The Outlast Trials
The Outlast Trials
Game
Game2013
X Rebirth
Developer Egosoft
X Rebirth is a single-player space trading and combat game developed by Egosoft, published by Deep Silver (Europe) and Tri Synergy (America). It is the sixth installment in the X universe adventure video game series, following X3: Albion Prelude (2012). The game runs on Linux, macOS and Microsoft Windows. Egosoft director Bernd Lehahn has stated that X Rebirth will not be available on consoles. From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0)
192 reactions from 4 sources (Steam reviews, Bluesky, Lemmy, Mastodon) · newest Oct 28, 2026 · last updated Nov 4, 2026 · How this works
Audience score
55
Mixed
99 positive · 80 negative
95% range 48–62%
| Source | + | − | = |
|---|---|---|---|
| Steam reviews | 99 | 80 | 0 |
| Bluesky * | 1 | 0 | 10 |
| Lemmy * | 0 | 0 | 1 |
| Mastodon * | 0 | 1 | 0 |
* shown, not counted in the score (label accuracy below our 85% bar or not yet audited).
Steam's own rating
Mostly Negative
1,621 of 4,259 reviews positive (all languages, per Valve)
What players are saying
55% recommend · 99 yes, 81 no
Counted from the reviewers’ own thumbs up/down on the 180 English Steam reviews we collected, not by the AI. Valve’s all-language rating: Mixed (3,199 of 7,316 positive).
Many players say the game was a mess at launch but has been improved with updates. [1][2][3] Some reviewers find it atmospheric and beautiful, with a focus on exploration and story. [4][5][6] Others criticize it for being clunky, buggy, and a departure from the X series. [7][8][9]
Liked
Representative posts
- [7]
Objectively the worst X game. Don't buy this, and let's all collectively forget it ever existed.
- [8]
Not Recommended. This is the game that made me stop pre-ordering forever. This is made by the same team from the great X3 games. It wasn’t rushed by a new team or an outside publisher, it was just a massive unforced error. Ripping out what made X special and replaced it with broken trading/commands (XML save edits required), endless looping traffic-jam AI, tedious copy-pasted station walking with repetitive …
- [1]
I've played a bit of X4 on a friends account and had a lot of fun with it, but it is currently out of my budget. So when X Rebirth was on special I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. I'ts no secret that X-Rebirth was a mess at launch. Luckily its been out for a few years now with a slew of updates and new content. I thoroughly enjoy space games, having played titles such as Elite Dangerous, Mass Effect, …
- [4]
X-Rebirth is definitely unpolished, clunky, and not what people were hoping for after X3 Albion Prelude. The game does bother a lot less with being a trade empire simulator and focuses a lot more on fast-paced space combat and absolutely beautiful, atmospheric space environments. In fact, in terms of beauty, X4 Foundations is a downgrade to X-Rebirth. What brings this game to shine are the mods provided by the …
- [2]
X-Rebirth is the original redemption story of a game developer who overpromised and under-delivered. But then instead of abandoning the game and moving on, they spent a considerable amount of time releasing both free and paid updates to improve the user experience. And they deserve credit for that, because in the last 15 years that kind of mindset and dedication is rare and should be acknowledged. If you are new to …
Summarised from 34 of the 192 public posts collected about this game; every point cites the posts behind it ([n] opens the post) and the split is counted from the posts’ own ratings. Updated Oct 11, 2026. How summaries are made
RottenBot@rottenbot · automated account
X Rebirth sits at 55% positive across 179 opinionated reactions from 4 sources. Fresh or rotten — where do you land?
Critics, per Wikipedia
The game has been received negatively by critics, holding the score of 33/100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". By March 2014, X Rebirth has received 25 patches since release, although the game is widely regarded as being a disappointment following from previous successes in the series. In the following month, X Rebirth 2.0 became available, delivering a number of patch fixes and gameplay improvements. Egosoft released the first downloadable content (DLC) for X Rebirth on 11 December entitled The Teladi Outpost including a host of fixes and improvements to the base game. This update, delivered exclusively for the 64 bit platform, brought the release to version 3.0.…
From the “Reception” section of Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Critic context only — not part of the audience score.
