FTL: Advanced Edition, the upcoming version of the popular space-exploration game (and challenging roguelike), is set to bring plenty of new changes and updates from the original title when it launches early this year, notably including a new alien race.

Over on the news section of the game's site, Subset Games released details on The Lanius as an additional alien race being added to FTL: Advanced Edition, with some sprites and screenshots for the new enemy creatures and a description of what to expect from the new race:

"The Lanius are scavengers – metallic lifeforms that rely on the absorption of  minerals to sustain themselves. Their society ebbs and flows in hibernation cycles; they may lie dormant for many years, even while hurtling through space. As soon as they become aware of significant metal deposits they reawaken. Usually this occurs in the dying stages of a galactic civilization or in the wake of intergalactic war."

"Individuals of the Lanius race do not require life support to live – they can survive in deep space unaided. In fact, their unique composition reacts strongly to artificial environments causing them to drain the oxygen within any compartment they inhabit. This is no doubt one reason they have had difficulty with diplomatic relations."

FTL: Advanced Edition is set to release sometime in the beginning of this year: in the meantime, you can check out more details about the The Lanius here and the additional new features and content you can expect to find in the new version of FTL.