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X4: Foundations
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.
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “Deep open-ended empire sandbox” (62 of 103 reviews) and “Frequent substantial long-term updates” (14); the most common complaint is “Steep poorly guided learning curve” (29). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-27 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
62 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“X4 is one of those games that gives back what you put into it. There's so much about it that makes people bounce off the game just after trying it, and the tutorials that exist in game are not meaningfully helpful for…”
“I feel like, after 60 hours, I can finally give a decent review of the game. X4 Foundations is a brilliant, meditative scifi world simulator that is hard to understand at first, but deeply worth the effort. When you…”
“What an amazing game, it really feels like a living breathing universe. People often say, that X4 is a RTS or 4X game, and yes you can build a huge empire but that's not the only thing. For the first 50 hours, I just…”
14 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“A single player spaceflight game with a complex 3-dimensional dynamic world and incredibly detailed progression system. X4 isn’t for everyone, but for those who want to get as close as possible to the actual experience…”
“If you're into space sims and have the time to learn the systems then this game is an easy recommend. I've played the game about once a year since launch and while it started out pretty damn janky, it's evolved into…”
“Great game. I've been playing this since release and even if I pause for a while, I find myself returning to it again and again. Great support even many years after release and developer maintaining and refreshing the…”
9 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“One of the best space games ever produced! The depth, the complexity, ... it never gets boring. A legendary game!”
“Great game. I've been playing this since release and even if I pause for a while, I find myself returning to it again and again. Great support even many years after release and developer maintaining and refreshing the…”
“This game is legit. Maybe the most interesting and satisfying game I have ever played. Taking a small break after putting in a few hundred hours obsessively before I return post 9.0 I would agree with the Kenshi in…”
8 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“X4 is one of those games that gives back what you put into it. There's so much about it that makes people bounce off the game just after trying it, and the tutorials that exist in game are not meaningfully helpful for…”
“you will learn early that theres no upkeep for ships, the game seens hardcore but its actually casual theres no rush, its all the clunkness of the UI and poor design of interactions that keep people away. pros: its a…”
“If you're into space sims and have the time to learn the systems then this game is an easy recommend. I've played the game about once a year since launch and while it started out pretty damn janky, it's evolved into…”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“This is frankly ultimate single player space nerd entrepreneur experience. I liked X3 Terran conflict to begin with, mostly for its PLOTS and many excuses to fit yourself into living economy. How does it compare? I love…”
“If you're into space sims and have the time to learn the systems then this game is an easy recommend. I've played the game about once a year since launch and while it started out pretty damn janky, it's evolved into…”
“Just got the base game at first, then got a bunch of the DLCs a few days latter. The base game is good, the expansions adds so much more and if you can get them for 60% off they are worth it. The new faction ships look…”
29 of the 103 reviews raise this · 20 of them still recommend the game.
“Terrible onboarding experience. Tried it a few years ago and quit after a couple of hours. Tried again and uninstalling after a few hours. Supposedly there is a good game hiding in here... But considering this company…”
“This game isn't very good. The UI is trash, the tutorials are often completely unhelpful, and I ran into too many missions that I just couldn't complete because of bugs. The people who enjoy this game probably do…”
“X4 is one of those games that gives back what you put into it. There's so much about it that makes people bounce off the game just after trying it, and the tutorials that exist in game are not meaningfully helpful for…”
26 of the 103 reviews raise this · 14 of them still recommend the game.
“This game isn't very good. The UI is trash, the tutorials are often completely unhelpful, and I ran into too many missions that I just couldn't complete because of bugs. The people who enjoy this game probably do…”
“"You fell into the common misconception that X4 is a 4X. Mismatch of expectations is a recurring problem. It larps as a deep and challenging 4X / strategy / automation game by implying it has mechanics it doesn't, while…”
“Paused my game to come say this is a pretty good game but I'm giving it 3 stars because the Torus mission sucks so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ bad that I am hating the game this afternoon. Otherwise it would be 5 stars. Such an awful…”
9 of the 103 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“This game isn't very good. The UI is trash, the tutorials are often completely unhelpful, and I ran into too many missions that I just couldn't complete because of bugs. The people who enjoy this game probably do…”
“X4 is one of those games that gives back what you put into it. There's so much about it that makes people bounce off the game just after trying it, and the tutorials that exist in game are not meaningfully helpful for…”
“The UI in this game is one of the worst I've ever seen. It stutters like crazy on both linux and windows, the AI is genuinely retarded when it comes to anything. but it's pretty fun when it works. too expensive for how…”
8 of the 103 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
“X4 is one of those games that gives back what you put into it. There's so much about it that makes people bounce off the game just after trying it, and the tutorials that exist in game are not meaningfully helpful for…”
“Pointless. super boring playthrough, terrible fighting, terrible flying, ugly design. Super fun "missions" you can do here: - fly around station and find a small light - get me 10 of something, which you cant afford -…”
“the only 2 things stopping me from enjoying this game more are performance and the controls (this one is the easiest fix of the 2)”
5 of the 103 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“The UI in this game is one of the worst I've ever seen. It stutters like crazy on both linux and windows, the AI is genuinely retarded when it comes to anything. but it's pretty fun when it works. too expensive for how…”
“the only 2 things stopping me from enjoying this game more are performance and the controls (this one is the easiest fix of the 2)”
“Great game but late game RTS gameplay lacks a lot of manageability at scale. I suspect most players don't get this far nor do they probably build the jumbo fleets I do. This is not Bannerlord in space, in Bannerlord…”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 79.9% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“Your initial impression of the game might be that of a rather pretty space adventure. However at heart X4 is an incredibly complex and fully simulated first person empire building sandbox with an omnipotent RTS-like command interface in shape of the map UI. The X series tends to…”
— a player, Steam review · 1,795 hrs played“Just know that if you play it, you'll become obsessed. You won't be able to stop until it's out of your system. Should be around 2000 hours.”
— a player, Steam review · 272 hrs played“I've tried starting this game half a dozen times. I really, REALLY want to like it, but every time I start it I spend hours trying to figure out what to do next and how to do it. The tutorials are great, but they're not connected to the game play. They're just separate chapters…”
— a player, Steam review · 7 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-10-23.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-23). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Action, Simulation, Strategy |
| Player tags | Space Sim · Simulation · Sandbox · Economy · Space · Flight · Capitalism · Trading · Exploration · Base-Building · Grand Strategy · Open World (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Full controller support · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Workshop · Adjustable Text Size · Camera Comfort · Color Alternatives |
| Languages | English * , German * , French * , Italian, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese - Brazil * , Spanish - Spain, Traditional Chinese, Russian * , Korean, Japanese, Spanish - Latin America, Polish, Czech * |
| Controller | Full support |
| Achievements | 172 |
| Official site | https://www.x4foundations.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 (64-bit) or higher Processor: Intel i5-4590 3.3GHz or AMD equivalent Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: Nvidia GTX 780/970 or AMD equivalent (Vulkan support required) Storage: 35 GB available space Additional Notes: Minimum: 8 GB RAM (base game) / 16 GB RAM (with all expansions installed)