Game News Kenshi Released

[Infinitron]

Tags: Kenshi; Lo-Fi Games

Kenshi is an open-ended sandbox RPG set in a brutal Dark Sun-esque desert world. It's one of those games where you can go anywhere and do anything, including building cities and leading armies. Think Mount & Blade, but even crazier. Which it should be, seeing as it's been in development for twelve years, including over five years on Steam Early Access (beat that, Bannerlord!). As stated, the game is finally out today. The uncut launch trailer should give you a good idea of what the Kenshi experience is all about.

A free-roaming squad based RPG focusing on open-ended sandbox gameplay features rather than a linear story. Be a trader, a thief, a rebel, a warlord, an adventurer, a farmer, a slave, or just food for the cannibals.

Research new equipment and craft new gear. Purchase and upgrade your own buildings to use as safe fortified havens when things go bad, or use them to start up a business. Aid or oppose the various factions in the world while striving for the strength and wealth necessary to simply survive in the harsh desert. Train your men up from puny victims to master warriors. Carry your wounded squad mates to safety and get them all home alive.

Features

• Freeform gameplay in a seamless game world in the largest single-player RPG world since Daggerfall, stretching over 870 square kilometers. The game will never seek to limit you or restrict your personal play style.
  
• Custom design as many characters as you want and build up a whole squad to fight for you. Characters will grow and become stronger with experience, not just in their stats but their appearance too.
  
• Original take on the RTS-RPG hybrid genre. No "hero" characters with artificially stronger stats than everybody else- Every character and NPC you meet is potentially an equal, and has a name, a life.
  
• You are not the chosen one. You're not great and powerful. You don't have more 'hitpoints' than everyone else. You are not the center of the universe, and you are not special. Unless you work for it.
  
• Build a base where you can research new technologies, upgrade your defences and craft new gear.
  
• Purchase and upgrade your own buildings to use as safe fortified havens when things go bad, or use them to start up a business.
  
• Variation and possibilities of gameplay. Be good, be evil, be a businessman, be a thief, live in a town, live in the desert, travel alone, travel in hordes, build a fortress, raze a city. Devote yourself to freeing slaves, or maybe end up a slave yourself.
  
• Dynamic, ever changing world. Support or hinder whoever you wish, or keep to yourself, the world won't stop moving. This is not just a "game", you are living and surviving in a simulated world.
  
• Get captured by cannibals and eaten alive, or sold off by slavers and forced to work in the mines. These are not scripted events, just a regular part of this chaotic world that ruins your life by chance. Anything can happen, yet anything can be overcome if you have the strength.
  
• Absolutely no Level-scaling. The world does not level up along with you, and the shops don't change their inventory to only items matching your level. At the start of the game almost everyone will be stronger than you, and survival will always be a struggle. The game won't hold your hand or help you when you're down.
  
• Realistic medical system that affects gameplay. A character with a wounded leg will limp or crawl and slow the party down, wounded arms means you must use your sword one-handed or not at all. Severe injuries will result in amputees needing robotic limb replacements. Blood loss means you can pass out, and the blood will attract predators. A character’s stats are affected by equipment, encumbrance, blood loss, injuries and starvation.
  
• Intelligent AI that allows for characters to reason and work towards long-term goals and desires. Squads work together and carry their wounded to safety. Characters can be setup to take care of micromanagement for you and run production in your base.
  
• Aid or oppose the various factions in the world while striving for the strength and wealth necessary to simply survive in the harsh environment.
  
• Independently developed with no design influences, or alterations dictated by men in gray suits who have never played a game before in their lives.
  
• Original game world. There are no fantasy-knock-off cliches. No magic.

Kenshi isn't the kind of game mainstream reviewers grok, but it's got thousands of positive reviews on Steam. It might just be a new classic of the genre, although I don't know if Codexers have patience for this sort of game nowadays. If it is your type of thing though, you can grab Kenshi on Steam or GOG today for $30.

 

[Valky]

I thought this was vaporware.

 

[Grotesque]

What?

This is like... from another eon ... when gas prices were right and politicians were honest

 

[The Great ThunThun*]

Finally. Been waiting for this more than a decade now.

 

[Epsilon]

Are there different classes of weapons other than melee? I mean, it's kinda weird if there's atleast not bows or crossbows.

edit: Looked it up. Crossbows is the answer.

 

[CRD]

god, that trailer surely isn't going to sell many copies. And it is a shame because the game is good, but god, who thought that trailer could promote a game.

 

[aratuk]

[…] although I don't know if Codexers have patience for this sort of game nowadays.

[citation needed]

 

[Humanity has risen!]

Just another survival sandbox that tries to be the only game you'll ever need to play, but which like all others ends up consisting of nothing but boring and pointless tedium.

 

[Lycra Suit]

What baffles me is how, despite its huge marketing potential, the only ones exploring this niche are indie basement hobbyists.

 

[Mustawd]

[…] although I don't know if Codexers have patience for this sort of game nowadays.

[citation needed]

See below for citation.

Just another survival sandbox that tries to be the only game you'll ever need to play, but which like all others ends up consisting of nothing but boring and pointless tedium.

