X4 Foundations Review - An Indie Space Empire Builder

X4 Foundations is like Eve Online, but singleplayer and MUCH easier to get into. It's empire building like in Mount & Blade Bannerlord. It's automation, supply chains and logistics like in Factorio, minus the conveyor belts. It's your way to helpless addiction like in Stellaris or Civilization.

But X4: Foundations is so much more. It is a one-of-a-kind game with basically no competition. It's incredibly unique. Join me in this X4: Foundations Review and I'll do my best to highlight why X4: Foundations is the BEST space sim that you've probably never heard of.

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Timestamps:
00:00 - Introduction
04:29 - Sandbox Basics
09:10 - Cockpit feeling
15:49 - Gamefeel
22:04 - Visual Design
26:38 - Modding
29:51 - Criticism
35:38 - Conclusion

Some relevant links:

[Carbon_Cola]

X4 can look terrifyingly complex to new players. But don't worry, I've got you covered! Join my community discord and I'll answer any questions you might have and help you find your way into the game!

[egosoft]

Thank you for this video, it's much appreciated! 🤩 /greg

[pliniocarvalho]

I have 1, 184 hours of gameplay.
In my game I started with the earth, I created a company called Cerberus, this company operates in the area of mining, transport and war, I really love using the company to help raise empires that were destroyed.
The splits in my game had been destroyed by the zenons, I sent my fleets to split space, expelled the zenos, and with the help of the mining and transportation sectors of my company I helped the splits to rise from the ashes, I was very happy when I I saw a raptor carrier flying through space again.
This game is incredible.

[BrokenSoulx]

you had me at "eve without other players", you don't have to upsell it, I'm already sold! :D lol

[therenas]

I think one thing that's quite unique to X4 is, how the game really sells you your personal accomplishments by giving you the feeling of insignificance right at the start. You are not the chosen one, the main character. You are but a humble pilot setting out into a large world. It's not only the possibilities that feel intimidating, it's the scale of the world around you which adds to that feeling. In most space games fighters feel like small cars that you hop in. But in X4 you realize: even the smallest ships are the size of an actual bus and that lasers that make this sweet "pew pew pew" sound are big enough to blow your head clean off.
And you get this feeling along the journey all the time. In still remember the first time I went up to my first Corvette class ship on the shipyard. I was used to an M class ship from my trader which I felt was pretty impressive, but standing in front of the guns, that I could easily stand upright in, was something else.
And with the game showing you how small and insignificant you are throughout each stage, each personal goal feels so rewarding. First it's better equipment, a better ship just to survive, but soon you find that the further you progress, the more your actions mean. You played a role in that fight and killed 3 ships, you brought the materials to enable this faction to complete their destroyer, you built this station, that is now buzzing like a bee hive, you singlehandedly stopped the invasion on that sector with your fleet.
And not because the game made the choice for you by laying out a path or making you so special with special background, special abilities and special friends. No, you did all this because you chose to and you walked that path by the results of your actions. This dynamic reaction of the world also makes each play through unique. One time you have X4 n' chill and I. The next game due to some circumstances that you may not have for seen, all hell breaks lose and you lose an entire faction.
It's just such a rewarding feeling and I can see the same in your comparison to Mount & Blade Bannerlord which gives you the same feeling of freedom and insignificance evolving to the feeling of power.

[alexutopia]

One of the biggest realizations for me with this game is that I don't have to become an industrialist and build an empire. Since than I'm only doing 'restricted' playthroughs and I'm having the best time. For example I once had a mercenary character only allowed to work for pay, ended up with 2 fighter squadrons, one frigate and one old large freighter as a mobile base, kind of a rag tag fleet. Almost felt like playing Battletech, managing your mercenary company.

Another character was only allowed to produce pharma and drugs, acting as a criminal syndicate, pirating, smuggling and because it's generally not a good business model I started to manipulate the market, raid competition, hack their productions, buy empty the market, sit on it, drive prices up, in other words behaving like a real syndicate. These playthroughs were some of my best gaming experiences of my life, period. I recommend anyone to try that. This is the perfect sandbox for it, but without restrictions you end up doing the same thing over and over again.

Do not buy that first miner! Because otherwise you are playing a... well a miner. A working man. That can be fun of course, but the only way to do something else in the game is not buy your first miner and figure out other ways of making money.

