X Rebirth VR Edition

About

X Rebirth VR Edition is a single player simulation game. It was developed by Egosoft and was released on December 7, 2017. It received neutral reviews from players.

VR Headset Compatibility Information Our game supports the original Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets via OpenVR. Thanks to OpenVR, it is also likely compatible with several other newer headsets, though these have not been tested. Please note that compatibility with Oculus Quest 2 may be limited due to the removal of the capacitive thumb button on its controllers. X Rebirth VR Edition is the late…

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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59%

Audience ScoreBased on 194 reviews

graphics16 positive mentions

story7 negative mentions

The game offers a wonderfully immersive VR experience, allowing players to feel the scale and detail of the universe.
The graphics are decent, and the performance is generally smooth, especially with high-end hardware.
The game has a lot of potential for depth and complexity, appealing to fans of space sims who enjoy exploration and trading.

The control scheme is clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult to navigate and interact with the game effectively.
Many players experience significant motion sickness, especially during fast movements or when navigating stations.
The game lacks content compared to the original X Rebirth, with fewer stations and NPCs, which detracts from the overall immersion.

story
87 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
5%
87%
8%
The game's story is criticized for being generic and repetitive, with many players noting that the main campaign is either missing or poorly executed in the VR version. While there are missions and some lore, the overall narrative feels disjointed due to bugs, cut content, and design choices that detract from the experience. Players suggest that mods can enhance the story, but the core gameplay often leaves them frustrated with unclear objectives and a lack of engaging plot development.
- “While the majority of the game is sandbox, there is a story you can follow if you want.”
- “There's also animated NPCs, and while outside of the plot their conversation is pretty limited, being able to get out of your ship and walk around a station and talk to these NPCs makes the universe feel more alive.”
- “If you download the original mission storyline (from the Egosoft forums), it's more fun too, not just a sandbox.”
- “At the core of everything is an interesting and fairly deep world, but it is buried under a pile of strange design decisions, badly done missions, and poor choices.”
- “The storyline is boring, same stuff over and over.”
- “I can tell why it's still in early access, since I have done missions where there's basically whole missing passages of NPC text and whatnot, and the plot of the main campaign is sort of hanging open because they had to drop the tying together cinematics for VR.”
graphics
43 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
37%
44%
19%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with many users praising their quality and detail, especially in VR, while others note that they can appear outdated or less realistic compared to contemporary titles. Some players appreciate the ability to run the game on lower-end hardware without significant performance issues, but there are also complaints about graphic bugs and inconsistencies, particularly in VR mode. Overall, while the visuals are generally considered decent to good, they may not meet the expectations set by more modern games in the genre.
- “Graphic quality is excellent for the time and still nice to look at today and has the advantage of not requiring a very powerful GPU.”
- “The graphics are wonderfully detailed and smooth.”
- “With an i7 5820k and an overclocked 980ti, I can supersample this to 1.8x and have absolutely stunning graphics.”
- “If you run it in 'Oculus mode', however, the VR is totally busted, with tearing, one eye being laggy, and generally speaking, visuals being corrupted.”
- “The graphics just don't carry it in VR.”
- “But that experience is ruined by the mediocre graphics and poor UI, as well as motion sickness.”
gameplay
34 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
9%
82%
9%
The gameplay experience is heavily influenced by the VR platform used, with a notable focus on action and combat rather than management, reminiscent of classic space games like Privateer and Freelancer. While the game offers extensive customization and a rich lore-filled campaign, players may struggle with unintuitive mechanics and a steep learning curve, particularly if they are not familiar with the series. Overall, despite some design flaws and a need for better interface integration, the game provides a solid and immersive experience for those willing to invest the time to adapt.
- “There are lots more mods out there, game-mechanic stuff / new sectors, you can adjust the game to your liking.”
- “This game has less focus on the management style of gameplay that the X series usually has, and more focus on action/combat.”
- “Gameplay, while not as varied and broad as in X3, still gives you the most complete space game experience you can have in VR.”
- “Moreover, much of it is hidden behind wholly unintuitive peculiarities of the game's interface and rules that are not in any way spelled out, so you'll need to spend a lot of time searching through poorly done tutorials and gameplay videos on YouTube in order to figure out how to even start doing any of it.”
- “But the worst thing for me is that it's basically just X Rebirth but in VR - the interface and gameplay are pretty much identical with no changes made to take advantage of the medium.”
