[UPDATE 2023/08/03: As I promised four years ago, if and when the game comes to a state that warrants a change in my review, I will update it. And indeed it has! X4 has come a long way and it deserves a new rating and a new review!]

As we all know, X4: Foundations was released back in 2019 in a downright deplorable state. As an X Universe fan, I just couldn't let it slide and whipped the game something fierce in my review at the time, quite deservedly. X4 was basically an unplayable mess, most of the usual races/factions were missing, entire game mechanics missing or FUBAR, game balance utterly out of whack, terrible gameplay, abysmal performance, and and the whole thing drowning in an ocean of game-breaking bugs and crashes.

Now, 4 years later, I can finally say X4: Foundations is now in a very good place. Egosoft is notorious for releasing games in an utterly appalling state. However, they are also notorious for never abandoning their projects, sticking to their guns and with the help of the community fixing their games through the years to become some of the best space simulators in gaming history! And that's exactly what they did!

Four expansions in, now we finally have:
- all the major races/factions.
- a great selection of ships, weapons and upgrades.
- a huge map with many explorable sectors.
- working gameplay mechanics AND several additions since
- major, game-breaking bugs and crashes are (mostly) gone, although with new expansions come new bugs, so this is an ongoing process, but what EGO did so far is admirable.

I could go on for pages, but sufficed to say, x4: Foundations is a really enjoyable and one of the best space sims out there currently, well worth the price (and expansions).

Thank you EGOSOFT for sticking to your games and to continue to breathe life into a very niche genre for decades now. Keep up the good work!