FTL: Faster Than Light is Still Incredible
Five years after release, this game still feels ahead of its time
This afternoon, while listening to a podcast chronicling year-end games of 2017, I heard one of the hosts mention Into the Breach, a 2018 project from Subset Games (a title that I’m familiar with). Hearing this brief mention reminded me that I still have Subset’s earlier project — FTL: Faster Than Light — sitting on my iPad, and that it has been several months since I’ve played it. I opened the game a few short hours later, and quickly lost myself in the galaxy of this fantastic strategy game. 2017 was a fantastic year for video game releases, but this game still stands out five years after its release.
When I first saw FTL on Steam, I was unimpressed. I’ve always had a tenuous relationship with strategy games, and I normally prefer navigating one character in a game to navigating multiple. The game kept popping up on “best-of” lists for iPad games however, and I eventually took the plunge. From then on, despite a singular lack of skill, I have greatly enjoyed every moment spent in its randomly-generated, punishing, and always-intriguing universe.
FTL is light on story, but what’s there is compelling enough. Players control a Federation starship on the run from the rebels that is tasked with delivering critical information. This on its own wouldn’t be enough to build a compelling universe, but Subset games populated its various worlds with different races, all of which are distinctly separate from the “normal” humans that players start out with. There is also a lightly sketched out backstory of how these different races interact with each other, building a believable concept that adds depth to the moment-to-moment action.
That moment-to-moment action is the first truly compelling part of FTL. The game operates in real time, and players control the engine, shields, and weapons of various starships (there is only one at first, but more are unlockable). At first, it seems simple. Firing weapons is easy, and making sure that the shields are always powered up is similarly so. The combat has a distinct rhythm to it, and there are tangible rewards to upgrading weapons and adding crew members.
As players progress further and further into the universe, the combat gets much more difficult. Firing weapons and maintaining shields is easy enough, but when other ships possess enough firepower to knock out player weapons (or, even worse, the oxygen), the game’s real-time mechanics quickly shift toward “unforgiving.” Personally, I always seem to hit a wall about two-thirds of the way through. I can chart my way through most of the universe well enough, but I’m not good at adapting once I’ve lost a few crew members or weapon systems.
Defeat is a constant in FTL, and the game’s roguelike system means that it can be emotionally crushing. I’ve reached the endgame a few times, and the inevitable defeat there always sends me back to a starting point devoid of my precious upgrades and crew. However, the game’s procedural design and random events allow each play through to be different, and Subset games executes this element perfectly. Some procedurally-generated games feel cheap and lazy, but the random levels feel handcrafted every time. If the moment-to-moment action is the first compelling part of this game, the roguelike design and inherent randomness to each run is the second. The combat drew me in, but the infinite replay-ability kept me enthralled.
Beyond what I’ve written here, it’s hard to explain just what makes FTL so great. The concept is original and fun, the gameplay mechanics are well-balanced, and the difficult challenges never feel unfair. Many other developers have checked all of these boxes before though, and few games have the lasting appeal that FTL does. Out of all the games I’ve ever played on my iPad, this one is easily the most compelling and the one with the most lasting value. By now, it’s an old friend that I enjoy spending time with.
The success of FTL means that expectations for Into the Breach are sky-high, and this newest project looks compelling. As 2017 ends though, I’m happy to have an excuse to pick up FTL again. It’s a fantastic game, and one that hasn’t lost a step with age.