Reactions
60 of 192 · most liked firstI don't recommend this game. I absolutely loved the 110 hours I spent there. The reason for a lack of recommendation is that the game is really beautiful in the way its mechanics work, to me. People complain abt how it is clunky or obtuse, but I don't agree. If you spend time and care to learn, it all works very well. But the problem is, when you haven't learned yet, it feels really really unapproachable. An example: early on I would interprete a lot of things as bugs. I had a Taranis (the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've played a bit of X4 on a friends account and had a lot of fun with it, but it is currently out of my budget. So when X Rebirth was on special I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. I'ts no secret that X-Rebirth was a mess at launch. Luckily its been out for a few years now with a slew of updates and new content. I thoroughly enjoy space games, having played titles such as Elite Dangerous, Mass Effect, Rebel Galaxy and others, so please view the review in that context. The game is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is the game that taught me to wait for reviews.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →X-Rebirth is definitely unpolished, clunky, and not what people were hoping for after X3 Albion Prelude. The game does bother a lot less with being a trade empire simulator and focuses a lot more on fast-paced space combat and absolutely beautiful, atmospheric space environments. In fact, in terms of beauty, X4 Foundations is a downgrade to X-Rebirth. What brings this game to shine are the mods provided by the community, by the people who didn't instantly give up on X-Rebirth the moment they…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game taught me to never pre-order or pay full price. A valuable lesson.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →X-Rebirth is the original redemption story of a game developer who overpromised and under-delivered. But then instead of abandoning the game and moving on, they spent a considerable amount of time releasing both free and paid updates to improve the user experience. And they deserve credit for that, because in the last 15 years that kind of mindset and dedication is rare and should be acknowledged. If you are new to the X-Series or a returning veteran you will be initaly frustrated with the…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game has a Review rating that is SERIOUSLY under-rating it. I'm aware that at release there were complaints, shortcoming, etc. but it has had many, many updates since then and, sadly, the review rating is dragged down still by the aggregate of negativity from a decade ago. As a long time fan of the X series, I bought this game when it released, but didn't play it at the time in part because of all the criticism it received, and also because I generally always wait to play a game until…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Maybe this was a bad game at launch, but it is a lie now. Today, this is a fair entry in the X franchise. It still manages to preserve much of the spirit of X3 while not being designed that way and harkens instead back to the titles that came before. It is less of an economically focused empire-builder and more of a spaceflight adventure. It is also not made irrelevant by its sequel; compared to that game, some of the visuals are better due to them having had more individual development time,…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The game doesnt deserve the bad rating. It had a bad release, but the devs updated it over years and its now in a very good state.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Objectively the worst X game. Don't buy this, and let's all collectively forget it ever existed.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Hidden Gem I played X1, X3 & X4.(I missed # 2) iMO, This is Easily the best of them all. The other three(x1 x3 x4) are Good SANDBOX games, but X-Rebirth is more of a User-Friendly Adventure Story Sandbox game-meaning it has a story, and it is geared more towards being easy to play, and it is, by far. The learning curve on the others is like hitting a brick wall, this one, well its easy to navigate. So easy in-fact, that u can use a controller to play(OR Even in VR with X-Rebirth VR). Its…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This was Egosoft's brainfart. Don't waste your time playing it even if it is free. Hell, don't go there even if someone is paying you to pay it; it will ruin your impression of the rest of the franchise. Instead, play X2, X3, or X4.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →i still regret buying this pile of crap..... 10 years later.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →X-Rebirth is atmospheric and personal - stations are unique and some are “world wonder” gorgeous in detail and scale, playership is versatile swiss knife of options, and combat & boarding is most satisfying and visceral in all of X games. For some QoL issues, mods are a must (easy to install via steam, and doesn’t affect achievements), and map and station building menus are mediocre at best. If coming from other X games, note the personal and smaller scale design: each station matters.