 

[Elim]

Was perfectly playable in the last years. IMHO one of the greatest games ever made. Superb atmosphere, solid mechanics and one of the only real exploration games out there. Real because you are in an alien landscape, you see stuff you have never seen before. It's not about finding hidden caches of awesome weapons. It's about the journey.

If you like RPG's, squad management, settlement management and exploration, give Kenshi a try.

 

[thesheeep]

Tried multiple times getting into the game.

It sounds marvellous in theory.
But all you do in practice is run around for hours on end in an almost completely empty world, digging some rocks for materials and selling them. Speeding up the game as high as you can, but it is still all so tedious.
Or following some guards around to pick up the trash they leave behind after fights (because you suck so much at the beginning, you really shouldn't fight).

To get to any kind of interesting gameplay with building your own base, etc. you probably have to play for weeks.
I don't see why anyone would enjoy this. The graphics are also... let's say they demand quite a struggle against your inner graphics whore.

 

[Elim]

digging some rocks for materials and selling them

Because this is how you want to play. I never do that.

Or following some guards around to pick up the trash they leave behind after fights

It's a pretty grim world, you start as a total nobody. You can start stronger, but going from a total nobody to a person having a big city is pretty rewarding.

(because you suck so much at the beginning, you really shouldn't fight).

But you should fight because otherwise your stats won't increase. Savescumming is also not a real thing thanks to that. Losing means you gain stats, too. For example toughness.

To get to any kind of interesting gameplay with building your own base, etc. you probably have to play for weeks.

If you play like you do, yes.
Get followers, explore the world and find an biome/area that allows you to bloom.
I do not want to spoil anything, but areas are very different, thanks to the factions and what lives creatures live in that biome. There will come a moment when you think "now I should build a town" because you have so much stuff and people and it is a little complex managing 14 people in your party.

Do not start a village with one dude. Basically the moment you build a house you become a faction. And the game changes again. Suddently you focus a lot on your town and recruits, you need food and money to pay mercs when you lack the manpower of dedicated fighters.
I love the graphics, sure, they may not be great, but the aesthethics are.


True, this game is not for every person. It's slow, rough, chill. It has depth and meat on its bones. It's pretty unique.

 

[Ismaul]

god, that trailer surely isn't going to sell many copies. And it is a shame because the game is good, but god, who thought that trailer could promote a game.

Actually I find it awesome. The music's great, the gameplay seems fresh, the world looks alive.

If I didn't have a life, I'd delve deep, get lost in it, on the merits of that trailer alone. And I'm not really into survival/builder simulations. But I am into "living world simulations" à la Gothic/Elex.

 

[Lycra Suit]

How's the actual story and writing?

 

[Lycra Suit]

curry can you be more specific?

 

[Irgsarzh]

Is this minecraft for grognards?

 

[curry]

curry can you be more specific?

Can't ruin the mystery, bro.

 

[Deleted Member 22431]

The fuck is this game.

 

[thesheeep]

digging some rocks for materials and selling them

Because this is how you want to play. I never do that.

I certainly never wanted to play like that, but besides that and digging in the leftovers of guards or caravans are literally the only things you can do to earn money early on.
And both is just boring, because you don't really do anything.

Or following some guards around to pick up the trash they leave behind after fights

It's a pretty grim world, you start as a total nobody. You can start stronger, but going from a total nobody to a person having a big city is pretty rewarding.

(because you suck so much at the beginning, you really shouldn't fight).

But you should fight because otherwise your stats won't increase. Savescumming is also not a real thing thanks to that. Losing means you gain stats, too. For example toughness.

Yeah, get the shit beaten out of you for stat gains. Sounds like fun. I guess that's the third alternative to what the early game is...
Don't know about you, but I prefer picking fights I can win, not those I know I'll lose. That's just absurdly gamey. But this game doesn't give you any fights you can win early on. I was walking around in at least four or five biomes and none of them features any kind of encounter my little band of 2-4 people could've won without dying.

To get to any kind of interesting gameplay with building your own base, etc. you probably have to play for weeks.

If you play like you do, yes.

As I said already, there is no other way to play at the beginning.

Get followers, explore the world and find an biome/area that allows you to bloom.

To get followers, you need cash. Which requires you to do boring mining or boring scavenging.
A few will join you for free, yes, but they suck almost as much as you do. After playing for 8 hours, I think I found three people willing to join for free in who knows how many cities I've been to.
I don't know what game you played, but the one I played simply did not have any biome that would have been beginner friendly without having to grind for weeks on end.

It has depth and meat on its bones. It's pretty unique.

Too bad you have to wade through many hours of boring grind to get to any of that.

 

[slymer]

i bought this on Desura years ago, but I guess they went out of business.

 

[Infinitron]

i bought this on Desura years ago, but I guess they went out of business.

Contact the dev, if you show him your receipt email he might give you a Steam or GOG key.

 

[slymer]

i bought this on Desura years ago, but I guess they went out of business.

Contact the dev, if you show him your receipt email he might give you a Steam or GOG key.

unfortunately I can't find a receipt email. sad!

 

[Irgsarzh]

Flavors of grind

Apart from the sandbox exploration, does the game at least has an interesting enough storyline or events to counter the suffering?

 

[thesheeep]

I did not play very far, but I did not really encounter any story.
I think the game is really a pure sand box, but I might be wrong.