FTL's amazing longevity and replayability comes from its completely unfair randomness. Every jump into the unknown is a roll of the dice that's as likely to present you with a powerful free weapon as it is to land you next to an unstable star with a heavily armed enemy drone ship bearing down on you. The surprisingly tense combat, in which death by explosion, fire, suffocation, or hand-to-hand combat all loom large, and sending our crew scurrying around to deal with threats as they pop up keeps us on the edge of our seats. FTL's adventures capture so much of the tension that makes sci-fi like Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek, and Star Wars so gripping, and puts us right at the center of it, all to the tune of a mesmerizing retro soundtrack.
Chief Criticisms: Boss ship demands raw firepower; universe needs more flavor.