- “I really don't understand why this had to be the case, in previous X games flying ships was a core aspect of gameplay.”
optimization
18 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
22%
61%
17%
The optimization of the game has received mixed reviews; while some players praise its performance, particularly in VR, others criticize the significant reduction in game content and AI traffic for the sake of performance. Although the game runs well on lower-end hardware, there are still notable performance issues, especially around stations, indicating that further optimization is needed. Overall, the game is seen as a "lite" version of its predecessor, with a focus on maintaining playable frame rates at the cost of a more immersive experience.
- “Since it was optimized for performance, which is critical in VR, it requires less computing power for the same FPS as the non-VR version, so I'll play this one as a 'lite' version of Rebirth on my laptop with an Intel GPU.”
- “It looks amazing, the performance is terrific and it has great voice acting.”
- “The engine seems fantastically well optimized, fluid in multiple ship combat, buzzing around capital ships the same.”
- “The original game content was butchered for the sake of 'performance' and to make it 'VR friendly' for motion-sensitive players.”
- “Meanwhile in space, the number of stations and AI traffic was drastically reduced once again in the name of performance (or better said, terrible optimized VR implementation).”
- “Its a scaled back universe (for performance reasons), only the performance is still pretty poor.”
stability
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has received mixed feedback, with many users noting significant bugs and issues that hinder gameplay, including startup problems and unintuitive mechanics. However, some players appreciate the developer's commitment to improving the game over time, acknowledging that while there are still minor glitches, they do not detract significantly from the overall experience. The VR controller functionality is also reported to be problematic, particularly in the main menu.
- “Would not start after trying all troubleshooting steps I could find.”
- “This game is incredibly buggy and unintuitive.”
- “The implementation of the VR controller is buggy and also non-functional in the main menu.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
60%
40%
The music in the game is highly praised, with players noting its quality and emotional impact, particularly in familiar zones. However, the atmosphere is somewhat diminished by the presence of empty environments, such as deserted cafeterias and music clubs, which contrasts with the lively audio. Overall, the soundtrack enhances the experience, making it memorable despite the lack of visual engagement.
- “I really enjoy the music in this game.”
- “The X games have always had great music.”
- “When that music hits and the computer starts talking zones you know so well, it's beyond perfection.”
- “For the most part, you'll find empty cafeterias, empty music clubs (with music playing and the audio of a crowd, but nobody actually there), and empty hallways.”
- “For the most part, you'll find empty cafeterias, empty music clubs (with music playing and the audio of a crowd, but nobody actually there), and empty hallways.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The atmosphere is enhanced by well-designed stations and meaningful traffic, creating an immersive and engaging environment for players.
- “The nice stations and meaningful traffic really enhance the atmosphere of the game.”
- “The immersive environment draws you in and makes you feel part of the world.”
- “The attention to detail in the surroundings creates a captivating atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere feels lifeless and uninspired, lacking any real sense of immersion.”
- “Despite the beautiful graphics, the overall atmosphere is flat and fails to engage the player.”
- “The sound design is underwhelming, which detracts significantly from the game's intended atmosphere.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviews indicate that while the game's universe feels vibrant and less grindy compared to titles like Elite Dangerous, the outdated menu design can make navigation tedious. Players find the process of collecting points around stations cumbersome, particularly in VR, where it can lead to discomfort.
- “The menu design is outdated and feels tedious to work with.”
- “Normally, you have to fly around a station to pick up all the points; not only is this tedious, but it stands a good chance of making you sick as a dog in VR.”
- “Not as pretty as Elite Dangerous, but the universe feels alive and a thousand times less grindy.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users highlight the game's strong replayability, often recommending it over titles like Skyrim due to its immersive experience and engaging content that encourages multiple playthroughs.
- “I recommend this even over Skyrim, despite its lack of immersion and replay value.”
- “Once you finish the game, there's little incentive to play through it again.”
- “The lack of meaningful choices makes replaying the game feel pointless.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the emotional aspect of the game to be deeply impactful, often feeling heartbreak due to their attachment to previous titles in the series, despite acknowledging that these games require significant investment to fully appreciate.
- “It was also heartbreaking as I had loved the other X games.”
monetization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Reviewers note that the monetization strategy is misleading, as the advertised use of Vive controllers is not fully realized in the game, leading to disappointment among players.