Game profile
RimWorld
A colony of crash landed space travelers must survive on an alien planet while randomly generated events keep creating new stories of friendship, betrayal and disaster. The depth of the simulation makes every colony its own unique drama.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is City builder / Survival, set in a science fiction world. Visually it is built on pixel art, and the overall tone stays somewhere between light and heavy. The structure is guided rather than open, so you are moved along instead of dropped into a map. It rewards long uninterrupted stretches more than quick check-ins.
It is genuinely demanding, and repeated failure is part of how it is designed. The story matters and gives the mechanics a frame, without taking over. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available broadly, on 4 platforms. It sits in the mid price bracket.
What stands out
- Emergent storytelling
- Deep colony simulation
- Strong modding support
This fits you if
- you want to live through a story, not just play a system
- you would rather build something than be told what to do
- levelling, looting and optimising a build is your kind of loop
- you can sit down for a proper long stretch without interruptions
- you want real resistance and are fine with dying a lot
- you play alone and want a complete experience without other people
Look elsewhere if
- you want to relax and not be punished for mistakes
- you want a game with a clear ending you can reach
- you only ever get short bursts of play time
- pixel art puts you off
How long is RimWorld?
This one has no finish line. It is built to be played for years, in whatever rhythm suits you.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 87 out of 100, which puts it above 71 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 341 overall. That is mid-table for this database. Not a standout at the top, but solidly rated.
For comparison, City builder averages 81 points across the database, so this one sits 6 points above its own genre. The figure rests on 309 collected ratings.
Released in 2018, so it has 8 years behind it. Usually cheap by now and the rough edges are long fixed.
The facts
- Release year
- 2018
- Genres
- City builder, Survival, Simulation
- Playtime
- Endless game
- Difficulty
- Demanding, punishing
- Story weight
- Present and relevant
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Sci-fi
- Visual style
- Pixel art
- Price bracket
- Mid price
- Platforms
- PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
- Critic rating
- 87 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| RimWorld | 2018 | Endless game | 87 | Mid price |
| Dwarf Fortress | 2022 | Endless game | 90 | Budget |
| Oxygen Not Included | 2019 | approx. 150 hrs. | 86 | Mid price |
| Going Medieval | 2026 | approx. 40 hrs. | n/a | Mid price |
If you liked this, try these
- 90/100 Dwarf Fortress Shared: City builder, Survival, rated higher
- 86/100 Oxygen Not Included Shared: City builder, Survival, Sci-fi
- n/a Going Medieval Shared: City builder, Survival, shorter
- 74/100 Surviving Mars Shared: City builder, Survival, Sci-fi, shorter
- n/a Timberborn Shared: City builder, Survival, shorter
- n/a Voidtrain Shared: Survival, Simulation, Sci-fi