X3: Reunion

fantastic game. I played for 400+ hours and never tired of it. I simply had other things to do. One can play thru a scripted scenario or play in sandbox mode either as a good guy or a pirate. Endlessly re-playable. Enjoy.

this is a classic space simulator. in some ways, it's superior to x4 in that ftl jump drives make interstellar travel easier than the stupid highway system in x4. in some ways, the ships are better too. i wish a graphic enhancement pack would be released, or a remaster. but this game is peak mid-2000's space sim.

TL;DR - Not recommended unless you’re playing it for completion’s sake. X2 and X3:Terran Conflict are better experiences. If you’re exploring the X-Universe, I’d suggest playing X2, then skipping straight to Terran Conflict. My Steam hours are not correct as didn't run the game though Steam. I probably have 60+ hours of gametime. I completed the story and did all the missions to get my own HQ. I ran the EXE directly with a limit of 2 CPU cores as this improved stability and performance a bit, found this solution in an old Egosoft Forum Post from 20 years ago lol. FULL Review Below: I’m playing through the entire X-Universe series, and X3: Reunion has been the first real stumble. While it looks visually impressive for its time, almost every part of the experience feels like a step backward from X2 in terms of usability, pacing, and overall fun. The biggest issue is the UI. X2’s interface was nicer, faster, and easier to navigate, while X3’s menus, property management, and ship commands all take noticeably longer to use. On my Legion Go, this was even more frustrating, the extra complexity made my controller setup feel awkward and slowed down basic empire management. Stability was another major problem. The game crashed often and randomly, so I had to save constantly. Some saves even became corrupted, which meant keeping multiple backups. The in-game save menu is clunky as once you fill all the slots scrolling through them becomes a chore. The Steam version also has cutscene playback issues, and I had to download an older patch from Egosoft just to get them working properly. The story is weaker and far less engaging than X2’s. Missions frequently take control away from you, forcing you into specific ships or turret roles and preventing you from interacting with your empire until the mission is finished. This completely breaks the flow between story and sandbox that X2 handled so well. The pacing feels off, and the two halves of the game never really gel. The economy also feels more grindy, and while automation is slightly improved, the clunky menus cancel out most of the benefit. The universe does feel more alive and dangerous, which is a positive, and combat is a bit better than X2 but not enough to outweigh the other frustrations. Overall, I enjoyed X2 far more as a complete package. It had better pacing, better story integration, better UI, and was simply more fun to play. X3: Reunion feels like a downgrade in usability and enjoyment, and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you’re playing through the series for completion’s sake. X2 is the better experience, and X3: Terran Conflict is essentially a refined, improved version of Reunion in every way.

To recommend or not to recommend... Hard to say I really enjoyed my time playing this game with one key change however: I had to increase ship speeds by approx 1.7* via X3 editor (except for M5). If you like space games and don't mind oldschool then you probably should give this a try. I bought and played this as of May 2026 as a nostalgic run to go through the story again and I was genuienly surprised by how well the core gameplay holds up today. Story wise, world and character building I think this is the second strongest entry in the X saga right after X2:The threat. However X3 reunion stands in a weird spot where it has very solid story presentation compared to the average of the X saga. Gameplay core wise It's not as archaic as X2 or XbTF. However it still does not have enough content diversity, advanced functions, features and AI functionality as X3 Terran Conflict or X3 Albion Prelude. I can happily recommend X3 for story content, world building and introduction into core X3 gameplay elements, however I don't think I can recommend this particular entry for extended sandbox / empire building specifically - X3 Terran Conflict and X4 is where you should look for that.

It has not aged well. There is no tutorial and the ship is difficult to maneauver. I quit after 20 minutes. 20/100

Played this nearly 20 years ago and I have fond memories.

Отличный космо-симулятор для своего времени.

The targeting and navigation on this game are simply horrible.

ein sehr tolles spiel für alle die auf Wirtschaftssimulation stehen gerade die vielfältigkeit und Tiefe des Wirtschaftssystems sind besonders Anspruchsvoll

In English at the bottom SVK: Mám rád scifi a aj hry s vesmírnou tematikou a hrozne veľmi by som chcel mať rád aj túto, fakt veľmi! Ale aj napriek tomu, že som si vybral rýchly štart teda najnižšiu obtiažnosť tak aj tak mám problémy hneď v začiatkoch som na 4. misii: "Meet Thomus" a absolútne netuším kde nájsť kňaza Thomusa, korý by sa mal nachádzať v sektore "Freedoms Reach" lenže hra vás vôbec nijak nenavedie. Takže bez toho aby som si nevygooglil mapu všetkých sektorov tak by som jednoducho blúdil po celom X univerze. Na slepo som sa dostal len po "Split Fire" kde som narazil na partičku 3-4 pirátov a tí ma zakaždým zničia (skúšal som nechať boj aj na autopilota a to dopadlo ešte horšie, čakal som teda podstatne nižšiu obtiažnosť) už som sa poučil a ukladám si hru v každom sektore na nejakej stanici, lebo ma prestalo baviť umierať a znova prechádzať tie isté sektory. Hodiny a hodiny strateného času kedy opakujem to iste bez progresu. Veľmi frustrujúce. Po vyše dvadsiatich pokusoch postúpiť ďalej v misii 4. som zakaždým zlyhal v sektore "Split Fire" kde sa neviem dostať cez skupinu pirátov ktorí sú v okolí východnej brány, par krát sa mi podarilo zničiť im 1-2 lode ale boli aj také pokusy kde som nezostrelil ani jednu. Takže som to zabalil a hru odkladám na neurčito. Plus 3. misiu "Find the Crystal" som musel niekoľko krát opakovať pretože mi Saya Kho síce poslala súradnice pre skok ale ked som skočil tak tam nebola ani ona so svojou loďou Nikonofune ani loď ktorú máme za úlohu prenasledovať "The Maurauder". Samozrejme stále mi hlasila že sa mám postarať o pirátov ktorí bránili loď "The Maurauder" ENG: I like sci-fi and space-themed games, and I would really love to like this one too, really! But even though I chose the quick start, i.e. the lowest difficulty level, I'm still having problems right from the start. I'm on the 4th mission: "Meet Thomus" and I have absolutely no idea where to find the priest Thomus, who is supposed to be in the "Freedoms Reach" sector, but the game doesn't give you any clues. So without Googling a map of all the sectors, I would simply be wandering around the entire X universe. I blindly made it to "Split Fire," where I encountered a group of 3-4 pirates, and they destroy me every time (I tried leaving the fight on autopilot, and that turned out even worse, I expected a significantly lower difficulty level). I've learned my lesson and now I save the game in every sector at some station, because I got tired of dying and going through the same sectors over and over again. Hours and hours of wasted time repeating the same thing without any progress. Very frustrating. After more than twenty attempts to advance in Mission 4, I failed every time in the "Split Fire" sector, where I can't get past a group of pirates near the eastern gate. A few times I managed to destroy 1-2 ships, but there were also attempts where I didn't shoot down a single one. So I gave up and put the game aside indefinitely. BTW, I had to repeat mission 3, "Find the Crystal," several times because Saya Kho sent me the coordinates for the jump, but when I jumped, neither she nor her ship Nikonofune were there, nor was the ship we were supposed to pursue, "The Maurauder." Of course, she kept telling me to take care of the pirates who were defending the ship "The Maurauder."