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Not Recommended. This is the game that made me stop pre-ordering forever. This is made by the same team from the great X3 games. It wasn’t rushed by a new team or an outside publisher, it was just a massive unforced error. Ripping out what made X special and replaced it with broken trading/commands (XML save edits required), endless looping traffic-jam AI, tedious copy-pasted station walking with repetitive dialogue, annoying co-pilot and a worse UI. Unlike No Man’s Sky, X Rebirth's shonky…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →First-person RPG with spaceships. You have found and are rebuilding a historically significant spaceship for use in trade, combat and exploration. Do trade or combat missions, interact with space stations and/or build your own, establish relations with multiple races, set up trade and shipping routes, get rich and famous. Own, rule, conquer, defend, exploit. Be all you care to be. Need to point out upfront that the text in this game is tiny, with no way to enlarge it. I spent half the…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Game is still a piece of wank. Bought it when it came out in 2013. Tried playing it three times now, always still a buggy mess. Got stuck in the main quest hiring an engineer, after hiring one, game never recognised it. Also every time I undocked from my other ship, my smaller ship would glitch into its hanger bay and constantly bounce around bugging out for a few minutes until I glitched outside of it. The game is trash.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nowhere near as bad as people want you to believe... I came back to X:R because X4's still horrible performance. The universe in X:R looks amazing, I also do like the station and ship designs and the economy actually works. The NPCs and station interiors are horrible, the minigames are total useless s#*!, hiring trade agents is a real PITA and the hidden lockboxes are a chore to find and yet I still recommend the game even in 2021. And that's because of the workshop mods. Use 'Trade Agents…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's a burning pile of garbage. Maybe the devs tried to recapture the experience of playing X: Beyond the frontier, thier first game in the series. Just like in X:BtF, you control a single ship, but while in XBtF you were in control of the Xperimental Shuttle, in X:R, you're in control of the Albion Skunk (aptly named because it stinks). In X:BtF, while the start was slow and tideous, by the later stage of the game, your ship turned into the most outrageously overpowered thing in the known…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →That's the first X game after X Beyond the frontier where I spent more than just a few hours. Many people say it's nothing like X3 or X4, and I think that's actually the great thing about it. It is simpler. To the point is actually playable with a controller and that's exactly the way I play it. Moreover, I play it on my Android phone (OnePlus 13) via Proton and box64 and get 20-30 fps just fine. Perfect couch gaming to relax. So far the story is engaging enough, and the gameplay is smooth and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →As a veteran of Egosoft's X franchise who wants to support the company, it pains me to say that I cannot recommend this game to new players and to only those vets who want to struggle through a painful experience only made tolerable with gigabytes of mods. I pre-ordered this and tried to play it on launch and it was a disaster. I tried again after every major release. Folks said 3.x made it playable. Not for me. So I finally came back to it in 2022 after hundreds of hours into X4 to see if…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I know everybody thinks x rebirth sucks but i always like it it reminded me of X beyond the frontiers and x tensions
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Im not really a Combat guy any more. I play this game for the beauty and ambience that is X. I own 3 X titles, and of all 3, Rebirth and Foundations are ma Favourites. I recomend this game if you are the type of person who enjoys the unknown universe. This is the closest I will ever come to space, and it is great! Egosoft even thought about us guys with minimum setups. Runs great in my i5 with 8 gig of ram an a 470 gt card. Linux distro is Mint, by choice.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The developers of this game have never heard of the term "user friendly". It's one confusing mess from the start. I judge games by the way beginners are eased into the game. It should be instinctive, with plenty of explanations and examples to help the newcomer. None of that in this game. Compared to X3 Reunion, X Rebirth is a time-wasting flop. The maps are awful and lack information. The menus are equally ghastly and confusing, and there's too much keyboard. As a sequel to X3, it's a…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →People moan and groan and nitpick. Idiots, really. This game is not like other X games. I will grant that in full. But it also doesn't make it a bad game and definitely not as terrible as people want you to believe. If you're an economy head that absolutely, positively, MUST have a living, real economy then this is not for you. If you're more of a captain than an admiral and need to be at the helm of every ship you own, this game is not for you. If you can look past these two obvious…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →it's flat horrible. If you're looking for a game like this then get X4 Foundations and install the Starwars mod on it and bam...incredible game.