Kenshi

There is nothing like Kenshi. It's made its way into my top 3 games of all time, alongside Fallout 2 and Shadow Of The Colossus. It's become legendary to me, with infinite re-playability. It's a game I always keep coming back to, and one that teaches me life lessons.

Hardcore Fun. You are insignificant. You can die like a dog, just like pretty much everyone else in the game. To level your character, you're gonna have to take a few hits, and maybe, just maybe, if you survive, you'll limp, crawl if you have to, into the next town; that is if you don't starve to death or get enslaved before then. Also you can build outposts, have numerous characters under your control, smuggle narcotics, and much much more. The downside i encounter is how massive the world is and subsequently how empty it feels out in the wastes or deserts, really every swath between towns are desolate badlands, brimming with enemies.

this is the best game. there's nothing like it. if you don't play it you're a baby. you don't want to be a baby, do you? you want a little rattle baby? maybe mommy's nip nip? you gonna cry baby? or do you want to end slavery with nothing but the power of martial arts and robot limbs because your arms and legs got eaten by cannibals? be an adult for once in your sad life and buy now.

insane replayability, especially with dynamic characters like Beep, Agnu, Griffin, Hamut, Luquin, Ruka, Beep Green, Burn, Ells, Beep, Sadniel, Infinite wingwang, Ray, Kang, Bard, Beep, Beep, oh and especially characters like Beep and Beep.

Did I mention Beep was a good character? like for Kenshi 2 ;-;

It's glitchy, the base building system is the jankiest thing I've ever encountered in my life. I've come across so many irritating bugs that it's made me want to smash my laptop against a wall.

And I cannot. Get. Enough.

Kenshi is brutal. It doesn't care if you suck. Everyone is trying to kill you, and you're just an absolute nobody with no skills in anything (depending on what start you choose, of course). There's no quests, no objectives. You're essentially making your own story, and it works unbelievably well.

What I love about Kenshi, and what makes it so damn rewarding, is that the game encourages you to persevere. Got beaten up and robbed? Time to get up... and get beaten up again, of course. Each time you lose a fight, you get a little bit stronger, until you get to the point where you can topple entire nations by yourself, become an absolute god, replace your arms and legs with high-tech robot limbs that let you run at 50+ mph and give you superhuman strength... if you want to anyway. I seem to make an army of cyborg god beings every playthrough I do.

But you don't have to be a fighter (though it helps... a lot). You can be a farmer, a trader, a robotics expert, an assassin, a smith, a thief... or all of the above. Or maybe, you want to have characters who specialise in specific skills- oh yeah, did I mention it's squad based? So you can control multiple characters, build a base, or a totally self-sustaining small town, or go totally solo. The world is your oyster.

Kenshi also has an active modding community, so if there's anything about the game that isn't quite to your taste, there's very likely something to tweak it to your desire.

I'm kind of rambling incoherently here because, honestly, I have so much to say about this game. It's definitely one of my most favourite games of all time, and I wish I could experience it for the first time all over again. So now I'm going to recommend it to anyone who hasn't played, so you can experience this broken masterpiece for yourself.

Good Sides

+ Very freedom game mechanics. (Create a limitless unique new games)
+ Very big map and world.
+ Realistic and good character development

Bad Sides

- Optimization and bug problems. (But you can fix it by using mods and patch)


Anyway, despite everything this game is masterpiece.

---{ Graphics }---
☐ You forget what reality is
☐ Beautiful
☐ Good
☑ Decent
☐ Bad
☐ Don‘t look too long at it
☐ MS-DOS

---{ Gameplay }---
☑ Very good
☐ Good
☐ It's just gameplay
☐ Mehh
☐ Watch paint dry instead
☐ Just don't

---{ Audio }---
☐ Eargasm
☐ Very good
☑ Good
☐ Not too bad
☐ Bad
☐ I'm now deaf

---{ Audience }---
☑ Kids
☑ Teens
☑ Adults
☑ Grandma

---{ PC Requirements }---
☐ Check if you can run paint
☑ Potato
☐ Decent
☐ Fast
☐ Rich boi
☐ Ask NASA if they have a spare computer

