Developer Subset Games today released its popular real-time strategy game FTL: Faster Than Light on the iPad, coming roughly a year after the title was released on Mac, PC, and Linux to much acclaim.

The game puts the player in the commanding role of a ship aligned with the Galactic Federation, tasked with getting vital data back to its headquarters. However, rebel ships are persistent in attacking the spacecraft, allowing players to engage in top down combat while maintaining and upgrading their ship with new weapons, crew members, and more.

ftl_faster_than_light1

The award winning PC spaceship simulation game from Subset Games comes to iPad!

Key Features:
- Give orders to your crew, manage ship power distribution and choose weapon targets in the heat of battle.
- Pause the game mid-combat to evaluate your strategy and give orders.
- Upgrade your ship and unlock new ones with the help of seven diverse alien races.
- Hundreds of text based encounters will force you to make tough decisions.
- Each play-through will feature different enemies, events, and results to your decisions. No two play-throughs will be quite the same.
- Permadeath means when you die, there’s no coming back. The constant threat of defeat adds importance and tension to every action.

The iPad version of the game also includes the FTL: Advanced Edition expansion, which offers new ship systems, events, weapons, drones, equipment, enemy types, levels and more in addition to user interface improvements.

Our sister site TouchArcade reviewed the game, regarding the iPad version of FTL as the “definitive version”, crediting the title's touch controls and regarding them as more intuitive compared to a traditional mouse and keyboard control scheme. Overall, the title was noted as the perfect “play while you do something else game” and given a five star rating. The full review is well worth checking out, as is a video walkthrough of FTL which can be seen below.


FTL: Faster Than Light for the iPad is available for $9.99 on the App Store. [Direct Link]

Top Rated Comments

GulGnu Avatar
135 months ago
This isn't the kind of game you should evaluate using video - it is really excellent imho.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Igantius Avatar
135 months ago
Wasn't this a kick starter game? I heard it disappointed a lot of people because it didn't come with the features that people were pledging for.

Not quite, the developers (two guys, IIRC) were working in the games industry and decided they wanted to work for themselves so they started working FTL, using their savings.

They were almost finished, but needed a bit more cash so went onto Kickstarter – going from memory, but I think this is right – the target was $10K, but people pledged over $200K. They were able to finish the game as planned, but were able to expand it slightly – I think there was a longer soundtrack and they got someone to wrote events for the game and had more than they were planned.

I wasn’t a pledger but I follow a lot of Kickstarter projects and can’t recall anyone being dissatisfied with the finished project. If anything, FTl is a perfect example of someone showing an accurate representation of what they want to do (particularly as the game wasn’t near far from being finished) and delivering on it. From the various gaming forum threads I’ve read and participated on, response has been very positive in the main.

As I say, I didn’t pledge on Kickstarter but when FTL I bought the game straight away (so full price) and will be buying the iPad version without hesitation. Although I only dip into now and then, I thought that it would be perfect with a touch interface and it’s a neat game.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Nunyabinez Avatar
135 months ago
It's a good game, I tried it and liked it, but didn't buy it - now with this update there's every incentive to fork over 10 bucks. I will buy it finally :)

Oh and for the love of all that is not spyware and stupid DRM, buy this game on GOG.com not Steam.

On GOG.com you get the Mac version as well as the PC version, just like on Steam, but without *any* strings attached. Steam is an unfortunate fact of modern PC/Mac gaming, but always check first on GOG.com for a game. :cool:

http://www.gog.com/game/faster_than_light

Not sure what you have against Steam. It is a wonderful service as far as I'm concerned. I play games with friends and Steam makes this very easy. I also have multiple machines that I game from and Steam syncs my game progress. Plus, during the Steam Summer sale I get mildly aged great games for a song. So, not sure how Steam's DRM is screwing me.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
bflowers Avatar
135 months ago
I have this game via Steam. It is a really great, but constantly frustrating game. Expect to die a lot! Don't worry, you will just have fun doing it.

