During the creation of X²: THE RETURN, it became apparent to EGOSOFT that the expansion pack had taken on a life of its own. With so many ideas from the fan community, waiting to be implemented into an already crowded expansion game and development of the X³ engine moving at a rapid pace behind the scenes, the conception of a full, stand alone game became the logical choice.

X³: REUNION utilises a new generation game engine, developed to immerse the player into the most realistic, living universe, ever experienced. Extensive development has gone into the X³ engine, making full use of DirectX 9 technology, to create dramatic visual effects and stunningly realistic starships. The economy model in X³: REUNION is more complex than any previous X game. Coupled with the massively enhanced A.L. (Artificial Life) system, X³: REUNION will present players with an ever changing, evolving universe; where a player’s actions really can shape the future of the universe. Community involvement has been extensive, throughout the development process and the launch of X³: REUNION will see many innovative fan creations in the final retail game. X³: REUNION will also be the first chance for players to experience the thrills of deep space trading on a format other than PC, with the launch of a console version (TBA).

“X³: REUNION will see another huge leap in the evolution of space trading games” said Bernd Lehahn, CEO EGOSOFT. “The decision to bring X³ forward, allows for many community ideas to be implemented. X² set a bench mark to be beaten. X³: REUNION will surpass this in every way possible.”

• Universe design:
  • X³:REUNION will allow much more dramatic changes to the map of the universe than would otherwise would have been possible. Sectors will look significantly different from what you are used to. More details about this shortly.
• Economy:
  • We are now able to completely redesign prices and productivity relations of factories. A new team of programmers from devnet put together a great concept for a modified economy and we can now combine this with some innovations to greatly improve the complexity of the X universe economy. Part of this project is also to allow much greater modifications in the universe. A war can now destroy factories and the game will automatically find measures to put the economy back into a balance...
• Graphic engine:
  • We plan to greatly improve the visual look of the X universe. Our new completely Direct X 9 based graphic engine will allow much higher detailed objects and usage of shaders for special effects.
• User Interface:
  • The user interface is another important reason for the move towards X³:REUNION. As you may have read in some interviews already, we have been experimenting with new menus and innovative ways to control the game. Many of these concepts however would not have been possible inside the X²: The Return framework. Everything would have had to remain compatible with the ways of X².