FTL: Faster Than Light is a real-time strategy roguelite game created by indie developer Subset Games, which was released for Microsoft Windows, macOS and Linux in September 2012. In the game, the player controls the crew of a single spacecraft, holding critical information to be delivered to an allied fleet, while being pursued by a large rebel fleet. The player must guide the spacecraft through eight sectors, each with planetary systems and events procedurally generated in a roguelike fashion, while facing rebel and other hostile forces, recruiting new crew, and outfitting and upgrading their ship. Combat takes place in pausable real time, and if the ship is destroyed or all of its crew lost, the game ends, forcing the player to restart with a new ship.
The player's ship (left) in combat with an enemy Mantis ship. The GUI along the top, left, and bottom of the screen indicates the status of the player's ship.
Justin Ma (left) and Matthew Davis, the two-man team behind FTL, at the 2013 Game Developers Conference receiving the "Excellence in Design" Independent Games Festival award.
Roguelike is a style of role-playing game traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player character. Most roguelikes are based on a high fantasy narrative, reflecting their influence from tabletop role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons.
Isometric "Vultures" sprite-based interface for the roguelike game NetHack
Abyss Odyssey combines roguelike elements with beat 'em up gameplay