[JB-uelf]

The amount of people I’ve come across that absolutely LOVE the space genre, but have never heard of the X series or X4 is shocking! I mention it and people go “What’s X4?” Meanwhile their entire steam library is filled with space titles. Maybe they need a good marketing team, because this game is so slept on and it has almost everything people have asked for in a space game. I was searching for years for a game like this and only found X4 by complete chance. Even after looking at space games on steam. It was barely ever recommended

[Kerber]

I remember the first time I played X4, I absolutely did not like it. After a few hours I uninstalled and moved on. It was complicated, it was buggy, and I wasn't the biggest fan of the controls. Then some time later I was sitting at my desk bored, and I saw X4 in my library... it had all the ingredients for a game I wanted to play... so I decided to give it another go, and really give it a solid chance. I have 2, 448 hours in the game, and It has won a spot in my heart. The game has come a long way since release, and anyone who wants a space empire should try it.

[Jovian]

X might be my favourite game series of all time. The highest praise I can give it is that Egosoft is ambitious in all the right ways. They want to give you the fantasy of being a starfaring pilot in a vibrant universe, but haven't fallen into the traps of scope that might result in half-baked systems. There's no landing on planets, no infinite procedurally-generated stars, no multiplayer, because their focus has always been on making sure the experience in space is great. The hundred or so sectors they have are chock-full of activity, interest and intrigue, and there's an incredible gradient of homely core worlds and hostile unknown frontiers. I dare say that Elite and Star Citizen, whose ambition has often led them into dead ends, have never approached the depth and complexity on offer in X4.

[komma]

The good thing is, you can get the base game, play it, and if you enjoy it you buy the DLC activate them and you can keep playing the same save game because each new DLC just opens up more gates and you don't have to start all over. And honestly for a new player the size of the base game universe is already fairly big. You can totally get a good vibe with that already.
Also i think, many people just get the game for the Star Wars mod witch is incredible. Just check out some videos here about it. I would say X4 is maybe the best Star Wars game, even thou it isn't even a Star Wars game in the first place.

[mekal]

its sooo good to see the X series becoming more popular egosoft truly deserves it imo they have created hands down the BEST single player space sim franchise

[boreasreal]

Bold of you to assume that I don't have a 4 digit amount of hours in X4 and a 5 digit in the entire series

[The_Mup]

I've been playing X Games since when i was a kid playing X2. I remember being a teenager leaving my PC on all night while my factories and traders made credits in the background. I would have alerts that would wake me up so that i could respond to attacks on my ships and stations 😂

[dichebach]

A buddy of mine has over 10, 000 hours playing X4: Foundations. He's been playing their games on and off since the very first game. Personally, I've played most all of them some but never found any of them to be fully compelling. X4: Foundations reaches that threshold to me. They have made the best game they ever made.

[FoxuEis]

This video is scratching a *very* old itch I had ever since I played "Freelancer" many years back - and from the looks of it, it feels like this is it, only much more matured and modernized visualization of what could've been years ago, thank you algorithm for pointing me towards this video of yours, and thank you for showcasing it so damn well :)

[linolafettatnet]

Enjoyable video, thank you for the good, bad and the ugly ;)
Greetings from the Egosoft HQ ;)

[Jonkastrull]

Really nice summary of what X4 is! A lot of what I experienced as frustrating with the game, you hit the nail on it's head.
And also why i've sunk my hours into it! :D

[madjik]

The thing that helped to make things "Click" for me is when I realized that the game is a Full on Space sim, that evolves through game play into a Tactical Strategy Game (4X) that CAN, if you chose, swap back to Space Sim, wrapped up in a sandbox. The flexibility to swap between both game-play styles is honestly one of the biggest selling points, but you should utilize both in order to get the most out of it.

[Saio]

First let me start by saying yes you have convinced me to buy the game and give it some time to sink in. Second, this video is done so well. I normally can't sit through long reviews but the content you provided was engaging and entertaining from start to finish. Thank you!

[tanksaawk]

After 300 hours and downloading 150 mods, I have to say: this is the best space game I have every played. I already felt that way playing vanilla, but with mods? Oh boy, the quantity and quality of ships you can add is just beautiful.