X4: Foundations

 PC
  • Publisher: Egosoft
  • Release Date: Nov 30, 2018
Metascore
59

Mixed or average reviews - based on 7 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 7
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 7
  3. Negative: 1 out of 7
  1. Game Revolution
    Dec 18, 2018
    80
    If you dream of a single-player Star Citizen, or loved games like Freelancer, then this space sandbox will be a breath of fresh air in a much too sparsely populated genre. However, even though X4 is more accessible than X1–X3, it’s not a casual game. You have to work to figure out the mechanics behind Foundations, and if you put in the time, you’ll be rewarded with an experience that can last 100 hours or more.
  2. Destructoid
    Dec 28, 2018
    75
    Foundations is more of the same niche-scratching space exploration from previous iterations with a more immersive feel and I can't wait to dive back into my personal galaxy. For those that have been watching the X series from the outside, Foundations is a great entry point, provided you meet the beefy system requirements.
  3. GameGrin
    Feb 19, 2019
    70
    An ambitious, complex sandbox space game that allows you to do almost anything from spacewalking to commanding a carrier with a fleet of ships onboard. A steep learning curve and an inconsistent interface mar an excellent return for Egosoft’s flagship series.
  5. PC Games
    Jan 14, 2019
    60
    Miles better than the technical disaster X Rebirth, X4 is still far away from its clearly recognizable ideal state.
  6. Wccftech
    Dec 25, 2018
    55
    X4: Foundations is a far superior game to the last outing and is already on the right path to success, thanks to Egosofts diligent work in fixing issue s and enhancing the game. However, in its current state, it's still lacking core elements that help to make the game what it could be. Thanks to a broken in-game economy and an almost non-existent story, it can force you down paths and become boring, quickly. However, improvements to the war system has nullified this to an extent. It's a game on the rise and one to keep an eye on, likely worth buying in the near future.
  7. PLAY! Zine
    Mar 5, 2019
    50
    Just as its name says, this game is a great foundation for a really massive and great open world sandbox space adventure, where it's your choice to write your own destiny and play any way you want. But the massive and game breaking bugs simply stop players from delving more into it.
  8. 4P.de
    Dec 4, 2018
    33
    Make no mistake: This is still better than Rebirth. Having said that, Foundation not only is flawed in so many areas, but also is light years away from the series former glory and definitely not a game to shorten the waiting time for Star Citizen...
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In Progress & Unscored

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  1. Rock, Paper, Shotgun
    Dec 10, 2018
    There’s beauty to be found here, among the stars. But it’s going to take a more dedicated role-player than myself – or at least someone far more interested in systems for their own sake – to buy into this flimsy simulation for very long.

Awards & Rankings

45
#45 Most Discussed PC Game of 2018

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.3

Mixed or average reviews- based on 155 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 79 out of 155
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 155
  3. Negative: 52 out of 155
  1. Hersir
    Nov 30, 2018
    3
    TL;DR: Don't bother and forget this game for a couple of years, because only after such a long time this crappy MESS of a game may probablyTL;DR: Don't bother and forget this game for a couple of years, because only after such a long time this crappy MESS of a game may probably become worthwile (same as with X Rebirth).

    For those that want details why it's bad:

    1) Optimization and performance are unacceptable. I run the game on overclocked Ryzen 1700X, overclocked GTX 1080 Ti, fast DDR4 RAM and from an M.2 SSD. FPS drops around busy hubs are MASSIVE - sometimes it drops to 20 FPS while the CPU and GPU aren't even loaded beyond 50% mark. Vsync is broken no matter what options I choose in the game or Nvidia control panel - I often become capped at 60 FPS while my display refresh rate is actually 100 Hz.

    2) The game may crash if you're simply changing gfx settings or saving your progress! In a brief two hours of testing the game I've already encountered some bugs: when jumping through superhighway I got carried thousands of kilometers away from the exit point into empty space. Or I've seen AI ships, especially medium-sized like freighters, ramming stations without any damage and then slowly clipping through them. Or you can't load your savegames from menu after the game has crashed, you actually have to start a new game first and then your savegames show up. I'm pretty sure the game has much more bugs.

    3) The anti-aliasing options in the game are inadequate. SSAA in 2019, seriously? The devs were high on pot? Nowadays something like TXAA + post-process AA options are an industry standard. The FXAA has terrible quality and SSAA/MSAA have unacceptable performance impact which worsenses the already bad performance of the game. As a result X4 looks like an ugly pixelated jagged edges mess on my 27'' 1440p display.

    4) This game mechanics-wise is much closer to the stillborn X Rebirth rather than kosher/halal X3 series. Why spend so much time for developing all those station hangars, landing pads and decks which you can traverse on foot and interact with computer panels or randomized NPCs? It's still generic as hell, it's a waste of playtime, disk space, RAM and computing power that contributes to performance drops around those hangars. The X3 was amazing without this stupid attempt to be a Star Citizen jack of all trades game. A freaking station menu with animated backgrounds for hangar, bar, station administration and etc. like in Freelancer or Galaxy On Fire 2 would have been a much better solution from the standpoint of development time, performance and gameplay! We want a space game, not a "Space Hangar Simulator 2018" yet another crazy German sim. The highways and superhighways have returned and I also think they're a pretty questionable mechanic. The "mass traffic" around certain big stations is also back and says hello to lags and useless screen clutter. Speaking about screen clutter, the interface is on the same level of confusion as X Rebirth.

    5) So far there is no campaign. Like at all. So it seems because we get no cutscenes establishing any plotline set-ups and missions. Pretty much like it was in X-Tension (the first X game I ever played). That makes matters even worse because campaign is needed for two things: to ground and immerse us into the universe through characters and their interactions (X2 - The Threat, X3 - Reunion and X Rebirth tried to do that with varying success); and to gradually guide players through core mechanics of the game by giving them corresponding tasks and teaching how to do them, preferably in the immersive fashion without breaking the fourth wall. Now let's remember that sometimes games tell us thrilling stories that touch our hearts and/or minds (I'm pretty sure that Helge T. Kautz who writes the X books and seems to have created most of the X lore could have written some amazing plot stuff for this game). But no, there's zero, nada, nothing of that here, just a pure messy sandbox you're being thrown into. Which logically brings us to the next problem.

    6) Tutorials in this game are simple text messages. This is literally the most lazy and unconvenient way to make a tutorial for such a complex game.

    So far I would give it a 3/10 but the score may improve after patching.    … Full Review »
  2. iHover
    Nov 30, 2018
    1
    Another buggy mess from ego. This game is not in a release state, beta at best. One would think that the company would have learnedAnother buggy mess from ego. This game is not in a release state, beta at best. One would think that the company would have learned something from rebirths launch but I guess not. If your looking at this game save your self some frustration and come back in a year when they have it in a playable state.… Full Review »
  3. GroXWaR
    Dec 2, 2018
    4
    Let the beta test begin. I bought a collector's edition in steam. I'm disappointed. This is better than Xrebirth, but it's a **** beta test,Let the beta test begin. I bought a collector's edition in steam. I'm disappointed. This is better than Xrebirth, but it's a **** beta test, though called a release.… Full Review »
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