RimWorld is a game where players build and manage their own world. It was created by Canadian game designer Tynan Sylvester and published by Ludeon Studios. The game was first named Eclipse Colony and launched as a Kickstarter project in early access for Windows, macOS, and Linux in November 2013. The full version, called 1.0, was released on October 17, 2018. Later, the game was made available for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One as RimWorld Console Edition on July 29, 2022, with Double Eleven handling the development and publishing. Instead of being a game that tests skill or challenges players, RimWorld uses artificial intelligence to create stories, allowing players to experience unique narratives through the game.
Plot
The game takes place in the distant future, where humans live across the universe but cannot travel faster than the speed of light. Planets and star systems develop separately from each other. Some societies grow technologically, while others decline because of war or disease. This leads to a wide range of technology levels among societies, from simple tribes to powerful machine gods that control reality.
RimWorld has several starting scenarios, but the main story is mostly the same. The player manages colonists who are stranded on a planet that is created randomly by the game, located at the edges of known space (called a "rimworld"). The player must build a working colony with the survivors. They must deal with the environment and dangerous creatures on the planet to survive and eventually escape. Over time, more characters can join the colony. These characters may be rescued after a crash landing, arrive on their own, or be captured during attacks.
To end the game, the player must either learn how to build a spaceship or find a broken ship with help from a friendly AI. Once the ship is built, the player must protect it during a 15-day start-up process. During this time, other people on the planet try to take control of the ship. After leaving the planet with at least one colonist, the game ends with credits. With the "Royalty" extra content, the game can also end by hosting the High Stellarch, the leader of one of the factions in the Rim, and leaving the colony with them. With the "Ideology" extra content, the Archonexus ending is available. This involves selling the colony to other groups for pieces of a map to eventually reach the Archonexus, a large computer controlled by AI that can manage the entire planet. With the "Anomaly" extra content, another ending is added where a character awakens the Void, the main focus of that extra content.
Gameplay
The goal of the game is to help a group of people ("pawns") survive by dealing with challenges from the environment and within the colony. These challenges are created randomly in a world that players can customize. As the game continues, the challenges become harder, and players can discover better technology by researching. The game is viewed from above, like looking down on a map.
Events in the game are created by an AI storyteller, which is a key part of the game. The difficulty of events, how hard they are, and how they change over time depend on the AI's settings. The AI analyzes the player's situation and chooses events it thinks will create the most interesting story. There are three preset AI storytellers: "Cassandra Classic," which uses traditional storytelling with rising and falling tension; "Phoebe Chillax," which adds more time between events; and "Randy Random," which focuses on randomness and excitement instead of a story. Players can choose from six preset difficulty levels or create a custom difficulty. These settings affect how severe and frequent events are, as well as the balance between positive and negative events.
Events can be simple, like traders passing by or spacecraft debris crashing, or severe, like long-lasting cold or volcanic winters. Combat events happen randomly, and players must protect the colony by either sending colonists to fight or building defenses like traps and turrets. Pawns can hide behind objects like trees or walls to avoid being hit during fights. The game has two save options: "Commitment mode," which acts like a permanent death mode by disabling manual saving, and "reload anytime," which allows players to save and load freely.
The colony starts with a set number of pawns, who gain new members over time. Each pawn has a randomly generated background, traits, and skills that influence how they help or harm the colony and how they interact with others. Players assign tasks to pawns, such as building walls or making clothes, with a priority system. During combat, pawns can be "drafted" and controlled directly by the player.
Pawns need food, rest, and shelter. They require places to sit while eating, well-made clothes, and time for activities like stargazing or playing games. If these needs are not met, pawns may experience mental breaks, such as becoming dazed, starting fires, or attacking others. A pawn's mental state is shown by a mood meter, influenced by their needs, traits, and background. Players grow food, hunt, raise animals, and trade to feed their colonists. Wild animals can be lured and tamed with food, though some may attack if taming fails. Tamed animals can reproduce, form bonds with humans, and learn commands like obeying or helping in combat.
New technology is unlocked by building research stations. Assigning pawns to work at these stations allows the colony to advance through a tech tree, starting with basic tools and ending with advanced technology like nuclear reactors. Once unlocked, electricity is generated using wind turbines, solar panels, or geothermal power. Other advancements include medicine, weapons, and drugs.
On December 20, 2016, the Alpha version 16, called "Wanderlust," was released. It added features like a spherical world map, time zones, factions with multiple bases, the ability to travel globally, set up multiple colonies, and customize world settings. Players can attack other bases to steal resources, which may anger the attacked faction.
Players can install modifications ("mods") from the Steam Workshop, official forums, or other mod sites. The game has an active modding community that creates mods ranging from small improvements to major changes in gameplay.
