Escaping the rebel fleet that is pursing you for your precious cargo, you suddenly jump into a beacon, only to find a well armed rebel cruiser. Soon your oxgen and weapons systems are down, a member of your crew dead, your hull close to breaking, and your engines are on fire. Somehow you win the fight, and quickly make the few repairs that you can. Although worse for wear you have survived… at least until the next jump. You take a deep breath and click on jump, knowing the next beacon could very well be your last. If “fun” was one of the words that came to mind when you read that section, then I hope that you have been playing FTL: Faster Than Light. If you missed it all these months, the recent release of its free update, FTL: Advanced Edition makes it a great time to pick it up.
In FTL: Advanced Edition, you are a member of the Federation, which is fighting a losing war against the Rebellion. You are given information that is vital to the federation and tasked with the mission of carrying it to them. But nine sectors of space lie between you and your destination. The game is a randomly generated rouge-like. Each sector has a series of FTL Beacons, randomly scattered throughout it. Your objective is to make it to the end of the sector and exit before the ever advancing rebel fleet catches up to you. Each time you jump you will encounter an event. These events can include anything from a fight against a hostile ship (the rebels aren’t the only threat, pirates, slavers, and others are looking for a fight), something that might yield resources or items, or even just simple stories that require a selection.
These encounter are not without risk. You may end up losing crew members, or taking damage, or losing resources from them. Depending on the equipment on the ship and the experience of your crew, you will have different outcomes and options that will alter what happens in these encounters. For example, in an encounter where a ship is stuck, having a beam weapon equipped on your ship will allow you to safely cut them out, earning you a higher reward. To add to the complexity of what you may find special environmental hazards. These include solar flares, that will set your ship on fire periodically (you can vent your ship to starve them of oxygen, but make sure your door subsystems aren’t damaged), nebulae that block your sensors and occasionally sap your power, and the newly added ionic storms, which periodically shut down the subsystems.
During your travels you will accumulate scrap, which can be used to repair your ship, buy upgrades, new subsystems and weapons. You are also able to recruit extra crew members, who now have different skills as well as the innate racial skills they get. Humans are not the only race available for you to play. The other races have different characteristics and powers. For example, the rock men have more HP and are resistant to fire, but they are also very slow. Mantis warriors move fast and do more damage, but aren’t good at repairing your ship. Humans, as the game notes, are boring and average. Along with different races, you will also be able to command the different type of vessel each race has. As is expected, each ship has its own strengths and draw backs, and are suitable for specific play styles. The Engie ship, for example, is armed with an ion cannon and is designed to be built around the use of drones. The mantis ship, on the other hand, expects you to approach a boarding strategy.
All of these variables are mostly randomized. When you start the game you will choose an available ship (most must be unlocked), which comes with a default load-out, and crew. There are several ships, which have up to three different load-outs. These must also be unlocked and are usually rewards for getting achievements. Everything else you encounter will be randomized. Weapons, things for sale at the store, additional crew members, sub-systems, etc… FTL favors flexibility and adaptability. While going in with a game plan is a wise thing to do, the game all but guarantees that you will have to deviate from this plan and try to get ahead with the resources given.
The Advanced edition features many additions to ensure that even the most dedicated FTL players will have to learn how to cope with new sub systems. The most obvious change when starting a new game is addition of a new race and a new ship to go with it. The Lanius are a race of anabolic beings that actually absorb the air from the ships. Their own space ship seems like a sampling of the new sub-systems. the Lanius ship comes equipped with a clone bay, hacking system, and some of the new weapons, so it is a great ship to get used to some of the major additions to the game. These new additions do not really change the way the game is played, especially if you use one of the of the original ships, but they do add new possibilities to how you approach its challenges. The mind control power, in particular I found to be a powerful addition to the arsenal, but one that seemed very well balanced to the rest of the game. In a way it is the best kind of update. An update that does not affect how the game itself is played in the first places, but that does add content, possibilities, and new game play avenues.
There are a lot of minor changes from the original to the advanced version. One of my favorites is a button to “save” your crew’s position in your ship. This allows you to easily return them to their stations after a battle, or when they were repairing something. The graphics have been improved, there are new encounters and hazards, the map has a feature now that shows you which beacons a prospective jump links to, so you can plan your path through each sector more easily. However the game is still a brutal, cerebral affair that takes planning and adaptation in equal measures to master.
For the fame or infamy that FTL’s difficulty has, there were still people who were able to consistently beat it in normal, which was the hardest available setting. Those who have mastered the game in the past will be happy to hear that a new challenge awaits: Hard mode. Hard mode has a more difficult enemy ship generation, as well lowering scrap (the currency used in the game to upgrade your ship and hire crew members). The tweak sounds small but what it really means is that you will find yourself outgunned very early in the game. In the few runs I tried in hard mode I found myself running for my life after encountering enemies with fire power that was far superior to mine as early as the first sector.
FTL: Advanced Edition is a joy to play, although not one that I imagine appeals to many. The game is hard, even in easy, and despite graphical upgrades, it is not pretty. If you already owned the game, then you received the Advanced Edition for free in the last update. The good news is if you dislike the new additions you can turn off the changes and play the edition you paid for when you originally bought the game. I guess all I can say for those who have not played the game is that if the opening paragraph sounds like something that is appealing to you, then FTL is a great choice. The value definitely is there, I personally had 60 hours in the game before I even started to review it for Enemy Slime, so if brutally difficult rougelike space sims are your thing, and you somehow missed it last time around, go get it.
