-Latest update at 2160 hours. Will I change this review to a positive review? ABSOLUTELY NOT. This is not a meme or sarcasm. If anything, my two thousand hours with and without mods in the game have shown me that it is as bad of a sunk cost fallacy as EVE, but at least in that game you can pretend to be social. In this one you will spend thousands of hours waiting.... and half of that time will be dealing with crashes/bugs/performance issues. Don't waste your time. ESPECIALLY see where I listed numbers 1-6 below, this is like video game hell because they KEEP DOING IT. I think EgoSOFT, which IRL is subsidized by the german government, might be researching mind control based on how much time you will waste in this piece of ♥♥♥♥ game.

Original review at 140hrs. Edits in the next 100 hours. Since then I now have almost 650 hours into this game. I still cannot recommend it but I keep playing it. Send help. TLDR here. Still applies after an additional 500 hours of gameplay time.

TLDR: To quote myself further down in this review: "I am physically in pain from how great this game could be, but how insanely bad it is in terms of accessibility and playability due to its hamstrung player interactivity. At the time of this writing, I have 140 hours of gameplay. You will see that number go up, I promise. There is a great game in here somewhere and I intend to keep playing. When Egosoft can improve this games interactivity and usability, they will literally get GOBS of $$$ because there is a GREAT game here but it is hidden behind layers of inefficient design"

FURTHER EDIT: I removed angry stuff where I was insulting to developers who I have never met. That is not my intention. I have nominated this game for a labor of love, despite the below.

EDIT: When EgoSoft releases another DLC and/or a collectors pack standalone expansion with all previous DLC included but a new game, their model will continue to be proven.
1. Aim way higher than budget and attainability in your game development goals.
2. Implement unplanned and un-researched systems to get there
3. Ship a 'finished product' so you can make money off of what is essentially an 'early access' for several years in order to fund the continued release and development of the game because you did not get it right the first time AND YOU KNEW THAT BUT RELEASED IT ANYWAYS.
4 Re-release the game under a new title with all the issues fixed because your playerbase released the mods and found the bugs to make it into the game it actually should be.
5 .....
6. Profit?

Egosoft is doing the SAME THING that many other gaming companies are doing with ongoing release cycles and re-releases, except Egosoft aimed higher in the beginning, shot lower in the moment, and recovered worse than the competion, which hints at defects in leadership, strategy and growth of what may be a stagnant and out of touch company.
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This game is very disappointing. It is close to being the best game to ever come out of Egosoft, but they can't figure out how to create any UI element that does not feature a nested menu inside a nested menu with a nested menu to access the nested menu. Seriously, the UI problems are just the start of a long line of deep interactivity problems that make this gem and beautiful game feel like you are often wasting your time, because hiding all of the gameplay mechanics are insane levels of stupid player interactivity with counter-intuitive menus and UX that take away from the enjoy-ability of the game.

I am physically in pain from how great this game could be, but how insanely bad it is in terms of accessibility and playability due to its hamstrung player interactivity. At the time of this writing, I have 140 hours of gameplay. You will see that number go up, I promise. There is a great game in here somewhere and I intend to keep playing. When Egosoft can improve this games interactivity and usability, they will literally get GOBS of $$$ because there is a GREAT game here but it is hidden behind layers of inefficient design

I highly recommended that you read the review posted by Wraith_Magus on saveorquit, that review goes very in depth into some of the items I am referring to as well as other issues in the game and will give you a great idea of whether or not you want to spend this money. I would never deign to suggest this games core components are changed, it needs to stay complicated and challenging. The surface level player accessibility, usability and interactivity absolutely needs to catch up to the 21st century.

Learning to play X4 should be like learning to play Dark Souls - a whole new style of gameplay that blows your mind once you realize how stupid, small and insignificant you are (and how great you / your faction could be eventually if you keep playing.) It should be frustrating at times but also very rewarding. Instead, learning X4 currently feels like learning a new task at work that your bosses friend assigned you without telling you and did not give you any instructions. Oh and the task is in a different department and has nothing to do with your line of work and you are not getting paid for this.

Think long and hard before you buy this game - it is absolutely worth if if you have the patience, and it may get WAY better in the future with a new DLC on the horizon and a new standalone game starting development at Egosoft based on this title. Egosoft has a storied history of making their games WAY better after 10 years, and we are cresting that rise right now with the lifespan and changes of the X4 series and, more importantly, the engine it is built upon. However, this game is absolutely not worth it if you do not have the time or patience to deal with headache inducing UI features - they are not bugs - the only reason I was able to spend 140 hours figuring this game out is because I am unemployed and have nothing better to do right now.