Development
Tynan Sylvester, born in 1986 in Canada, is the lead developer for RimWorld. He first learned about game design by creating custom levels for Unreal Tournament while in middle school. In 2008, Sylvester joined Irrational Games and worked on BioShock Infinite for four years. He left the company in February 2012 to become an independent game developer. While deciding what kind of game to create, Sylvester made several prototypes inspired by games like Project Zomboid, Smash TV, Football Manager, and Hitman. After testing the RimWorld concept with friends, two of them became so interested they stayed until 2 AM: "People were falling asleep but still wanted to play." RimWorld was inspired by Dwarf Fortress and Firefly, and its art style was influenced by Prison Architect.
RimWorld was publicly announced on September 15, 2013. A Kickstarter campaign for the game began on October 2, 2013, and raised $268,132 in 30 days. The first public alpha version of the game was released on November 4, 2013. From 2013 to 2018, the development team had between two and three people working on the project. The first beta version was released on November 18, 2017. The game officially launched on October 17, 2018. After release, the team grew to seven developers, allowing them to work on multiple projects at the same time.
A console version of RimWorld was announced on June 29, 2022. The console version was developed by Double Eleven, and work began "long before" the PC version's Ideology expansion was released in July 2021. Challenges included adjusting the user interface for players without a keyboard and optimizing the game for console hardware. The RimWorld Console Edition was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on July 29, 2022.
Reception
RimWorld has received "generally favorable" reviews for Windows, according to Metacritic, a website that collects and summarizes game reviews. The Xbox One version received "universal acclaim," meaning it was highly praised by most reviewers. Nomura Hikaru from IGN gave the game a 9/10 score, calling it "an all-in-one package for management simulation" and noting how it handled player failure and told stories. Sam Greer from PC Gamer wrote a generally positive review, saying it was "a rich colony sim" and found the mid and late game stages enjoyable, though he disliked the early game. Brendan Caldwell from Rock Paper Shotgun praised the game for its ability to create drama. RimWorld has been compared favorably to other management-survival games, such as Dwarf Fortress.
In February 2018, the game's creator, Ludeon Studios, announced that RimWorld had sold over a million copies. By August 2020, it was estimated that the game had earned more than 100 million dollars, making it one of the most popular indie games on Steam.
In 2016, RimWorld won Indie DB's "Indie of the Year" award. In 2018, it was named Steam's Top User-Rated Game across all categories. The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated RimWorld for "Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year" at the 22nd Annual D.I.C.E. Awards. In 2020, Rock Paper Shotgun ranked RimWorld as the best management game on PC.
A group of RimWorld modders, who created the Combat Extended mod, later developed Ascent of Ashes, a colony simulation game inspired by RimWorld. The game was originally planned for early access in November 2023 but was delayed until July 2025. Ascent of Ashes released in early access on July 25, 2025. Another game inspired by RimWorld is Palworld, an action-adventure, survival, and monster-taming game that released in early access in January 2024.
Downloadable content
On February 24, 2020, the first downloadable content (DLC), "Royalty," was released with the 1.1 update. This update added a new empire faction and psylink technology for colonists to use. It introduced royal titles, mechanoid clusters, 13 new original songs, and additional quests, body implants, and types of weapons.
On July 20, 2021, the second DLC, "Ideology," was released with the 1.3 update. This update added belief systems based on several memes, which form the core of each ideology. Each ideology introduced new buildings, apparel, quests, and social roles. A free update released alongside it added new raid types, animal pens, mortar barrels, and reworked caravans.
On October 21, 2022, the third DLC, "Biotech," was released with the 1.4 update. This DLC introduced a new mechanoid building mechanic, allowing the construction of robots named mechanoids that can assist colonies with labor or combat. It also added the ability for colonists to become pregnant and raise new families, as well as options to genetically modify colonists into xenohumans, granting special abilities and traits. New factions with xenohumans were added, ranging from super soldiers to Neanderthals. Pollution from mechanoids can cause severe damage to colonies by causing sickness, blocking sunlight with smog, and awakening hibernating underground creatures.
On March 13, 2024, the fourth DLC, "Anomaly," was announced on X. This DLC added more horror gameplay elements. It was released on April 11, along with a free major update that integrated popular mods into the base game.
On June 11, 2025, the fifth DLC, "Odyssey," was announced to be released with the 1.6 update. This DLC focused on expanding exploration and added features such as player-built gravships, additional environments for players to explore, and new landmarks, animals, and equipment. "Odyssey" was released on July 11, 2025, one month after its announcement.
Temporary ban in Australia
In February 2022, a new version of the game RimWorld for consoles was not given a rating by the Australian Classification Board because it showed drug use. The game was removed from the Steam platform in Australia without the developers being asked for their input. The developers said they did not know why the game was removed but were trying to fix the problem and get RimWorld back on Steam for everyone as quickly as possible. On April 20, 2022, the game received an R18+ rating in Australia and was made available on Steam again.