The great part about the desktop version is the healthy modding community. I've played the game in the StarTrek universe, and as a Firefly class ship from Serenity/Firefly.

The soundtrack alone is worth the $9.99, though I think you can actually download it for less via Steam.

----------

I had seen this game on the Mac App Store once and was mildly curious, but I don't really play games on my Mac. Coming to the iPad, that's a different story, so I wanted to watch that video but... boy is it painful. I'm not sure if the game looks really boring or if it's just him.

This game is really good. Try looking up several other people play it on the desktop version. Day 9 is pretty funny to watch, but is horrible at the game.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
shenfrey Avatar
135 months ago
Your getting confused with another Kickstarter game Star Command.
Ah that name rings a bell!

Apologies, my mistake.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
amarcus Avatar
135 months ago
Wasn't this a kick starter game? I heard it disappointed a lot of people because it didn't come with the features that people were pledging for.

Your getting confused with another Kickstarter game Star Command.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

iPhone SE 4 Vertical Camera Feature

iPhone SE 4 Rumored to Use Same Rear Chassis as iPhone 16

Friday July 19, 2024 7:16 am PDT by
Apple will adopt the same rear chassis manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 that it is using for the upcoming standard iPhone 16, claims a new rumor coming out of China. According to the Weibo-based leaker "Fixed Focus Digital," the backplate manufacturing process for the iPhone SE 4 is "exactly the same" as the standard model in Apple's upcoming iPhone 16 lineup, which is expected to...
iPhone 16 Pro Sizes Feature

iPhone 16 Series Is Just Two Months Away: Everything We Know

Monday July 15, 2024 4:44 am PDT by
Apple typically releases its new iPhone series around mid-September, which means we are about two months out from the launch of the iPhone 16. Like the iPhone 15 series, this year's lineup is expected to stick with four models – iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max – although there are plenty of design differences and new features to take into account. To bring ...
bsod

Crowdstrike Says Global IT Outage Impacting Windows PCs, But Mac and Linux Hosts Not Affected

Friday July 19, 2024 3:12 am PDT by
A widespread system failure is currently affecting numerous Windows devices globally, causing critical boot failures across various industries, including banks, rail networks, airlines, retailers, broadcasters, healthcare, and many more sectors. The issue, manifesting as a Blue Screen of Death (BSOD), is preventing computers from starting up properly and forcing them into continuous recovery...
iphone 14 lineup

Cellebrite Unable to Unlock iPhones on iOS 17.4 or Later, Leak Reveals

Thursday July 18, 2024 4:18 am PDT by
Israel-based mobile forensics company Cellebrite is unable to unlock iPhones running iOS 17.4 or later, according to leaked documents verified by 404 Media. The documents provide a rare glimpse into the capabilities of the company's mobile forensics tools and highlight the ongoing security improvements in Apple's latest devices. The leaked "Cellebrite iOS Support Matrix" obtained by 404 Media...
Apple Watch Series 9

2024 Apple Watch Lineup: Key Changes We're Expecting

Tuesday July 16, 2024 7:59 am PDT by
Apple is seemingly planning a rework of the Apple Watch lineup for 2024, according to a range of reports from over the past year. Here's everything we know so far. Apple is expected to continue to offer three different Apple Watch models in five casing sizes, but the various display sizes will allegedly grow by up to 12% and the casings will get taller. Based on all of the latest rumors,...
tinypod apple watch

TinyPod Turns Your Apple Watch Into an iPod

Wednesday July 17, 2024 3:18 pm PDT by
If you have an old Apple Watch and you're not sure what to do with it, a new product called TinyPod might be the answer. Priced at $79, the TinyPod is a silicone case with a built-in scroll wheel that houses the Apple Watch chassis. When an Apple Watch is placed inside the TinyPod, the click wheel on the case is able to be used to scroll through the Apple Watch interface. The feature works...