On a planet filled with different factions, animals and dangers, you are tasked with the survival of a colony. Will they survive, or is everyone doomed to die of starvation, disease, or hostile takeover?
Originally released for PC, RimWorld is a top-down construction and management sim. For each game, you set the world seed you want to play on, adjusting individual settings such as the overall temperature of the world, how populated it is, and so on.
You may also choose the starting conditions of your settlers. You can opt for a larger group of more primitive people or a medium-sized group with considerable technological knowledge. You may even decide to set out with a rich explorer type to discover new lands on your own. Whichever scenario you choose, you’ll be presented with a variety of settlers to select for the playthrough; each with individual stats and personality traits. Some are good, others not so much.
At startup RimWorld Console Edition for the first time, the game explicitly tells you not to go for perfect stats as it makes the story more exciting if the characters have flaws.
Another important decision to make is which AI will be the “storyteller” for the run. This is what sets RimWorld Console Edition apart from other basic management games. There are three narrators, each with their own story style; a classic style where the game gradually scales up in difficulty, the chill style that gives more breathing room, or random where anything can happen, at any time.
Finally, you can choose how often the game allows saves. You can set it to allow save at any time, or if you’re looking for a bigger challenge, you can confirm that things are only saved when you exit.
After all that, it’s time to start playing. The tutorial for RimWorld Console Edition is simple. A bit too basic really, because after I finished it I felt like I only knew the bare minimum to get started. After that it took a few hours to get used to the mechanics and even after sinking deep into the game in double digits I still feel like I have a lot to learn.
This will be the biggest deterrent for many gamers. RimWorld as a whole has a steep learning curve and the Console edition doesn’t do much to mitigate this. I think it’s different on PC as there is the option to use alt-tab and then get google to find out what to do. Playing on console doesn’t have that luxury, so you either have to grab your phone or pull out your laptop to figure out the mechanics.
I wish there was a more advanced tutorial that covered the mechanics not discussed in depth with the current ones.
That aside, RimWorld is highly addictive. As I built my first base, set aside crop plots and invented refrigeration, I grew more and more excited about what I could do. I love base games and I always pick a difficulty that gives me a challenge while trying to build the best base possible.
I say attempt because Rimworld is tough. Just when I seemed to be getting a handle on things, the AI threw a few hurdles in my path. A cougar would attack my settlers and my crops would get sick. But it wasn’t just the AI that drew me in, my folly of putting it outside in the rain would cause explosions and fires. Fortunately, the rain kept my colony from burning down there and then.
It was at that moment that I decided to invade an energy storage building. With this I had strength, I had frozen food that wouldn’t spoil, and my settlers started to be happy again. Then the raids started. Tribes that wanted my corn would attack, and they always seemed to attack that one person who was a pacifist. Before I knew it, poor Clementine was unconscious and being dragged off to who knows where.
As if that was bad enough, the cougar returned, mad at Sam for chasing him away. Sam was still recovering from previous wounds, so she didn’t stand a chance. She was knocked out and then the cougar jumped up and left. It seemed like a stroke of luck, but Clementine was our only doctor, so Sam was on the field bleeding. She couldn’t hold on and succumbed to her injuries.
Which left me with one last settler, oh what is his face, I don’t even remember his name because he was so useless. He did no chores, was not a doctor, and before long he was left to his own devices.
My colony was dead.
But I wanted more, so I started it up with a different scenario. The names were different and so were the circumstances, but it was a whole new group of people with a whole new story to tell. They too died, and so did the next group.
Even with the setbacks, you’ll want to play RimWorld Console Edition more and more. Rimworld is a game built on failure. The wins get sweeter with the losses, and the losses all the more devastating when you realize you’ve lost a settler you’ve trained and care about.
The mechanics are fun, simple to understand but complicated to master. You can build structures, benches, tools and more. There are also missions to complete that allow you to recruit more people, earn recognition from other factions, and so on.
There are many systems to learn, but there are also places where RimWorld falls short. One mechanic I wish was in play is the ability to have children and expand the colony naturally. But unfortunately that is not part of the functionality of the base game. Which brings us to the biggest gap between RimWorld Console Edition and the original PC version – no mod support.
RimWorld has remained relevant to this day because of its modding community. I’m ecstatic that it made its way to Xbox, but it’s disappointing that there are limits then. You’ll want to do certain things and feel frustrated when you’re told you can’t, especially if a PC mod would allow it.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s plenty of content to enjoy in the RimWorld Console Edition base game. But the modding community has been adding a lot to the offering and I wouldn’t be surprised if that has caused the developers to put some ideas on the back burner. However, that’s just a conjecture on my part.
You will have a lot of fun playing RimWorld Console Edition and it is a game that you will return to constantly. The PC version will no doubt continue to be superior thanks to the fans who have built so much content for it, but we should be thankful that we can now launch RimWorld on our consoles.
If you like building and managing sims, I highly recommend RimWorld Console Edition.
RimWorld Console Edition is available from the Xbox store
On a planet filled with different factions, animals and dangers, you are tasked with the survival of a colony. Will they survive, or is everyone doomed to die of starvation, disease, or hostile takeover? Originally released for PC, RimWorld is a top-down construction and management sim. For each game, you set the world seed you want to play on, adjusting individual settings such as the overall temperature of the world, how populated it is, and so on. You may also choose the starting conditions of your settlers. You can accommodate a larger group of more primitive…
RimWorld Console Edition Review
RimWorld Console Edition Review
2022-08-07
Ryan Taylor
Advantages:
- Huge replayability
- Big challenge
- Deep systems that reward learning and experimentation
cons:
- Tutorial doesn’t cover many of the systems
- PC version surpasses the console edition
Information:
- Thank you very much for the free copy of the game go to – Double Eleven
- Formats – Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5
- Version Reviewed – Xbox One on Xbox Series X
- Release Date – July 29, 2022
- Introductory price from – £34.99
TXH score
4.5/5
Advantages:
- Huge replayability
- Big challenge
- Deep systems that reward learning and experimentation
cons:
- Tutorial doesn’t cover many of the systems
- PC version surpasses the console edition
Information:
- Thank you very much for the free copy of the game go to – Double Eleven
- Formats – Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS4, PS5
- Version Reviewed – Xbox One on Xbox Series X
- Release Date – July 29, 2022
- Introductory price from – £34.99
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