RimWorld 1.6 Patch Notes: Full Breakdown, Release Date & Odyssey DLC Features

RimWorld 1.6 Patch Notes

RimWorld version 1.6 officially launched on June 11, 2025, alongside the announcement of the new Odyssey DLC . The free update is currently available through the unstable (public beta) branch on Steam, with the stable release expected in roughly one month 

RimWorld 1.6 Base Game Changes

Better planning

• Plans can be recoloured to help differentiate them.

• Plans now work like zones: contiguous regions of the same color are joined together, and can be selected as a whole.

• Plans can be copied and pasted. You can double-click a specific plan, or use the “copy selection” command to draw an area over all of the plans you want to copy.  You can rotate these copied plans with the Q and E keys (rebindable).

• Plan regions can be renamed to remind you what they’re for.

• When right-clicking plan or zone gizmos, a dropdown appears where you can hide or show all plans and zones.

Designator draw styles

• Many designators (like orders, placing walls and floors, painting, etc.) now have a switchable “draw style” that changes how they behave when you click and drag them. These can be cycled through with the Q and E keys (rebindable).

• The draw styles include:

  • Line: The normal wall drag behavior.

  • Angled line: A line at an angle you control.

  • Filled rectangle: The normal floor drag behavior.

  • Empty rectangle: A rectangular outline.

  • Filled oval: A circular shape within the bounds of the dragged area

  • Empty oval: A circular outline within the bounds of the dragged area

• Note that designators don’t always have all of the draw styles. For example, wood-chopping in a diagonal line is not useful.

• Squares (and circles) are now easy to make - holding the control key while using certain designators forces them into a square.

• Added a “remember draw styles” game option. When enabled, the last draw style you used for a particular designator will be remembered. For example, if you were to use the empty oval draw style to build circular walls, the next time you place wall blueprints, the empty oval style will still be selected.

Blueprints

• Blueprints can now be placed over similar buildings, letting you easily change material or upgrade a building.

• This applies to walls, conduits, doors, sandbags, barriers, fences, chairs, and beds. For example, you can place a plasteel wall blueprint over an existing wooden wall, or place a double bed blueprint over a single bed.

Caravan camps

• Caravans can set up camp while travelling. This creates a temporary map to play on that can be quickly abandoned. This allows you to pause your caravan’s journey and stabilize in cases of injury, starvation, or sickness.

• Camps will be attacked if the caravan is not reformed after 4 days.

• Caravans that would be lost (e.g. due to all pawns becoming incapacitated) will now instead form a camp to give you a chance to recover.

Map generation

• Rivers, mountains, caves, and coasts are now considered “map features” which will show in the tile inspect pane and information window on the world map.

• Rivers should generally look smoother and curve more nicely. Rivers that cut through rock will have walkable areas on either side and larger rivers will create canyons. Rivers will also do a better job at matching the angle of the river on the world map.

• Rivers in certain biomes now generate with riverbank terrain, which has high fertility.

• Rock generation is now more varied and interesting.

• Coasts have more interesting shapes, and are no longer constrained to the four cardinal directions.

• Mountain directions are no longer constrained to the four cardinal directions, and will be slightly more varied in shape.

• Added support for plants that grow in water. Cypress trees now grow in mud and marsh.

• Insects hives always spawn surrounded by glow pods.

• Maps generated for quest sites are now all at least 200x200.

Flight

• Some birds can fly! This includes chickens, ducks, and geese.

• Flying increases a creature’s movement speed, ignores terrain move speed penalties, and allows passing over some obstacles like fences. Flying creatures do not trigger traps.

• Flying animals can enter the map by flying, landing anywhere on the map, instead of arriving at the map edge.

• Flying animals can also leave the map by flying. This can happen naturally, or if they’re startled (for example, by a gunshot).

Search improvements

• The in-game search bar is better at finding things. It now searches for def names, thing labels, and renamed things.

• The search bar now looks in pawn inventories and containers.

• The in-game search bar can be used on the world map to find things.

• Increased the maximum search characters from 15 to 30, so you can type more into the search bar.

• Added a search bar to save and load menus.

Art

• Made improvements to the water shader so it shows the sky’s reflection.

• Added water ripples when pawns walk across water.

• Updated art for large desiccated birds.

• Updated sandbag filth texture

• Ducks, bears, and devourers now have unique visuals when moving on water.

UI

• Added a “Jump to…” gizmo to the world map which shows player colonies, caravans, and quest locations.

• World objects with active maps now have a green border around them.

• World objects which are searched now have a yellow border around them.

• Added separate toggle on world screen for important world objects such as colonies, quest locations, and active maps.

• Added debug options to show TPS and FPS counters and a memory usage breakdown.

• Added a “Make default” button for policies.

• New settlements are now tracked on the history graph.

• Bills can now be renamed.

• In the "manage areas" window, you can now change the color of an area by clicking the colored square.

Quality of life

• Bridges are now paintable.

• Added a deconstruct conduits designator.

• Colonists can now be ordered to dress other pawns, including prisoners.

• Added a toggle to special trees to prevent them from being cut down by the cut plants/harvest plants designator.

• Added a toggle to hackables to mark them as auto-hackable. Colonists assigned to research will automatically hack them.

• Added a gizmo to pod launchers to toggle auto-building transport pods.

• Added a gizmo to order a pawn to eject fuel from refuelable buildings.

• Added a cooldown to the message that occurs when an item deteriorates in a storage zone. Now you won't get spammed if you're throwing old clothes in a river.

For more details, check the patch notes below:

Here’s the full 1.6 changelog:

• Official Changelog: Official Google Doc - describes all base game changes in RimWorld 1.6.
• Official Modder Primer: Official Google Doc - technical document intended for modders.

Release Date

RimWorld v1.6 was released on June 11, 2025, as a free update alongside the announcement of the Odyssey DLC . The update is currently available via the “unstable” Steam beta branch; it will roll out to all users in about one month, likely mid-July 2025 

RimWorld

RimWorld is a sci-fi colony simulation game developed by Tynan Sylvester and published by Ludeon Studios. Originally launched in 2013 through Kickstarter, it became widely known for its deep storytelling and AI-driven gameplay. Players manage a group of crash-landed survivors on a distant planet, building colonies and surviving random events. The game emphasizes emergent narratives shaped by colonists’ traits, moods, and unexpected challenges. With ongoing updates like the 1.6 patch and Odyssey DLC, RimWorld continues to evolve with rich content and mechanics.

Disclaimer:

This information reflects the state as of mid‑June 2025. Features and dates are provisional pending full release. Changes may occur during the beta or after launch.

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