‘Rimworld’ Ideology Expansion Promises Variety of New Belief Systems

Rimworld is a sci-fi colony simulator game aimed at telling unique stories, somewhat akin in general style to Dwarf Fortress. The game came out in 2016, and since then, has received largely positive reviews and praise. So perhaps it’s no surprise that developer Tynan Sylvester’s latest announcement excited many players — the Rimworld Ideology expansion. Here’s what players can expect from the Ideology expansion and the Rimworld 1.3 update. 

‘Rimworld’ Ideology expansion brings tons of new beliefs to the game

Rimworld is about creating stories with your colonies. The game grants ample opportunities for drama, near-misses, or perhaps even spectacular losses. Basically, riding the wave of whatever happens can lead to some absolutely wild outcomes. 

Now, Tynan Sylvester is upping the ante. With the Rimworld Ideology expansion, players will be able to create colonies with specific belief systems that alter gameplay in major ways. 

“RimWorld has always been about role-playing. For many years I’ve seen players create colonies with their own special themes – minimalist nomads, raiding pirates, mad cannibals, drug-worshippers. People want to have a sense of authorship over their stories,” wrote Tynan in the Ideology announcement.

To that end, Sylvester and the Rimworld team spent 15 months working on a way to implement these ideas and processes into the game proper, offering players a more robust framework to tell these sorts of stories. 

“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,” he added.

What’s more, the Rimworld Ideology expansion boasts some serious customizability, offering players a chance to make their stories truly unique. 

“You can mix and match different core elements of your belief system, and also customize every individual precept, ritual, special social role, venerated animal and weapon, culture and style, unique building, tattoo, clothing, background narrative, god, and beard preference,” Sylvester explained.

The Ideology expansion brings new content

Naturally, all of these new opportunities for belief systems come with other types of additional content. Rimworld will see the addition of new quests, creatures, machines, and even endings. 

“There is a whole new quest category that presents a sort of Indiana Jones roguelike-type challenge of breaking into ancient structures and facing unknown dangers inside to get ancient treasure,” Tynan explained.

“There are new dryad creatures who have symbiotic relationships with special trees and who can be controlled and grown in different castes to do different things. There is spacedrone hacking and terminal-worshipping tribal villages and the new archonexus ending.”

Sylvester went on to add that Rimworld modders will be happy with the update, as it’s very modder friendly.

Some changes already available in ‘Rimworld’ beta

The Rimworld Ideology expansion also comes with the 1.3 update, which will feature additional changes to the game, many of them focused on quality of life. 

This will include a pens-and-fences system for animals and more productive roles for animals to fulfill within your colony. Egg boxes and straw matting terrain will help make these areas more visually coherent. 

The update added additional search bars for ease of access, and the faction goodwill system now has a more robust historical system in place, so your friends and foes can remember exactly why they love or hate you.

The update also includes new breach raids, creating more dynamic types of enemy attacks. Positioning fighters can be done with a click and drag, rescuing downed colonists has been streamlined, and carrying medicine for use on the battlefield will no longer need a mod.

The announcement came on July 4, with Sylvester mentioning a likely two-week rollout wait. That would put the potential release on the weekend of July 18. Sylvester cautioned that there could be changes to that schedule.