RimWorld is an exceptional experience for anyone interested in the strategy/city builder genre. The game markets itself as a story generator, using the word “game” lightly. Playthroughs of RimWorld are dictated by a “Storyteller,” so they are referred to as stories. Through your actions, you dictate the fate of your colony, while the storyteller gives you challenges or rewards, depending on your performance.
In this review, I will go through some major selling points for this game, then give my thoughts on it as an experienced player. It’s no secret that I enjoy this game, having a little over 1500 hours of gameplay over the course of four years.
Creating a Story
While the success of your colony is dictated by your actions and knowledge of the game, the game recommends taking failure on the chin and living with the consequences of your action for a more interesting story. Sometimes letting a colonist die produces an interesting revenge scenario for his son, or letting a cabin burn down creates an opportunity to build something greater in its place.
The 3 Storytellers in the base game drastically change the severity and outcome of events. Cassandra Classic, being the base game storyteller, creates events, quests, and scenarios at a frequent pace, punishing you for success and rewarding you for failure. Phoebe Chillax gives plenty of time between major events but “Hits as hard as anyone,” as per the storyteller’s description. Finally, Randy Random is known for “Not following the rules.” He is truly random; he does not care about your successes and failures and will decide what happens to your colony at complete random.
The Storytellers’ effect on your playthrough can vary. From food to resources, to clothes and weapons, you can’t control what falls into your homestead. While Cassandra and Phoebe might drop medicine during times of plague, or parkas during cold snaps, Randy may decide 25 genetically engineered elephants would make for the most interesting story. These programmed storytellers make sure no playthrough is like a previous one.
What I Like About It
RimWorld’s endless replayability lies in its complex mechanics, multiple endings, and incredible mod support. Throughout the game, you are supplied with plenty of opportunities to end the game; through tons of preparation, there are ways to leave the “Rim World” behind. Most players tend to stay and strive to make life as enjoyable as possible for their colony on the Rim.
I particularly enjoy the passions and stories each colonist starts developing. While they have basic backstories of their childhood and adulthood, colonists start building memories of their times inside your group. For example, a colonist developing a rivalry within the group gets into a fight at the start of the month. After a mental breakdown in which they destroy some furniture in their room, you decide to change their job to “Artist” as they have a passion for it and will increase their mood. After weeks of slaving away on a grand sculpture, it comes out a masterpiece. Only when you place and inspect this sculpture will you find that it’s an incredibly detailed sculpture of them losing the fight that took place weeks previous, with a timestamp of the exact time it happened, and what occurred during it.
The game uses complex AI for the purpose of creating moments like these that make the world feel lived in. It applies to all factions throughout a vast open world and always finds ways to make the player smile. Relationships are tracked, rivalries are stoked, and families are created and erased depending on the inner politics of the world.
Troubles for New Players and Final Review
To end this review, there are a couple of things to note if you are on the fence about getting into this game. For starters, it’s very complex. There are plenty of things that have confusing or unexplained properties, such as fridges and freezers. The game’s “learning helper” system is very limited and does not show “in practice” examples. This often causes new players to give up when something isn’t working for them. For those new players, I recommend you regularly start new stories and try different approaches!
Due to all this, and so much more I’m not able to talk about, I give RimWorld a 4/5. It’s an excellent game but may take hundreds of hours before you fully understand its mechanics. Not for everyone, especially those who don’t want to spend a massive amount of time going through trial and error.
Sergio Brinkuis puts it perfectly: “Stories, stories, stories. RimWorld sets you up for an ever-changing game in which only your engagement remains the same, potentially for hundreds of hours. And when you’re done with the vanilla version of RimWorld, there are thousands of mods that enhance or change the game in such a way that it is all fresh again.”
Written by Coleson Dyck, Lethbridge College