---{ Game Size }---
☐ Floppy Disk
☑ Old Fashioned
☐ Workable
☐ Big
☐ Will eat 10% of your 1TB hard drive
☐ You will want an entire hard drive to hold it
☐ You will need to invest in a black hole to hold all the data

---{ Difficulty }---
☐ Just press 'W'
☐ Easy
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☑ Significant brain usage
☐ Difficult
☐ Dark Souls

---{ Grind }---
☐ Nothing to grind
☐ Only if u care about leaderboards/ranks
☐ Isn't necessary to progress
☐ Average grind level
☐ Too much grind
☑ You'll need a second life for grinding

---{ Story }---
☐ No Story
☐ Some lore
☐ Average
☐ Good
☐ Lovely
☑ It'll replace your life

---{ Game Time }---
☐ Long enough for a cup of coffee
☐ Short
☐ Average
☐ Long
☑ To infinity and beyond

---{ Price }---
☐ It's free!
☑ Worth the price
☐ If it's on sale
☐ If u have some spare money left
☐ Not recommended
☐ You could also just burn your money

---{ Bugs }---
☐ Never heard of
☑ Minor bugs
☐ Can get annoying
☐ ARK: Survival Evolved
☐ The game itself is a big terrarium for bugs

---{ ? / 10 }---
☐ 1
☐ 2
☐ 3
☐ 4
☐ 5
☐ 6
☐ 7
☐ 8
☑ 9
☐ 10

A Brutal, Unforgiving, and Deeply Rewarding Sandbox

(150+ hours played, still discovering new things on the daily)

Kenshi is not a game that holds your hand. It throws you into a vast, lawless world where survival is a struggle, and progress is something you claw for, inch by inch. There are no quest markers, no main story to follow—just you, your characters, and whatever path you choose to carve out in this harsh, unforgiving land. And that’s exactly what makes it so special.

At first, you’ll probably get beaten, enslaved, robbed, or left for dead (sometimes all at once). But every setback teaches you something. Maybe you learn to sneak past a bandit patrol instead of fighting. Maybe you realize a town’s economy can be exploited to make some quick cash. Maybe you recruit a ragtag group of survivors and build your own stronghold in the middle of nowhere. The freedom to adapt and shape your own story is what makes Kenshi so immersive.

The depth of this game is astonishing. You can become a wandering merchant, a ruthless warlord, a thief, a farmer, or even a skeleton bounty hunter with a grudge against humanity. Want to establish a peaceful settlement? Go ahead, but be prepared to defend it. Want to take over a faction and rewrite the political landscape? You can. Every playthrough feels different, and the emergent gameplay leads to unforgettable moments.

Visually, Kenshi might not be the prettiest game, but the world design is striking. From the bone-dry deserts to the eerie foglands, every region tells a story. And while the AI can be janky at times, it adds to the charm—watching your recruits struggle to carry a wounded comrade to safety after a brutal fight makes victories feel even more earned.

It’s a slow burn, but if you enjoy deep, open-ended sandboxes where your decisions truly matter, Kenshi is one of the most rewarding experiences out there. The world doesn't care about you, but that just makes it all the more satisfying when you carve your own place in it.

If you’re patient and don’t mind a bit of roughness, Kenshi will give you some of the best emergent storytelling in gaming. And with mods, the possibilities are nearly endless.

I'd like to play this game and I've been looking forward to it but there's too many crashes regarding the video memory even at the lowest possible settings before I even finish creating a character... I'll try the game again when I think I have a better hardware but I feel like this isn't solely a PC issue and should be addressed by the developer themselves... I installed everything necessary and even checked the local files to try and run this...

The game has great premise and I recommend trying it IF you can run it.

I love this game so much. It offers so much freedom and space to craft your own story. It can be so stressful but so satisfying. I find myself craving other games like it, yet nothing else satisfies. Just the soundtrack is enough to draw me back in. I love you, Kenshi. I cannot wait for Kenshi 2.

Perfect game to play after a hard day at work. A seemingly intricate web of system and mechanics turned nigh-eternal playground for people that want to see the world burn, except the world is already burned, twice even! But I will let you discover the world yourself.

