Anomaly (DLC)

"The monolith speaks in my mind. Such beautiful promises."

Description

Anomaly is a horror-themed DLC for RimWorld that adds mysterious threats, containment facilities, and a new endgame. Many of the events are inspired by classics like The Cabin in the Woods, The Thing, Cthulhu Mythos, Hellraiser, and many more. It was released on April 11, 2024.

Monolith

Main article: Void monolith

The Monolith is a structure that is found on the map at the start of the game, or after the quest Strange Signal if the monolith is not currently present on any player map tile. It starts off deactivated, and becomes activated once a pawn is assigned to investigate it and all warnings are ignored.

After the monolith becomes activated, more entities are able to appear. The player is given access to view the entity codex. Activation sets the monolith to level 1. Increasing monolith level is accomplished by discovering entities of the current Entity Codex Tier and then interacting with the monolith.

There are 8 entities to discover at level 1, 17 at level 2, and 2 at level 3. Reaching level 2 monolith requires discovering 7 of 8 level 1 entities. Level 3 monolith requires discovering 12 of 17 level 1 or 2 entities.

Entities

Main article: Entities

Entities are the major threats of the Anomaly DLC. Most Entities will not appear until a colonist has finished investigating the monolith. Entities will appear in the Entity Codex after being discovered. A higher level monolith will cause more dangerous entities to appear.

Entities can be studied by incapacitating them and placing them within a containment cell. Colonists will be automatically set to study them with the Dark Research job, which will advance progress in the Anomaly Tech Tree.

Ambient Horror

The monolith does not appear. Any Anomaly threat can occur, but Anomaly threats will be rare by default. Good if you want to interact with Anomaly expansion content without it being the focus. NOTE: The monolith endgame cannot occur in this mode.

Anomaly settings

The frequency of anomaly major threats can be adjusted in the custom difficulty options. The default settings are 7.5% Anomaly Threats while the monolith is inactive and 30% Anomaly Threats after the monolith has been investigated. These sliders do not affect Minor anomaly incidents like Small Shambler Swarm, Creepy Joiner Arrival, and Distress Calls.

Ambient Horror is only selectable before the game starts and cannot be changed thereafter.

Basic

Entity		Description
	Void monolith	A monolith of unknown age, purpose, and construction. Its smooth surface is etched with lines that twist and writhe in unsettling patterns.
	Harbinger tree	A gnarled tree that grows a flesh-like covering. Harbinger trees are capable of feeding on corpses and raw meat, and will consume those placed nearby. If well fed, the grove will continue to grow. In a tribal myth, these trees are the emissaries of a mad, shapeless god who rules an endless black ocean. The myth ends after the shapeless god reaches up from the water and tears down the sky.
	Fleshbeast	Hideous creatures composed of masses of cancerous flesh. Some contain multiple nervous systems, allowing them to split into smaller fleshbeasts.
	Sightstealer	Emaciated and misshapen humanoids. Their arms end in sharp, curled claws formed from bioferrite. Sightstealers are fragile, but use psychic influence to render themselves invisible until they get close to their victims. They are known to emit haunting screams as they gather on their terrible hunts.
	Shambler	Corpses reanimated by microscopic archites. Shamblers are slow, mindless, and will attack relentlessly. Unless captured, shamblers die from metabolic exhaustion after several days.
	Ghoul	A person implanted with an archotech shard and twisted by dark psychic influences into a jittering murder machine.
	Gorehulk	A monstrous creature that resembles a massive, painfully swollen human with randomly reconfigured body parts. Near its top is a stretched face that watches its victim with dead eyes. Hundreds of sharp keratin spines protrude from the gorehulk's skin. It can launch these spines to spear its victims at a distance. However, its awkward fleshy body is less effective at causing harm up close. It's hard to know whether this is a human that was horribly distorted by the influence of the void or a poor imitation of humanity created from scratch by some evil intelligence.
	Death pall	A corpse-gray cloud composed of microscopic self-powered archites created by some unknown superintelligence. When they land on dead flesh, they enter the body and reanimate it to create a shambling imitation of life.

