X4: Foundations
Image: Steam store (© respective owners)

How do players who really played X4: Foundations rate it? TrueGG Rating 87.6%

Release date: Nov 30, 2018 Data as of 2026-10-19 View on Steam ↗

Players who really played rate it higher than Steam overall. Early impressions are weaker, so the first few hours tend to decide whether it clicks.

Good for

  • Players willing to push through a slow start
  • Players looking for hundreds of hours
  • Players who like setting their own goals

Think twice if you are

  • Players who judge a game in the first hours (early ratings are lower)
  • Players particular about controls and UI
  • Players relying on Japanese (Japanese reviews rate it lower)

A rule-based guide from review patterns (no AI). How

TrueGG RatingMethodology ↗
87.6%
▲ +7.6 pt
vs Steam overall

Positive among players with 50+ hours (last 180 days) · 1,430 reviews

TrueGG, all time
89.0%
Steam overall
80.0%
Japanese, all time
82.4%

Early wall

Reviews written under 2 hours: 5.8% of all reviews. Their positive share is 35.1%.

This is not a drop-off rate; it describes who wrote reviews. Refund guide: within 14 days of purchase and under 2 hours of play (Steam refund policy).

01 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Does the rating change the longer people play?

Used for TrueGG Rating (50h+)JapaneseRight: reviews
Positive share by playtimeRanges from 50 hours up are highlighted. Exact values are in the table below.0%25%50%75%100%0–1 h26%581–2 h12%502–5 h36%1295–10 h51%13710–20 h67%18120–50 h80%31750–100 h86%301100–200 h88%339200+ h88%790Positive share by playtime0–1 h5826%1–2 h5012%2–5 h12936%5–10 h13751%10–20 h18167%20–50 h31780%50–100 h30186%100–200 h33988%200+ h79088%

Positive share by playtime at the time of review (reviews from the last 180 days). Ranges under 50 reviews are pale and dashed (indicative only); “—” means no reviews.

Show chart values as a table
PlaytimePositiveJapaneseReviews
0–1 h25.9%—58
1–2 h12.0%—50
2–5 h35.7%66.7%129
5–10 h51.1%—137
10–20 h67.4%0.0%181
20–50 h79.8%—317
50–100 h85.7%66.7%301
100–200 h87.9%100.0%339
200+ h88.2%85.7%790

How long people play: half of reviewers had played 50+ hours. 74% had 20+ hours and 43% had 100+ hours (all time).

02 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Summary

X4: Foundations has a TrueGG Rating of 87.6%: the positive share among 1,430 reviews written in the last 180 days by players with 50+ hours. That is 7.6 points above Steam's overall 80.0%, so players who really play the current version rate it higher than the headline number suggests (all time: 89.0%).

Reviews written under 2 hours make up 6% of the total, and only 35% of them are positive. Some players bounce off early, but those who get past the opening rate it higher. Steam accepts refund requests within 2 hours of play and 14 days of purchase.

In the last 180 days, reviews at 20–50h are 80% positive versus 88% at 200h+: the more people play, the more they like it.

Negative reviews most often mention controls and UI (less than at launch) and boredom (less than at launch). Positive reviews praise freedom, performance, and 前作・シリーズ.

Among Japanese-language reviews, the TrueGG Rating is 82.4%, 5.3 points below all languages.

Re-weighting reviews by trust signals (playtime, length, how the game was obtained) barely changes the rating (79.1% adjusted), so Steam's number is not noticeably distorted by key giveaways or throwaway reviews.

All figures come from Steam's public review counts, and topics are counted with our published dictionary (no AI). Data as of 2026-10-19.

03 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Why it is rated this way

What drives the rating

Complaints center on the game's design (Controls, UI & camera, Boring / repetitive). These rarely change with updates, so the rating likely reflects the game itself. Judge by whether it suits you. It is also a game many people bounce off early (early reviews are much less positive than those of players who stuck with it).

