Do these 3 things before closing this tab:
1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minute3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problemsRimWorld is leaving Unity. Ludeon Studios announced on October 12, 2026 that Update 1.7 moves the game to Waylith, an in-house engine built by the studio. Ludeon says the game looks and plays the same, while its own tests show performance improvements of two to four times compared with Update 1.6. Those figures are developer results, not independent benchmarks, and the actual gain will depend on your PC and installed mods.
What is Waylith, and why is RimWorld changing engines?
Waylith is Ludeon Studios’ proprietary game engine. Update 1.7 is the first public RimWorld release to use it, replacing the Unity technology used by earlier versions. Ludeon describes the change as an engine migration rather than a redesign: existing gameplay, visuals and the overall experience are intended to remain the same.
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The engine is also intended as a foundation for future development. Ludeon says it is working on another, not-yet-detailed game using Waylith, but it has not announced that project’s name or release timing.
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How much faster is Update 1.7?
Ludeon’s announcement gives an overall estimate of 2–4× better performance versus RimWorld 1.6. The studio says it measured improvements in startup, loading games with large mod lists, map and world generation, and general ticks per second. “Two to four times” is not a universal result for every computer or workload; it is the range Ludeon reported from its testing.
#1 Best Overall
| Workload | Ludeon-reported result | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Late-game colony stress test | 2.2× better performance in 1.7 than 1.6 | A studio comparison under its selected late-game test conditions |
| 1,500-mod pack loading | 6 minutes instead of 14 minutes | A single Ludeon-reported load-time comparison |
| Overall testing | 2–4× improvement | An aggregate studio claim, not a guarantee for every system |
Ludeon explicitly cautions that these are its results and that individual improvements may vary with a player’s hardware and mods. No independent benchmark or separately published study in the available evidence verifies the figures, so they should be read as performance targets reported by the developer rather than a general comparison of Waylith and Unity in other games.
When can you play Update 1.7?
At the October 12 announcement, Update 1.7 was available on Steam’s unstable beta branch, while the default main branch remained on 1.6. That availability can change as testing progresses.
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Joining the unstable branch
- Open Steam and select RimWorld in your Library.
- Open the game’s Properties and choose the Betas section.
- Select the unstable 1.7 branch from the branch menu, then let Steam download the update.
- Keep a backup of important saves and check your active mod list before loading a colony.
Steam’s labels can change, so use the branch name currently shown in the game’s Betas menu. If you want the least experimental experience, remain on the main 1.6 branch until Ludeon moves 1.7 there.
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Saves
Ludeon says a 1.6 save can load in 1.7, and a 1.7 save can also load after returning to 1.6. Even with that stated compatibility, keeping a separate backup before switching branches is prudent, particularly for heavily modded colonies.
Rank #3
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Mods
The studio says the vast majority of mods should work without changes from their authors. A yellow “potentially unsupported” warning may appear solely because the game version number changed; it does not automatically mean the mod is broken. Ludeon asks mod authors to test their projects and mark them compatible.
Mod behavior can still vary. If a colony fails to load, disable recently updated or flagged mods in a copy of the save, verify the mod order, and wait for the author to confirm 1.7 support before treating the problem as an engine-wide failure.
Rank #4
- ENDLESS REPLAYABILITY: Play as one of 43 historical leaders and wage war by land, sea, and air, conduct diplomacy & espionage, establish religious beliefs, and discover new technologies in your quest to build the most powerful empire the world has ever known.
- HUGE BATTLES: Wars between empires spread across land and sea. Ranged bombardment challenges you to develop clever strategies to guarantee victory on the battlefield.
- DIPLOMACY: Negotiate with some of history’s most cunning rulers, each with a well-crafted plan for victory. City-states present a diplomatic battleground on which the major powers of the world will vie for supremacy.
- RELIGION: Cultivate Great Prophets and create a religion you can customize and enhance.
- ESPIONAGE: Send your spies into foreign cities for surveillance, to steal advanced technologies from your competitors, or to interfere with city-state alliances.
What hardware does Update 1.7 require?
Ludeon warns that a PC more than 10 years old may not run Update 1.7. That wording is not a blanket declaration that every older computer is unsupported: age alone does not identify the processor, graphics hardware or operating-system configuration. Players on older machines should test the unstable branch cautiously and keep 1.6 available as a fallback.
What does Waylith mean for modders?
Ludeon says Waylith supports the latest C# language features and should make performance-conscious complex mods and larger visual changes more accessible. More than two dozen modders helped test the engine and provide feedback before its debut. Those are Ludeon’s statements about the tooling; the practical benefit will depend on each mod’s design and on how quickly authors update their projects.
Quick Recap
What this announcement does—and does not—prove
- It confirms that RimWorld 1.7 is moving from Unity to Ludeon’s own Waylith engine.
- It reports substantial gains in Ludeon’s tests, including a 2.2× late-game result and a 14-minute-to-6-minute modpack load comparison.
- It does not establish that every player will see 4× performance, or that Waylith is faster than Unity across unrelated games.
- It does not provide independent testing, a universal hardware requirement, or a release date for Ludeon’s other Waylith project.
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