X4: Foundations on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
Quick menu
Your journey to building a vast space empire begins behind the controls of a single ship. Explore the stars, trade goods, fight battles, build stations, buy and equip ships, and command fleets in a living, fully simulated universe that reacts to your decisions.
X4: Foundations is a space sim, simulation and sandbox game
developed and published by Egosoft.
Released on November 30th 2018 is available on Windows and Linux
in 14 languages: English, German, French, Italian, Simplified Chinese, Portuguese - Brazil, Spanish - Spain, Traditional Chinese, Russian, Korean, Japanese, Spanish - Latin America, Polish and Czech.
It has received 23,847 reviews of which 18,951 were positive and 4,896 were negative resulting in a rating of 7.8 out of 10. 😊
The game is currently priced at 49.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for less on Gamivo.
The Steam community has classified X4: Foundations into these genres:
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- 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)
Linux
- OS: SteamOS (64-bit) or Ubuntu 18.04 (64-bit)
- 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
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
Tried X3 years ago. Hated the tedium. Walked away. Since then, I’ve tried just about every other space game. EVE is 99 percent boring, 1 percent panic. Too social, too expensive. Elite looks great but has no purpose. Star Citizen is still just a tech demo. Space Engineers is a brilliant builder that never becomes the strategy game it promises. A few years back, I bought X4. IMMEDIATELY refunded it. The UI, AI, and controls were a mess. Tried again recently. Glad I did. It’s finally a real stable game. And it’s good. You can play however you want. Builder, pirate, admiral, trader. You make a real impact on the universe. This is EVE without the RL politics, and a Star Citizen that actually works as a game. The UI and controls are still awkward. Weirdly, using a throttle and stick here makes things worse. The devs need to study how other games do things. But Egosoft pulled it off. Respect.
Expand the review
This game is a genre you definitely have to *love* in order to appreciate. its a very slow burn, with barely any handholding in terms of tutorials, and it has layers upon layers of complexity and gameplay mechanics. But! no other game accomplishes what X4 does. This game offers so much, its hard to stuff it all into a single review. From small time trading, lone mining ops or the occasional mercenary job to building large factory stations, managing production lines, running mining fleets and conquering enemy sectors, this game allows you to do it all. Along with the base gameplay mechanics comes unparalleled customisability, every ship you can customise its loadout, and custom modifications. each station you own is built how *you* design it. And visually, the game still holds up, with recent upgrades to many of the old ship designs, bringing them up to par with their newer DLC counterparts. This comes paired with a fantastic soundtrack, with some sectors where you want to simply stay a while just to listen to their themes. And if all that isn't enough it offers mod support from the get go, allowing to even further customize, fine-tune or even expand your gameplay. Of course, this game is not without its flaws, especially in later stages of the game performance starts to suffer because of the immense quantity of things being simulated, and sometimes the ship AI acts like dunces, but overall this game is solid. Would i recommend this to just anyone ? probably not, but if you are patient, like space games, and *really* love space sims you should definitely check it out.
Expand the review
Start out in a teensy ship, struggling against other teensy ships that want to steal your lunch. Keep winning, buy bigger ships, buy friendly ships, buy good investments. Eventually control a multi-star system empire, helping or crushing empires at will. Then go fly that teensy starter ship through your grand economic machine, just for the hell of it. #goodfeels
Expand the review
I'm an RTS gamer and I'm hoping my review talks about this game from a different angle for people interested in the game. TLDR: This game is amazing, it is part Mount and Blade, part (but VERY LIGHT) Starfield and basebuilding. It is jam packed with features and systems that might turn away a lot of casual or semi-hardcore gamers, but if you give it the time it needs, it is freaking amazing. The Fun stuff: - You start small, but then you CAN decide what you want from it. Get a bigger ship, command a fleet, create a base or multiple bases, create a Galactic Empire with fleets, stations etc. - It has dynamic missions so factions will always look to enlist your help which can improve your relations with them granting you access to their technology (ships, weapons, etc.) - The scale is insane. You can walk on foot in your ship and stations. Once you start to buy or earn bigger ships, you start to see how small you fighters are in comparison to destroyers and capital class ships. - You can have a fleet and almost all, if not, all ships can be controlled by you personally OR buy the crews you hire when you are in stations. - The economic systems in game is crazy...a good SMALL example is building ships. ALL ships require resources (Silicon, ore, etc.) which trade vessels (From different factions or yours) will deliver them to a station to be turned into chips, electronic parts, etc. WHICH IN THEN is delivered again to the WHARF (small ships) or SHIPYARD (Big ships) to finally build your ship. IF ANY OF THESE SYSTEMS ARE INTERRUPTED, it affects your ship building (or your allies and enemies), your other supplies like weapons manufacturing, food, medical supplies etc. - You can steal ships and be a pirate. The NOT SO FUN stuff: - It may feel janky. NO, not the bad janky, but the noticable janky. Because there's so much systems, something is bound to jank up. - Takes TIME. The game isn't hard to learn, but it's not for people who are impatient. There's so much menus, you need time to know where stuff is and what stuff does, other than that, you basically learn the game like any other game. - The larger your fleet or empire the more time you'll be spending in the "spead sheet" because at that point, you're just commanding ships. Early game you're basically piloting the ship itself, later when you own a bigger ship or fleet or stations, you're practically the boss. You'll be driven around (you can always fly yourself, but your crew will drive you anywhere you want) and all actions you used to do in early game can be done for you but the crews you begin to amass so you're just in the menu commanding everything, unless you just automate everything and drive yourself if you trust the AI that way. and that's it, hope this review helps you.
