X (game series)

THQ

1999

PC ( Windows )

Subject

Game mode

system advantages
preconditions

160 MHz CPU , 16 MB RAM , Direct3D graphics card , 350 MB hard disk space

1 CD-ROM , download

German

Current version

2.2 (update via the Egosoft website)

X: Beyond the Frontier (abbreviated X: BtF) is similar in terms of the game principle to well-known space games such as. B. Elite or Privateer .

action

In the role of Kyle William Brennan, the player makes a test flight in a spaceship with a newly developed jump drive, with which one can cover huge distances. When testing this drive, however, there is a malfunction, which means that Kyle does not land at the planned target coordinates, but far away in a civilized part of space. To make matters worse, the same jump drive was irreparably damaged in the test.

Brennan not only faces the challenge of finding his way back home, but also has to face an aggressive race known as Xenon. As it turns out later, the xenon are robots created by humans to colonize new planets and which have become independent.

Gameplay

The object of the game is to stop the Xenon as they prepare to attack Earth. After the player is stranded after the accident in the X-Universe, a more or less quiet phase begins in which one should repair and upgrade his ship through trade. Since the fight against the xenon can hardly be fought alone, it is important to gain the trust of the 5 different species. Then there is the religious sect called Goner , who consider themselves to be the descendants of man.

How the player gets the money is largely up to him: he can build his own empire from stations and ships or try his hand at being a pirate.

As with every other part of the X-series, however, it remains open to the player whether he follows the story or makes his way through the universe on his own.

trade

In the X-Universe, as everywhere, one acts by skillfully exploiting the buying and selling prices of the factories. Several dozen different ships, goods and factories in 54 sectors of space offer enormous possibilities. Own factories and ships of all kinds can also be bought and run in the player's pocket.

In contrast to many other games, however, the prices of the goods are not fixed, but dynamic; that is, they are based directly on supply and demand.

struggle

The combat system is based on nine different laser and five different missile types. There are also four different types of shields, which, like lasers and rockets, can be combined and used as required. They differ in price, damage done, speed and size, so each of them has its own advantages and disadvantages. In general, larger ships are faster than smaller ones. In X² and X³ it is the other way around.

people

The Teladi , Borons and Argons are friendly to the player from the start; the Paranids and Split are initially suspicious. Only after shooting down enemy ships or pirates in the respective sectors can you gain the trust of the two peoples. Confidence is lost just as quickly when a peaceful ship is shot down.

control

It is controlled with a keyboard, mouse and / or joystick. The ship can be turned around three axes and the speed can be finely adjusted. Slow reverse travel is also possible. Drifting of the ship is not possible, but comes with X-Tension. Four-axis joysticks with force feedback functionality are supported. The coolie hat for setting the viewing direction can also be used.

X-tension

X-Tension logo (black version)

X-Tension is the add-on to X: Beyond the Frontier.

It was published by Egosoft in 2000 and has been available together with X: BtF since 2001 under the name X-Gold. X-Tension is an independent, new program, which however requires the CD from X: BtF. In contrast to X: BtF, there is no lead story with XT, only smaller missions such as B. Escort jobs or the like that are offered to the player at a more or less random time. As the game progresses, however, under certain conditions, the so-called Perseus mission can be offered, which can take several hours.

The most important innovation in XT is that you are no longer limited to your own ship (X-Perimental Shuttle), but can fly almost any other ship. The X-Perimental, however, is only available after completing the Perseus mission mentioned above ; so the game starts in an argon buster . In addition, almost all ships can be hijacked and offer the opportunity to make money quickly by selling them again. The pirates are now represented with their own combat ships and sectors. There are a total of 40 new sectors, each of which - besides trading options and battles - offers a unique ambience and its own story. In addition, there are many new goods and stations, such as the combat drone manufacture or the navigation satellite. Just like X: BtF, XT was also updated to version 2.2 with the appearance of the X-Superbox.

marketing

In an interview, Bernd Lehahn, the development manager at X², said that X: BtF did not have a strong first week of sales, but had become a "long seller", especially in England and Germany. However, he criticized the marketing of X: BtF and X-Tension in the USA:

