A group of strangers who were on the verge of death wake up trapped in a facility that requires them to do the bidding of a talkative sphere... No, you didn't stumble into a 20-year-old GANTZ recap: that's basically the plot of Timelines, the fifth DLC for X4: Foundations.

As expansions go, Timelines is more of a parallel story and exists apart from the main X4 sandbox (but still affects it, albeit less-so than previous DLCs). You play a preset character (an unfortunate chancer by the name of Harper Donel) who is "rescued" from imminent demise by a woman who offers him (not much of) a choice: stay aboard a ship on the verge of disintegration and die — or — accompany her someplace Harper probably won't like and keep living...

Following this no-brainer, Harper wakes up in a secluded, secretive facility where he is met by other unfortunates like himself: representatives of X4 races who made the same choice and must now complete missions at the behest of the Mission Director (or MD, for short) — a floating, spherical maybe-robot who sends the facility's inhabitants on (you guessed it) missions via a possibly-virtual reality, perhaps-time travel doohickey called the Nodus.

The Nodus gives Harper access to scenarios grouped in sections (called Graphs), the completion of which unlocks further Graphs and progresses the Timelines plot.

To address the Split XL contruction vessel in the room, Timelines really is an odd concept for what's supposed to be a DLC for a massive trading and construction sandbox game. When a single save state can last from 150 hours to actual years, making an expansion that requires you not to continue your existing save is the equivalent of a pesky, lengthy flashback in the middle of an arc you're really into: a detour rather than a continuation...

That said – as detours go – it's not a bad one.

While the missions are mostly uninspired (some races, a bit of mining and a lot of combat), they don't outstay their welcome, with most lasting about five to six minutes (though longer ones do crop up in later Graphs). Some missions also have rewards, which are accessible as soon as you earn the lowest possible ranking (one star out of five) and provide new assets for your sandbox save (such as 11 new ships, seven new systems, a couple stations and landmarks and a new faction).

For players (such as myself) who may be daunted by challenges they would rather forgo, rest easy: in a race mission full of 90-degree turns, saddled with a ship that could hammer down straightways but had the turn radius of a listing battleship, I finished last and only managed a respectable time on one lap and still earned two stars. Even if a mission may seem outside your wheelhouse, the bar for earning sandbox rewards is eminently achievable.

The facility component, on the other hand, is kind of entertaining with (admittedly) questionable VO work, but solid writing, trademark Egosoft wit and a dash of intrigue.

Your disoriented compatriots are also unsure how to interpret their newfound existence, with some becoming convinced they have been chosen by advanced beings (called "high ups") to alter the flow of history; others resigned to keep clearing missions in the hope that they can earn their freedom; and others still unwilling to wait that long and hoping to stage a breakout from the facility...

Interacting with them between missions and getting some much needed background on the facility and its inhabitants turns what could have been a Wing Commander Academy-like, cookie-cutter mission dump into an actual story and while the fact that it exists apart from your core savegame is a bit annoying, the experience – as a whole – remains worthwhile.

As has been the case with the previous four X4 DLCs, it's impossible to talk about Timelines without addressing the accompanying, free 7.0 patch, which further refines the game's already impressive engine, adds news ships (such as "modernized" L/XL vessels for the Teladi and Argon, new Ms for the Xenon and legacy Terraformers from X3); lets the player control select Xenon vessels (which deserves a gleeful squee all on its own); adds new systems and landmarks, new station components (like the observation deck and faction-specific manager's offices); a warmonger-y endgame you can undertake, where you challenge a single faction to all-out war and a list of bugfixes that might just be longer than this review...

Thanks to the continuous support and, frankly, evolution afforded by the recurring "patches," it's hard to call X4 a "six-year-old game" with a straight face, as every upgrade refines and expands the experience into something ever so slightly different and new.

When it first came out, I was reluctant to actually play Timelines: I was going to drop fifteen bucks on it, give Egosoft the money to keep working on X4 and simply not install it. But, greedy pig that I am, the promise of new ships (especially the Xenon ones) lured me in and — I'm glad that it did.

While the fifth DLC might be a weird one, it's still pretty fun to play and though the extra stuff for the core game is welcome, unlikely as it sounds, I'll keep playing to find out how Harper Donel's story pans out. Because sometimes, as with GANTZ, worthwhile experiences lie just outside of our comfort zone.

Note about capturing Timelines ships

Once you complete Timelines and get back into the sandbox to claim your hard-earned goodies — beware! Capturing Timelines ships by repairing their data leaks (with the space suit's handy-dandy repair laser) will claim the ship, but will also make you miss out on equipment blueprints for it.

Rather than repair the leak, switch to scan mode (shift + 2, by default) and fly close enough to it until 'decrypting' pops-up in the lower left of your screen. Once the leak is decrypted, the ship will be claimed and Boso Ta will let you know a new research project is available at your home base. Completing it (which requires some resources) will net you a blueprint for the ship and any weapons, engines or shields it can equip (which can then be manufactured at your ship yards). So far, this process has worked for all non-Xenon ships (the Cutlass, Odachi and Sapporo). For the new, Timelines-exclusive Xenon ships (the F, B and H), the process is a bit different.

Capturing the ships themselves, in the sandbox, nets you no blueprints. To get those you have to track down a Xenon H and destroy it, which should drop an item called the "AGI Quantum Data Shard". Picking that up will get you a research project that will result in the blueprints for all new Xenon equipment.

"Now, pig" I hear you ask "What do I do if there are no Xenon left in my six-year-old playthrough?" Worry not, dear reader: pig's here to help you out.

Kinda.

Maybe...

If you are playing a "modified" game (i.e. with extensions running and all); and if one of those extensions happens to be ehtschu123 Cheat Mod 1.0, from way back in 2020; simply find the extension's item database:

x4sv_cheat_database.xml

Which is located in your user folder at, for example:

\Users\username\Documents\Egosoft\X4\extensions\ehtschu123 Cheat Mod 1.0\md

Open the XML file with Notepad and find the list that begins with:

<create_list name="global.$x4sv_cheat_ware_list"/>

Then simply add this line somewhere within said list:

<append_to_list name="global.$x4sv_cheat_ware_list" exact="ware.inv_quantum_data_shard"/>

Once in the game, activate the Cheat Mod (shift + 2, twice); then press 5, 5, 3, 6 (CHEAT -> modify player -> add_inventory -> inventory items); find the ware in the list (called "AGI Quantum Data Shard"; in my game, it shows up on page 16); and add 1. Within a few seconds, Boso Ta will get in touch with you about a new research project (called "Xenon Special Equipment") and completing it will net you the blueprints for all new Xenon equipment.