RimWorld DLC: which expansion should you buy first?
Biotech, Ideology, Royalty, Anomaly or Odyssey? Choose the RimWorld expansion that fits the colony you want to build.
Pick the RimWorld DLC that changes the part of the game you want more of. Biotech adds children, genes and player-controlled mechanoids. Ideology lets you build a colony around its beliefs. Royalty adds psycasts and Imperial titles. Anomaly turns a run towards horror, while Odyssey lets you take your base travelling.
If you're still learning how to keep three people fed, start with the base game. Buying five expansions won't solve the food problem. Each one gives you more decisions to make.
These are the PC expansions for Windows, Mac and Linux. For the wider game, start at my RimWorld hub.
Which RimWorld DLC fits your next colony?
| What you want to do | Start with | What you're taking on |
|---|---|---|
| Raise children, change genes or run a mech workforce | Biotech | Childcare, genetic trade-offs or managing your own machines |
| Build a colony around a particular way of life | Ideology | Beliefs, rituals and expectations you have to live with |
| Use psychic powers and deal with the Empire | Royalty | Titles and Imperial demands alongside new combat options |
| Investigate and contain things that should stay locked up | Anomaly | A horror-focused run with unfamiliar threats |
| Explore with a base that can travel | Odyssey | Building and supplying a gravship, then preparing for new destinations |
Biotech: families, genes or a mech workforce
Biotech gives you three fairly different directions. You can raise children, use gene editing to change colonists, or put a mechanitor in charge of your own mechanoids. Pick it if one of those sounds like the colony you wanted to make anyway.
Children need care and time to learn; their upbringing affects the traits and passions you can choose as they grow. Mechanoids can take on work and combat, but recharging and producing them creates toxic waste you have to store or deal with. Genetic advantages also come with trade-offs rather than making every pawn better at everything.
That makes Biotech a useful first choice if you want more to happen inside the colony over time. If you're already losing track of basic work priorities, learn those before adding children or machines to the problem. Official Biotech details.
Ideology: decide what your colony believes
Ideology is for the run where you already have a particular community in mind. Create belief systems through precepts, assign social roles and hold rituals. Those choices affect what colonists expect from food, clothing, work and the way you treat other people.
An underground colony can welcome a life and diet that another group hates. A colony that venerates an animal has a reason to protect it rather than put it on the butcher's table. The rules you choose become part of running the settlement.
Pick Ideology before Biotech if that is what you want to build around. You get more control over the premise, but also more expectations to manage. It won't appeal as much if you want to recruit whoever turns up and keep everyone's needs simple. Official Ideology details.
Royalty: psychic powers and the Empire
Royalty adds psychic abilities, the Empire faction, quests and Imperial titles. You can earn honor and work with the Empire, but serving it isn't the only route to psychic powers: tribal colonists can also gain them by meditating at an anima tree.
A titled colonist can bring useful abilities and Imperial support, while also asking for the rooms and treatment that come with their rank. Psycasts give you more ways to handle a fight than choosing another gun. New gear includes jump packs and persona weapons; mechanoid clusters make you plan around linked buildings and defenders.
Choose Royalty if those combat decisions or Imperial obligations are the part you want. If the faction interests you, my Empire explainer also separates the much larger Vanilla Factions Expanded mod from the DLC it builds on. Official Royalty details.
Anomaly: build a colony around the horror
Anomaly brings a monolith, strange phenomena and entities you can capture and study. Your colony needs to investigate what it encounters and build containment strong enough to keep those discoveries from becoming everyone else's problem.
Studying monsters gives you access to new research, materials and rituals. The cost is dealing with threats whose rules you don't already know. This is the expansion to choose because you want that uncertainty, rather than because you're looking for a few more ordinary buildings.
If you'd rather spend the run farming, trading and getting attached to a small community, another DLC is probably a better first purchase. Choose Anomaly when you want the horror to drive your next colony. Official Anomaly details.
Odyssey: take your home with you
Odyssey lets you build a gravship and travel with it. The ship grows from a small flying base into living quarters, workshops and the other rooms your colonists need. You can explore new biomes and landmarks, then prepare for space travel into orbit.
That changes what you're building towards. Your mobile base also has to be something you can supply and take to the next destination. Exploring for resources, equipment and gravtech becomes a reason to leave familiar ground. Odyssey also adds wildlife and fishing.
Choose it if staying on one map is the part of RimWorld you're tired of. If you mainly want to tend the same settlement for years, families or beliefs may give you more of what you're looking for. My animals guide covers individual species. Official Odyssey details.
RimWorld DLC release dates and requirements
Royalty came out on February 24, 2020; Ideology on July 20, 2021; Biotech on October 21, 2022; Anomaly on April 11, 2024; and Odyssey on July 11, 2025. Release order doesn't determine what you need to buy.
Each expansion's Steam listing requires the base game; none lists another expansion as a purchase prerequisite. You can choose one without buying the releases before it. Soundtracks and Name in Game Access aren't additional gameplay expansions.
Think about a second DLC once you know what you want it to add. Biotech and Ideology, for example, address different questions: who your colonists become, and how they think the colony should live. That is a reason to combine them if both interest you, not a requirement to buy the pair.
Before buying a bundle, check which products it contains and which ones you already own. Compare the price shown for your account and region with the individual expansion you actually want. Don't buy four unwanted systems for a discount.
Free updates and mod compatibility
Buying an expansion and updating RimWorld are separate things. Ludeon's free 1.6 update shipped alongside Odyssey; you don't need Odyssey for that update's performance and quality-of-life changes. Fishing and gravships, however, are features listed for the expansion.
Ludeon's October 12 announcement puts 1.7 on the unstable branch while the main branch remains on 1.6. That is a branch choice, not another DLC to buy. My 1.7 explainer covers the engine change and the developer's compatibility claims.
For a modded colony, read each mod's required DLC and supported versions before changing the setup. A mod that needs Biotech or Royalty still needs that expansion; it isn't included with a Workshop subscription. Keep a separate save backup and check the relevant mod's instructions rather than assuming every existing colony will accept every change.
For individual mods, use my mods library. Practical colony help is in the guide directory.
Sources and scope
Checked against Ludeon's official expansion catalogue and the five Steam pages linked above. Free-update distinction: Odyssey and update 1.6 announcement. Branch information: Ludeon's October 12 update 1.7 announcement.
Screenshots are official Ludeon Studios images from the corresponding Steam listings. These aren't my gameplay captures. Recommendations compare documented systems; I haven't tested every DLC and mod combination.
