I’d like to think I’m still rather new to Rimworld, well at least new in a sense of not having explored as much of what the game has to offer. Rimworld is an expansive top-down building and management game with a large variety of things that can kill off your little colony in the blink of an eye. A deadly herd of manhunting bunnies swarming your unsuspecting community causing them to flee in panic leaving children and loved ones to die? Yep. A cold so cold that it freezes everything, crops, pets and colonists alike? Yep. What about a tribe of a hundred or more natives flooding the map and poking every last one of your people to death with a pointy stick? Yep. These are the dynamics of a casual day in Rimworld, the game is amazing but you can always expect a couple of what just happened moments.

I decided to load up a brand new colony, picked a nice little foresty area close to a water source and created three colonists to hopefully survive this new world. First off we have Estellise, a gardener with a love for being outside and a massive green thumb. She’s a bit of a badass, rocking sunglasses rain or shine, an extrovert of note with a bit of a mean streak. Next, we have Mal, Mal’s a bit of a strange one, to say the least. She’s a roboticist and often feels more at home with artificial intelligence than she does with actual organic people. Mal absolutely hates animals to top it off but is often seen enjoying construction and crafting of all kinds. Then last but not least we have the girl with the whimsical hair, Fay. Fay loves all things mining and construction, she builds like a beast and sometimes avoids sleep to do so. She is a little odd with her aversion to light, so she prefers dark moonlit evenings over a bright sunny day, but overall she’s an incredibly loveable and social colonist.

The beginning bits of Rimworld are always my favorite, I love surveying the land, seeing what animals we can tame and where to build the colonist’s new home. However, it can be hard when you’ve just started a new colony, making sure everyone has everything they need, like a place to sleep and maybe making them latrines so they don’t have to potty outside. I think I’m always overly ambitious in designing the colonist’s humble abode, which doesn’t stay that humble for long, to be honest. I like spacious rooms, large kitchen and dining areas for the colonists to sit around and relax, I like space but it leads to the poor constructionists having to build for some time. For the first few days, all the colonists do is build the interior, craft blocks for the walls and saw wooden planks for the floor.

Once most of the home was done I finally started to concentrate on what was happening around the colonists. The first big issue that we ran into hit as soon as winter struck and the colonists, faint from the lack of food started to become agitated. Fay is a child at heart and what do children do when they are in a mood? Yes.. they throw a tantrum, Fay proceeded to throw the biggest tantrum in history, punching walls and breaking things left right and center. Right as I thought she would break down the entire house we were suddenly invaded or adopted I guess by eighteen British shorthair cats. I hate to say it and I don’t condone it, but the colonists were starving, all the crops had died and the animals in the area had dispersed for the winter, it was a cat massacre. The colonists rejoiced and finally feasted down on some roasted meat, enough to keep them alive for the winter at least.

About a week later we were once again adopted by animals, this time by a group of 9 pigs, sows and boars alike. The colonists decided to adopt them and start a breeding program, imagine hundreds of little piglets scattered across paddocks, frolicking in the newly sprung spring grass. This happiness didn’t last long, what was about to happen would forever haunt not only the colonists but me as well…