Is Vanilla RimWorld Worth Playing Or Does It Need Mods And DLC?
It’s been 8 years since the launch of RimWorld. In that time, the game has seen the launch of 5 DLCs that enhance the game with genuinely new systems.
You can add anything from psychic powers to gravships, which effectively operate as mobile bases. RimWorld also has one of the most active modding communities on the planet. There are literally tens of thousands of mods on Steam Workshop alone.
But, some of us don’t have a $150 budget, or the inclination to fanny around with dozens of mods to get the “ultimate experience”. So, is the game worth playing completely vanilla? That is, with no DLC and not a single mod.
RimWorld – Colony Management Sim
First, the basics. RimWorld is a colony manager. It went into early access in 2013 before enjoying a full release in 2018. It also launched on consoles in 2022 – RimWorld Console Edition gets very good reviews (Metacritic link).
Testament to the game’s quality, and the quality of its DLC, is its steady increase in player count, culminating in a peak player count of 96,000 in July 2025, when the Odyssey DLC launched.
The base game is currently available on Steam for $28, or roughly £23.
It is a colony management game. You control a number of pawns, who have crash-landed on the planet of RimWorld. The aim, simply, is to survive. Vanilla does have a true end goal of getting off the planet on a ship, but you don’t HAVE to do that.
There isn’t a traditional storyline arc. Instead, RimWorld offers a choice of storytellers, who will give you a series of events. They can be anything from mundane events like weddings, to packs of manhunting Yorkshire Terriers or Mechhive invasions.
The storyteller you choose will determine the frequency and difficulty of the events.
Pawns
The story is also driven, to some extent, by the pawns you choose when you drop in.
All have skills, interests, and backstory-driven traits. Traits can be positive, like Fast Learner. Or negative, like the frankly hideous Pyromaniac trait.
Fortunately, you do get to choose your pawns and can randomise individual pawns to ensure you get dealt the hand you want. But, if you opt for the default game type with 3 characters, you will never get the perfect deck, and it starts to feel a little cheesy once you’ve randomised several dozen times.
Throughout the game, pawns will more than likely die, and you can recruit additional pawns, both voluntarily and involuntarily. You can also buy and sell pawns. Some players might consider that morally questionable, and it isn’t the only morally questionable decision you’ll have to make.
Survive At All Costs
You can turn to cannibalism, use human leather to make clothes, or summarily execute prisoners and even your own colonists.
Whatever it takes to survive. Right?
As well as choosing pawns, you can also choose where in the world to spawn. Your choice will not only determine the types of materials available but also factors like weather conditions, growing season length, and even toxicity.
Colony Progression
When the game starts, you are chronically undergeared. But, through crafting, research, trading, and quest rewards, you will become better equipped to handle everything the world throws at you.
Your colonists are quite forgiving in the beginning, but they will become more demanding. And it’s down to you to meet those demands.
Pawns experience buffs and debuffs for just about everything. Pawns in pain suffer mood penalties. Those who share a bed with a lover get a positive buff. The ate without a table penalty is something of a running joke in the RimWorld community.
If any pawns become too dissatisfied, they can suffer mental breaks – insulting sprees, dazes, berserk rages, or even murderous rampages.
Some Glitches
The game’s mechanics are excellent, but they don’t always work perfectly. It’s relatively easy to build a table, for example, but even when you have one in your hastily erected barracks, pawns sometimes avoid using it.
And, when you use manual priorities in your work scheduling (which you definitely should be doing), you might need to finagle everything to get your pawns running how you want them.
Is RimWorld Good Without The DLC?
It isn’t without its problems, but RimWorld is a brilliant game with or without DLC. The random nature of the storyteller quests, the choice of pawns and spawn area, and the many ways you can choose to play while you’re in the world mean there is huge replayability.
The quality of the DLC means it is also well worth buying in the future, but vanilla is an excellent way to get used to the core mechanics and to see whether you enjoy the game. The base game is also excellent value for money in its own right, so it is worth picking up if you like colony management games. Try it. You probably won’t regret it.
RimWorld only needs a Core 2 Duo processor, or equivalent, which is pretty much any modern chip. 4GM of RAM is also pretty standard. You can also buy RimWorld on consoles.
Without mods, RimWorld is strictly a single-player game. However, some mods add multiplayer elements to the game.
RimWorld originally launched on PC in 2018. A console edition launched in 2022, but only on Xbox and PlayStation. The game is not available on Switch.
With all five paid DLCs, RimWorld costs around $155, or £120. However, you can regularly find discounts on the base game and each of the DLC packs.