− Most mentioned complaints

  • Controls, UI & camera25% of negative reviews (11% of positive) · most common among 20–100h players · less than at launch · 14 positive reviews say it improved
  • Boring / repetitive12% of negative reviews (5% of positive) · most common among 20–100h players · less than at launch

+ What players praise

  • Freedom / sandbox14% of positive reviews (6% of negative)
  • Performance9% of positive reviews (5% of negative)
  • Compared with earlier entries8% of positive reviews (5% of negative)
＋ 舞台＋ immersive＋ ストーリー＋ 工場＋ 追加＋ 注意＋ 環境＋ 自由度− worst− explained− couldn't− refund− waste− terrible− cannot− scan

Counted from 404 recent negative and 559 positive reviews in Japanese and English, using our published topic dictionary. No AI is used. Topics overlap, so shares do not add up to 100%. Sarcasm and nuance are not detected, and this does not show cause and effect.How we count

04 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Checking the numbers

Figures with a different scope, shown alongside the TrueGG Rating.

MetricPositiveScope
Official Steam rating80.0%All time, all languages · 30,459 reviews
Adjusted rating79.1%Weighted by trust (95% range 78.6%–79.6%), −0.9pt vs official
Japanese-language reviews71.4%All time, Japanese-language reviews (−8.6pt vs overall) · 363 reviews
Show the positive vs negative breakdown

Share of sampled reviews that meet each condition that lowers trust. When a condition is more common on the positive side, the adjusted rating falls below the official one.

ConditionPositive reviewsNegative reviews
Under 2 hours played at review1%15%
Very short text26%6%
Key activated outside Steam19%13%
Received for free0%1%
Owns very few games7%4%
Over 100 reviews written2%5%
Average trust (1.0 = full)0.840.88

The median total playtime of the sampled reviewers is 97.8 hours. 400 positive and 400 negative reviews analyzed · data as of 2026-10-19

05 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

When did the rating change?

Monthly positive and negative review counts since release, as published by Steam.

Reviews per month

■ Positive■ Negative
0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 2018-11: +399 / −136 2018-12: +2,268 / −867 2019-01: +179 / −133 2019-02: +68 / −57 2019-03: +107 / −74 2019-04: +44 / −34 2019-05: +43 / −39 2019-06: +71 / −35 2019-07: +96 / −41 2019-08: +57 / −30 2019-09: +25 / −23 2019-10: +55 / −13 2019-11: +367 / −24 2019-12: +220 / −35 2020-01: +138 / −35 2020-02: +94 / −24 2020-03: +132 / −21 2020-04: +458 / −142 2020-05: +202 / −52 2020-06: +157 / −60 2020-07: +128 / −48 2020-08: +100 / −34 2020-09: +122 / −25 2020-10: +96 / −31 2020-11: +156 / −35 2020-12: +130 / −55 2021-01: +157 / −40 2021-02: +103 / −31 2021-03: +340 / −95 2021-04: +186 / −64 2021-05: +138 / −59 2021-06: +102 / −38 2021-07: +118 / −42 2021-08: +106 / −36 2021-09: +108 / −30 2021-10: +72 / −20 2021-11: +172 / −45 2021-12: +137 / −49 2022-01: +158 / −62 2022-02: +139 / −45 2022-03: +323 / −93 2022-04: +184 / −66 2022-05: +147 / −49 2022-06: +98 / −42 2022-07: +149 / −65 2022-08: +115 / −40 2022-09: +81 / −24 2022-10: +89 / −39 2022-11: +144 / −31 2022-12: +197 / −99 2023-01: +199 / −50 2023-02: +113 / −44 2023-03: +181 / −54 2023-04: +389 / −140 2023-05: +235 / −53 2023-06: +131 / −36 2023-07: +203 / −91 2023-08: +137 / −62 2023-09: +173 / −43 2023-10: +140 / −39 2023-11: +193 / −42 2023-12: +161 / −50 2024-01: +236 / −78 2024-02: +121 / −35 2024-03: +121 / −28 2024-04: +257 / −60 2024-05: +209 / −53 2024-06: +338 / −99 2024-07: +322 / −111 2024-08: +196 / −49 2024-09: +197 / −74 2024-10: +182 / −58 2024-11: +210 / −21 2024-12: +272 / −54 2025-01: +170 / −43 2025-02: +261 / −64 2025-03: +268 / −78 2025-04: +238 / −78 2025-05: +189 / −59 2025-06: +154 / −43 2025-07: +217 / −69 2025-08: +350 / −156 2025-09: +221 / −58 2025-10: +218 / −52 2025-11: +343 / −47 2025-12: +299 / −155 2026-01: +554 / −162 2026-02: +224 / −79 2026-03: +227 / −85 2026-04: +215 / −44 2026-05: +215 / −50 2026-06: +380 / −148 2026-07: +307 / −124 2026-08: +240 / −92 2026-09: +151 / −54 2026-10: +110 / −26 2018/112019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Positive share per month

