Rust goes medieval with the Primitive update: siege weapons, swords and shields, and maybe a few jewel-encrusted assault rifles

It's a great week for going medieval. Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 crashed through Steam's gates on Tuesday, and now here comes survival sandbox Rust with its Primitive update. It's got swords, shields, bows and arrows, siege weapons, and a few mild anachronisms like jewel-encrusted assault rifles and electricity-powered autocrossbows.

This is Rust, after all, and while it may sport new catapults and platemail armor, that stuff is all pretty obviously sourced from modern-day junk like telephone poles, plastic containers, and street signs. Rust didn't go back in time, it's just bringing olden times into the present.

"The early game of Rust can be the most exciting, unfortunately players rush to fully automatic rifles as fast as possible to get an edge over their enemies. What if the early game could last forever....?" says Facepunch Studios. "The primitive mode brings us to a distant future where the knowledge of high tech items have been lost, leaving the inhabitants of the island only able to make basic items."

You'll be able to build items like catapults, siege towers, battering rams, ballistas, and other medieval-style machines perfect for storming the castle in a world where helicopters and C4 aren't available. Instead of a pistol there's a four-shot mini-crossbow, just like they (probably) had back in the dark ages. Horses have been overhauled as well since your motorcycles won't be craftable, perfect for getting you around or dragging your siege engines to the castle gates.

In keeping with the theme, there's a Medieval Pack DLC you can use in Rust Prime, including the jewel-encrusted rifle skin I mentioned earlier, several armor sets, a treasure chest, and more, which will cost you about $13 in the Rust store. You can find out more about the Primitive update on the Rust blog.