RimWorld

RimWorld x Abiotic Factor Bundle launched with crossover cosmetics, including a Randy Random hairdo and a RimWorld sheriff badge. Update 1.7 entered testing on Steam’s unstable branch, bringing the game’s planned Waylith Engine transition and major modding and performance changes to testers.

• Update 1.7 testing: The unstable build moved RimWorld from Unity to Waylith Engine, reportedly improving performance by 2–4x while shortening startup, loading, map-generation, and world-generation times. It also enabled newer C# features for more complex, better-performing mods; 1.6 saves loaded in 1.7, and most mods remained compatible.
• Crossover bundle: The RimWorld x Abiotic Factor Bundle added items from Abiotic Factor’s Anniversary update, specifically the Randy Random hairdo and RimWorld sheriff badge.
• Bridges and colony rules: Ancient bridges and Heavy bridges were added with zero market value, preventing ruin-generated bridges over water from causing large wealth spikes. Heavy bridges also became immune to explosion damage, while Embryos became forbiddable.
• Anomaly and Odyssey fixes: The June maintenance update addressed several named systems, including Creepjoiners, Ghouls, Fleshmass Hearts, Gravships, Void Structures, and Ancient Complex quests. It also corrected gravship jumps interrupting deathrest, babies being deleted during shuttle flights, buildings remaining on power nets after launch, and distress-signal maps generating without a shard.

RimWorld - Odyssey released on July 11, adding the fifth expansion’s gravships, orbital exploration, new biomes, landmarks, quests, animals, and unique weapons. Free Update 1.6 also delivered major late-game performance improvements and map-generation changes; Odyssey had been announced on June 11.

• Gravships and orbit: Odyssey made colonies mobile, allowing planetary travel and access to orbit.
  • Gravship Scenario: A new scenario started experienced players with a functional gravship while they faced mechanoids.
  • Orbital Exploration: Wrecks, satellites, asteroids, and platforms offered new locations, loot, and resources.
  • Mechhive: A new endgame challenge centered on mechanoid production and a powerful AI core.
• Odyssey world content: The expansion substantially broadened RimWorld’s map and wildlife.
  • Biomes and Landmarks: Glowforests, scarlands, grasslands, glacial plains, and lava fields arrived alongside more than 45 landmarks and 85 dynamic map features.
  • Dynamic Terrain and Weather Systems: Flooding and toxic rain created new environmental hazards.
  • Fishing and Animals: Fishing became a year-round food source, while more than 40 animals—including flying animals and prehistoric megafauna—joined the game.
  • Unique Weapons: Rare weapons gained custom names, traits, and abilities, alongside quests featuring legendary creatures such as the alpha thrumbo and hive queen.
• Odyssey colony tools: New systems expanded travel, construction, and pawn management.
  • Caravan Camps: Caravans could establish temporary camps while traveling.
  • Better Planning Tools: Blueprints could be placed over existing buildings for upgrades, and new planning tools supported base design.
  • Heavy Bridges: Stronger bridges supported larger structures over water.
  • Vacskin Gland Prosthetic: Added protection against vacuum for colonies owning Odyssey and Royalty.
• Update 1.6 and balance: Multithreaded pathfinding, improved lighting, faster world generation, and a reworked map-generation system strengthened large colonies; the Starjack Xenotype also gained a low-gravity gene, while Psilocap breakdown and inspiration chances were reduced.

RimWorld - Anomaly released alongside Update 1.5, transforming the colony sim with horror-driven threats, containment facilities, rituals, and a new endgame. The expansion also introduced major new ways to manage danger, from bioferrite harvesting and entity research to ghoul combatants and the ambient horror mode.