0% 25% 50% 75% 100% Monthly data overall 75.4% 2023-12: update2024-08: update2025-05: update2026-06: update 2018-11: 74.6%2018-12: 72.3%2019-01: 57.4%2019-02: 54.4%2019-03: 59.1%2019-04: 56.4%2019-05: 52.4%2019-06: 67.0%2019-07: 70.1%2019-08: 65.5%2019-09: 52.1%2019-10: 80.9%2019-11: 93.9%2019-12: 86.3%2020-01: 79.8%2020-02: 79.7%2020-03: 86.3%2020-04: 76.3%2020-05: 79.5%2020-06: 72.4%2020-07: 72.7%2020-08: 74.6%2020-09: 83.0%2020-10: 75.6%2020-11: 81.7%2020-12: 70.3%2021-01: 79.7%2021-02: 76.9%2021-03: 78.2%2021-04: 74.4%2021-05: 70.1%2021-06: 72.9%2021-07: 73.8%2021-08: 74.6%2021-09: 78.3%2021-10: 78.3%2021-11: 79.3%2021-12: 73.7%2022-01: 71.8%2022-02: 75.5%2022-03: 77.6%2022-04: 73.6%2022-05: 75.0%2022-06: 70.0%2022-07: 69.6%2022-08: 74.2%2022-09: 77.1%2022-10: 69.5%2022-11: 82.3%2022-12: 66.6%2023-01: 79.9%2023-02: 72.0%2023-03: 77.0%2023-04: 73.5%2023-05: 81.6%2023-06: 78.4%2023-07: 69.0%2023-08: 68.8%2023-09: 80.1%2023-10: 78.2%2023-11: 82.1%2023-12: 76.3%2024-01: 75.2%2024-02: 77.6%2024-03: 81.2%2024-04: 81.1%2024-05: 79.8%2024-06: 77.3%2024-07: 74.4%2024-08: 80.0%2024-09: 72.7%2024-10: 75.8%2024-11: 90.9%2024-12: 83.4%2025-01: 79.8%2025-02: 80.3%2025-03: 77.5%2025-04: 75.3%2025-05: 76.2%2025-06: 78.2%2025-07: 75.9%2025-08: 69.2%2025-09: 79.2%2025-10: 80.7%2025-11: 87.9%2025-12: 65.9%2026-01: 77.4%2026-02: 73.9%2026-03: 72.8%2026-04: 83.0%2026-05: 81.1%2026-06: 72.0%2026-07: 71.2%2026-08: 72.3%2026-09: 73.7%2026-10: 80.9% 2018/112019/012020/012021/012022/012023/012024/012025/012026/01

Months with under 30 reviews are omitted from the rate.

Updates and ratings before and after

DateAnnouncement2 months before → after
2026-06-10 X4: Foundations 9.00 "Empire Update" is Out Now! 82% → 72% (−10.4pt)
2025-05-27 X4 Update 7.60 Now Available 76% → 77% (+0.4pt)
2024-08-08 Update 7.10 now available 76% → 74% (−1.7pt)
2023-12-20 Egosoft unveils X4: Timelines expansion and major 7.00 update to X4: Foundations 80% → 76% (−4.5pt)

Picked automatically from the titles of Steam announcements by the developer (one per month, last 3 years, up to 10). The dotted lines mark those months. Before and after are the positive rates of the two months before and after (excluding the month itself); shown as "—" under 50 reviews or when the two months after are not complete. An update is not necessarily the cause of a change.

