What's A 4X Game, And Why Do They Rule?

War, agriculture, and government! Sounds like fun to me!

4X is a kind of strategy game wherein the player has extensive control over their empire: War, research, agriculture, and government, oh my! Back in the early 1990’s these kinds of games were really starting to catch on. You’ve probably heard of the long running franchise, Civilization, which has sold well over 33 million copies to date. This unique brand of strategy game has a “one more turn” vibe to it, leading many players to be glued to their screens well into the early hours of the morning.

In 1993 Computer Gaming World magazine received a copy of Master of Orion to preview, and the task was given to their on-staff strategy game guru, Alan Emrich. Alan would describe the flow of games like Civilization and Master of Orion as such: Players eXplore the map, eXploit the resources, eXpand their empire, and eXterminate their enemies. If my pointed capitalization and bolding of the letters didn’t give it away, this gameplay loop is where the term 4X comes from. In his preview Alan gave Master of Orion a rating of “XXXX,” and soon after publishers began using 4X to label their games of this nature.

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[jjolarte]

Wow this only got 13k views wish this blows up the editing is really good

[souvillaine]

Thanks a lot for this video. I've seen the Dune: Spice Wars trailer and didn't know why people made such a big deal of the 4X at the end.
Having never played one of those games before, I really appreciate there is someone who made this awesome vid to explain xD

[mi-c]

One of the best videos Kotaku has ever produced.

[nvrndingsmmr]

Excellent work Kotaku, this video is superb! The fact that it has so few views, likes, and comments is definitive proof that the quality of one's work on this platform is often completely disconnected from how successful it is. Can't wait to see more like this from you guys!

[SMmania]

Kotaku making a well-informed, proactive video... Now I know for sure I'm in an alternate dimension!

[rogersnick]

While I'm not a fan of Kotaku, I love this pure journalism that narrates the passion and origin of a genre that makes us the authors of our nations' destinies. Good on you guys.

[dagwort]

Anyone remember *_Galactic Empires_* or *_Galactic Conquest_* from the mid-1980's?
On Commodore-128, IBM or Apple Mac, back in my college-dorm days. (We nicknamed them "Space Risk".) All-night games, up to 6 players passing keyboard around taking turns entering orders for the "year". Hidden fleet movement on a simple star map! (Planets were just letters or numbers.) Better than chess.
Then came *_Esterian Conquest_* on the BBS's in the late 80's and 90's. Loved EstCon, pure fleet operations and strategy, none of the dross of tourism or trade nor the detailed equipping of ships.

[RIVA]

INCREDIBLE VIDEO! Thank You!!💯As a noob to the genre(never played a 4x), this vid did something to me.. like something I've been seeking had been answered. I feel like I need to play a 4x so I can learn some new IRL strats🤫🤣🤣

[CihanSan]

I really love stellaris and endless legend. 4X games ❤️!

[crusaderkaiser]

I really wanna make a 4x game sooo bad, but I cant code for shit! I've been forced to make 'strategy games, ' as board games, which sounds neat, but when put into action, they fail miserably!

[navymustang]

holy shit, thought this was from a 1million sub youtuber, great video quality, you earn a like

[danielp]

oh kotaku did content like this? better than today!

[MSordernature]

Nobody talking about using Warhammer footage for 4x?

[craftsmenMC]

That board game “imperialism” at 2:40 caught my eye. Anyone know where I can find info on it?

[abwuds]

Watched the video 10 times. It’s really well done thank you guys. Btw, what’s the background music please? (At 2:10)

[spamuel]

I've playes a few 4x games, mostly Civ 5 back in middle school and more recently, Endless Legend. I suck at them, I usually end up spamming through turns waiting for important stuff to build because I don't have enough resources to buy them out, settling new cities just pisses off the AI and I get war declared on me and overrun while I only have the stock garrison units, or I get sieged by hostile locals before I can even negotiate with them.

[bpdhoplite]

An actual super high quality video made by Kotaku?

Is this an out of season april fools joke??!?!?

[thegamesninja]

So, which X does winning a game by a cultural victory represent? Yes, I exterminate my enemy with rock and roll!

[tuisilva]

so is there a cool fun game either on android or PC that is a single player ?? and its not P2W ??

[microdavid]

clash of clans was one 4x game I got really into. Also, I think rpgs are 4x-ish in a way.
I might incorporate it a little

great work