RimWorld in Full

I originally wrote a review for the strangely entertaining survival sim, RimWorld, while it was in early access.  Recently, I decided to try my hand at rescuing a new group of unfortunate lost souls.  This foray hasn't resulted in success for my whacky crew, but it did give me a chance to check out some of the changes that have come to the game since its full release (which was actually back in October of last year).

For my newest survival adventure I chose the default difficulty and settings--three survivors, Cassandra Classic as my storyteller, and "normal" difficulty.  One of the big changes I noticed from the last time I had played was that the squad selection screen seemed more detailed--it's easier to swap out characters among the 7-8 choices you are initially presented with--you just have to drag and drop the ones you want.  I always try to pick a crew that has a diverse set of abilities and includes some of the most valuable early survival skills (I like to lean toward growing, construction, and doctoring).  In RimWorld it's always a balancing act between positive and negative traits--I decided to keep one character who was old because he had relatively high cooking and research skills.

The grave of Beefeater...RIP loyal companion.

The early stages of any colony are always a bit rocky and my colony was no exception.  Almost immediately a grizzly bear began hunting the companion animal (a dog--weirdly named "Beefeater").  By the time I scrambled my squad into combat, Beefeater had succumbed to his wounds from the grizzly attack--then, the tough decision about what to do with Beefeaters remains loomed over my squad--his death could provide my crew with some much needed sustenance...but, that seemed way too macabre so Beefeater was the first victim laid to rest in the settlement graveyard.  It seems like any predator animals in the area of your colony are much more likely to attack animals AND humans.  As a precaution, it's probably best to hunt them down.  I lost numerous tamed animals to predator attacks (and my colonists ate them...unless they were bonded).

Once my colony was fairly established and on the road to having some semblance of normalcy, I set about building up defenses and researching toward a starship to escape.  The caravan system also introduced optional world events--these random events give you the option of forming a caravan to rescue prisoners (as recruits to your colony), have peace talks with enemy factions, search for hidden/guarded valuable loot (including the AI persona core), or actually travelling toward a downed starship.  My colony grew rapidly from 3 to 6 residents due to some various events--one event that was new to me was the arrival of "wild men."  These are humans who live in the wild and can be "tamed" and then recruited into your colony.  You can choose to ignore these humans who will roam around the map and do their best to survive (chances are they will wander right into your settlement because of the convenience of accessible food).  I ignored one of them until they were disabled by the cold and then decided to rescue them (you could just let them die....it seems kind of evil, but if your numbers are too high....)

My starship is built.  Surviving the onslaught is another matter.

Building the starship is no laughing matter and it has become much more difficult in the full release.  Each portion of the ship requires materials that can be difficult to find and that require quite a bit of crafting (advanced components require regular components, gold, and plasteel...each ship part requires several advanced components).  On top of that, there is the matter of tracking down the AI persona core (you can wait for the ship event to happen or hope that you can take a caravan to a guarded AI core).  Once the ship is fully constructed you also have to wait through a "power up" period of 15 days.  During this period your ship emits a signal that is detectable by all the baddies and your base is almost constantly raided.  Through some creative save scumming I reached this point and then decided to give up.  Ugh.

RimWorld has been much improved since its days in early release and I was impressed by the number of new items that have been added into the game.  There are many more options for defensive items and weapons, allowing for a much more robust security system.  I was also happy with the fact that colonists will now organize and stack items rather than letting them take up valuable storage space.  Cleaning has also become a much more important task--certain rooms, like the hospital and kitchen need to remain sterile and other rooms receive a negative mood modifier if they aren't clean.

The main building in my colony.

One of my major complaints about RimWorld is the fact that gameplay can fall into a bit of a lull when you're between tasks or unsure about what direction to take next.  I always hit a figurative wall or boring at a certain point in the game and it takes some serious refocusing to soldier on.  If it has been awhile since you picked up this delightful survival sim, I would recommend checking out all the changes present in the full release.