Editor’s Note: In an effort to help our OA community stay sane during this extended break, the Olivian will offer an extensive guide of what to watch, listen to, read, and eat. These posts will be written by members of the OA community. If you are interested in sharing ideas for passing the time, email rschussler@easton.k12.ma.us. Stay safe. Stay sane.
People who play video games regularly understand that there are games that are sort of gemstones in a sea of sand. Games like Tetris, Super Mario, Minecraft, and the less popular ones of Terraria, Cities: Skylines, Stardew Valley, and now Rimworld joins those ranks. These games, especially the less popular ones all have a sense of community if one is to delve deep into the fan base, each with their own supportive modding community and regular updates from developers. They’re games that feel as if they have souls, not corporations pumping out the same game with a new number each year with limitless microtransactions. While some of the games listed are riddled with DLC *cough* *cough* Cities: Skylines, there are almost embraced of welcomed by the community even when the price is $20 because of how fun and how much dedication one can put into the game.
Disclaimer: I currently only have ~600 hours in Rimworld at the writing of this article which puts me in the position of not being a master but having some ground to speak on the game.
I believe that Rimworld falls into this star-studded line up because of its replayability and longevity per game. Similar to Minecraft and Cities: Skylines. The game is based around a singular save that one can play out and start over whenever they wish. Furthermore, the cost-effectiveness of Rimworld is insane, as most individuals can easily reach 1000 hours after enough time without getting bored. At $55.00 for the full game and Royalty DLC (currently only DLC at the writing of this article), the cost per hour of enjoyment is similar to any other AAA game but the longevity of Rimworld is was differentiates it. Playing maybe 100 hours in C.O.D. before you’re bored is $0.60 per hour whereas in my position, with 600 hours, Rimworld has a cost of $0.09 per hour that will continue to go down.
Now, onto the game, Rimworld is described as a story-teller game but is similar to Dwarf Fortress in the fact that it is a colony manager that has the end goal of building a spaceship to escape the Rim. It’s a story-teller game because each character or pawn you’re given to manage has their own traits, skills, backstory, health conditions, and interests. And it’s your job to assemble your own rag-tag crew of pawns to hopefully get them off the planet while defending from mechanoids, raids, and even interact with the monarchy of the Rim. This game has so many features and intricacies that it’d be impossible to describe the Rimworld experience in words, one has to face the experience themselves to understand the success, heartbreak, and war crimes of the Rim. This game furthermore has Steam Workshop integration were thousands of active and updating mods are produced and maintained every day. Furthermore, there is a very active subreddit and discord for this game that is great for getting in touch with the community. The trailers for Rimworld are extremely showing of the game and this video by Rarr is a great place to see the chaos of this game.