Kenshi Welcomes You To A World Full Of Opportunities And Suffering

Do not be fooled by its appearance

Leave A Mark (Or Not) In Kenshi

Be Anything You Want As Long As You Survive!

Welcome to the harsh open world of Kenshi, where various factions compete for survival and supremacy. In this "free-roaming squad-based RPG," you are just a nobody dropped onto a wartorn, tidally locked moon. You have no objectives, missions, or backstory, aside from choosing a specific race that ties into the overall lore of the game. If you play as a human, your race is the most populous, and your roots trace back to the technologically advanced First Empire. Some NPCs will react to your race, but that’s all there is to it.

Carve your own path in Kenshi through your actions, allegiances, and missions. For instance, you can be an opportunist, waiting for a small skirmish to finish before looting the corpses, selling the spoils to merchants, and potentially becoming a merchant yourself. Alternatively, you can head straight to the battlefield, assisting one faction for more combat experience and the chance to gain their trust. There are more ways to play the game, so let your imagination run wild. You can also choose to play solo, recruit NPCs to join you, and even build a base of your own!

This does not mean that Kenshi lacks lore. On the contrary, it has an expansive history that spans thousands of years, including the deep-seated hatred between the Shek Kingdom and the Holy Nation. However, you start as a literal nobody in the grand scheme of things. According to a Rock Paper Shotgun article, Kenshi developer Chris Hunt is also “not a fan of exposition—but they might be alluded to in the game’s sparse lines of NPC dialogue” or through the game’s geographical features. Despite having no backstory, you can create your own and leave a lasting mark on Kenshi’s history. Just take the utmost caution as almost everything and everyone in this game is out to get you!

Unique And Interesting Game Mechanics

The leveling system in Kenshi is similar to that of Skyrim, Mount and Blade: Bannerlord, and other comparable games. Most of your actions will earn XP, but it will be tied to specific categories. For instance, fighting enemies with your bare hands will earn you Martial Arts XP, increasing your proficiency in unarmed combat with each level-up. Healing allies or even enemies will enhance your or your companions' medical skills. You also earn separate XP based on the weapon you choose; continuously using katanas, for example, will make your character proficient with that weapon, allowing you to deal more damage to enemies. It is entirely possible to create unique companions in Kenshi by leveling their skills accordingly.

The realistic medical system is another of Kenshi’s standout mechanics. If one of your characters repeatedly injures their legs in combat or through other means, there’s a chance that a leg will go limp and require amputation. Similarly, unarmed combat can also injure your character’s hands. Depending on the amputated body parts, they may be less effective or even become useless. However, there's no need to worry; you can implant prosthetics with various stats to restore or enhance their bodily functions. Is there a way to intentionally amputate perfectly healthy and functional body parts in exchange for better prosthetics? Maybe.

Though Kenshi’s art style may not appeal to everyone, its unique World State system captivates millions of players. This system allows you to influence and leave a lasting impact on Kenshi’s world, affecting faction activity and even the spawn rates of certain enemies. For instance, killing a faction leader will enable another faction to take over its territory, and this can happen repeatedly as long as certain NPCs are alive or dead. Sounds simple, right? However, this system is more complex than it seems.

There are various consequences, especially in large nations, where you can kill, imprison, bribe, or collude with their leaders and henchmen. One small action can lead to a nation’s downfall or a group’s dissolution, so think twice before taking any action within a faction's territory.

Took Inspiration From Samurai And Steampunk Ideas

Kenshi was originally developed in the Ogre Engine by Chris Hunt alone between 2006 and 2008. After securing funding as a Steam early access game, he hired a team to help bring Kenshi to completion. According to a Reddit post by Chris five years ago, he worked on the game alone for six years “while doing 2 days a week as a security guard before Alpha-funding the game, building a small team, and creating Lo-Fi Games.” His sister, Natalie Hunt, eventually joined the project to handle the game’s dialogue along with other people.

Chris Hunt draws inspiration from the film Mad Max and “the concept of a wandering, desperate samurai ronin or a hungry survivor roaming a desolate wasteland,” as mentioned in a Siliconera interview. Imagine a steampunk world set in a harsh and desolate environment, and you will find Kenshi. But don’t mistake it for a game set in East Asia; no. “It just happens to have lots of swords, ninjas, monsters, and Mad Max-style apocalyptic-looking robot limbs and architecture!”

These ideas and inspirations birthed the gritty, unforgiving world of Kenshi, where diverse and unusual factions strive to survive and vie for supremacy through diplomacy, force, or deception. The environment is harsh due to an unstable weather system and wild beasts that can take down even your best warriors. Despite the challenging gameplay, countless players enjoy the freedom to create their own stories in Kenshi.

Milestones Achieved Throughout The Years

Kenshi’s long development stage and the commitment of its developers paid off, as many players supported its early access version and continued to play once the full game was released. According to the developers’ Steam announcement on April 16, 2024, 2 million copies of Kenshi were sold since its release, with even more players purchasing the game in 2023. This is quite an achievement, especially for a game released back in 2013 as one of the initial titles featured in Steam's early access program.

“So here’s a massive thanks to everyone who’s helped us on this journey. You might not be aware, but we’re an entirely independent company, and we don’t have the deep pockets of investors or publishers to help us spread the word at all. We’re therefore especially thankful for all the recommendations and reviews from fans, the work from content creators, and all the publications kind enough to cover us. We couldn’t have done it without you.”

The game currently enjoys 74,958 Overwhelmingly Positive reviews on Steam. Despite its clunky controls, outdated graphics, and obscure game mechanics, Kenshi remains one of the best open-world indie games. The game also won the Tokyo Game Show 2018 Media Award - 4Gamer Indies Award and the Rock Paper Shotgun’s ‘Bestest Bests’ award.

From a lone developer to a small indie team, Kenshi now has 33 people working to polish the game and develop a very exciting new project. Currently, the team includes a producer, several translators, a community manager, and an executive assistant. This will allow Chris and Natalie to spend more time focusing on this new project.

You can purchase the game on Steam for $29.99 USD. Its original soundtrack is also available for $4.99 USD. Be a rebel, farmer, merchant, or anything you want in Kenshi!

What’s Next After Kenshi?

Dive into the world of Kenshi once again, set one thousand years in the past. Lo-Fi Games announced the development of Kenshi 2, a prequel to the first game, on March 20, 2019. Initially, this prequel was set to use an upgraded version of the Ogre Engine to improve game performance and streamline the development process, allowing them to reuse assets and code from Kenshi. They also planned to upgrade Kenshi 1 by porting it to the latest Ogre Engine. However, the developers decided to change their plans to make Kenshi 2 even better.

On September 26, 2019, they announced a shift from the Ogre Engine to Unreal Engine. This decision was made to achieve better graphics, improved performance, and a new pathfinding system. However, this sudden transition would take more time, as they would need to create assets from scratch and familiarize themselves with the new engine. The developers concluded this announcement with an assurance: “This does not mean Epic Exclusive, it’s just a game engine choice. Don’t panic.”

In the latest Kenshi 2-related news on April 2, 2024, the developers announced that the game will be developed using Unreal Engine 5 and that they are not keen on revealing too much information about Kenshi 2. “We had a bit of a change of tack and switched focus to getting all our ducks in a row for the betterment of Kenshi 2’s development rather than constantly drip-feeding you content, bit by bit,” the developers shared. However, you can check the Lo-Fi Games website or Kenshi’s Steam page for more information.