RimWorld, the acclaimed sci-fi colony sim from Ludeon Studios, is getting a third paid expansion, titled Biotech – which’ll be bringing babies, mechanoids, and gene modding when it launches later this month alongside a free content update for all players.
Biotech’s first big additions come in the form of children and reproduction, with colonists and outsiders able to get pregnant and give birth – either naturally or via technological means.
Once babies grow into children, they can learn through lessons, play, or by watching adults work, with players able to determine their traits and passions every few years. Children given more attention and better education are more likely to become happy and talented adult colonists – but players can alternatively skip the nuturing and use growth vats to pump out soldiers and cheap workers to exploit.
Alongside babies, RimWorld’s Biotech expansion introduces the mechanitor, a colonist with a special brain implant capable of psychically controlling semi-living machines. These mechanoids – which never get sick, or cold, or suffer mental breaks like humans – are grown in gestator tanks and can specialise in either labour or combat. The former can assist with everyday tasks such as farming, manufacturing, and repairs, while the latter can wield the likes of melee claws and blades, sniper weapons, and flamethrowers to aid in battle.