisp.

    If you do end up liking the game, first piece of advice is get blast doors so enemy crew has to break down doors and fires can't spread as easily. 2nd, get as much crew as possible since they will mostly be dying due to random encounter choices or having 5 seconds worth of life bars. 3rd, get lucky enough to find a weapon that shoots 3 or 4 shots consecutively, otherwise you will never be able to kill the ships that have 3 or 4 shields.

    All in all, it's good until your get bogged down with the random constant deaths and realize that if you decide to exit the game without saving, you will start from the beginning again..    … Expand
  29. reinaldons
    Jul 21, 2013
    4
    Frustration. If you wanna a game to get your space full loaded and shine, forget, this game is a simple one chance strategy game for you train your detachment by your items and game progress. You will die easy by chose the wrong sequence of upgrades and get a stronger enemy without any advice. You have no options for randomness enemies encounters.
  30. Vonnd
    Jul 20, 2013
    3
    My friend liked this game and I decided to check it out. It reminded me a lot of those java games where you have to fill an order in a cafe or a burger place. In fact I've played better java games with similar settings. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. This game has no depth. On the other hand if you want a really simple game with absolutely nothing more to offer to you than what you'reMy friend liked this game and I decided to check it out. It reminded me a lot of those java games where you have to fill an order in a cafe or a burger place. In fact I've played better java games with similar settings. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. This game has no depth. On the other hand if you want a really simple game with absolutely nothing more to offer to you than what you're given at minute 1, then be my guest.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

28
#28 Best PC Game of 2012
21
#21 Most Discussed PC Game of 2012
13
#13 Most Shared PC Game of 2012

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 42 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 41 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 42
  3. Negative: 0 out of 42
  1. Gamers' Temple
    May 27, 2013
    87
    Fulfill a sci-fi fantasy by becoming the Captain of your own starship! Don't expect great graphics, but do except to lose many hours to FTL and expect to lose your ship ... a lot.
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  2. PC Master (Greece)
    Feb 6, 2013
    85
    Kickstarter has accomplished its mission in this one, giving the opportunity to an original, non-mainstream title to go public and meet its well-deserved success. Especially for sci-fi fans, it’s a no-brainer; buy this game at once and live the life of a courageous pilot that only has one mission: survival. [November 2012]
  3. GameStar
    Nov 24, 2012
    77
    Quotation forthcoming.
    Read full review
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