X Rebirth

(I own this game on Steam) People say this game has improved and is now worth playing. I wouldn't be so sure. I pre-ordered this when it was announced, and it has been a constant source of regret ever since. For example, it took them years to improve the framerate to tolerable levels. Many of the bugs they never fixed, even though everyone seems to give them a pass after 4.0. Most recently I installed this right before X4 launched, hyped up by the thought of playing some X game again. In the first mission I took, the enemy I was supposed to kill got stuck inside an asteroid base, then the game crashed. After a restart and a short while of playing, a police decided to shoot me for "carrying illegal substances" - without a warning of any kind. I am lead to believe there was supposed to be a warning, but I guess the game was bugged. After that, the game crashed in loading screen. The times of gameplay between getting shot without warning and crashing were mostly a confusing experience of fighting the HORRIBLE ui. If you like the X-series, skip this one. Even if you manage to get into it for a couple of hours of "relatively fun" experience, it's not going to let you fly any other ship than the Albion Skunk. And while the ship itself is a decently fun design, it's a pale comparison to any real X game. However, if you just want some more in-depth space simulator that is supposedly slightly easier to approach than other X games, then this might be for you.

I've played all the X games for the last twenty years, but held off buying this one because of poor reviews and performance issues. Anyhow, I took a deep breath and decided to take the plunge. Playing the game at first was frustrating because of the poor documentation but, after a few abortive attempts, I did start getting the hang of it. There's a great game, but I can see how many new to the series would struggle. - Performance was exceptional on the highest settings, and I've only a mid-range PC. - The cut scenes reminded me of Command & Conquer (the original) but the gameplay itself is great. Be patient, and you'll get your rewards.

Tl;dr: Don't bother. I love space games, and I love tycoon games and I'm pretty good at both of them. So when I say that I've now spent 7 hours playing this game trying to like it and I've just uninstalled it because it was that bad should give you an idea of how poor a game this is. And this is using the "final" 4.3 version: the game is still unplayable. There's huge amounts of needless grind, the tutorial (part of the campaign) is woefully lacking - I still don't really understand how trading works, how to manage a fleet, how to launch/recall drones easily, how to upgrade my weapons, how, how to effectively navigate the universe, and so much more. The only reason I know the game has crafting is from reading internet forums. So much of the game is unexplained and needlessly complicated. Combat isn't fun, for instance you're sitting there in your woefully underpowered ship for five minutes to destroy a large static ship that's part of an "easy" side-mission. Sure it's pretty, and sure it's "immersive", but it's just not fun.

This game runs pretty good on my AMD390x under Linux, yes you heard me it runs great, thats at 4k! with latest AMD PRO beta drivers. Haven't had much chance to play this yet but given that it runs so well I doubt I'll have much to complain about. The only issue I will mention is to get the expansions you must re buy X Rebirth main game again, why are the expansions not separated GOG? I would have bought the lot with this current sale but didn't notice. No ability to buy just the two expansions in this current sale is unfortunate, sorry but I won't be buying the main game twice just to get the expansions!

The game has steep learning curve, many basic to veteran skills. Once to you learn the basics, it's a great space adventure. I didn't finish the main mission. What I did play was very challenging. I plan to come back later. Playing the free trader starts, I played it until I built three stations and huge fleet of ships. After this learning experience, I started over. Playing another free trade start, I now have a huge trading fleet, 5+ warships, and fighter squadrons. I just finished my first space station. Note, you can automate most of running a station. You have a lot of freedom to do any missions and trading offers. You can destroy or capture ships. The battles can range from epic to mundane. You have to learn different tactics for different ships. Capturing a ship requires different tactics from just destroying it. Different ships require different tactics. You have wide variety of different weapons on your own ship. If you have warships following you, you will need to use different tactics. If you going against more than one ship at time and/or fighters, it gets even more complex. YOU WILL get blown up many times over in the learning process. When you get to a personal master skill level, you will be able to take on two warships with beam weapons at once. I've taken on two Olmekron warships with two warships supporting me. I destroyed all their weapons, engines, and jump drive. Then proceeded to capture one ship then the other. Relevant maybe cheat mod: "black market seminars". The rest are menu mods. The game requires a high level of tactical skills. Using your own weapons and commanding a fleet of ships, you will learn complex tactics. It takes time to learn them, be patient. Positive: The gameplay is superior. The fighter AI makes dogfights hard, Warship AI pushes your tactical skill to the limit. The combined system very hard to beat. The stations are fun to explore and using galaxy - sector - zone is a lot of fun. The official mods add some new galaxies and more space to the game. Negative: The AI for ships has a major flaw. Ships will take very dangerous routes. Often passing too close to hostile stations or weapons platforms. The menu system is very awkward and clunky. It takes too many keys to do anything. The menu system needs a complete overhaul. The menu code can be fixed by EGOSOFT, add your name to the game wish. Modders have some fixes to the menu, but there are too many problems. Two missions are given that have the same reward. When you attack enemies, the station reward video play an average of 5 times -> 16 times per session. It really breaks the flow of combat, and yes is VERY annoying! The overall game is worth $20, despite it's various flaws. It looses 2 stars, because of poor menu structure. If the menu system is overhauled, this is a five star game. Add your name to create modding forums and sub-forums on GOG for "X Rebirth".