Kenshi - open-ended sandbox RPG set in a desert world

[Zanzoken]

Damn I have heard that elder beak things were legit but never actually seen one in game. That is one terrifying bastard.

 

[toro]

toro Hey I penned a review too. It's got its own thread, don't mind if the site uses it or not. I have to play more though and eventually add screenshots.

You cannot make a review without pictures. We are all simple humans, we need pictures!

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

toro Noted, toro.

Wow, I can't believe how many decent mods exist for this game already. I must have just grabbed 20 of them, really interesting ones, too. This should spice up the game even more. I think this game is the most special game I've played in years - even more special than Kingmaker (which granted, is a super good game but not exactly special being an isometric CRPG. Kingdom management adds some speciality, but I digress.) I've only played 62 hours of it but I'm blown away. God bless the developer(s) of this game. This type of thing is exactly what we need to see with RPG devs going forward - innovation and uniqueness.

 

[toro]

toro Noted, toro.

Wow, I can't believe how many decent mods exist for this game already. I must have just grabbed 20 of them, really interesting ones, too. This should spice up the game even more. I think this game is the most special game I've played in years - even more special than Kingmaker (which granted, is a super good game but not exactly special being an isometric CRPG. Kingdom management adds some speciality, but I digress.) I've only played 62 hours of it but I'm blown away. God bless the developer(s) of this game. This type of thing is exactly what we need to see with RPG devs going forward - innovation and uniqueness.

I agree.

244 hours put into Kingmaker. The first chapters were brilliant and it's probably the best and closest thing we got for an "Infinity Engine"-like game. It puts PoE2 and DOS2 to shame ... which is great, but it doesn't compare to Kenshi

138 hours put into Kenshi. It's the first sandbox game in long time which fulfills the basic requirement for a sandbox game: a pure simulated world. Almost every outcome in Kenshi emerges in a natural way as result of a causal chain (like in RL) and this makes Kenshi's world one of the most "alive" and unique worlds I ever explored. That's it!

I did not play Ultima Underworld but I glimpsed into the greatness of simulated worlds in Thief, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Gothic, Arx Fatalis and Stalker but this little gem is simply better in this department. It's not perfect but Thank God! for its existence. The game potential is huge.

Bottom line: For me Kenshi is the game of the year 2018.

 

[Zanzoken]

Tfw u think ur tough and then u try to fight this guy

Spoiler

(I actually thought I had a chance )

 

[Xeon]

What is the best way to get rid of limbs?

Legs are easy to get rid off if you are not a Hiver but what about arms? I can get rid of one but the moment the second arm is crippled he keeps running and if I remove the legs so he crawls and become easy target, monsters tend to start ignoring me and not attack.

Will be great if there is a safer way to train Toughness for solo, if there is a party then its easy, you just get beat up and then someone heals you but for solo, there is no one who heals you except for Slavers I think.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

What is the best way to get rid of limbs?

Legs are easy to get rid off if you are not a Hiver but what about arms? I can get rid of one but the moment the second arm is crippled he keeps running and if I remove the legs so he crawls and become easy target, monsters tend to start ignoring me and not attack.

Will be great if there is a safer way to train Toughness for solo, if there is a party then its easy, you just get beat up and then someone heals you but for solo, there is no one who heals you except for Slavers I think.

Use peeler to remove limb.

 

[Xeon]

Is it possible to use the peeler and remove yourself afterward or someone else has to remove you? wiki doesn't say much about it except you get it from Savant faction I think.

If it is then its pretty sweet to sneak in and use peeler and equip new limbs and run out.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Can you cut humans for meat like in Unreal World?

stop waisting your time with this while there's a new blobber out there.

what blobber?

 

[Reapa]

Can you cut humans for meat like in Unreal World?

stop waisting your time with this while there's a new blobber out there.

what blobber?

Aeon of Sands

 

[Infinitron]

If I wrote a review of Kenshi would there a possibility of it getting published? I know the Codex did a news post on launch day but I'd like to throw as much support as we can behind it.

Obviously the review would be quite positive but there are aspects of the game that merit criticism, so I think I could write something pretty balanced overall.

Yes, if you know how to write gud.

 

[you know what time it is]

Someday they'll get UX right in games, I'll probably be dead by then though.

 

[Deleted Member 16721]

I agree.

