Ludeon Studios have announced the details behind update 1.3 for RimWorld, along with the Ideology expansion.
The base game is a sci-fi colony simulator, where your three shipwrecked survivors are at the whims of one of three “AI storytellers.” Inspired by Dwarf Fortress, players can help their colony thrive however they see fit; fending off other tribes and aliens, crafting, replacing lost limbs with prosthetic and more, taming wildlife, trading, questing, liberating or capturing slaves, and more.
Along with the world being generated from the equator to the core, each colonist’s body, mind, and background are different. Will you pick the perfect squad who can handle anything, or a rag-tag group that will need to overcome their issues to survive? You can even move your colony, if you survive the trip.
Update 1.3 promises to bring new free content and improvements. Those who own the game can already play the beta via the Steam branch preview (right-click RimWorld on Steam select Properties, then select the BETAS tab for branch 1.3).
The free content will include animal fences, egg boxes, straw matting terrain type, a new type of raid capable of breaching your defenses with special tools (depending on the foe), and beards. Quality-of-life improvements include more search bars, a reworked faction goodwill system, drag-move formations, being able to carry downed people wherever, and colonist carrying medicine in their inventory.
The beta will also enable modders to adjust to the update, and even help fix bugs before launch. RimWorld will also continue to support multi-version mods, and can continue to play version 1.2 for as long as they wish. You can find more details and the full changelog for Update 1.3 here [1, 2].
Alongside Update 1.3 will be the Ideology expansion. This will focus on belief systems, social roles, rituals, hunting for ancient relics, and cross-cultural interaction.
Players will be able to have their colony act out a wide variety of belief systems, with different core elements that can be mixed and matched. You can also customize every individual ritual, social role, tattoo, god, and more.
“This expansion lets you create a new belief system and act it out in your colony. You can play as tree-worshipping cannibals who carve skulls into every piece of furniture, or blind tunnelers who shun the light, or transhumanists obsessed with perfecting the human form using exotic technology. Or be nudists, or drug-stupor mystics, or piratical raiders, or charity-focused givers, or pain-loving animal sacrificers, or dance-party techno ravers, or rustic ranching cowboys, or many many more.”
The expansion will also add a new quest category; presenting a “sort of Indiana Jones roguelike-type challenge of breaking into ancient structures and facing unknown dangers inside to get ancient treasure.” The expansion will also add dryad creatures, spacedrone hacking, terminal-worshiping tribal villagers, and the new archonexus ending.
Update 1.3 is set to launch “in about 2 weeks, though this could change,” along with the Ideology expansion.
RimWorld is available on Windows PC, Linux, and Mac (both via GOG, and Steam).
