Edit: Game still good, better in fact. I'm still playing it after another 5 years, 3 DLC, and 4 major updates. I had roughly 300 hours in the game when I first reviewed it. I've on average put in the same 300 hours each year over the past 5 years. I don't have a problem, I can stop whenever I want.

Original, 5 year-old review (still accurate):

I decided to wait for RimWorld to hit 1.0 before I reviewed it, and I'm glad I did. I got RimWorld years ago, and at the time I would not have recommended it, as it had very little content. However, Tynan and the rest of Ludeon have been working tirelessly on RimWorld for just over five years, and it has become a truly magnificent game. Well, I say game, but, as the title screen says, it's more of a "story generator".
What I mean by that is it has three different "AI Storytellers" with various differing "personalities". Cassandra Classic will slowly ramp up the difficulty as you accumulate wealth in your colony, and raids will get harder and harder, similar to your usual fiction book. Pheobe Chillax is more laid-back, giving you long stretches of time between raids, giving you ample time to prepare for each attack, while also increasing their intensity slowly. Randy Random is as his name suggests - as the game says: "... what happens doesn't matter, it's all drama to him.". There is also a variety of difficulties, basically dictiating how cruel the storyteller is to your colony - from increasing frequency of attacks and other events, to reducing the frequency of new colonists joining you.

As for gameplay, it feels similar to other colony management games like Prison Arcitect (which the art style is heavily inspired by), Dwarf Fortress (which has obvious influence on gameplay), and Dungeon Keeper (to a lesser extent). every person ingame has simulated needs, traits, health, relationships, and moods. Got a person with a artery blockage? They have a higher chance to have heart attacks. have a jealous hard-working glutton? They'll want the best room in the colony, work faster, and get hungry quicker. in terms of game mechanics, there are more than I could ever explain in a simple review. (This one is already getting rediculously long!)

The game is by design very difficult, so if you can't take (lots of) losses while learning the game, you likely won't be playing for long. While the tutorial is well made, it leaves out several details new players would benifit from.

There is built-in modding and workshop support, and a huge modding community providing near infinite replayability to an already incredibly deep game.

Overall the game has come extremely far since I first got it, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone thinking of buying it. The community on the Ludeon forums and RimWorld Discord are both very friendly for anyone new to the game, and can answer pretty much any question you have, and most are willing to start a few new games to test game mechanics they haven't thought to test before.

I'd watch a few episodes of someone's Let's Play on YouTube (I'd recommend Yeti and Thet) before buying, to make sure it's a right fit for you, but I'd recommend it to anyone to at least check out!

Edit: Game still good, better in fact. I'm still playing it after another 5 years, 3 DLC, and 4 major updates. I had roughly 300 hours in the game when I first reviewed it. I've on average put in the same 300 hours [i]each year[/i] over the past 5 years. I don't have a problem, I can stop whenever I want. Original, 5 year-old review (still accurate): I decided to wait for RimWorld to hit 1.0 before I reviewed it, and I'm glad I did. I got RimWorld years ago, and at the time I would not have recommended it, as it had very little content. However, Tynan and the rest of Ludeon have been working tirelessly on RimWorld for just over five years, and it has become a truly magnificent game. Well, I say game, but, as the title screen says, it's more of a "story generator". What I mean by that is it has three different "AI Storytellers" with various differing "personalities". Cassandra Classic will slowly ramp up the difficulty as you accumulate wealth in your colony, and raids will get harder and harder, similar to your usual fiction book. Pheobe Chillax is more laid-back, giving you long stretches of time between raids, giving you ample time to prepare for each attack, while also increasing their intensity slowly. Randy Random is as his name suggests - as the game says: "... what happens doesn't matter, it's all drama to him.". There is also a variety of difficulties, basically dictiating how cruel the storyteller is to your colony - from increasing frequency of attacks and other events, to reducing the frequency of new colonists joining you. As for gameplay, it feels similar to other colony management games like Prison Arcitect (which the art style is heavily inspired by), Dwarf Fortress (which has obvious influence on gameplay), and Dungeon Keeper (to a lesser extent). every person ingame has simulated needs, traits, health, relationships, and moods. Got a person with a artery blockage? They have a higher chance to have heart attacks. have a jealous hard-working glutton? They'll want the best room in the colony, work faster, and get hungry quicker. in terms of game mechanics, there are more than I could ever explain in a simple review. (This one is already getting rediculously long!) The game is by design very difficult, so if you can't take (lots of) losses while learning the game, you likely won't be playing for long. While the tutorial is well made, it leaves out several details new players would benifit from. There is built-in modding and workshop support, and a huge modding community providing near infinite replayability to an already incredibly deep game. Overall the game has come extremely far since I first got it, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone thinking of buying it. The community on the Ludeon forums and RimWorld Discord are both very friendly for anyone new to the game, and can answer pretty much any question you have, and most are willing to start a few new games to test game mechanics they haven't thought to test before. I'd watch a few episodes of someone's Let's Play on YouTube (I'd recommend [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCP_Vs5WYfS2tZ1lqbqtTsWQ]Yeti[/url] and [url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCe2l-3DmNBw5i6_AqpWSi6g]Thet[/url]) before buying, to make sure it's a right fit for you, but I'd recommend it to anyone to at least check out!