Ok so you start as a new person (which is already annoying cos you could usually be whoever you want in custom mode) in a separate game, so you're not in the sandbox, and are mysteriously joined in some agency doing missions in different past situations in time, though it tries to gaslight it isn't time missions. There is some story that something slightly weird is going on in this agency cos you have no real idea how you're there or really why. And that could've been interesting...
You are tasked to do these `time` missions of separate events in the past and let's be blunt, this is some of the worst gameplay ever for new or old players. Some missions are definitely not for new guys and some not for new or old guys. There may be racing for some reason, (racing never happens in the sandbox) or space-walk speeding or taking on waves of enemies like in some arcade game.
And if you don't get 1 star in the mission you cannot progress, even if you have enough stars to move on to the next level (there are 6 levels of about 5 missions each) you cannot progress if 1 mission has not got a star, so if you're having a problem with one particularly tedious mission, and there are seriously a few, you are stuck.
Basically, it's repeat the same linear missions over and over and over until you get that ONE star. I spent nearly an hour on one water-torture mission and still got no Star, so can't move further. That was on level 5 and that was enough for me and my sanity.
Why go through any of that, you ask? Cos it frees up stuff for the Sandbox which is the TRUE and excellent game.
Some may love this kind of wasting time in hours of repeating a level, I do not.
Now do not mistake Timelines with their 7.00 update which was released at the same time. That update is very good. In fact the 7.00 update is worth paying for not Timelines.
Timelines is not X4 or X4 gameplay, and the worst of all the DLCs by far.
Thumbs down for this experiment.