Which Is The Best RimWorld DLC?
At full price, RimWorld, with all of its DLC, costs around $155, or £120. In terms of quality, variety, and replayability, it is worth it. But it is a lot of money. Once you’ve mastered vanilla RimWorld, though, it is worth investing in a DLC or two. With five to choose from, all of which offer something worthwhile, there are plenty of options.
Below, we take a look at all five of the current expansions, by release date, to help you choose which plays to your preferences and which you want to throw some cash at.
Royalty (March 2020)
Royalty was the first DLC launched. It added a decent amount of content and new gameplay, although it now feels underwhelming because subsequent launches have been bigger.
You can earn noble ranks and psychic powers. Psychic powers change the feel of the game, essentially adding magic to the game, but it is done well if you can get past that.
Royalty also added the Empire faction, which offers seriously high-tech equipment which can either be bought or even crafted. Once you learn the skills. One for the role-playing lovers.
Ideology (August 2021)
Ideology adds beliefs and belief systems to the game. Each belief system brings pawn roles, and you can use dryad tree powers. The DLC’s questline includes relic hunts and a whole new endgame path.
If you enjoy the role-playing elements of choosing pawns and managing their likes, dislikes, and traits, Ideology is a great addition.
Biotech (November 2022)
Biotech is a lot of players’ favourite DLC pack. It introduces pregnancies, both natural and artificial. It also enables you to incorporate genetic engineering, including new xenohuman races. Another addition to the game brought by Biotech is the mechanitor. Mechanitors are specialist colonists who control mechanoids – automatons that can be used to complete tasks around the base.
Great if you’re into the idea of genetic engineering and creating super races.
Anomaly (April 2024)
Anomaly is an expansion that you’ll likely either love or hate. Anomaly adds serious horror elements to the game, with flesh beasts, blood rain, and more. The new enemies do add variety, not just in appearance, but also in tactics, and you are given more methods of fighting as a result.
Anomaly is a good option if you’re a bit sick of fighting the same tribals and pirates every battle.
Odyssey (June 2025)
Vanilla RimWorld offers a means of getting around the map and exploring, but caravan travel is pretty hideous, and transport pods aren’t a lot better. For me, I only caravan when necessary. Odyssey changes that with the gift of gravships. Because the expansion concentrates heavily on exploration, it also adds five new biomes, as well as wrecks and satellites in orbit.
An excellent DLC if, like me, you want to be able to explore more.
All the DLC adds something to the game, and virtually all packs interact well with one another. While there will be some you like and some you likely don’t enjoy as much, all the packages are worthwhile for somebody.
Androids are not in vanilla. They are added in the Biotech DLC, and there are some mods, including the Vanilla Races Expanded – Android mod, which can add androids to your game.
There are no babies in vanilla RimWorld. Pregnancy and babies, as well as artificial insemination, are added to the game with the Biotech expansion.
There hasn’t been any official word from Ludeon Studios, but every DLC launch has pushed player count up. It seems highly likely that a new DLC will be coming. There’s usually around a 15 to 16-month gap between releases, which means the next one may be with us in September or October 2026.
Ludeon usually gives a month’s notice before launch.