Jokes aside, the game has so much to offer with tons of approaches to any issues. From being the sneaky little rat goblin to the peak barbarian fantasy of crushing anyone in your way. Be a force of good or bad in the world with staggering amount of factions to interact with, ally, or destroy! The story is your own to imagine and manifest! Mainly depressing and dark ones. But hey, its still pretty fun regardless!

It certainly takes awhile to learn how the game works, and a good 'healthy' amount of trial and error will solve most confusion a player could have, added with mods to help streamline your experience with even more variety of content and story to tell, bug fixes and quality of life changes! the game has everything you want from your conventional open-world RPGs! except this game isn't exactly conventional per se..

Of course, you can always visit any related wiki and guide pages online for more thorough answers and solutions to your issues.

Absolutely give it a shot and see if its your thing, because It definitely is my thing!

This game is hard by design. You WILL get your ass kicked at the start, but even if when you do, you're always getting stronger. Even when you lose fights, your toughness goes up. If you keep your health topped off and take your time, you'll start to get better and better and that's where the appeal of this game is. The true sense of accomplishment. Stick with it and you'll find a game with some deep lore, fun characters (Beep!), and amazing zones. Not to mention a thriving and amazing modding community!
10/10 would get my ass handed to me and thrown into slavery again!

probably the epitome of open sandbox RPG, though to the point that it's also "set your own goals, make your own fun." if you can't play something like minecraft because you need more direction in your games, you won't make it through kenshi, but if you enjoy reading other people's exploits and writing about your own, it's a pretty good game for that.

Walked for hours, got beaten, enslaved, escaped, walked for more hours, got beaten again, enslaved again, lost a limb, walked even more, got enslaved again, passed out, woke up with shackles, got beaten for trying to escape, got enslaved again.

10/10.

After playing Kenshi for over 1,000 hours I think I have realized what makes me love this game so much. It is related to the idea that nothing can be beautiful without the existence of something hideous. The lows that your characters can sink to in this game are, for me, previously unimaginable in a video game. But because of that, the highs are very rewarding. Starting out at rock bottom and having to struggle your way to some kind of stability and safety is more satisfying than starting out as the chosen one who is destined to become the hero. Also, you get to decide what being a hero means. It is complete freedom to engage with the world and experience the terror and glory that said freedom allows.

First two hours of gameplay:
-Run around trying to figure out what to do
-Find a guy next to guards crawling on the ground, kill him, thinking I was doing the guards a favor
-Get captured and become a slave
-Escape from slavery when some bandits attack
-Get captured at the next town
-Locked in a cell
-Break out of the cell
-Killed by guards.
10/10

Egh personally i didnt enjoy it ended up with so much speeding up sometimes i didnt know what was going on and then id just straight die while touching the pepe so its just not for me probably really fun for those who are dedicated and what not. Also its fps issues are out of this world i play tarkov apex hunt which all should be more intensive but somehow kenshi has less fps even on a low setting where again all the games i mentioned i run med/high so it could use a fix.

For your first playthrough I heavily recommend the mods:
Flies Are Muted
Mood Shadows
Mood Lighting
Native Stylise - (Mainly for outlining characters, it's almost impossible to spot characters without. To get rid of the "Borderlands" look, turn off Outlines and Posterise in in-game Graphics settings)

Strength Gain Reimagined - Optional, but without this you'll need to overload a backpack and run around for in-game weeks/months to level strength.

Kenshi is... not for everyone. It is certainly not for me.

I could barely wander outside of any cities walls without getting hunted and murdered by a group of 20+ dudes who specifically wanted me dead. The density of people just waiting to kill you is so high for how the environment is laid out.

I thought it would deliver on the fantasy of being a wasteland knight or samurai or something like that. I just died a lot, like I couldnt even get a single thing done because I just died or got captured constantly.

The overwhelmingly positive is a bit misleading in my eyes, because its only really that way if you have so much time to sink into just finding the fun in the game. After that it might be okay. I never got to the fun.