244 hours put into Kingmaker. The first chapters were brilliant and it's probably the best and closest thing we got for an "Infinity Engine"-like game. It puts PoE2 and DOS2 to shame ... which is great, but it doesn't compare to Kenshi

138 hours put into Kenshi. It's the first sandbox game in long time which fulfills the basic requirement for a sandbox game: a pure simulated world. Almost every outcome in Kenshi emerges in a natural way as result of a causal chain (like in RL) and this makes Kenshi's world one of the most "alive" and unique worlds I ever explored. That's it!

I did not play Ultima Underworld but I glimpsed into the greatness of simulated worlds in Thief, System Shock 2, Deus Ex, Gothic, Arx Fatalis and Stalker but this little gem is simply better in this department. It's not perfect but Thank God! for its existence. The game potential is huge.

Bottom line: For me Kenshi is the game of the year 2018.

Very well said! For me, as much as I love Kingmaker (and I do, a lot, I agree with your comments there), Kenshi is simply something I've never seen before in gaming - a real world. And it's just so satisfying to grow in strength in it, manpower, money, relationships, sounds like real life, lol. But it's all there in Kenshi. I added 20 some mods and am afraid to look for more, I'll be there all day picking them out!

With the help of mercs I took out The Dust King and The Band of Bones, so I think I'm relatively safe to build soon. Shek might ask for some sort of tribute which I could cover, and then a city might emerge. I raised the member cap to 256, hopefully that's not gamebreaking in itself. I could always take it away depending on how many members other factions have (is it warband vs. warband generally or warband (you) vs. army (them)? In other words, is the mod balanced?

As I said, I penned a review and barely know the game, just wanted to share a love letter to it after 62 hours.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

actually mount & blade's world is much more detailed and "living", kenshi is very very static, and in absolute, not by comparison.

 

[Infinitron]

https://www.pcgamer.com/kenshi-review/

KENSHI REVIEW

In my time with Kenshi, I've crossed swamps so vast that I haven't dared return. I've been beaten shitless by a pack of goats that were intended to feed my rabble of listless nomads. I've been a shopkeeper and a thief, a lone wanderer and a slave, and I've been an entire community of people working together to—one day—erect our own city in the wasteland. One day.

None of these events were part of questlines. There’s no such regimentation in Kenshi, no tangible sense of scripted behaviour, just a ragged web of vicious systems so myriad that they sometimes tangle and fumble and descend into absurdity. But there is a cold order to Kenshi too, a formidable degree of depth that’s as impressive as it is stubborn.

Upon creating your squad of up to six starting characters, you’re unceremoniously dumped into a dauntingly large post-apocalyptic world that looks like Mad Max were it set in feudal Japan. All of your skills start at or around zero, and you work on them simply by doing. There are no special abilities or spellcraft, and you’ll probably spend your first several hours as a lowly scavenger—sticking to the shadows, levelling up your stealth, and scurrying in after skirmishes between the various factions and fauna to loot the dead.

Beyond that? Perhaps you search the wilderness for artefacts or lore titbits, hunt down bounties for the myriad factions, join up with anti-slavers, or just set up shop on a busy trade route and try to make an honest living.

Through bar-crawling and chance encounters with escaped slaves and other vagabonds, you can recruit new people, who you then take control of just like your original characters. You can have several squads in different parts of the world if you wish, or train new members as farmers and labourers so that you can build a self-sustaining settlement. At this point, Kenshi becomes a surprisingly effective management game as you research technologies, construct buildings, and assign people long lists of automated tasks like mining, farming and construction. Settlements present their own dangers: out in the wilderness you’ll face bandit and animal attacks, while settling near cities may subject you to strict taxation and other regional rules (one theocratic faction actually makes it a punishable offence not to pray regularly).

There are a few missions you can pick up by talking to people, but the best stories are those that emerge organically out of Kenshi’s systems. For instance, in the early game, my first companion and I we were beset by slavers, who took one of us captive while the other managed to escape. I licked my wounds, gathered myself, and took it upon myself to rescue my companion.

After a good few hours of scavenging, I saved up enough money to hire a mercenary band. We raided the slave camp and rescued my comrade, but it didn’t end there, as his shaved-head-and-shackles look meant that slavers and authorities would identify him as an escapee and attempt to recapture him. So began a survival experience deep in a swampy wilderness while his bounty expired. There are so many little layers here that the narrative possibilities feel endless.

