X4: Foundations

X4: Foundations is a great empire-building game where you start with a small ship and can end up as the fleet commander of dozens of destroyers and carriers, claiming sectors as your own. Alternatively, you can be the owner of numerous factories and shipyards, forming the backbone of the galactic economy. Or you can be a simple nomad with a squad of ships traveling through the galaxy helping people, or maybe even become a pirate to board and commandeer vessels. It is very much a sandbox experience, so it's entirely up to you to decide what to focus on. The graphics and ship designs look great, and the music is quite nice too. I especially like the soundtrack from Kingdom's End (though why is it not Queendom's End?). The game has incredible depth and complexity, mainly because of the economic simulation and production chains, from mining raw materials to crafting intermediate products, ultimately ending with assembling ships and building stations. Combat is fluid and enjoyable, although the AI is still a bit unreliable. Despite the latest updates promising significant improvements, and there definitely is a noticeable difference, my AI pilots still don't exactly inspire trust. The main questlines have reasonable writing, and the factions aren't homogenous, they have their own goals, motives, and enemies. Combined with the threat of the rebellious machines, the Xenon, this makes the galaxy dynamic rather than static, creating opportunities for the player to shape it. My only qualms are the aforementioned AI and the UI, which is still not very intuitive. However, I do admit it's hard to balance complexity with a simple interface. Overall, it is a great game. I highly recommend grabbing the three DLCs that make the game feel more feature-complete: Split Vendetta for the Split race, Cradle of Humanity for the Terrans, and Kingdom's End for the Boron. That said, the base game itself provides plenty of fun, so don't feel pressured to buy everything at once.