To start out I believe this game is the most amazing sandbox RPG that has ever been made. The entire world from small person to person conflicts to grand scale conflicts between warring nations, you can make this game and world whatever you want. Its insane the different paths you can go down in this game.

Watch YT videos on how to play this game. Start out as the wandering trader start to get the hang of it. Don't focus on building a base, run around, fight, get hurt, lose a leg, get a robot leg, become a slave, buy some slaves, run a mine, run a sweat shop. Grow illegal plants and smuggle them into the holy cities for massive amounts of money. get your stats up and get a feel for the world and the map and the politics of the races and the story lines all over the map.

My one thing i will say is DO NOT GIVE UP, i did and came back 6 months later after watching a YT video and now i have 4 different saves going with different story lines and its just an amazing game.

Absolutely fantastic game.

Never leave reviews but Kenshi deserves one, and much more. I haven't been so absorbed in a game in years and I don't want to stop playing even after 210 hours. Kenshi 2 is now the game I'm looking forward to far more than any other upcoming release.

Kenshi is the game that keeps on giving. It’s a bold and refreshing take on the open-world RPG genre that transcends traditional gameplay mechanics and offers an experience unlike any other. From its sprawling world to its truly unique combat system, Kenshi is a masterpiece that demands attention, not only for its depth but also for the sheer sense of freedom it offers.

The world of Kenshi is vast, diverse, and stunningly detailed. Every corner of the map is rich with history and mystery. There’s no railroading you into a single path; the world is yours to explore, and its immense scale ensures that you’ll always discover something new. Whether you’re navigating desolate deserts, lush green fields, or sprawling cities, the environments feel alive, and the sense of adventure is palpable at every turn.

What makes Kenshi truly stand out, however, is its commitment to player freedom. The game doesn’t hold your hand. You’re thrown into the world with no defined story to follow, and it’s up to you to forge your own path. You can choose to be a lone wanderer, a mercenary, a trader, or even build and defend your own settlement. The possibilities are endless, and the game lets you decide what kind of experience you want to have. This freedom is both empowering and exhilarating.

The combat system is equally as fascinating. Instead of the usual hack-and-slash mechanics, Kenshi features a dynamic, skill-based combat system that requires you to think on your feet. Each character in your group has unique abilities and weaknesses, and you’ll need to make strategic decisions on the fly. Whether you’re outnumbered and fighting for survival or leading a full-on assault on a fortress, the combat is both challenging and rewarding.

Another remarkable aspect of Kenshi is the survival elements. Resources are scarce, and every decision you make can have lasting consequences. Your group can face hunger, injuries, or even slave capture, and you’ll have to manage your resources carefully to ensure your survival. This creates a unique and thrilling atmosphere where every moment feels tense, and every victory is hard-earned.

The sheer depth of Kenshi is staggering. From managing your own faction to recruiting and training a diverse team of characters, the game offers endless replayability. You’ll never run out of new strategies to try, new factions to join (or conquer), or new locations to uncover.

Visually, while Kenshi may not have the photorealistic polish of AAA titles, its distinctive art style is endearing and suits the grim, post-apocalyptic world perfectly. The world may be unforgiving, but it’s also beautiful in its own right.

In conclusion, Kenshi is a game that offers something truly special in an overcrowded market of linear and formulaic experiences. Its depth, freedom, and intricate systems are the pillars of a game that never grows old. Kenshi doesn’t just ask you to play—it invites you to live in its world, and once you enter, it’s incredibly difficult to leave. If you're a fan of open-world games that reward patience, strategic thinking, and creativity, Kenshi is an absolute must-play.

This game is up there with one of my favourites, its difficult but very enjoyable with its roleplaying aspect. its open world is beautiful, with so much to do and discover, its a game where you can really put your imagination to work.

its kind of hard at the begining but it gets more fun its good don't mind my spelling

All your screenshots will be pictures of bugs because the default button to open the cheat menu to fix the bugs is also the default button for steam screanshots

The first empire collapsed after a series of calamities. The second collapsed due to rebellion. My game collapsed under the weight of too many mods.