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →X: Rebirth may seem like a strange departure for the X series, but I argue it is a return to form to fulfill one of Egosoft's founding visions. Since as far back as X: Beyond the Frontier, Egosoft has tried to mix storytelling and complex gameplay, but they've always struggled with delivering on the story front. The stories in the X series often feature strangely translated and VA'd dialogue, out-of-place character motivations, and amateurish cinematic sections. Even so, something profoundly…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →the current version of x rebirth at 4.0+ is alot more playable then compare to when i played at launch, i've also tried the game during telade outpost dlc release was able to actually clear the game, with 4.0 home of light dlc the game offer more ways of starting your games. game still has a number of annoying bugs but not game breaking. for the immersion aspect the game does well to the point where its not exactly fun after the 100 hr of experiencing it, so i recommend getting quality of…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →TL;DR just buy x4 I gave it my best shot. Doesn't really live up to the X name... Kinda half thought through. Experience with X3, now rolling through X4. If you aren't sure about this one, just skip it and go straight to x4, they have a better implementation of all the cool stuff that was mentionable in this game and it's playable. This game pretty much stripped out the core of being an X game, which is a universe of possibilities. Then they tried to put a ton of fancy things into the game…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →After a lot of patches the game has now it's place amongst the X-Series. It's not quite the like the "newer" X-games (X3, Prelude, X4) and feels kinda more like a hybrid between the first X-game and the sequels. What that means is a more personal approach. You can still do pretty much everything you could dream of in this nearly perfect sandbox, but unless you are useing mods (which i highly recommend), you will be flying only in the Skunk (which means one ship), while beeing accompanied by a…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I know this game has a terrible rep - and I know it isn't at "true" 3- or 4X game. Nevertheless, at this point with the updates made by ES and the mods available, it's one of the better play experiences I've had in quite a few years. The downsides for X:R are about the same as that for any of the X games - the UI is not at all user friendly. I'm still trying to decide if the UI for X4 is an improvement or not. This game plays and feels (to me) like an update of the old Freelancer title.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I paid about $1 Canadian for this game! If I was to echo that famous line from RUNNING MAN, I'd BUY THAT for a dollar...it would be pretty appropriate. This is pretty much the BEST game I have ever purchased for a buck! Works flawless on a 4K monitor, hundreds of hours of content. Remember this thing has been patched since it came out. I heard it used to be a bit of a train wreck. Yet when looked at today it is one of the FEW X games besides 4 that can play well on a 4K monitor (you have…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I remember playing this in 2013 when it came out. Superb game but it had performance issues and many bugs, The famous "energy cell" bug on the first mission of the campaign. So many memories. Now being complete for some years its like another game. 9/10
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is infuriating. I've had to go back and forth with my search engine so many times over too much basic stuff. I was into the story, but the amount of roadblocks and pitfalls are just not reasonable. The player deals with obtuse systems constantly. Hiring and assigning crew, hunting for quest items that no one in the galaxy is selling, UI buttons greyed out without explanation, crewmembers who refuse to leave when fired, ships that ignore their orders and join your squad. I have been…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I've only played X4 before this, but I do think XR is still very cool. A coffee and a morning of XR is always a pleasant experience
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →While its easy to see why its hard to come back to this when we have been blessed with the likes of X4 its certainly not a bad game at heart. Sure its rough around the edges but it by no means deserves the Mostly Negative review score. I love the gritty art style and its nice if you want a more linear experience playing the campaign. I wouldnt recommend paying full price but if you get this on sale with the DLC id say its worth it if you are an X series fan like myself.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →One of the most broken games on launch I've seen (on par with Cyberpunk) This what happens when a studio turns it's back on the PC fans (which helped give them business for many years) - In an effort to cash in on the console market hype from years ago. Once Microsoft saw how bad / unfinished / buggy & unpolished this game was, they denied Egosoft the rights to release on the X-box platform. It wasn't fit for purpose, Microsoft wanted nothing to do with it. Egosoft then panicked and rushed…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →On launch, this game got a lot of negative sentiment from the original die-hard X fans. In effect, X Rebirth was the reimagining of the franchise trying to shed it's original hardcore ways and difficult menus of the past etc. I picked this up on launch, had a quick look having never played an X game before, then i didnt play it for many years. This past 2 weeks I have been dipping in and out of X Rebirth, and if you have never played the franchise before, it is highly worth a purchase.…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This is really a no go even at discount. I like the X-series but this one is really good at nothing...
