FTL: Faster Than Light is a spaceflight simulator game by Subset Games that has consumed my life for the past few days.

The object of the game is to control a space craft that you must navigate safely across eight sectors of space before the Rebel fleet can hunt you down. Traveling through outer space, you will come across asteroid fields, space pirates, trading outposts, slave traders, alien species, dangerous planets, and more. Along the way you can upgrade your space craft and get new parts to make it more formidable. You can raid other ships, help distressed civilians, or just kill everything that comes across your path.

At first glance Faster Than Light looks like a Star Trek video game straight out of the 90′s. The chill music and pixelated graphics of FTL reminded me of VVVVVV, another old school style indie game found in the Humble Indie Bundle. Underneath the simplistic graphics though is a complex and detailed game.

Faster Than Light combines tactical, turn-based space combat with the role-playing elements of decision making, character management, and item management. Each of FTL’s different unlockable space crafts that you start with lends itself to different playstyles. For example, The Kestler, the default ship, is a weapons heavy, nimble space craft that is piloted by Humans, while the Torus is an Engi ship that makes heavy use of lasers and offensive drones.

Faster Than Light is a hardcore game. Death is permanent, choices have consequences, and the universe is hostile. Very hostile. You can’t even save your game to go back in time before you made a bad decision. The grueling difficulty of the game on normal mode will scare off casual gamers in favor of those who can stay up all night tediously micromanaging all aspects of their space craft. As of this writing I’ve played the game around forty times on normal and have gotten to the last sector around five times, yet I haven’t beaten the game once yet.

Faster Than Light is a great game, but it requires a specific type of gamer to enjoy it. Those who grew up playing roguelikes and other old school games may have a special appreciation for FTL. It is unforgiving, cold, and cruel – like outer space – but the multitude of play styles, unlockable space crafts, and tough difficulty will satisfy hardcore gamers. The overall length of the game is not long, but it is hard to complete, especially with achievements, which will keep any completionist going.

Pros

• Hard difficulty and tons of micromanagement will keep hardcore gamers busy
• Tons of weapons and accessories to customize your space craft
• Combines the best parts of tactical turn-based role-playing games and space combat sims
• Achievements and unlockables that keep the game fresh
• Graphics and music are good and give the game a unique look and feel

Cons

• Limited amount of unique encounters means you will see the same dialogue often across different playthroughs
• Short length, especially on easy mode

If you have ten dollars, a free weekend, and want to play a tough scifi, role-playing game with an old school nostalgia feel, then Faster Than Light is the game for you!