RimWorld Tops Steam Charts Thanks to New Release: “This Is Basically RimWorld 2”

Sci-fi colony sim RimWorld managed to crack into Steam’s weekly Top 10 thanks to the release of its new, positively received DLC: Odyssey. This fifth expansion for the game introduced the ability for players to build grav ships that allow them to zoom around the map and explore outer space. It also came with a host of other new content, performance improvements, and quality-of-life changes.

According to sales figures from the third-party website SteamDB, RimWorld took the #3 spot for the July 8th to July 15th weekly rankings. Sales for the Odyssey expansion climbed up to the #5 spot, meaning RimWorld held two different places among Steam’s top 10 sellers for the week.

While RimWorld fell short of knocking out typical titles occupying the top spots, such as Counter-Strike 2 and PUBG: Battlegrounds, it managed to surpass giants like Marvel Rivals and Destiny 2 —an impressive feat given the more niche nature of the colony simulation genre. The fourth expansion for RimWorld, called Anomaly, only managed to push RimWorld to the #5 spot the week it was released back in April 2024.

Odyssey also broke the concurrent player record on July 13th. Days after the expansion’s release on July 11th, player counts remain strong. Fans of the game were impressed by the continued care and attention to detail in the content RimWorld continues to receive.

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“This is basically RimWorld 2,” wrote Steam reviewer Hobbit. “The undisputed champion of PC gaming is back.”

The Odyssey expansion currently has a 95% “Overwhelmingly Positive” review score on Steam and is being hailed by some as the game’s best content release so far.

“Might be the best DLC for this game to date,” wrote Steam user Mello. “The gravship + biomes and features + other additions open up many new playthrough possibilities.”

With the release of the expansion, the game was updated to version 1.6 to accommodate new features while retaining compatibility with saves from 1.5. Even players who don’t purchase the DLC will get the benefits of 1.6 for free, which adds its content, balance changes, and gameplay improvements.

In anticipation of the 1.6 update, the modding community had already begun work on updating many mods to be compatible with the new version and expansion. Players also have the option to continue playing in version 1.5 if they are not ready to part with some of the yet unupdated mods.

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“For me, Odyssey with RimWorld 1.6 is the biggest and best thing [that has] happened to the game,” said a Steam review from user dantaeusb.

Officially announced back in June, Odyssey allows RimWorld players to build a flying base that can explore the map, new biomes, and new creatures. The expansion adds over 40 new animals that can be tamed and incorporated into the player’s colony. Notably, some of the latest additions include ones that can fly and rare, legendary creatures that are harder to find. Animals can also be trained in more ways than before to help the player’s colony and make the chaotic scenarios of Rimworld slightly cuter.

The expansion adds countless other features, including fishing, orbital adventures, unique weapon variants, outfit stands, water colonies, and many more. The expansion is available for $24.99 on Steam and various other PC platforms. Purchasing it from the official RimWorld website provides players with a DRM-free version that can still be played on Steam if desired.