X4: Foundations

It has dogfights in fighters, capital ship combat, RTS elements, an actual similated space economy, logistics management, fleet battles with hundreds of ships, a bunch of story missions, a lot of ship variety. You don't need to manage a huge space empire, you can go at your own pace, maybe focus on combat-oriented missions or activities and eventually get into trading a bit. Up to you. I played it like Elite: Dangerous before learning all the systems. Anything mundane like mining or hauling, you can do yourself or give the job to an NPC and he'll make money for you. What I don't like about the game but I could live with is the goofy voice acting, how NPCs look and the sound design being a mixed bag. It isn't a big issue though because there's just so much content in the game that it doesn't really matter. The situations you can end up in feel natural, and it happened because of your decisions and how it impacted the universe, or how it evolves as time passes. For example: I was boarding a huge battleship because it was alone, then while my marines were boarding and capturing the ship, 3 enemy capital ships (Xenon) jumped in and I had to drunk drive my destroyer while ordering my other destroyer and squads of fighters to distract the enemies so we could actually take em down without everyone dying. I lost a destroyer and some fighters but got a battleship that costs over 100 mil in credits, double the worth of my fleet. It's a pretty good game. I'm on my 2nd playthrough (first one was almost 500 hours).

tl;dr: A flawed masterpiece with endless gameplay, unreal dev support after so many years and excellent modding support means this is a game that is already great for space nerds, but will also stand the test of time for years to come. [H2]Full review[/h2] By no means perfect (still a lot of unintuitive UI elements, missing QoL features, some half-baked concepts and mostly bad to below-average dialogue, both in writing and in voice acting) but it's probably the best space empire/space pilot sims out there at present. The depth and fun is honestly kind of unmatched. I'd describe base X4 as a flawed gem you just cannot afford to miss if you're into space sims / empire games. Also, the dev support is UNREAL, which makes it have staying power, which is great for these types of games. And most issues can be fixed or alleviated with mods, so while the original game may miss out on a perfect score because of its shortcomings, mods can really make it shine and make it truly your own experience. Most DLCs are also more than worth the asking price, which is kind of rare. Timelines is probably the worst of the bunch, but still, in my opinion, a must have for the recoverable abandoned ships it adds to your universe. I can honestly not find any reason not to recommend this to every space nerd out there. I say this even though I agree with almost every single one of the (honestly worded) negative reviews. I just think it's still worth the price and many of the issued can be fixed with mods. [h2]On the use of AI[/h2] The use of AI voices in places is a black mark on the game, but at least the devs used AI voices in a responsible manner, where voice actors were hired and paid to train the models used, which is the only way I'll accept AI voices tbh. As much as I despise Paradox Interactive these days, they did the same for Queen Cetana, and for that, they have my respect. It's still AI, but at least no human was robbed in the process.

Amazing game, I really wish there was some qol for station trading. Like just basic features that are available only in mods. I wish it was easier to rescue crew from lost ships. Makes me sad when I have to leave them behind due to not enough room on board. Also give me a couple more DLCs so I can give you more money. Buff large traders!

Bad: Some graphical & mission glitches. There are some tedious parts (such as: docking, scanning, opening lockboxes, walking around stations). If you use too many mods, it can ruin the gameplay and make it too easy and boring; hard to find a balance. Missions are a bit boring. I ended up stopping playing because I felt I had enough money earned and no further goals; I could have tried to wipe out the enemy, but that would require many, many more hours. Good: Very addictive; spent hours a day on it. Less flight sim and more telling autopilot to go from point A to B. Spent most of my time building a trading empire & exploring. If you like making passive income, it is quite addictive. I like that there are random elements to it; entering a sector to find a full scale battle happening, trading changes based on supply and demand. Missions are largely optional.

Complicated at times alot to learn but doing the tutorials gets you on your way then after that the community help is great.

It's X4

I have been playing the X games for years I don't have anywhere near the hours i had in 3 but I do enjoy this game. it's complex in ways that make me crazy sometimes but it constantly updates and evolves. I only wish it seemed more populated on stations, the ships though.. EVEYWHERE!!! so much fun