I love skill grind. to be honest though this game has an amazing sandbox feel and lets you know when youre weak and you can feel yourself improve in player skill and stats

It's a p fun game, would def recommend if you want a nice little group management game that can become a base builder

The first time I played this game, I played for 21 hours straight and im afraid to touch it again. Character management like Sims, Freedom of exploration like New Vegas, map size of GTA 5 (with no cars), aesthetic of BERSERK. One of a kind game fr fr no kizzy ong

Potentially the best RPG I've ever played. Love the pacing and the community. This game is very difficult in a good way! If you enjoy crawling and gaining a little by little in terms of growth in a game that can be played day and night endlessly this is the game for you. I find it's replay-ability unlimited. Can't wait for Kenshi 2 to come out!

This is probably my favorite game of all time. Kenshi has so many immersive and random mechanics no other game does. The game's complexity or simplicity is entirely left up to you the player. For example: Do you wanna be a legendary paraplegic wasteland samurai? Or, maybe, you just wanna sell crappy meat rolls to racist white men blabbering about a "holy kingdom." There are endless possibilities in the world of Kenshi.

11/10, would reccomemd

Also, if ur game is stuck in stretched res, press ctrl+alt+enter

I was always intrigued by this game but a bit intimidated by it's very steep learning curve.
I tried to play it once or twice and just bounced off of it due to said learning curve but mostly because the game looks pretty bad (graphically). I found myself thinking after 10 minutes "do I really want to be looking at this for hours?" and the answer was "no".
A few months ago I was googling around for games like Rimworld and Kenshi kept coming up as something that is both not-at-all like Rimworld but also manages to scratch some similar sandbox itches. I finally worked up the resolve to give Kenshi a proper try.
I'm very glad I did.
As mentioned, the game isn't a looker but it really does make up for it with the depth of play. There is so much stuff you can do and so many ways you can choose to play the game. I played it kind of like a colony sim where I collected a big party and worked on building a city but I've read other people's tales that had vastly different experiences.
The game is pretty brutal in terms of being hard to "make it" and make significant progress but I loved this. Wandering the world truly felt like a challenging adventure. I had a lot of fun exploring and discovering new things. After ~130 hours I felt like I had gotten what I wanted out of the game but I could definitely see returning at some point and maybe trying out some of the extensive mod collection available. In my first (and only, so far) playthrough I only explored maybe 1/4 of the content. There is a ton here and if you get sucked in like I did this game will keep you engaged for potentially 100s of hours.

I like this game a lot, it's very fun. There's a lot you can do, and it's great for building your own stories. I have a ton of fun playing it and will continue to do so. It for sure has fairly steep learning curve, but once you get it, you get it.



But it runs HORRIBLY. It'll just crash without warning for no reason, with or without mods. The pathing is bad and characters will frequently get stuck on the terrain, or refuse to move, which has killed several of them in the past. Using the highest speed often causes it to temporarily freeze, even on the lowest possible graphic settings.

It's a great game, it's very fun. But for the price it shouldn't have these issues.
Worth grabbing on sale but try to keep these things in mind.

My robot army is currently at war with some religious fanatics and trying to rebuild the civilization hunting for ancient technologies. Awesome game. Glitches and cheese being part of what makes it awesome, kind of like Morrowind.

RPG's often come in a wide variety of sub genre's, often resulting in experiences that promise so much but also provide very little, and sometimes that's fine, sometimes it's not, this is usually tied to the very unrealistic expectations set by others or by previous iterations on the formula. Then there's Kenshi, a game that I had heard about but never really paid no mind to, mainly do in part to my lack of comprehension about it. So like any like minded hedonist that throws money at Steam like a cheap stripper I bought it, and the best way I can describe Kenshi is it's like Peter Molyneux pitched the original idea of Fable to a bunch of ardent Stronghold and Fallout players, then gave them a bunch of salvia and said "have at it".

Kenshi *has* no story, you make the story as you play, a concept often pitched at large expo's bi-annually for the next big RPG is done so perfectly unceremoniously that I honestly didn't know what to do with myself. Yeah you get tutorials that give you some helpful info, but for the most part you're left to you're own devices. And like any good RPG regular I decided to get quests! Their are no quests. No journals, no markers, no compass, nothing, just you, a map with two locations, and your own grit, so to lightly recount my experience it goes like this.

