How much content does the game currently has?

[Sholf]

Hi everyone,
So I just found out about this game recently, and after reading the main page of the website I'm quite interested. As a big fan of Dwarf Fortress and Prison Architect, this game seems to be right up my alley.

However I also realized that the game is currently in alpha stage. As the term "alpha" and "beta" is very blurry nowadays (some games are pretty much finished and are still labeled beta, and other games are barely playable) I can't help to wonder how much content does this game currently has.

I totally understand the purpose of the alpha and I'm not expecting a full-content bug-free game, but I also don't want to spend $30 on a game that will bore me in half an hour.

So back to my question, how much content does this game has at the moment? Any rough estimate on how complete the game is? And for those who have played the game for a while, how long did it take you to "experience everything"?

Thank you in advance! 

[OnyxShadow]

The game is very playable already (already done so for 20+ hours myself). Its light on content obviously with no end-game yet, but its surprisingly solid for an alpha.

I suppose you could say you've experienced everything after 4-6 hours, but there is a lot to be said for the rogue-like nature of this game giving it impressive replayability even at this stage of development.

[Nasikabatrachus]

In terms of balanced, dev-expected play, you'll run out of RimWorld in about 50 in-game days. That's a few hours. However, I have repeatedly enjoyed playing colonies out to several hundred in-game days. While it's certainly not as deep as even 2D Dwarf Fortress, it still has a lot of what draws me in to fortress mode.

Now that modding is implemented, we're starting to see some rather diverse player-created content. Modding is limited for now, but it will improve over time, even from month to month. Check out the mod releases subsection and see if anything appeals to you.

[dd0029]

I'd go a bit farther than 50 days for a fully viable colony that can't lose, in the 70-80 game day range. That's usually when my defense is complete and hardened and I've faced a full M-16/Pulse rifle raider wave and taken it completely on my defense instead of sortieing out. After that, dying is really only possible if you deliberately screw it up.

I've gotten easily 30-40 hours of game play out of it at this point, learning, experimenting and playing with the different storytellers. When you consider the new South Park game is reportedly 15 hours and costs twice as much, even now it's a bargain. Then there's the fact that more will be coming in the near future and it's an even better deal.

[Monkfish]

I'd echo all of the above. Plus, something that's not been mentioned is the world generation and Storyteller. The first is entirely random and every map will be different. Some will be quite favourable with a thermal vent tucked away in a canyon with only one entrance, whilst others will be sparse and very open. This means that every colony will be different from the others in their design, with some failing spectacularly and some being quite robust.

The AI storyteller has multiple different personalities now, with some being quite easy and others just out to ruin your day. This combined with the random world generation means you can get many more hours out of it than the content would suggest (and there's more to come).

If you like Prison Architect, you'll like RimWorld and there's plenty more content on the way.

[ShadowTani]

This is the most polished alpha game I've played so far, and it's very evident that this developer have experience as a professional game developer.

The content is a bit limited in some areas at the moment, such as trade and research, but it's still fun and very playable as it is. The game doesn't get patched so often though (about once per month), but that's to be expected considering the distribution method it is currently using (i.e. over e-mail). However, on the other hand the game development is very transparent with a public changelog that is updated almost daily.

But yeah, this is definitively a solid title already, a title that will likely not give you too many early access headaches compared to other titles. Though personally I enjoy early access games whether they start out unpolished or not because I feel I often get several game experiences out of them either way - play a bit one month, then come back the next and get a fresh experience out of it. :3

[Sholf]

Thanks for the replies everyone!

Based on your feedbacks I decided to give this game a shot. Been playing for a few hours and so far I'm loving it!