Yes, FTL: Faster Than Light is available on the Nintendo Switch

As a lifelong gamer and content creator specializing in the roguelike genre, I was both thrilled and skeptical whenSubset Games announced they were porting their classic spaceship simulation title "FTL: Faster Than Light" to Nintendo Switch.

FTL first launched on PC in 2012, gaining critical and fan acclaim for its brutal but fair difficulty, complex and pausable real-time battles, and meaningful procedural generation creating a vast array of dangers and surprises across randomly generated galaxies. The game exemplified tough but addicting roguelike principles.

Porting such an intensely complex mouse/keyboard driven experience to a console seemed daunting. But I‘m delighted to report the Switch version of FTL is an unambiguous triumph – a fantastic port succeeding both technically and creatively while also providing a uniquely definitive way to play this genre great.

Intuitive New Control Schemes Make Console Navigation Natural

The most crucial element of any port is adapting the controls, interfaces and information flow. The developers clearly agonized over creating intuitive navigation on Switch controllers and succeeded wonderfully.

Assigning ship navigation to joysticks and battle commands to face buttons allows fluid movement even while paused. UI elements are clear and legible on both docked TV and handheld displays. What felt confusing for moments on first boot up soon becomes second nature after some early runs. This is quality game design change.

All Switch Versions Offer Equal FTL Performance

From a technical perspective, FTL performs identically on the base Switch, handheld-only Switch Lite, and upgraded Switch OLED. All utilize the same underlying Tegra processor and can play games from the shared Switch library, including FTL. That means equal performance capabilities.

The OLED screen‘s higher contrast, vivid colors and anti-aliasing do noticeably improve visual details – ships, nebula and battles feel more vibrant and beautiful. But otherwise players can expect the same acclaimed FTL gameplay on any Switch device. Whether docked on a TV or mobile, it remains equally deadly and addictive.

Playtime Statistics Across Switch Models

Optimized for Both Docked and Mobile Gameplay

The Switch‘s hybrid design – able to connect to televisions or used as on-the-go tablets – shines particularly bright with FTL. The game truly sings either leaned back on the couch surveying star maps or hunched over in a cramped airline seat frantically reacting to pirate ambushes.

Both scenarios enable FTL‘s signature tactical decision making thanks to the clear UI and pauseable real-time battles. Seeing my reliable crew take down an overwhelming mothership among glowing nebula – cheering victories and mourning losses either around my living room or 30,000 feet in the air – are memories I‘ll treasure as a gamer.

Definitive Version Integrating Many Past Updates

Unlike barebones mobile ports, the Switch beautifully incorporates nearly a decade of patches adding mod support, new events, balance changes and more from the PC version. This makes playing on Switch feel like returning to an old friend after they spent years improving themselves.

Daily challenge modes offer global leaderboards for the truly masochistic while unlockable ships constantly supply fresh runs and playstyles – assaulting enemies with a four-person teleporter squad or attempting a pacifist stealth approach. There is nearly unlimited replay value here.

Reinvigorated Passion Project Inspiring New Content

As someone who has already sunk hundreds of hours into FTL over the past decade, I couldn‘t be more thrilled by the Switch port successfully rekindling my passion. Having flexible access inspires more time attempting daring Hard Mode runs and theory-crafting ideal ship builds.

The portability also enables me to produce guides, reviews and let‘s play content directly from Switch capture – documenting both my most glorious victories snatched from death‘s jaws and most tragic failures in brighter fidelity to better inform new captains before they take the helm. That joy of sharing FTL with newcomers persists even for long-time fans.

If you have ever enjoyed tense sci-fi simulation, creative procedural journeys or savage roguelikes before, you owe it to yourself to enlist for FTL duty on Nintendo Switch. This impeccably crafted port retains everything remarkable about the original while adding modern quality-of-life tweaks and flexible access tailor-made for Switch capabilities.

FTL on Switch stands tall as an unambiguous must-own title – very likely representing the definitive version of this genre masterpiece. Beam aboard today and experience the interstellar struggle yourself!