Date: 2/26/16
Review Number: 28
Game: FTL: Faster Than Light
From (Creator Publisher): Subset Games
Played On: Laptop
Steam Price as of Review: $9.99
Total Time played: 45 Minutes
Review:

Next game on the randomizer was one on the significantly shorter list of my personal collection of games that I didn't purchase while on deep sale or as part of a bundle. I don't recall now exactly how I had heard of the game in the first place, however I do distinctly recall knowing that this was a game I could totally end up playing long term. And lo and behold that has generally been the case.
Now the premise of Subset Games FTL: Faster Than Light is more or less a typical space opera sort of thing, you are a lone ship, fleeing a great and terrible army in your spaceship towards some sort of base at the end of the map, at which time you give the secret to a military hub only to have them tell you that they don't want it and that it's your job to destroy the enemy’s secret weapon anyway. One would wonder why they didn't just tell you that at the beginning of the map, but regardless you can still take all that time traveling inexorably rightwards to build up your ship with numerous types of weapons and sundry to make the job slightly less impossible when it happens. The game is largely text based, with most of the game's story communicated via dialog boxes, and combat more of a point and click adventure game than a space battle, but the fighting still manages to keep you entertained, not dragging on too long to be annoying, but not so short as to seem to be tacked on at the end. The game is very roguelike, with each star system having the possibility of throwing you a bone with some nice loot, or a pitched battle with a pirate battlecruiser. You definitely can feel the hand of the random number gods all over this game, and in many circumstances you will most certainly find yourself backed into a corner regardless of having done everything right. But the game does take great pains to not make the game seem completely unfair, and even the longest streak of bad luck really just seems more like you didn't do enough to make it work than any sort of random chance.
In the end, as far as roguelike games go, I can safely say this is probably my second favorite, blending strategy and gameplay in a simple game that you can jump right into, get blown apart a few times, then feel like you've learned something, only to get blown apart a few times anyway. Buy.

Game’s Fate: Kept. This game works brilliantly as a quick and easy time waster and a long and drawn out roguelike.
Buy/No Buy: This game will not appeal so some people, for many different reasons. All those people are horrible. Buy.

Date: 2/26/16 Review Number: 28 Game: FTL: Faster Than Light From (Creator Publisher): Subset Games Played On: Laptop Steam Price as of Review: $9.99 Total Time played: 45 Minutes Review: Next game on the randomizer was one on the significantly shorter list of my personal collection of games that I didn't purchase while on deep sale or as part of a bundle. I don't recall now exactly how I had heard of the game in the first place, however I do distinctly recall knowing that this was a game I could totally end up playing long term. And lo and behold that has generally been the case. Now the premise of Subset Games FTL: Faster Than Light is more or less a typical space opera sort of thing, you are a lone ship, fleeing a great and terrible army in your spaceship towards some sort of base at the end of the map, at which time you give the secret to a military hub only to have them tell you that they don't want it and that it's your job to destroy the enemy’s secret weapon anyway. One would wonder why they didn't just tell you that at the beginning of the map, but regardless you can still take all that time traveling inexorably rightwards to build up your ship with numerous types of weapons and sundry to make the job slightly less impossible when it happens. The game is largely text based, with most of the game's story communicated via dialog boxes, and combat more of a point and click adventure game than a space battle, but the fighting still manages to keep you entertained, not dragging on too long to be annoying, but not so short as to seem to be tacked on at the end. The game is very roguelike, with each star system having the possibility of throwing you a bone with some nice loot, or a pitched battle with a pirate battlecruiser. You definitely can feel the hand of the random number gods all over this game, and in many circumstances you will most certainly find yourself backed into a corner regardless of having done everything right. But the game does take great pains to not make the game seem completely unfair, and even the longest streak of bad luck really just seems more like you didn't do enough to make it work than any sort of random chance. In the end, as far as roguelike games go, I can safely say this is probably my second favorite, blending strategy and gameplay in a simple game that you can jump right into, get blown apart a few times, then feel like you've learned something, only to get blown apart a few times anyway. Buy. Game’s Fate: Kept. This game works brilliantly as a quick and easy time waster and a long and drawn out roguelike. Buy/No Buy: This game will not appeal so some people, for many different reasons. All those people are horrible. Buy.