I've been playing the Star Wars: Interworlds mod and have been enjoying it a ton

X4 is a space empire simulation game that is the culmination of 20+ years of such games from Egosoft. So, this latest release includes many things to do in a sandbox environment, like space exploration, trading, mining, space ship combat, space station building/management, economy management, fleet management/combat, storyline questing, side questing, and diplomacy. The implementation of virtually all these features is average to poor, but as there are hardly any games out there with X4's size and scope, maybe you can forgive the fleet combat flaws because you want to build space stations and claim sectors. Maybe you can ignore the awful crew member graphics and largely deserted space station environs because you can pilot a ship and shoot enemies down while your crew help with repairs or board enemy ships. So, maybe X4 has enough to offer you, and in the right combination, when something like Stellaris, Elite Dangerous, or Civ VI won't quite fit.

The reason I'm not recommending this game is because my current game seems to have devolved into an endless fleet combat simulation in a single sector against waves and waves of unrelenting enemy AI fleets. I can't do any of the above activities because I'm spending all of my time just maintaining the status quo in this single sector. There are friendly and neutral AIs that should be fighting off enemy AIs, but they seem to be INTENTIONALLY HANDICAPPED, as the enemy AIs in practice seem to be 3x stronger, with ships that fly 3x faster (than even my own AI controlled fleets), and show up in endless waves, seemingly to match any fleets I bring to bear. Perhaps Egosoft did this to challenge players, and if so, I worked. It's challenging, I can gain no ground, and I haven't had fun the past week. Thumbs down.

At its core its the concept of this game is brilliant. Open and vast. That being said. The 2 biggest problems i have with this game are 1. The controls are clunky and make it very hard to anything more complex than just flying from point A to point B. And secondly the missions are bland. With the briefings being vague and the steps to your objectives being a bit contrived. Almost as if trying to "fluff out" the content. If i have to get into my space suit and climb out of my ship more than one time during a mission its too much and makes me want to shoot the mission giver in the face. All in all a decent game,

Update: Nope ♥♥♥♥ this game cant recommend it. This ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Torus Aeternal puzzle is stupid.