RimWorld: Royalty Review (CatsAreOkay)
We Demand More Tribute
Royalty is probably the smallest of the DLCs, next to ideology. In fact, I went the longest without buying it because, on the surface, it doesn't add substantially enough to significantly impact your game. You need to ask yourself how much you like Rimworld and how much money you're willing to dish out for a slightly more nuanced experience. What this DLC gives you is basically two things: the Empire faction and psychic powers. The empire faction is the largest addition to the game, and can be a mixed bag for people. If you don't focus your game around them, then it's questionable why you bought the DLC at all. You basically have to suck up to them and do quests for them, and then they'll give your colony boons, as well as reward the questing pawns imperial titles or even psychic powers. Is this worth the price? Eh. There's a mod that makes the empire faction much better, but you can't rate a DLC based on someone's workshop work. Overall, in the normal gameplay, the empire is kind of just "there", out of the "zone" of regular factions. Plus, you're punished for having high-ranking nobility members, as they will require "regal rooms" of high quality and space. So, I generally just ignore them in my game.
Now, what about the psychic powers that you have them? They're basically just abilities. You have "heat" which builds up over time depending on the powers you use and goes down gradually, and then you have an actually "psych" meter that you restore through "meditation". Are the powers varied? Yes. You can turn a colonist into a defensive unit, or make them more offensive. They can legitimately become dangerous. The problem is that, overall, most of the powers kind of seem useless. They take a long time to charge and in Rimworld you're often being swarmed by vast groups of enemies. So unless you have groups of psychic pawns, which you likely won't have, powers are best left to be defensive. So, again, this DLC is really a mixed bag and I don't think it's worth the price, so just get it on sale if you must.
Pros:
The new empire faction is unique from all other factions. Being a part of it can add an interesting dynamic, and so can fighting it.
The bonuses the empire faction gives you can help, but eventually you'll be self-sufficient enough to where you won't care anymore.
The psychic powers have a lot of variety to them with enough unique effects to provide for interesting combinations.
I mean, it adds more things to do in Rimworld so that's always good.
Cons:
Psychic powers, while varied and unique, often fall flat when it comes to Rimworld's actual challenges.
The empire faction, in the end, is just another faction when it comes to fighting them, which is really unfortunate. It'd be nice if they had unique missions to dismantle them (no mods)
Depending on your playstyle, you may either hate or enjoy the title system. Some may find it very limiting.
The mechanoid stuff just felt shoehorned in to justify the price.
Can't ask the empire for water.
Verdict: 5/10