FTL: Faster Than Light

The player controls a spaceship and several crew members on board. His task is to overcome a route from several randomly generated sectors of the galaxy with many star systems, while the rebel fleet is gradually capturing these systems. The player is invited to explore unknown worlds, engage in battles with other spaceships, complete tasks and upgrade the ship. Fights in the game take place in real time with a tactical pause, while the player has the responsibility to transfer crew members from one compartment to another, redistribute energy between onboard systems, choose targets for attacking opponents in the ship and monitor the health of the equipment and crew health. Death in the game is irreversible, you can return the dead team members to life only with the cloning compartment ^[6] . In the case of the death of the ship or its entire team, the player is shown the achieved score and is invited to start the journey anew, with a new ship and crew.

The goal of the game is to defeat the rebels who usurped most of the galaxy, rapidly capturing its remnants. The player acts as a federation scout, who received important information about the flagship cruiser of the rebels and is rapidly flying away from their combined fleet. In the final battle with the rebel flagship, which takes place in three stages, the destruction of the flagship wreaks havoc on the rebel ranks and predicts the victory of the federation, followed by credits like a movie. This gameplay is not limited to, the player is invited to a new type of ship for passing. Thus, the player re-runs the game scenario to open additional ships and their varieties, as well as gain achievements. Due to the completely random distribution of various objects, star systems, sectors of the galaxy and the consequences of a player’s choice, the discovery of all ships and achievements can take an indefinitely long time.

Races

The game presents various races, each of which is characterized by its skills and characteristics ^[7] :

Humans People in Faster Than Light do not have special advantages or disadvantages, the most balanced race, learn specialties 10% faster.

Zoltans (Zoltans) . Green-skinned humanoids provide an additional unit of energy to any ship system in which they are located. They help a lot in the area of ​​the storm, which robs the ship of some energy. However, zoltans have a reduced health reserve. After death, they explode and damage surrounding creatures.

Angie Creatures in dark gray spacesuits, possibly cyborgs or robots. Good engineers who quickly repair equipment, but are weak in hand-to-hand combat.

Mantis (Mantis) . Insect-like creatures, almost the exact opposite of the previous ones. Praying mantises are excellent fighters, but they do a poor job of fixing them. In addition, they move quickly, the best option for boarding or defending your ship from enemies penetrating it.

Boulders (Rockman) . Creatures similar to stone golems have an increased health reserve, thus being the most preferred repairmen for gaps in the hull. Immunity to fire allows them to extinguish fires without loss of health and effectively fight opponents in fire-covered compartments. However, they are very slow and in a one-on-one battle are approximately equal to praying mantises.

Slugs Telepaths that make it possible without sensors to see the movement of the crew inside the ship, as well as opening additional options in some quests. They are also immune to mind control.

Kristaliny (Chrystals) . The rarest races are the ancestors of the boulders, however, they are slightly faster and have less health. They are good at boarding due to the unique ability to isolate the compartment, preventing opponents from escaping into the medical compartment or interfering with the boarding team. Even crystallines lose health more slowly, being in a compartment without oxygen.

Lanius (Lanius) . New race added to Advanced Edition . They are a metal form of life; therefore, they do not need oxygen; moreover, they remove oxygen from the compartment in which they are located ^[8] .

IGN website included FTL: Faster Than Light in its rating of the 10 best games of 2012 ^[17] and awarded the title of “Best Strategy Game of 2012 for PC ” ^[18] . PC Gamer magazine awarded the game as "The Best Small Form Game of 2012" ^[19] .

IndieGames.com , a site dedicated to games from independent developers ( indie games ), has placed FTL: Faster Than Light in first place in the ranking of strategic indie games released in 2012 ^[20] , as well as in fifth place in the ranking of all indie games games of 2012 ^[21] . IndieDB.com , also dedicated to indie games, selected FTL: Faster Than Light as the best game of the year and awarded it an additional award in the “Interaction with a Player” nomination ^[22] . According to the results of 2012, Softpedia website awarded the game the title of "Best Concept" ^[23] . The game took first place in the ranking of the most difficult games of 2012, compiled by Forbes magazine ^[24] .

The soundtrack of the game was nominated for the best general music in 2012 PC games according to IGN ^[25] . In addition, he was recognized as one of the best of the year by Kotaku ^[26] , entered the list of Complex magazine of the 25 best soundtracks in the Bandcamp store ^[27] and the list of official soundtracks of the year 2012 at the NeoGAF forum ^[28] .

• Official game site (English)
• Review of Faster Than Light (Russian)
• FTL review: Faster Than Light advanced edition (Russian)