Kenshi’s mechanics and UIs have an arcane MMO feel, which can get cumbersome as your group’s numbers grow. Combat is automated, though you can make minor tweaks like defensive postures, ranged attacks and play around with squad formations. Movement, meanwhile, is mouse-based, with the WSAD keys controlling the camera. While the streamlined combat is functional given how many people you can end up controlling, things can get pretty fiddly when you’re managing inventories, transferring items between 10 or more people, and trying to get your settlement running as efficiently as possible.

The early going can be cruel; basic survival plans can be easily derailed by a city guard who plants drugs on you then demands money you don’t have, or by finding yourself deep in a region inhabited by vicious alien giraffes. It can all get a bit grindy too; it takes a long time before you can handle yourself in a fight, a long time to grow food, and a long time to get around. Even though Kenshi is capable of conjuring great scenarios to break up these anaemic stretches, it doesn’t lessen the slog.

But after around 30 hours, I still feel like I’ve so much to uncover. I've still got to expand from a dustbowl community to a fortress; to send an expedition of battle-hardened warriors out into distant wilds while back at the township artisans and workers rake in profits thanks to the clockwork-like regimen I created. Kenshi is huge, amoral, and opaque enough that I'll be deciphering it it for a very long time.

THE VERDICT
84

KENSHI REVIEW
Work through the presentational ugliness and technical awkwardness, and you’ll find an experience of frightening depth.

 

[Tovias]

What is the best way to get rid of limbs?

Legs are easy to get rid off if you are not a Hiver but what about arms? I can get rid of one but the moment the second arm is crippled he keeps running and if I remove the legs so he crawls and become easy target, monsters tend to start ignoring me and not attack.

Will be great if there is a safer way to train Toughness for solo, if there is a party then its easy, you just get beat up and then someone heals you but for solo, there is no one who heals you except for Slavers I think.

A good way to train thoughtness is capturing a high level skeleton, giving it a defensive low tier weapon (like a jitter) and sparring with it. Another way is getting slaved and being a bad slave.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

what's the BUSIEST place to build an outpost? yes, you read it right, "busiest", i want throngs of battles around me, i want to keep my killbox constantly occupied, maybe i could want to have to put archers on perimetral walls too for the abundance of targets of opportunity.
also it has to be a good spot, at least as good as this one i found, south-south-east of eyesocket, east of brink, just on the border with the fire pillars and only a few minutes long walk away from skeleton central, with fertility to grow plenty of wheat, lots of water, all three resources at 100 inside the walls (like 100m apart, no farther) and enough flat surface to build a city so big critters start spawning inside.

 

[Tovias]

what's the BUSIEST place to build an outpost? yes, you read it right, "busiest", i want throngs of battles around me, i want to keep my killbox constantly occupied, maybe i could want to have to put archers on perimetral walls too for the abundance of targets of opportunity.
also it has to be a good spot, at least as good as this one i found, south-south-east of eyesocket, east of brink, just on the border with the fire pillars and only a few minutes long walk away from skeleton central, with fertility to grow plenty of wheat, lots of water, all three resources at 100 inside the walls (like 100m apart, no farther) and enough flat surface to build a city so big critters start spawning inside.

Somewhere inside the Fog Islands, make sure to piss as many people as you can so they send raids against you, someone who will reach the ends of earth just to assault you is the Holy Nation, not sure if the other big two do the same.

 

[Zanzoken]

I am no expert on base locations but I would check out the Northern Coast. My guess is you'd have to deal with Holy Nation, UCs, and cannibals in that spot, and should be prime for growing wheat.

If you turn the raid frequency up to max you'll probably be getting lots of action no matter where you settle.

 

[MadMaxHellfire]

i already set it to max and all i need is 6 harpoons, that's why i'm asking.

 

[Tovias]

If what you want is armies on your door, then I'd suggest poking the bears of the world. Kidnap their leaders and keep them alive in your outpost then wait for retialation.

Spoiler

 

[Zanzoken]

 

[Tovias]

It wasn't my first time facing a God's Retribution but everyone was wounded from capturing the Phoenix and a fogmen raid just before it. My MA character was also away delivering the Phoenix to the Golem. Would have lost some people hadn't the Shek Kingdom sent back up.

Spoiler

 

[Zanzoken]

Tovias how did you make allies with the Shek? I am still not too well-versed in the faction mechanics.

Spoiler

Bugmaster?

 

[Tovias]

Yes.