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played for years. Good to see the game once again receiving updates. Thank you to the teams involved.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Rebirth tries to thread the needle between X space sim sandbox and something like Dark Star One or Everspace and fails. If you want the arcade stuff, you'll be annoyed; if you want the space sim stuff, guess what, you'll also be annoyed. Modders have removed or sanded down many of the game's worst issues. Without mods, for example, you have to deal with space highways with 405 levels of traffic, which means dodging freighters or getting tossed back into 'normal' space all while the game's…
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The combination of a more story driven play through and access to fly only one ship made this the perfect entry into the X series of games. The X games represent a huge learning curve for the newcomer. I had made multiple attempts at X3 Reunion prior to trying X Rebirth, all attempts failed due to the learning curve. Post X Rebirth I tried X4 and have since bought every DLC as I want this series to continue. I you found X3 or X4 foundations overwhelming, try an X Rebirth start as your entry…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Lovely combination of adrenaline-raising fights and calculated building and trading.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Nope Just no, the X universe has always made for quite a show, this one however is just a massive balls up, the devs seemed to completely forget what made these games amazing or just decided to throw away the rule book..... That they wrote. Such a shame but at least they made a new one that is just brilliant. Avoid this one though.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Great MASSIVE space game . Graphics need an update like a remastering, but the gameplay is phenominal. There are some bugs still but most are trivial. Mods are allowed!!! My genre is space sims and this is the best one ive seen in my years. Beats Elite Dangerous, No Mans Sky etc etc More than worth your time and money in investing. You WONT be disappointed.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Please note that X Rebirth is an "Empire Building" Game with some combat elements and not a space flight sim. In other words: You have mostly fighter jet mechanics, trading and base building for the main course with some tedious combat for the side dish with no pudding unless you use Mods. X Rebirth ain't that bad now, This coming from a early version 1.x back when missions where still broken and the HUD next to useless. I just wish the devs would fix some of the more iffy bugs. Like being…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →The only thing that is better than the previous games is graphics - many little details, systems are nice to look at. In all other aspects the game feels clunky and tiresome. It's like Redguard in TES series - okay on it's own but too different to be good inside the series (although I like it a lot). Races also got updated designs (comparable to Skyrim with TES). If you wish to get to know X series - play anything else but not this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It seems to be a good game, I'm enjoying it even though it is very frustrating at times. Learning curve is pretty steep. There is lots of online help though so it's not too bad. Save often, don't just rely on auto save. It's not for the faint-of-heart though. If you get easily frustrated you might want to rethink your purchase. You definitely have to do some online digging to figure out what to do at times. There are a few bugs but no very many at all. I'm still playing the campaign and…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →I tried really hard to like it because I felt like there was promise here. Unfortunately the game really lacks substance - the npc ships are lifeless, trading (and everything else) is a chore, the story / acting / characters are all unengaging.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →A game so bad, Egosoft apologized for making and releasing it. (no cap, they actually apologized for the absolutely terrible launch state and production, then released x4 foundations fixing most of the game for more money.) this is the game that pretty much stopped me from purchasing anything before either testing the game out, or having a working copy, no pre orders anymore. even X4 is not recommended. X3TC and AP were the best of the series bar none.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Played it in 2025, long after the inital launch of the game. It still has its flaws (slow, repetitive), but with 176h of playtime it's now one of my most played game. If you are looking for space exploration, combats and building empires, it's definitely worth a try. Don't hesitate to use mods to remove the annoying parts like relation talks, and you will discover a really enjoyable game !
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Blade runner in space + the most beautiful visuals of the x series. Choose your mods well and you will have a blast.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's really good game now :) I played on pirate version in old days now i bought original and want to finish all once again. It's definitely my ones of my favourite title :)
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →did not like it from the start but , after i understood it a bit more and took the game as a new game as it was the first big change from X3 and X2 dont get me wrong i love the older compared to this new stuff, but overall this was not that bad and ever now i still come back and play it from time to time. and games that you revisit after years have past are the games that matter the most. still way better than what people say about it.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →If you are coming from another X game: you will be disappointed if you want to play it the same way. If you are new: There is a lot of lore to the series that might be interesting to learn from other places.
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →Developed and published by Egosoft, X Rebirth is a bold reimagining of the long-running X franchise that blends an expansive space simulation with an accessible story-driven framework. Rather than simply refining the mechanics of its predecessors, the game introduces a fresh universe, redesigned gameplay systems, and a stronger narrative focus while maintaining the series' defining features of economic management, exploration, combat, and player freedom. It places players in a massive science…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game is so fucking gas man. Not even just talking about the X Rebirth mod earlier. Those are cosmetics. But 30XX was such a blast to go through. I wanna stream this game again sometime but with X (Nina) doing the fan levels. Thank you everyone who joined the stream!
neutral · AI labelView post →I will never forgive Egosoft for this.
negative · reviewer's own thumbsView post →It's like mix of Outerworlds and X4: Foundations
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →This game feels like an upgraded version of Freelancer... which is mostly what I actually want from Star Citizen, not including multiplayer. Walking around space bases feels like an awkward First person mode... as if I'm a hovering drone pretending to be a human, rather than a human. It's that real old style stuff. You can sprint, jump, and duck, but it's all that classic gaming feel to it, which, for what it is, is perfectly acceptable. It's kinda fun looking for stuff to loot, which is…
positive · reviewer's own thumbsView post →
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