RimWorld Ideology Expansion And 1.3 Update Now Live: Here Are The Best Bits

RimWorld's latest expansion, Ideology, is now available, alongside a free update that brings the game to version 1.3. Both the expansion and the 1.3 update add a lot of content to the game, so even if you aren't buying Ideology right away (or at all), it sounds like there's plenty of new things awaiting you in RimWorld today.

Interestingly enough, while RimWorld players knew that the Ideology expansion was landing today, we weren't clear on the precise time the expansion was launching. Up until RimWorld: Ideology went live, the Steam store listing for the game simply said that it was "coming soon." RimWorld: Ideology launched seemingly as the Steam store reset, and it runs $19.99.

The new expansion adds a bunch of content based around – you guessed it – the ideology of your colonists. On the Steam store page for Ideology, which is where all of the new content and systems are detailed, developer Ludeon Studios explains that each ideology will be built around 1-4 core memes or central ideas. These can apparently be anything, whether it's the belief that pain is virtuous, that humans can only progress by merging with technology, or even that the strong should take what they can from the weak.

Those memes will lead to the development of precepts in the followers of that ideology, which are described as "a specific rule or guideline which affects a specific behavior or preference." Through those patch notes, we also learn about the process of converting colonists to an ideology, the social roles that will develop in communities, and the rituals that can be carried out. The description for the Ideology expansion is very dense, so it certainly seems there's a lot of new content included in this expansion.

Launching alongside the Ideology expansion is the version 1.3 update, with Ludeon publishing a changelog to Google Docs. There seems to be a lot of new content in this update, including a new pen system for animals and new breach raids that will see attackers and mechs attempting to get to your colonists by breaching their defenses. There have also been a ton of adjustments made to both the base game and the Royalty expansion, along with a number of bug fixes.

So, in the end, it sure looks like RimWorld fans have a lot of new content coming their way today. You can see all of the changes by checking out the links above, but prepare yourself for some reading because the patch notes for both the expansion and the update are very long.