• Anomaly’s threats and containment: The expansion added Revenants, Metalhorror infestations, Shamblers, Fleshbeasts, the spreading Fleshmass Heart, the Pit Gate, and the Dreadmeld. Colonists could capture entities, research them, harvest bioferrite, and craft new weapons and serums.
• Rituals, cults, and ghouls: Cultists and Hate Chanters brought hostile ceremonies such as Skip Abduction and fleshbeast summoning, while player rituals added effects including Death Refusal, Psychophagy, Chronophagy, Philophagy, and Brainwipe. Ghouls became recruitable or creatable melee combatants, with augmentations and a Ghoul Resurrection Serum adding further customization.
• New Anomaly playstyles: Ambient Horror Mode integrated Anomaly threats without requiring the monolith, and new tribal progression pathways helped low-tech colonies participate in the expansion’s systems. Basic and Regional Rituals also added options such as Draw Shamblers, Pleasure Pulse, Neurosis Pulse, and Blood Rain.
• Update 1.5 systems and colony tools: Update 1.5 added books and bookcases, wall lamps, flood lights, hidden conduits, bionic jaws, ornate doors, couches, trait-based possessions, and the ability for downed characters to crawl. Mechanoids could emerge from water, while the Search Function, Mine Vein Designator, Clean Room command, and post-game-over wanderers streamlined colony management.
• Post-launch tuning and support: The May Revenant adjustments reduced their health and raised their minimum population requirement, while prisoners became eligible for sacrifice and execution rituals. Version 1.5.4241 delivered a smaller follow-up update, and unmodded Version 1.4 saves remained compatible with 1.5; many mods also received 1.5 updates.

Biotech expansion released on October 21, 2022, adding babies and child-raising, genetic modification, mechanoid control, new xenotypes, and factions. RimWorld Update 1.4 released alongside it, while unmodded 1.3 savegames remained loadable; later Ideology integration connected beliefs and precepts to Biotech’s new systems.

• Biotech’s core additions: The expansion substantially broadened colony management and pawn customization.
  • Babies and child-raising: Colonists gained cribs, growth moments, learning, child labor, and the ability to rescue or adopt babies.
  • Xenotypes and gene-modding: Xenohumans, custom xenotypes, gene extraction, xenogerms, and reliable gene inheritance became part of colony play.
  • Mechanoid control: Mechanitors gained control over new mechanoid workers and combat units.
  • Sanguophages: Bloodfeeders could conceal their powers, consume hemogen, and use Deathrest Caskets to enhance deathrest.
• New factions and world content: Biotech added Pigskins, Impids, Yttakin, Neanderthals, Dirtmoles, Genies, Hussars, Highmates, Wasters, and Sanguophages.
  • Polux Tree Seeds: These introduced a late-game way to suppress and remove pollution.
  • Ancient complexes: These gained high-value rewards including genepacks, archite capsules, and deathrest capacity serums.
  • Legionaries: Legionaries began spawning with needle launchers.
• Ideology integration: Ideology received new precepts tied directly to Biotech systems.
  • Bloodfeeders: Revered and reviled precepts changed attitudes toward sanguophages.
  • Child Labor: Encouraged and disapproved precepts affected child work speed and learning.
  • Mechanoid Labor: New beliefs altered mechanoid and colonist work speed.
  • Growth Vats: Essential and prohibited precepts affected growth speed and mood.
  • Preferred Xenotypes: Ideologies could select favored xenotypes, affecting happiness and acceptance.
• Gameplay and balance tuning: Gene-modding became more accessible through cheaper costs and more genepack options, while player-made xenotypes could spawn in the world and breed true. The Ageless gene stopped aging at 18.5, Tunneler mechs lost their special two-second damage stagger, and tox shells received a smaller explosive radius.

RimWorld - Biotech was announced on October 5 as the third expansion, but it did not release in this window; follow-up previews described mechanitors, mechanoids, pollution, gene modding, and children. Steam Deck support reached full release in April, while Ideology system inactive mode expanded to cover rituals and relic progression.

• Biotech feature previews: The October reveals were announcements rather than delivered content.
  • Mechanitor and mechlink: A colonist could become a mechanitor and control mechanoids through an implanted mechlink.
  • Labor mechanoids: The preview detailed paramedic mechs, lifters, constructoids, agrihands, cleansweepers, fabricors, and tunnelers, along with mechanoid gestation.
  • Combat mechanoids: Militors, Scorchers, Legionaries, Tesserons, and Centurions were shown alongside super-mechanoid bosses and three commander mechanoids.
  • Pollution, xenohumans, and children: The expansion was described as adding pollution management, gene-modified xenohumans, pregnancy, childhood development, and education.
• Steam Deck support: The March beta became full support in April, adding SteamInput and a Steam Deck configuration alongside improved touchscreen controls, scrolling, zooming, menus, and text input.
• Ideology system inactive mode: February added an option to use Ideology content without enabling the full ideoligion system, while June allowed drum and dance parties plus the Relics system, relic chases, quests, and reliquaries in that mode.
• Colony systems and combat tuning: Biosculpter operation became easier through automatic age reversal and one-action cycle initiation; Food management gained better vegetarian, carnivore, and mixed-diet controls; and breach raids, mini-turrets, mortars, and the Termite mech received meaningful balance changes.

