Ludeon Studios, the developer behind the popular colony simulation game RimWorld, has announced a significant shift in its technology stack, moving the game from the Unity engine to a custom in-house engine dubbed the Waylith Engine. The studio states that this transition, detailed in the upcoming update 1.7, promises substantial performance improvements while maintaining compatibility with existing saves and most mods.
According to Ludeon Studios, internal testing has shown performance improvements ranging from two to four times faster compared to the previous Unity build. A particularly telling test involved a late-game colony, which reportedly ran 2.2 times faster on update 1.7 than on 1.6. The impact on loading times was also dramatic, with a modpack containing approximately 1,500 mods reducing its load time from 14 minutes to just 6 minutes. The studio cautions that individual performance gains may vary based on specific hardware and mod configurations.
Crucially, players will find that their existing save files from version 1.6 are compatible with version 1.7, and saves created in the new version can also be loaded in 1.6. This backward and forward compatibility is expected to ease the transition for the game's dedicated player base, many of whom rely heavily on extensive mod support. Early reports from players experimenting with the unstable beta branch of update 1.7 suggest these performance claims are holding true, with some users reporting stable frame rates of 120 fps and improved tick rates, a significant jump from previous performance levels. One user noted that while the new build is memory-intensive, consuming substantial amounts of RAM, the speed improvements are remarkable. Another player successfully loaded over 1,400 mods, reducing the loading time from over 30 minutes to just over six minutes.
Beyond the immediate benefits for RimWorld, Ludeon Studios also teased that the Waylith Engine is not exclusive to its current project. The developer confirmed that it is actively working on a new, unannounced game powered by the same in-house engine. Further details on this new project are expected at a later date.