How RimWorld makes misery and crisis a rollicking good time

polygon.com:

RimWorld is a bleakly comedic game that finds fun in three colonists starving to death, clinging to life under the shadow of a nuclear winter — or a whole group of beloved pawns being wiped off the map by a surprise raider incursion. It’s a game that isn’t interested in the concept of what’s fair, but what’s the most interesting. And this chaotic ethos is part of what has led the game to endure for nearly a decade: It’s not just a management or base-building game — it’s also a storytelling simulator that cranks out the wildest tales imaginable.

Games are often a power fantasy or an escape, and at first glance RimWorld might look like an idyllic Stardew Valley-esque romp. Pawns hang out and chat, gather in social areas to throw parties, farm crops, and cook them into delicious meals. While it’s certainly possible to stop the game at this level, RimWorld is notorious for its disastrous events that drive pawns to noble last stands or despicable deeds, thanks to the game’s wild AI story generator. Polygon spoke with Tynan Sylvester, the creator of RimWorld, about creating a game that can be equally compelling and cruel.

“We worked on RimWorld for six years to get it to the original final release. It took that time to make sure it was fully rounded — but there’s always new directions to take it in. It’s such an open simulation,” says Sylvester. Since RimWorld’s official launch in 2018, the game has received two expansions (Ideology and Royalty), which give pawns “belief systems” and add in royal titles and tithes, respectively. And a third expansion called Biotech,which will allow pawns to control mechanoids and raise children, will launch “in a few weeks.”

RimWorld is built on overlapping systems that link together. Pawns