When I first started playing I made the discoveries that most players would have made after a little bit of exploring which is that there's no quests, I decided to read up a little and opted to start mining iron outside of the hub, which proved to be harder than I though since I was always getting randomly attacked, eventually I sold enough iron to get building materials to rebuild a mediocre shack in the hub and began to research. After some time I went to Squin and met Ruka, a Shek woman that became my bodyguard, and first "mate" of my crew. With our combined strength we maximized mining and Ruka protected me, we made a bunch of money but got caught in a scuffle at the bar in the hub, accidentally stealing from the bar owner after mistaking him for a downed bandit that attacked the hub, no longer allowing us to buy or sell to him.

After this I made a storm house just outside of the hub, and failed to start successfully fabricating clothing for money, I found myself facing debt, only eeking out minor profit from "the rebel base", a bar outside of the hub, I tore down the storm house and began building a long house further down the road from the hub, setting up mining operations, and a wall. Eventually I took my character and Ruka to the swamps, and there I met Doctor Chung, Hamut, Miu, and Ray, along with finding other settlements that sold Hashish, and made just enough money to afford mercenaries to defend my base near the hub since it was constantly under siege and eventually taken over by bandits. After this I returned to my base where I built up the wall, and starting making a steady stream of money through mining, eventually leveling the wall up to be more durable, and making manual labor easier, so easy that my cash flow afforded me a Shinobi guild membership, I found a nearly dead slave that begged me for mercy and medicine, eventually naming him "Bule" and assigning him engineering duties at my base, quickly proving his resourcefulness.

And now where I'm at in my current play through is that I learned that the bar in the hub was abandoned, so I ransacked it, and now my base is a small settlement that's moving closer to industrial trade with farm goods like hemp, wheat, and cactus so I can make a steady food supply, make rum for trade, and make hemp based bio fuel for both my uses and trade, with plans to expand into the drug game selling hashish, and killing the dust boss so I can rule my area undisturbed and this is all from just doing my own thing with no markers or objectives, honestly making this game feel very unrelenting and very "outlaw" in a way, you are free to do almost anything and my only gripe is the fact that I can't take over settlements like the hub, but since this game supports workshop, I wouldn't be surprised if it became a mod or an official feature. And I know what I just wrote out was a lot and it probably has sold you on the game *however* this point in my playthrough was achieved through a LOT of trial and error, a lot of reloading saves and hoping RNG was on my side, because it does become frustrating sometimes but when it works, it works wonderfully, and it's given me a great sense of fulfillment especially for an RPG, but I can see how people might get frustrated or feel intimidated by it, I certainly felt like uninstalling it a few times but for the most part Kenshi is a MUST play for people that want the maximum in wish fulfillment.

One of, if not, the best RPG experience I have had the pleasure of playing. It is hardcore, no hand holding, immersive, and full of life to the extreme. Though the lore is not explained through any story, you will learn it and you will become invested! Your choices in playthroughs have consequences, the people you ally with and make enemies with, will change the world. And, making risky choices have high reward if you can pull through on surviving.

Base building is fun, you can have people do stuff in your base while others go out to fight. The design for bases is literally so freeform, the only restriction is you can't build too close to NPC settlements. And, your options for making money are whatever the game allows. Crops, armor, weapons, bounties, and even selling others to factions can make you money.

Making squads is good, and easy to swap out and customize. Literally create, drag, and drop. Make base squads, combat squads, or divisions of your overpowered legions to micromanage or macromanage to your pleasure!

Kenshi is 100% worth your money if you like a mixture between RTS and RPG gameplay. Even if you want to get into into that stuff, this one will give you the chest hairs you need!

So like other reviews I would like to start off with my first kenshi story. I thought it would be cool to try and play on the harder difficulty so I started off as the "rock bottom" difficulty which is where you have no money, no gear, dropped off in the middle of nowhere and, oh, btw, you only have 1 arm. So here is my story.

First Run: Dropped off in the middle of the desert, lock eyes with a giant bug, I run, it kills me. Probably 2 minutes of game play.