Reviews per day, last 30 days

0 5 10 15 2026-09-19: +7 / −3 2026-09-20: +2 / −2 2026-09-21: +4 / −1 2026-09-22: +2 / −1 2026-09-23: +5 / −0 2026-09-24: +5 / −2 2026-09-25: +7 / −3 2026-09-26: +8 / −4 2026-09-27: +6 / −1 2026-09-28: +7 / −1 2026-09-29: +2 / −1 2026-09-30: +4 / −0 2026-10-01: +6 / −2 2026-10-02: +6 / −2 2026-10-03: +8 / −2 2026-10-04: +8 / −1 2026-10-05: +4 / −2 2026-10-06: +3 / −1 2026-10-07: +5 / −0 2026-10-08: +6 / −3 2026-10-09: +7 / −1 2026-10-10: +5 / −5 2026-10-11: +7 / −1 2026-10-12: +7 / −1 2026-10-13: +11 / −1 2026-10-14: +5 / −0 2026-10-15: +8 / −2 2026-10-16: +3 / −1 2026-10-17: +6 / −1 2026-10-18: +5 / −0 09/1909/2610/0310/1010/17
Show monthly data as a table
MonthPositiveNegativePositive
2018-1139913674.6%
2018-122,26886772.3%
2019-0117913357.4%
2019-02685754.4%
2019-031077459.1%
2019-04443456.4%
2019-05433952.4%
2019-06713567.0%
2019-07964170.1%
2019-08573065.5%
2019-09252352.1%
2019-10551380.9%
2019-113672493.9%
2019-122203586.3%
2020-011383579.8%
2020-02942479.7%
2020-031322186.3%
2020-0445814276.3%
2020-052025279.5%
2020-061576072.4%
2020-071284872.7%
2020-081003474.6%
2020-091222583.0%
2020-10963175.6%
2020-111563581.7%
2020-121305570.3%
2021-011574079.7%
2021-021033176.9%
2021-033409578.2%
2021-041866474.4%
2021-051385970.1%
2021-061023872.9%
2021-071184273.8%
2021-081063674.6%
2021-091083078.3%
2021-10722078.3%
2021-111724579.3%
2021-121374973.7%
2022-011586271.8%
2022-021394575.5%
2022-033239377.6%
2022-041846673.6%
2022-051474975.0%
2022-06984270.0%
2022-071496569.6%
2022-081154074.2%
2022-09812477.1%
2022-10893969.5%
2022-111443182.3%
2022-121979966.6%
2023-011995079.9%
2023-021134472.0%
2023-031815477.0%
2023-0438914073.5%
2023-052355381.6%
2023-061313678.4%
2023-072039169.0%
2023-081376268.8%
2023-091734380.1%
2023-101403978.2%
2023-111934282.1%
2023-121615076.3%
2024-012367875.2%
2024-021213577.6%
2024-031212881.2%
2024-042576081.1%
2024-052095379.8%
2024-063389977.3%
2024-0732211174.4%
2024-081964980.0%
2024-091977472.7%
2024-101825875.8%
2024-112102190.9%
2024-122725483.4%
2025-011704379.8%
2025-022616480.3%
2025-032687877.5%
2025-042387875.3%
2025-051895976.2%
2025-061544378.2%
2025-072176975.9%
2025-0835015669.2%
2025-092215879.2%
2025-102185280.7%
2025-113434787.9%
2025-1229915565.9%
2026-0155416277.4%
2026-022247973.9%
2026-032278572.8%
2026-042154483.0%
2026-052155081.1%
2026-0638014872.0%
2026-0730712471.2%
2026-082409272.3%
2026-091515473.7%
2026-101102680.9%
Show daily data as a table
DayPositiveNegative
2026-09-1973
2026-09-2022
2026-09-2141
2026-09-2221
2026-09-2350
2026-09-2452
2026-09-2573
2026-09-2684
2026-09-2761
2026-09-2871
2026-09-2921
2026-09-3040
2026-10-0162
2026-10-0262
2026-10-0382
2026-10-0481
2026-10-0542
2026-10-0631
2026-10-0750
2026-10-0863
2026-10-0971
2026-10-1055
2026-10-1171
2026-10-1271
2026-10-13111
2026-10-1450
2026-10-1582
2026-10-1631
2026-10-1761
2026-10-1850
06 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

Recent sentiment

PeriodPositiveReviews
Last 30 days80.2%258
Last 180 days76.7%2,299
All time80.0%30,459
Japanese, last 180 days78.3%23
08 / TRUEGG INSIGHTS

About this verdict

Every figure is computed from review data that Steam makes public. No AI estimation is used.

Review text is never stored or republished. Read the actual reviews on Steam.

If you disagree with this verdict, please reach us via the contact on the About page. About

Read the methodology and its limits Read reviews on Steam ↗