FTL: Faster Than Light - an Essential Indie Game pt. 1

What is FTL?

This is obviously Not Good.

FTL by indie developer Subset Games is a top-down strategy game where the player controls a spaceship and its crew in a mission to cross the galaxy with vital information to save the Federation. In your quest, you will encounter solar flares, traverse asteroid belts, struggle through nebulae, be crippled by ion storms, battle slavers, flee from the Rebellion, be boarded by man eating mantids, and you will lose. You will lose over and over again, and with all of the other elements, that is why FTL is a great game which anyone can appreciate.

FTL is a relatively short game, and winning a single game only takes an hour or two, but every time you play FTL the game will be unique. You traverse the galaxy by choosing your route through individual sectors which are randomized each time you start a new game. Your goal is to advance from star system to star system across the sector, fleeing the pursuing Rebel fleet. Each star system you visit has a random event awaiting you, ranging from benign to helpful to devastating. Some system types are inherently more dangerous - and likewise more rewarding. Accumulating as many advantages as possible is important, because the difficulty only increases as you move to the next sector.

OK, Where do I Start?

I recommend playing through the tutorial if it is your first time. It is short and painless and highly informative. FTL's mechanics are simple but deep. As you advance through FTL and are forced by its grueling difficulty to improvise, the game will naturally teach you advanced ways to apply the basic mechanics you will learn in the tutorial - but that is all down the road.

You begin with only one ship layout available to you, the Kestrel. The Kestrel is a straightforward vessel which is quite powerful, more than adequate for defeating the game - I first won using the Kestrel - but you will unlock 9 total ships with 2 layouts each as you play the game. Some of them are more difficult than others to unlock, but none is inherently superior to the others - each ship has strengths and weaknesses and I found them to be very well balanced. For now, simply know that the Kestrel is powerful and well suited to a beginning Captain.

This is your Captain speaking . . . does anyone know how to fly this thing?

The majority of the game takes place in a top-down view of your ship, with enemy ships displayed on the right hand side of the screen. From this vantage you will command countless brave space cadets, and you will mostly get them killed. But don't worry - they won't hold a grudge, and there are always more. Systems can be controlled on the lower-left hand corner, and crew can be controlled directly on the ship.

Join us next time for your first faster-than-light jump.

If FTL sounds like fun, you can purchase it directly from the developers with no DRM here. Support independent developers and have fun with an outstanding game!