Second Run: In the desert, lock eyes with some bandits, I run, they kill me and loot my corpse.

Third Run: Made progress to the nearest town, dying of hunger, tried to steal some food, got caught stealing, thrown in jail. Got out, lock eyes with slave traders, I run, they enslave me. I escape, lock eyes with some bandits again, I run, they attack and chop off my leg... but I survived! Armless, legless, I crawl to find some help, lock eyes with giant bug... I accept my fate.

Highly recommend!

Open world survival sandbox. No quests--just story driven by the player. Very fun, I will be playing this a lot.

It's pretty much my favorite game. Hours and hours of fun just starting out and scavenging to get money to buy training gear to become a killer who can protect his friends and get shit done. Power fantasy to the Max. I usually make a greenlander named Guts and recruit a scorchlander to name Casca and they go kick ass together.

It takes you learning how to play to realize just how boring, empty and bland this game is. The second you understand how to play, you will ask yourself "why am I playing this, when there's so many better games to waste my time with" and by then you already spent hours learning the game. Gets marginally playable with a plethora of mods. Another one for the "great potential, boring execution" bin.

It's rough, unfinished, has bad UI and with bad looking caracters. Still this game is amazing. How? I don't exactly know. The atmosthere, soundtrack and gameplay is very engaging and keeps bringing me back for some reason.

Simply put.. this is FUN. Like when I got my first PC 40 years ago. It is SO open world I had no idea what to do. But unlike too many games, where you only really get one chance at something, in Kenshi it comes around again. Don't worry about it. Buy the wrong item and lose the money? Just make the money again. Or put it in a chest and save it, you have another 31 characters to build. Too slow? Run. Too weak? Run while overloaded. Too risky to get damaged enough to practice first aid on yourself? Heal the bad guys after the guards knock them out. Too risky to learn to fight? Hang on the edges and help the guards fight. Too poor? Mine. Loot the dead. Steal. I've been stressing over where to start a base. Who cares? If it doesn't work out, move! And have fun with whatever reason it doesn't work out. Every time I get my ass kicked I get up stronger, and I have really gotten fast from all the running away back to guards who save my ass. And let me loot the dead and heal the injured. There are a LOT of buttons to push, read what comes up. Lots of good advice on how to improve skills.
DON'T get knocked unconscious in Fog Islands." Munch, snap, munch munch"... I can hear it from my house when they set up camp near town but away from the gates and the guards aggro range. I've barely scratched the surface on the possible miseries. And if you hear a "Beep" nearby, don't ignore it. Not a bad 1st companion. I just leave him at home researching things while I adventure.
Hiroto Wakarimasen

Want to scrap together survival in a bleak wasteland where everyone is happy to murder you for scraps of food? This game is what I would imagine would happen if a mega-corp in space took all the resources from a planet and left the workers on the planet to survive when it left. It is a game where gaining a bit of wealth and equipment feels like a real achievement. Finally getting a home feels like you have escaped instant death... not escaped death... just escaped the instant death. Fun.

119 hours in, and it meets the cost-benefit analysis: buy.

I got enslaved. then escaped. then used my shackles on a slave trader. now I enslaved the slave trader 10/10.
Got a hardcore start mod. started in skin bandit area. got kidnapped and had my skin peeled off. 10/10
Leveled martial arts to max. went to the lord phoenix. decimated the whole town on my own. 10/10
Leveled stealth to max. leveled thief to max. stole Hub vendors whole stock and sold it back to him. 10/10
Found and defeated catlon. Went to shek kingdom to hand him in. No one reacted D: 0/10

Overall great game

The game has a few bugs, game crashes and is horribly unoptimized but gifts a grand time. With a booming world to explore and nearly endless amounts of content despite never really giving the player much if any direction, You can truly sit happy as your PC bursts into flames from the poor optimizations.

This is one of my favorite games of all time. I always find myself returning, and always will. Only thing that could probably stop me from coming back and probably not even that would be Kenshi 2

- I spawned in the hub
- i explored outside town
- there is a dust bandit camp few distance from the entrance
- they beat me up and amputated my leg
- i'm dying from lack of leg and caved chest while unconscious

11/10

9/10 A fantastic In-depth sandbox rpg with a variety of factions, areas, and races. It could just do with a more intuitive hud and story based missions (look to mods for those) .