“Unfortunately, where we were not so successful is the US market. The reason for this is that there was quite a mess with sales there. Our publisher (THQ) passed X: BtF on to a third company for the USA, and this company ceased its business a short time later. That is also the reason why X-Tension was never published in the USA. "

- Interview: X² - An overview of the freelancer competitor , golem.de

X²: The threat

X²: The Threat Logo

Deep Silver Linux Game Publishing

February 2, 2004

Linux , macOS , Windows

Subject

Game mode

system advantages
preconditions

800 MHz CPU , 256 MB RAM , Direct3D 8 graphics card , 800 MB hard disk space

2 CDs , download

German English

Current version

1.5

X²: The threat was released on February 2, 2004 under the publisher Deep Silver for the PC. A version for Apple's Macintosh followed in 2005 and Linux Game Publishing (LGP) released a port for Linux in 2006 .

action

The plot builds on the previous events in the X-Universe and continues them.

The player takes on the role of Julian Gardna, a pilot who was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing a spaceship. On the way to the prison planet Artur, his prisoner transport is intercepted by Ban Danna, a high-ranking officer of the Argon secret service, and Julian is pardoned. He receives the offer to work for the TerraCorp company. After several transport missions, Julian is invited to the temple of the Goner, where he learns that he is the son of Kyle William Brennan and that he is missing while searching for a spaceship from the ancient fleet. So Julian goes in search of his father, but only finds a video message that shows that Brennan was kidnapped by a mysterious and vicious race, the Khaak . On the further search he penetrates deep into the enemy territory, but cannot find his father. Only during a large-scale attack by the Khaak on an argon planet can Kyle William Brennan be saved and the attack foiled.

Innovations

X² links a story with randomly generated missions like in XT. The player is not limited in his action to the campaign, but can move freely in the X² universe. The game has been expanded to include various ship classes and new ship types. There are also more sectors and more pieces of equipment.

Ratings

X² received ratings around 80% from most of the game testers, 92% from the PC Zone and the PC Zone “Gold Classic Award” and the “Award of Excellence” from Gamesurf. However, there were also ratings like 5/10 points at Eurogamers.

technology

X² uses u. a. Real-time shadows, particle effects and multiple DP-3 bump mapping, which has a great impact on graphics quality. An "automatic quality control" can be activated in X², which adapts the level of detail to the frame rate. X² has nominal EAX support, but despite activated EAX only 2 loudspeakers are controlled, and there are also performance drops.

extension

The second part was an expansion called X²: The return was planned and already in development. This should appear in the second quarter of 2005. Egosoft announced on March 17th, 2005 that the work on the add-on in favor of the successor X³: Reunion was stopped.

X³: reunion

Deep Silver Linux Game Publishing

November 18, 2005

Linux , macOS , Windows

Subject

Game mode

system advantages
preconditions

1.7 GHz CPU , 512 MB RAM , Direct3D 9 graphics card with 128 MB video RAM , 2 GB hard disk space

German English

Current version

2.5

X³: Reunion was released on November 18, 2005 for the PC. It was released on June 19, 2007 for the Mac and on December 5, 2008 for Linux by LGP. A port for Linux by Egosoft has been available via Steam since the beginning of 2013. The Julian Brennan plot continues. The war with the Khaak has severely weakened the Argon fleet, and suddenly a weapon appears that can wipe out all life in the galaxy. It is the player's job to find this weapon and prevent it from being activated.

Innovations

Factories can be linked to form factory complexes.
developed artificial life engine
improved physics model
NPCs as free traders
abandoned ships floating hidden in space
Freight containers floating all over space
Great battles as random Khaak and Xenon invasions

Update 2.0 - the Bala-Gi research missions

In November 2006 an update to version 2.0 was released. Two new classes of ships were introduced (M7 and M3 +). A single M7-class ship is available, this is positioned between the corvettes (M6) and the destroyers (M2). The M3 + class is an upgrade from the Heavy Fighter (M3). Four new ships are available from this class. With the update there is also a little story in which you get your own player headquarters, which was announced when the game was released in November 2005. Here you can build, repair and paint ships yourself. In the course of this mission it is also possible to get the M7. In addition, the StarForce copy protection function was removed with the update , which means that the game can also be played without a DVD being inserted.

