FTL is great. It makes sad to call this an 'Old' Indie game, but I guess 12 years ago is a long time now.

It's a space-battle micro-management rogue-like, which is a mouthful but that's the only way I can really describe it. You manage a bunch of bars and systems to blow up enemy ships before they blow up you. It is just simple enough to not be entirely overwhelming to me, but I can see if other people might not enjoy that level of complexity.

To be critical, the game is ridiculously difficult. It's a struggle to beat the game on Easy difficulty, and it's made even harder by using the newer advanced systems. I know of a number of people who have put 20+ hours into this game and haven't even come close to beating the Easiest difficulty. The final boss is definitely a huge difficulty spike that I think could be toned down a bit.

It also, with help from Binding of Isaac, really put Roguelikes on the map in the indie space. But maybe that's revisionist history - I was still in my adolescence back then, so maybe the genre has always been popular.

Ben Prunty absolutely kills it on the soundtrack and I'm so glad they brought him back to do the Into the Breach soundtrack. Love his work.

Reviewed on Jan 15, 2024


Comments