X4: Foundations ▶ Trailer
X4: Foundations screenshot 1X4: Foundations screenshot 2
ActionSimulationStrategySpaceOpen WorldSpace SimExplorationSandbox

1,592 playing

Peak in the last 24 hours: 3,240

Peak in the last 7 days: 3,730

X4: Foundations Steam store

Game description

Your journey to building a vast space empire begins behind the controls of a single ship. Explore, trade, fight, and build as you rise to command fleets, stations, and entire economies in a living, fully simulated universe that reacts to every decision.

Basic info

DeveloperEgosoft
PublisherEgosoft
PlatformsWindows · Linux
Steam DeckVerified
Release dateNov 30, 2018
Price
  • Steam store −80% $49.99 $9.99 · Steam ↗
  • Lowest-price store $9.99 · Steam
  • Historical low $4.00 · 3-month low $8.00Other stores ↗

Prices by IsThereAnyDeal

Minimum specs

OSWindows 10 (64-bit) or higher
ProcessorIntel i5-4590 3.3GHz or AMD equivalent
Memory8 GB
GraphicsNVIDIA GTX 1060 or AMD RX 5300 or equivalent (Vulkan 1.4 support required)
Storage35 GB
steamyze

Review Analysis Score

Based on 447 reviews from the past 1 year

72.9/ 100
Bottom 30%

Steam rating: Very Positive (80%)

Review analysis summary (Reviewed Oct 25, 2026)

A sprawling space sandbox with a steep learning wall, X4: Foundations scores 72.9 across 447 analyzed reviews.

👍 Strengths

96 reviews say they enjoy it, and some call it the best way to play a grand simulation sandbox. One player even had to stop because it was too much fun. 80 praise the freedom of an open sandbox where you can mine, trade, build fleets and grow an empire from a single pilot. 29 admire the world itself, with its scale, atmosphere and living economy, and a few note that the economy reacts to monopolies and sanctions. Content Volume ranks 121st of 1351, and Story & World ranks 805th of 1096.

👎 Where it falls short

159 reviews describe a steep learning curve with weak guidance and confusing objectives, and some say they spent hours on outside tutorials. 43 find the controls and menus clunky, with a confusing interface buried in layers of submenus. 25 report performance drops in large battles or big saves, where a few hit the limits of even strong CPUs. Gameplay ranks 1032nd of 1396, and Tech & Support appears in 33% of analyzed reviews and ranks 840th of 1399.

Representative reviews Original reviews ↗

“800 hours played means it must be good” · 96 reviews
“80+ hours with constantly evolving gameplay that transforms across multiple genres” · 29 reviews
“core idea of X4 is brilliant, scale and economy fascinating” · 29 reviews

How it holds up

−50+5

Controls, difficulty, progression and depth
Mentioned in 85% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

Onboarding -2.57 · How easy it is to learn — tutorials and the first hours
Negative “poor onboarding, confusing objectives, bad mission discovery” · 159 reviews
Positive “comprehensive tutorial covering keybinds, docking, and progression paths” · 20 reviews

Progression 18% · Difficulty 6% · Freedom 41% · Strategy 34% · Controls & feel 30%

Plot, characters and the world
Mentioned in 31% of reviews · Bottom 30% of the games we've analyzed

World +2.98 · Lore, atmosphere, and how immersive the setting is
Positive “core idea of X4 is brilliant, scale and economy fascinating” · 29 reviews

Story 12% · Characters 4%

How much there is to do, variety and replay value
Mentioned in 33% of reviews · Top 10% of the games we've analyzed

Volume +3.87 · How much there is to play, including endgame, for the price
Positive “80+ hours with constantly evolving gameplay that transforms across multiple genres” · 29 reviews

Variety 15% · Replayability 5%

Graphics, art style, music and sound
Mentioned in 21% of reviews · Bottom 20% of the games we've analyzed

Visuals +2.05 · Graphics, art style, and animation
Positive “ships look amazing, scale incredible, capital ships look amazing” · 18 reviews
Negative “visuals look dated and lack polish; subpar voice acting undermines world believability” · 2 reviews

Audio 10%

Playing with others, the community and servers

Not enough data — only 6% of reviews mention this.

Community +1.27 · Who you play with — how many, and how friendly

Playing together 4% · Servers & Connection 0%

Pricing, cheaters, balance and matchmaking
Mentioned in 14% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Balance -0.25 · Whether classes, weapons, and builds are evenly matched
Negative “version 9.0 nerfs weapons indiscriminately breaking balance and ship viability” · 13 reviews

Anti-cheat 0% · Pricing 6% · Matchmaking 0%

Bugs, performance and developer support
Mentioned in 33% of reviews · Bottom 50% of the games we've analyzed

Developer support +0.17 · Updates, patches, and how devs respond to players
Positive “devs continuously improve with new content and updates” · 13 reviews
Negative “recent update 9.0 ruins game balance and mining mechanics” · 8 reviews

Stability 10% · Performance 12%

Grey means too few reviews mention it to trust. — means almost no reviews mention it.

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