So I finally played Rimworld...

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We all have those naïve moments of self aggrandizing prophecy when we look upon ourselves and who we are and write the most bold of prediction for how we intend to seize the world by it's horns and stamp our mark upon this battered, sullen, life. We all have those moments when the glare of ourselves disgusts us so much that we hide and wrap ourselves up in halftruths and misquotes, believing that if we can convince ourselves then somehow reality will fall for the bluff. And we all have those times where we promise to do something that never gets done because we're too lazy, or busy, or lazy but calling it busy because it makes one feel productive. If I had a single copper penny for every time I personally have looked at a game and thought "Yeah, I'll get around to playing that someday", I may finally have enough coins to pay those stupid unmeetable prices at the shops. (£1.99? Who the hell carries around one 5p and two 2ps in their pocket? Why must you force circulate 1's and 2's into my change pile, economy?)

Now how this relates to games (See, I didn't forget ya) is because everyone on this planet with even a pasting interest of games has, either conceptually or literally, a backlog of games that they promise they'll one day get around to even as the passage of time makes it steadily unlikely that will ever happen. Oh sure, I'll play 'Spec Ops the line', just as soon as I'm done with Pathfinder: Kingmaker, Ni No Kuni 1 and 2, the Tales games, Xenoblade Chronicle 2, The entire retro Zelda series, Icewind Dale, Wasteland 1, 2 and 3, Persona 4 Golden and any other game which comes out between now and me finishing those titles. It's a vain hope, fuelled by lies, that somehow we'll manage to get around to everything that interests us. (Oh, and Hollow Knight. Really need to play that. And Deltarune.) I like to supplement my self lies by adding stipulations like 'oh I would, but I really would rather wait for a discount', but it's all the same waiting game nonsense deep down.

I mean was I really going to wait until Rimworld got a discount to play it? Actually, yes I was. Back when I first saw this diminutive-styled colony management game that seemed to tie complex mechanics with a challenging AI storyteller, I thought "That looks great, but does it look £30 worth to me?" And for years I've had that game sitting on my wishlist waiting for a discount which, and I'm being serious here, never came. The years went by, Rimworld starting receiving more heft and expensive DLC, and one day I just realised that I'm never going to get to play this game unless I bit the bullet and hit it full price. (Heck, if I held out a candle in the window for this game for that many years, maybe it deserved the full price all along.) So now I've finally gotten the chance to really dive into this curious little game and see if that which I thought looked great about it was true.

Rimworld is a colony management simulator wherein you take control of the overarching hive mind for survivors who are living on a rim-world of the galaxy. There's no infrastructure, central authority or easy egress from this planet, and so you are forced to scrounge around to survive at the bottom of the technology tree and work your way up with the knowledge of a space-faring civilisation to back you. A lot of the customisation for the way this game plays is handled in the game creation screen, wherein you get to choose a scenario (Which dictates who your people are, what sorts of resources they start with and sometimes even the traits they spawn in with), choose which of the randomly generated crew you want in your colony, (or just accept the fate assigned by RNJesus) pick which tile on a huge map you want to be your territory, (Which requires you to account for variables like 'farming ground' and weather conditions) and finally, choosing a 'storyteller AI' to dictate the pace at which the game will throw complications at you. (Think of a more involved difficulty selection screen.)

So even by looking at the starting menus it's easy to become overwhelmed and feel like the game is going to be a bit too much to take in, but after actually having played the thing: Yeah, it actually is quite a lot. Much of what makes Rimworld special is the sheer amount of ways you can design a colony to last the rigours of the Rimworld, it's tribes, rabid wildlife and harsh seasons, but in order to provide that level of choice the game needs to have a neat layer of complexity in there. Playing through a quick demo isn't really enough, I ended up having to go through an entire year and a half through the life cycle of my first colony, making mistakes and hardening through fire as I went, before I felt somewhat secure in what I was doing.

Although I don't mean to make it sound like the game is punishingly stringent in that regard. Honestly, once I got a hand of everything I was rather happy with the level of things that game automates. (Such as not needing the player to make and maintain tools, thank god that sort of crap work is left for the Survival games.) What the player is really encouraged to do is just create a routine where crew members are played towards their advantages (Put the people with the right skills in the right jobs and don't overbook work too much otherwise the essentials won't get down) and just enjoy the randomly generated drama that plays out before you. Maybe a former raider who was indoctrinated into the colony will spend an entire year trying to woo another member who doesn't want to hear any of it, leading to frequent depressed long walks for poor Raider-chan. Only for a year of hardship and tribulations to forge them into a tough power couple before either knew what was going on. Those two are getting married now. Never thought it would happen.

A lot of Rimworld is experiencing a world playing out for you, and not in the 'Sims' sort of way where you really are the one making everything happen because otherwise your braindead Sims would do nothing other than their bare basic functions all days, these toons are much simpler yet feel more alive and with genuine personality driving their choices. Of course, the rest of it is trying to balance the essentials and stocking up for the inevitable hardships that will start befalling you. How will you set up supplies for the winter months? Who will be the first to run to defence when the raiding teams stop by? What are you going to do about those sporadic physic mood waves that flare up every now and then? Are you even going to try and get your people off this planet? It's another example of a game that gives you it's tools and lets you do what you want, which I guess makes this a 'gRaND RpG'. (Never forgive. Never forget.)

My actual experience with this game is still severely lacking, and I haven't had the pleasure of jumping into any of the DLCs out there yet. (I feel like I should try and reach the endgame of the vanilla game before starting a playthrough with any of those attached.) But from what I've seen I would, in fact, encourage this as a title for people interested in the sort of 'colony management' style of game, especially if they want something that is straightforward and will allow you to have a lot of fun just making what you want if that's what you seek. Don't let the busy menus and intimidating hotbars fool you, just play the tutorial and really read everything they prepare, don't be afraid to google anything giving you trouble, and you'll find out this is quite the newbie friendly experience. Lot's of dynamic random gameplay and stories to enjoy, definitely worth my time and maybe yours too.