Ludeon Studios has confirmed that another game is in development, but it has not revealed what that game is. In an October 12, 2026 announcement, the RimWorld developer said the new project will use its in-house Waylith Engine—the same technology now powering RimWorld 1.7.
The announcement gives no title, genre, setting, platform, release window, or indication that the project is RimWorld 2. The concrete player-facing news is RimWorld 1.7, an engine migration that Ludeon says substantially improves performance while preserving the game’s existing look and feel.
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What Ludeon actually announced
The studio’s closing message is deliberately brief: “RimWorld isn’t the only game on Waylith. We’re working on something new! It may be a little while before we can share more details, but we couldn’t resist telling you.”
That confirms a real project in development, not merely an engine demonstration. It does not establish what kind of game it is or how it relates to RimWorld beyond sharing Waylith. Ludeon has not called it a sequel, expansion, spin-off, or successor. The “13 years” wording sometimes used to frame the news is not explained in this announcement, so it should not be treated as a sourced project-start date or milestone.
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What is the Waylith Engine?
Waylith is Ludeon’s in-house game engine. RimWorld 1.7 moves the game from Unity to Waylith, while Ludeon says the game should look and play the same to players. The engine change is therefore primarily technical rather than a visual redesign or a new game mode.
Ludeon says Waylith supports the latest C# language features and can make complex mods easier to build without sacrificing performance. It also says large visual changes and more complicated custom effects should be more accessible to modders. More than two dozen modders helped test and prepare the Waylith debut, according to the studio.
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How much faster RimWorld 1.7 is, according to Ludeon
All performance figures below come from Ludeon’s own tests. They are not independent benchmarks, and the studio warns that results vary with a player’s hardware and mod list.
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| Scenario | Ludeon’s reported result | Important qualification |
|---|---|---|
| Overall testing | Two- to four-times improvement | Studio-reported range; individual results vary |
| Late-game colony stress test | 2.2 times better performance than 1.6 | Specific test conducted by Ludeon |
| 1,500-mod load | Loading time fell from 14 minutes to 6 minutes | Comparison from Ludeon’s modded test setup |
The studio identifies faster startup, loading with large mod lists, map generation, world generation, and general ticks per second as areas of improvement. These figures do not guarantee the same gains on every PC, colony, or mod configuration.
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RimWorld 1.7 branch status and how testing worked
At the time of the October 12 announcement, version 1.7 was available on Steam’s optional unstable beta branch, while the main branch remained on 1.6. Branch availability and Steam’s labels can change, so check the current official announcement or Steam before following these instructions.
- Open your Steam library and right-click RimWorld.
- Choose Properties.
- Open the Betas section.
- Select the unstable branch.
- If the update does not begin, restart Steam.
Because this is an unstable branch, players should expect that mods or other software may need updates and should keep backups of important saves before experimenting.
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Will existing saves and mods work?
Saves
Ludeon says 1.6 saves load in 1.7. It also says saves created in 1.7 work after returning to 1.6, providing a stated route back if the beta causes problems. Make a separate backup before switching versions, particularly for heavily modded colonies.
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The studio says the vast majority of mods work without changes. Some may nevertheless be labeled “potentially unsupported” simply because their version number has not been updated. Ludeon is encouraging authors to test their mods and publish 1.7-compatible versions, so a warning does not automatically mean a mod is broken.
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Older computers
Ludeon warns that a PC more than 10 years old may not run 1.7 and directs affected players to its official development Discord. This is a warning rather than a complete published system-requirements list; the announcement does not specify processor, graphics, memory, or operating-system minimums.
What remains unknown about the new game
Ludeon has not disclosed:
- the project’s name;
- its genre, setting, or core gameplay;
- target platforms;
- a release window or development stage;
- whether it shares RimWorld’s universe; or
- whether it is connected to RimWorld beyond using Waylith.
Until the studio provides those details, calling the project RimWorld 2 or describing its design would be speculation, not reporting. The only firm conclusion is that Ludeon is developing another Waylith-based game and expects more information to take time.
What this means for RimWorld players
For current players, 1.7 is the immediate story: an optional engine transition with potentially major gains for late-game colonies and large mod lists, balanced by unstable-branch risk and a warning for much older PCs. For everyone waiting on Ludeon’s next game, the announcement is confirmation of development—not a reveal. There is no release date or product information to use for purchase or platform decisions yet.
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