RimWorld

Ludeon’s colony-sim is making its biggest technical leap ever: update 1.7 replaces Unity with Ludeon’s in-house Waylith engine — same game, dramatically faster. The beta is live and it’s also RimWorld’s 13th birthday week.

Update 1.7: Waylith engine 2-4x performance in tests Saves + mods carry over Beta live on Steam 13th birthday Nov 4
RimWorld on Steam 1.7 beta via Steam → Properties → Betas → unstable
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Why it’s trending: update 1.7 moves RimWorld onto Ludeon’s own Waylith engine — measured 2.2x faster late-game, a 1,500-mod load dropping from 14 to 6 minutes — and it’s playable now on the unstable beta branch. Ludeon also teased a second game on the engine.

What Waylith changes

Performance

Faster startup, world/map generation and ticks-per-second — testers report stable 120fps and ~900 TPS where 1.6 managed ~60/700. Heads-up: it is hungrier on RAM at launch.

Saves

Both directions work — 1.6 saves load on 1.7, and 1.7 saves go back to 1.6.

Mods

The vast majority run unchanged; some flag yellow as "potentially unsupported" purely because the version number moved. Framework rebuilds like RimThreaded already work.

Old PCs

Machines over ~10 years old may fail to run 1.7 — Ludeon is collecting reports on the dev Discord.

How to try 1.7 now

  1. 1
    Steam library → RimWorld → Properties

    Open the Betas tab.

  2. 2
    Select the unstable branch

    Steam downloads 1.7 alongside your install — switch back anytime via the same menu.

  3. 3
    Load your colony or a mod list

    Saves and most mods work as-is — report issues on the official development Discord.

Also this week: RimWorld turns 13 on November 4 — the birthday community event (fan art/screens/stories) closes Nov 6 with Fangamer storyteller pins as prizes.

FAQ

Is 1.7 a free update?

Yes — engine migration is a free update, not a DLC.

Do I lose anything switching?

No — saves are forward/backward compatible and no action is needed on your end.

When does 1.7 hit the stable branch?

No date announced — it’s on the unstable beta for testing now.

What else is on Waylith?

Ludeon confirmed a second, unannounced game is in development on the same engine.