RimWorld - Ideology launched on July 20, adding belief systems, social roles, rituals, and cross-cultural interaction to colony management. RimWorld 1.3 arrived as a free update alongside it, with Gauranlen trees and dryads among the expansion-era systems that most changed daily play.

• Ideology’s colony structure: The expansion gave colonies formal roles, player-controlled rituals, and deeper ideoligion customization.
  • Leader, Moral Guide, and Specialist roles: Colonists received formal duties that granted buffs, abilities, mental-well-being support, or skill bonuses.
  • Ideology rituals: Funerals, public executions, parties, and other ceremonies affected morale and colony storytelling.
  • Ideoligion Setup: Presets, full customization, save/load support, and customizable NPC faction ideologies made belief systems easier to configure and reuse.
• Gauranlen trees and dryads: Gauranlen Trees produced dryads after a colonist formed and maintained a connection, while the Dryad Caste System allowed combat and utility specializations.
• RimWorld 1.3 gameplay additions: The free version update expanded raids, animal management, and battlefield control.
  • Breach Raids: Enemies gained tools for breaking through defensive lines, while mechanoid breaches received dedicated breacher units.
  • Pens-and-Fences System: Animals required fenced pens and focused roles, creating a more structured livestock system.
  • Faction Goodwill System: Neighboring factions kept records of actions that affected their feelings toward the colony.
• RimWorld 1.3 tuning and continuity: Multi-Ideology Colony play became more viable through rebalanced social opinion offsets and easier ritual participation, while slave rebellion chances and conversion resentment were reduced. Version 1.3 also loaded version 1.2 saves and retained mod support across both versions.

RimWorld - Royalty released on February 24, 2020, adding Imperial nobility, psychic powers, mechanoid combat, quests, and new progression systems. Later additions expanded that foundation with Psyfocus and Meditation, the Custom Playstyle System, utility gear, and more quest scenarios.

• Royalty content: The expansion substantially broadened colony management and combat.
  • Royal Nobility: Added titles, throne rooms, permits, royal apparel, and title-specific work restrictions.
  • Mech Clusters: Introduced fortified mechanoid threats with shields, mortars, turrets, and environmental condition causers.
  • New Equipment: Added the EMP launcher, smoke launcher, smoke grenadier, persona weapons, and wearable utility gear such as shields and grenades.
• Psycasting and meditation: Psyfocus and Meditation gave psycasters a renewable resource system, supported by Dignified, Natural, Morbid, Minimal, and Artistic meditation focuses. New psycasts included Neural Heat Dump, Waterskip, Flashstorm, Bullet Shield, Word of Trust, and Neuroquake, while progression shifted to psylink neuroformers.
• Quests and noble gameplay: The Quests tab and data-driven quest generation system made quests easier to track and extend.
  • Shuttle Defense and Refugee Hospitality: Added major quest scenarios with new hosting and defense challenges.
  • Controlled Throne Speeches: Let players initiate speeches and receive feedback on their outcomes.
  • Permit Selection System: Allowed royal colonists to choose permits such as Food Drop, Silver Drop, Steel Drop, and Glitterworld Medicine Drop.
• Colony customization and travel: The Custom Playstyle System let players tune threat scaling, crop yield, and other rules, while Automatic Caravan Setup loaded food and medicine for journeys. The Utility Gear System, monument blueprint placement, and configurable quest rewards also gave colonies more control over preparation and progression.
• Combat and progression tuning: Mech Clusters received extensive threat adjustments, including delayed activation, shield charge cycles, reduced random frequency, and revised turret and mortar behavior. Deep Drilling moved into the midgame with lower research and construction costs, while Psycasts and drug mechanics were rebalanced.

RimWorld 1.0 was announced for release on October 17, 2018, marking the end of the game's development chapter. The same milestone introduced the Food Restriction system, while later updates improved multi-version mod support and mod loading.

• RimWorld 1.0: The release milestone introduced Food Restriction policies for colonists and prisoners, retained compatibility with unmodded Beta 18 and Beta 19 saves, and included bug fixes carried forward from Beta 19.
• Mod support: Multi-version mod support added version-specific directories, while compatibility with Zetrith’s Multiplayer mod was fixed and mod loading was optimized.
• Community content: Player-created names and translations were updated, including approved player-created content.