X³: Terran Conflict

Deep Silver

October 17, 2008

Linux , macOS , Windows

Subject

Game mode

system advantages
preconditions

2 GHz CPU , 1 GB RAM , DirectX 9c graphics card with 256 MB video RAM , 7.6 GB hard disk space

German English

Current version

3.3

X³: Terran Conflict was released in October 2008.

As in the previous games, the Starforce copy protection was removed with the 2.5 update, so that playing without DVD is also possible here. In addition, Egosoft added a completely new storyline. With version 2.7 and 3.1, more content has also been added to the game.

X³: Albion Prelude

Deep Silver

December 15, 2011

Linux , macOS , Windows

Subject

Game mode

system advantages
preconditions

2 GHz CPU , 1 GB RAM , DirectX 9c graphics card with 256 MB video RAM , 7.6 GB hard disk space

German English

Current version

3.2 (via Steam update)

On December 7th, 2011 Egosoft announced X³: Albion Prelude as a "Christmas surprise" part of the X series, which should establish the connection between X³: Terran Conflict and X Rebirth . The game has been available since December 15th (free for owners of the "X Superbox") as owners of X³: Terran Conflict for € 10 on Steam. Since February 24, 2012, it has also been available as a retail version. A version for the Apple Appstore under OSX will also be announced soon, but without a specific date. It is already available through Deliver2Mac . The system requirements are identical to those of Terran Conflict. It is a stand-alone add-on (usable without the main game) for X³: Terran Conflict , which requires a Steam account.

A connection from the old to the new universe

X³: Albion Prelude shows the changing X-Universe and prepares the player for the strongly changed universe in X Rebirth.

X³: Gold Edition

X³: Gold was released on March 24, 2009 in Germany and the EU and includes:

X³: Reunion 2.5 with the Bala-Gi research missions
X³: Terran Conflict 2.0 with the Aldrin expansion
X³: Terran Conflict Soundtrack CD
Access to the personal uplink

X-superbox

The X-Superbox was released on October 8, 2010 in the UK, Scandinavia, Australia, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland and includes:

X: Beyond the Frontier 2.2
X-Tension 2.2
X²: The Threat 1.5 with uplink access
X³: Reunion 2.5 with the Bala-Gi research missions
X³: Terran Conflict 3.0 with the Balance-of-Power-Missions
Bonus DVD with special content (guides, graphics, music, videos, tools, scripts and mods)
Encyclopedia about the X-Universe (written by Helge T. Kautz )

X Rebirth

Deep Silver

15th November 2013

Windows (since 3.00 64-bit), Linux (64-bit)

Subject

Game mode

Keyboard , mouse , joystick , gamepad

system advantages
preconditions

2 GHz CPU (64 bit), 4 GB RAM , DirectX 9c graphics card with 512 MB video RAM , 6 GB hard disk space

German English

Current version

4.30

On April 20, 2011, publisher Deep Silver and developer Egosoft announced a new game from the X series. After the developers of Egosoft after X³: Albion Prelude consider the X trilogy to be complete, X Rebirth should represent a new start in which many old, historically grown functions are completely revised. For this purpose, unlike in the X-Trilogy, no material from the previous games was used, but the game was developed from scratch. X Rebirth was released for PC in Europe on November 15, 2013 and in North America on November 19, 2013.

X ⁴ : Foundations

November 30, 2018

Linux , Windows

Space flight simulation , economic simulation

Subject

Game mode

Keyboard , mouse , joystick , HOTAS

system advantages
preconditions

Intel i5-4590 3.3 GHz CPU , 8 GB RAM , graphics card with 3 GB video RAM with Vulkan support , 12 GB hard disk space (preliminary)

Download (no retail)

German, English, Russian, French

Current version

3.20 (patch overview)