Narrative: It's a sandbox game so the story is up to you to make as you interact with rival/neutral factions who will try to kill or befriend you based upon your ties or race. You can be a bounty hunter, bandit, religious zealot, a ninja, a slave(r), a cannibal, a robot, etc etc just pick wisely because people will base their opinions off of your appearance and status. As for the setting, the best I can do to describe it is say the events take place in a desert dystopia with you trying to survive with no end in site (until you get bored and abandon the game).

Gameplay: The game comes with base building (and all that entails), real time melee/ranged combat, and faction management. The base building can be done anywhere except in cities/towns where you will have to buy a building to do it and you need to be in good/neutral standing with the cities main faction. Also, if you build in someone's territory they will tax you so be mindful if you aren't allied with them because combat will ensue. The combat is always real time and can be automated or manually controlled. To get the best results you will have to train the people you recruit or spawn as in your group . Even then there are no guarantees of survival so be sure to craft or purchase the best equipment you can to keep your faction alive. Faction/base wise, you can make your own at anytime or join another one. If you make your own then you will be seen as hostile to anyone you don't have a good standing and build on their territory. Be warned base building is something you should do after recruit a high number of people or else you will be overwhelmed by the strength and numbers of other factions.

Summary: It's a complex yet low graphic game with a massive amount of options for building or surviving in an enormous sandbox map. If you are up for the experience and don't mind the jank then this is a good try.

I have left it for far too long to write an actual review for this game. In short, Kenshi is an absolute masterpiece. No two ways about it. I could write an entire essay on its merits and the underlying philosophy of the game, but Steam reviews are hardly the best place for that.

In terms of gameplay, it is a sandbox RPG of the purest variety. No quest list, no quest markers, no handholding of any kind. You are thrown into the world and you have to forge your own path through it from a list of open-ended starting scenarios. These include starting as a slave to religious zealots, starting as two companions (read: morons) who are pursued by cannibals after a disastrous foray into their territory, and, iconically, a start in which you are naked, alone, and quite literally unarmed in the middle of a desert.

Immediately, once you leave a city, you will be accosted by vagabonds, who are likely all stronger, faster, and more skilled than you. Provided you don’t bleed out in the wastes, you will repeat this process. Again. And again. And again. Until you realise that you’re managing to take out one of them at a time. Then two. Then three.

This is the core loop of Kenshi, and the primary element of the game’s philosophy: fall down, then get up, repeat ad infinitum. The game’s description in the store puts it best: you are not the chosen one. You are just like everyone else in this world. You are not special. Like everyone else, you will fall down. You construct your legend by pulling yourself back up, every single time. I believe some element of the player has to hate themselves in order to truly love this game in full; the rather sadistic philosophy of Kenshi and the fantasy of brutal self-improvement it provides lends itself to those so inclined.

The setting of the game, and the exploration thereof, is nothing short of absolutely phenomenal. Storytelling is primarily told through the environment, with light context given by certain NPCs. The basic gist is that the game is set on a world in seemingly permanent decline, with the technology of yesteryear seen rusting and decaying. The contrast this provides is profound; high-tech robots, known in game as Skeletons, are present, and even they fight with low-tech swords and crossbows.

However, all of this praise is not to say that the game does not have its flaws. The outdated UI and subpar graphics, combined with the brutally high difficulty, may be a turnoff for some players. Additionally, it is hard to resist the temptation of mods to fix leftover bugs and add some QoL features to make the gameplay a tad smoother.

In spite of these few flaws, however, Kenshi remains a masterpiece. If you thoroughly enjoy sandbox RPGs, and can bear the inherent jank of the game, I firmly believe you will find one of the greatest works of art ever made. It’s an easy 10/10, but certainly not everyone’s cup of tea.

I remember this project from about 10+ years ago from IndieDB, now over the years and when I got the hardware that is able to run it well enough I have no comments only that it's beautiful edgelord-troll galore of a game!