Advanced

Entity		Description
	Pit gate	A massive, foreboding hole that connects the surface with a dark network of underground caves. It is possible to climb down into the caverns below.
	Dreadmeld	A gargantuan amalgamation of dozens of smaller fleshbeasts linked together by a loosely shared central nervous system. It uses its massive claws to dig tunnels through solid rock. Fleshbeast dreadmelds are rarely seen above ground, instead sheltering in caverns built from living flesh. They share a psychic connection with the flesh used to create their burrow.
	Fleshmass heart	The primary organ of a fleshmass infestation. The heart gathers material through roots extended into the ground. Once it has collected enough, it spreads fleshmass around itself in a spurt of cancer-like growth. It will keep growing until it consumes everything. The heart grows fleshmass spitters. These defensive organs can spit acid long distances. The heart will also generate fleshbeast defenders to protect itself. Ultra-rapid regeneration makes the heart nearly invulnerable. It can only be killed by analyzing samples taken from the nerve bundles that form within its growing mass.
	Fleshmass nucleus	The archotech core of a fleshmass heart. It is a chaotic lattice of fluid-smeared metal. Solid chunks of jagged metal appear here and there, packed with archotechnology. The whole structure slowly twists and bends under its own power. It constantly grows meat on its surface, which occasionally erupts violently. If too much meat builds up, it will regrow into a fleshmass heart.
	Chimera	A huge creature that resembles a disfigured combination of a bear and other animals. It is vicious without limit. It's not known if this is a combination of natural animals or a poor imitation of animal life created by an insane machine mind.
	Devourer	A massive monster with a gaping toothed maw and a stubby, snake-like body. The devourer can leap several times its body length to swallow a person whole. Powerful stomach acids rapidly digest the still-living victim. The remains are regurgitated soon after.
	Noctolith	A twisted pillar of jagged blade-like structures made of dark, oily metal. It pulses with energy, powered by dark archotechnology at its core. If you destroy the pillar, you can recover a shard of dark archotech.
	Noctol	A large, chittering creature covered with an oily black carapace and armed with claws formed from bioferrite. While it is deadly in the dark, exposure to light irritates its eyes and flesh, slowing it down considerably.
	Revenant	A spindly figure of desiccated skin stretched over an impossibly tall humanoid frame. The revenant's name comes from its pattern of returning to hypnotize new people each night. Outlander folklore describes an invisible spectre that captures the minds of sinners, placing them in a living hell. In the story, the victims can only be returned to life by hunting the creature as it sleeps and killing it. A hidden revenant can be revealed with disruptor flares, explosives, EMP, firefoam, or by being lit on fire.
	Metalhorror	A horrific shifting mass of metal filaments, blades, and instruments. This metal is maintained and regenerated by a circulating dark fluid. While dormant, fluid metalhorrors are hidden in a host body. They use their host to infect others, creating more metalhorrors. If detected or endangered, the metalhorror will form a jagged exoskeleton and cut its way out of the host's flesh. An emerged metalhorror will eventually enter a low-energy hibernating state if left undisturbed.
	Nociosphere	A dark metallic sphere covered with curved and jagged grooves. The sphere emanates sensations of pain. It hurts to be near it. The sphere thrums with a mysterious energy. It appears to be increasing in activity. It's not clear what will happen when it reaches its full capacity. However, if you capture it, you can decrease its activity by suppressing it.
	Blood rain	A turgid blood-like psychofluid that falls from the sky. Anyone exposed to it feels a growing anger that eventually becomes a berserk rage.
	Twisted obelisk	A large metallic pillar that emanates a putrid psychic energy. The pillar hums ominously and appears to be increasing in activity. It's not clear what will happen when it reaches its full capacity. You can send colonists to suppress the obelisk to prevent it from activating. You can also mark the obelisk for study to try to learn its purpose and perhaps make use of it. You can attack the obelisk to destroy it, but doing so may unleash unnatural and dangerous phenomena.
	Corrupted obelisk	A large metallic pillar that emanates a putrid psychic energy. The pillar hums ominously and appears to be increasing in activity. It's not clear what will happen when it reaches its full capacity. You can send colonists to suppress the obelisk to prevent it from activating. You can also mark the obelisk for study to try to learn its purpose and perhaps make use of it. You can attack the obelisk to destroy it, but doing so may unleash unnatural and dangerous phenomena.
	Warped obelisk	A large metallic pillar that emanates a putrid psychic energy. The pillar hums ominously and appears to be increasing in activity. It's not clear what will happen when it reaches its full capacity. You can send colonists to suppress the obelisk to prevent it from activating. You can also mark the obelisk for study to try to learn its purpose and perhaps make use of it. You can attack the obelisk to destroy it, but doing so may unleash unnatural and dangerous phenomena.
	Golden cube	A cube that fits snugly in the hand. Golden in color, it is always invitingly warm to the touch, like a trusted pet or a hug from a good friend. Those that look closely are rewarded for their attention, by the delightful way light plays across its welcoming surface. The cube seems impervious to most damage.
	Unnatural corpse	An odd corpse that feels waxy and warm to the touch. Something is deeply unsettling about it.