Expand the review
If you are lucky enough to be the kind of person this game is made for, you're going to have a lot of "I can't believe a game like this exists and I'm so happy it does" moments.
Expand the review
Similar games
View all
X3: Terran Conflict
It is the year 2938. The long wished-for encounter of the X Universe and the Earth holds both joy and sorrow for the people. Despite flourishing trade, the clash of the diverse races, cultures and life forms creates new tensions, mistrust and open conflict that need to be overcome!
Evochron Legacy SE
Advanced Space Flight, Combat, Trading, and Exploration Simulation. Set in a vast explorable universe, Evochron Legacy offers freeform gameplay with many diverse objectives and paths to choose from.
X3: Reunion
X3: Reunion continues the epic space saga, blending deep space trading and intense real-time combat. Explore a vast universe, establish your empire, and shape the new frontier. With enhanced graphics and intricate economies, it's a journey of strategy, simulation, and interstellar intrigue.
Spaceflight Simulator
In Spaceflight Simulator, you will get to build your rockets, plan launches and flights, attempt landings, deploy payloads and explore new worlds.
X: Beyond the Frontier
The Human Race had advanced to the point where we could travel among the stars, we developed giant automated machines to help us colonise other worlds, but there was a fault in their programming and they turned and attacked. Forcing us to lay a trap to protect Earth and exiling the Human race to stay on Earth once again.
Interstellar Transport Company
Build a galactic transportation empire and supply humanity with everything it needs to colonize the stars. In this sci-fi logistics simulator, grow your company from a local transport agency into an interstellar logistics behemoth! Singleplayer, vs AI, and online multiplayer.
Astrox Imperium
Astrox Imperium is a relaxing space game where you fly around a generated universe. Mining, Fighting, Building, Exploring, and Surviving. What makes this game unique? You have complete control of how it plays. A robust sandbox and lots of MOD tools. Make it your game, and play it your own way.
Avorion
A procedural co-op space sandbox where players can build their own space ships out of dynamically scalable blocks. Fight epic space battles, explore, mine, trade, wage wars and build your own empire to save your galaxy from being torn apart by an unknown enemy.
Kerbal Space Program
In Kerbal Space Program, take charge of the space program for the alien race known as the Kerbals. You have access to an array of parts to assemble fully-functional spacecraft that flies (or doesn’t) based on realistic aerodynamic and orbital physics.
Wayward Terran Frontier: Zero Falls
2d space combat like no other. From the perspective of a single crew member, explore the fully destructible interior of any ship in a massive living world. Engage in space combat with no hitpoints where you know your enemy is dead when you see them fall out of their ship into the cold dark of space.
Sim Companies
Become a Business Tycoon. Build your own company from the ground up. Do business in a virtual economy with players all around the world! Gain valuable business skills for free. An advanced, proprietary, Economy simulation model is used to deliver the best gaming experience.
Astrox: Hostile Space Excavation
Exiled to a deep space mining sector, you are left with a crappy ship, a laser, and a small mining beam. It is up to you to survive by working your way through the galaxy. Mine asteroids, refine and trade the ore, buy upgrades for your ship, hunt pirates... you get it.
Frequently Asked Questions
X4: Foundations is currently priced at 49.99€ on Steam.
X4: Foundations is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 49.99€ on Steam.
X4: Foundations received 18,951 positive votes out of a total of 23,847 achieving a rating of 7.81.
😊
X4: Foundations was developed and published by Egosoft.
X4: Foundations is playable and fully supported on Windows.
X4: Foundations is not playable on MacOS.
X4: Foundations is playable and fully supported on Linux.
X4: Foundations is a single-player game.
There are 15 DLCs available for X4: Foundations. Explore additional content available for X4: Foundations on Steam.
X4: Foundations is fully integrated with Steam Workshop. Visit Steam Workshop.
X4: Foundations does not support Steam Remote Play.
X4: Foundations is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.
You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for X4: Foundations.
Data sources
The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.
Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.
Last Updates| Steam data | 31 October 2025 08:30 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 26 October 2025 19:30 |
| Steam price | 31 October 2025 04:47 |
| Steam reviews | 31 October 2025 05:49 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about X4: Foundations, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about X4: Foundations
- SteamCharts - Analysis of X4: Foundations concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck X4: Foundations compatibility
Game modes
Features
Online players
1,956
Developer
Egosoft
Publisher
Egosoft
Release
30 Nov 2018
Platforms
Clicking and buying through these links helps us earn a commission to maintain our services.