When we last left the little colonists all was well. They had a great food source, thriving farms, and tiny piglets could be seen in all directions within the safety of the fences. The colonists finally had bedrooms and a semi usable toilet which was definitely an upgrade. So that leaves the question of where did it all go wrong?

Well, you see, within Rimworld, things called escape pods sometimes fall from the sky, usually containing people and a variety of materials and goodies for the colonists to collect. The people can be imprisoned, treated and brought into the colony or left to die, it’s all up to you. The colony had already accepted one of these people from the sky and the man named Porcupine adjusted himself happily into the colony. Porcupine loved to hunt and was slowly developing a relationship with Fay, which surprised me as he wasn’t exactly a robot, yes he had a cybernetic arm but not a full robot. When a new escape pod crashed a small distance from the base, I decided to send Porcupine on a mission to save one of these pod people and drag them back to a hospital bed for treatment. Tragedy struck on the casual walk back from the crash site. You know how some say that when terrible things happen it feels as if time slows down? Well, this was not the case in this particular situation. Everything happened so quickly and by the time that I realized what was happening all hell had broken loose.

Rimworld notifies you of events with a variety of pings and noisy sirens when things happen. Me being the oblivious player and all-around distracted person failed to notice that Porcupine had been prone. I was happily forcing Mal to build a wall in a new section when I realized something was horribly wrong. My colonists were panicking and running around in a flurry in the front pen where the pigs were and Porcupine was dead. Not hurt, or down on the ground just straight up had a large X through his character on my colonist list. I turned my attention on the other colonists and noticed a bloody little splotch scurrying around beating poor Estellise to death. Well, this took a turn for the worst didn’t it? An abomination, of course, it had to be one of these little monsters. Abominations are the most irritating things to deal with in my opinion, the pod person that Porcupine had been carrying back had transformed into one of them and proceeded to attack him as he fled for his life. They are incredibly hard to kill and with Porcupine dead and Estellise now laying on her back watching the carnage unfold around her, I realized this would not end well. The front fence had been knocked down by this abomination leaving not only the colony but the piglets defenseless too. Mal bravely rushed forward with a small pistol but due to her lack of shooting skill it became a very one-sided fight and she too went down. Who does this leave to defend the colony, try and rescue the downed colonists and patch them up in hospital beds? Fay.. little Fay who is a known pacifist and won’t dare pick up a gun let alone shoot it.

Before I go on I feel that I need to add a very important part of the Rimwolrd universe. Colonists can get so stressed, mad, or just plain upset that they can have a mental breakdown. Different colonists react differently to their breakdowns, some can start breaking stuff, others begin to wander around aimlessly and a few can go on cleaning frenzies. Fay apparently falls into the cleaning frenzy category. Put yourself in her shoes, her sort-of boyfriend was just battered to death, his corpse lay rotting outside of the colony walls, her friends lay prone and bleeding to death before her very eyes. Whats a natural response to all of this? If your answer isn’t flying into a cleaning frenzy then it’s wrong. Fay finally broke mentally and began cleaning, scrubbing all the blood that soaked into the earth of her previously happy and safe home. Chasing the abomination who mind you had no interest whatsoever in the last standing colonist, cleaning the trail of blood that this creature left in his wake.

The worst part is still coming… what happened to the piglets? Rimworld has a lot of predators strolling over the map, ready to attack when they have the chance. That’s why when building I am so adamant about getting a fence around the property as quickly as I can, to not only protect the animals but the colonists as well. When the fence was breached by the abomination it left everyone and everything vulnerable. While Fay cleaned, I watched helplessly as a pack of ravenous white tigers funneled into the piglet paddock. I have seen some horrible things in Rimworld before but this one had to take the cake. I actually had to take off my headphones for the remainder of this day. Little piglets screaming and crying, looking for anyone to save them.. but alas their squeals fell on deaf ears. I had to end off this session here, I didn’t want to reload a save so from here on out it would only Fay all on her lonesome.