Highlights
- RimWorld allows players to create emergent stories, with mods like Knights Of The Outer Rim introducing Star Wars elements.
- TiberiumRim mixes Command & Conquer with RimWorld's gameplay, while Call Of Cthulhu - Rim Of Madness brings eldritch horror.
- MarsX challenges players to colonize Mars, while Rim-Effect transports RimWorld into the Mass Effect universe with new skills and races.
RimWorld is a popular “story simulator” game, a genre of simulation games designed to create emergent stories based on the player’s behavior and intelligent use of not-so-random events. By default, RimWorld sees players managing a group of survivors who must turn the site of their crash landing into a prosperous colony or die trying.
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Since RimWorld is ultimately a system for creating stories, much of the game can be changed without losing its identity. The player’s colonists might as well be the inhabitants of a space station or astronauts trying to survive on a hostile planet that has never seen life before. Many of the best mods available for RimWorld do just that.
1 Knights Of The Outer Rim
Star Wars In RimWorld
- Author: Guy762 and MajesticMadman
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
Knights of the Outer Rim is a total conversion mod for RimWorld based on the Star Wars setting, and in particular on the Knights of the Old Republic RPG series. This mod has only been in development since early 2023, but it has already amassed an impressive number of features.
Knights of the Outer Rim changes the game to resemble the Star Wars universe in every way by adding appropriate alien races, clothes and weapons, droids, and force powers. In the future, the game will receive new content focused on the story, with setting-appropriate quests and a progression system to unlock force powers.
2 Phonicmas' Warhammer 40.000
Warhammer 40K In RimWorld
- Author: Phonicmas
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
Warhammer 40K mods seem to be everywhere, and RimWorld is no exception. The dystopic sci-fi series might have had its start in miniature-based war games, but it has since taken over video games. Warhammer 40.000 by Phonicmas isn’t the most popular total conversion mod for RimWorld, but it’s impressive, especially for a fan project.
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Warhammer 40.000 is divided into a few sub-mods, some of which are optional modules, and some are required for anyone who owns the dedicated DLC, with most falling somewhere in between. Warhammer 40.000 – Genes, for example, requires the Genes DLC for RimWorld, but it also adds new elements based on Warhammer lore.
3 Rimstation 13 - The Quest For Spess
Space Station 13 In RimWorld
- Author: Bendigeidfran
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
Nowadays, Space Station 13 isn’t a very popular name on the internet, but it used to be all the rage some ten or twenty years ago. Space Station 13 is a multiplayer RPG where most players actually role-play. It was probably the largest open-source game of its day. And now it’s one of the biggest total conversion mods for RimWorld.
Rimstation 13 - The Quest For Spess doesn’t adapt the game of Space Station 13 into RimWorld, as it remains squarely single-player, but it adapts the setting, the titular space station. A weird choice, considering that the most memorable feature of Space Station 13 was its mod support. Every server would have its own setting and rules. Rimstation 13 also tries to bring the emergent multiplayer gameplay of the classic game to this single-player experience, with interesting results.
4 TiberiumRim
Command & Conquer Setting In RimWorld
- Author: Maxim and Nephlite
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
TiberiumRim is the kind of mod no one would expect. It’s a mix of the setting of the 1990s strategy game series Command & Conquer with the gameplay and story premise of RimWorld. Command & Conquer isn’t really known for its story or setting, but if the success of this mod is any indication, maybe it should.
TiberiumRim transforms the setting of RimWorld into that of the classic RTS series, but it also adds a new storyline about Tiberium, the mysterious alien material that caused the world of Command & Conquer to fall into constant war. The mod also adds new weapons, clothing, factions, buildings, and so on.
5 MarsX
Colonizing Mars In RimWorld
- Author: Dubwise
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
MarsX is a space colony mod set on the planet Mars. It’s noticeable for being one of the first mods for RimWorld to become extremely popular. It’s also one of the largest mods that isn’t inspired or dedicated entirely to recreating a different IP inside RimWorld. Instead, players are tasked to create a stable human dwelling on the incredibly hostile surface of the red planet.
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MarsX hasn’t been updated in a while, as the latest version was released in 2017. Version 4.0 seems to be right around the corner, at least according to the Steam Workshop page, but it’s hard to know how old those promises are. As far as fans are concerned, MarsX V3 is a complete game, so interested players should probably not wait for an update.
6 Rim-Effect
Mass Effect In RimWorld
- Author: Potocki And Various Others
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
Rim-Effect is an enormous mod dedicated to transporting RimWorld into the Mass Effect universe. Some of the mod’s many changes and additions include new alien races, items and buildings, factions, and objectives inspired by Mass Effect. Like many mods of its size, Rim-Effect is divided into modules to make the experience easier to customize.
Some of the more interesting additions that come with Rim-Effect are the new skills that RimWorld characters can learn. These include many powers inspired by the Mass Effect games, including the series’ classic Tech and Biotic abilities. One issue the mod has recently encountered is that, perhaps after growing larger than anticipated, its dedicated wiki became outdated and is now offline. Navigating this massive mod just got a lot harder.
7 Call Of Cthulhu - Rim Of Madness
Eldritch Horror In RimWorld
- Author: Ryoma and Various Others
- Mod Link: Steam Workshop
Most of the popular mods for RimWorld are exactly what one would expect: simple tweaks to the base game, science fiction series-inspired total conversions, or new characters and events. Occasionally, a mod will wildly change how the space colony simulator works. But all those mods are still rooted in the same genre. Call of Cthulhu - Rim of Madness is not that kind of mod. For one, it’s not sci-fi, even if some of the RimWorld influence remains.
Another weird thing about Call of Cthulhu - Rim of Madness is its objective. This mod doesn’t just add cultists and monsters from the classic eldritch horror catalog. Instead, it tries to turn this wacky, sometimes funny story generator into a horror experience. That might be unusual, but if the fans’ opinion is anything to go by, this mix turned out to be a winning formula.