Ultimate

Entity		Description
	Void structure	A warped structure made of jagged oily metallic-like pieces. This is an element of the void itself which has manifested into our reality. It emanates a disturbing psychic throbbing and kills the plant life around it by some unnatural influence. The structure is linked to the void monolith, though the exact nature of the connection is beyond human understanding.
	Void node	A roiling sphere of twisted psychic energy. Powered by nearby archotech machinery, it is one part of a bridge from our world into the black void.

Containment

Main article: Containment

Entities may be captured for study and exploitation. Unlike human prisoners, captured entities have escape attempt intervals determined by the specific composition of the cells they are kept in, and require specific holding platforms or holding spots to hold them.

Ideologies

If Ideology is active alongside Anomaly, the following Memes become available.

Meme		Impact	Incompatible Memes	Required Precepts	Styles
Ritualist	There is a greater energy in the universe. Through ritual we can understand it and harness its power.	Medium	None	Psychic rituals: Exalted Void study: Very efficient Research: Slow, Very Slow or Extremely Slow	Morbid
Inhuman	Humanity is a barrier to our connection with the machine god and its pleasurable rewards.	High	None	Inhumanizing: Required Execution: Respected if guilty Cannibalism: Acceptable Corpses: Don't care Eating nutrient paste: Don't mind Skullspike: Desired Slavery: Acceptable Physical love: Free Male clothing: No rules Female clothing: No rules Organ use: Acceptable Diversity of thought: Neutral, Mild bigotry, Moderate bigotry or Intense bigotry	-

Equipment

Weapons

• Hellcat rifle
• Incinerator
• Nerve spiker

Utility

• Turret pack
• Disruptor flare pack
• Deadlife pack
• Biomutation lance
• Shard shock lance
• Shard insanity lance

Serums

• Voidsight serum
• Metalblood serum
• Juggernaut serum
• Mind-numb serum
• Ghoul resurrection serum

Psychic rituals

Main article: Psychic rituals

Psychic rituals are actions that produce a wide variety of effects introduced by Anomaly. They are independent of the Ideology DLC despite working in a similar manner.

All rituals require a psychic ritual spot, an invoker, and most require bioferrite or a shard as payment.

Ritual quality is determined by a mix of factors, with higher quality rituals having more pronounced effects or reduced downsides.

Monolith ending

Main article: Endings#The Void

Fully activate the monolith and find out what lays on the other side. Do note that this ending is not available if you have selected the "Ambient horror" mode of Anomaly in your storyteller settings.