Kenshi, by Lo-Fi Games, is an open world, squad-based RPG. Released in 2013 for early access, it will now be released as a full game on December 5th, 2018. Already Kenshi has a decent following and overwhelmingly positive reviews on Steam.
I am going to start off this review by saying that this isn’t my type of game. Kenshi is an open-ended sandbox game and I personally like story driven narratives. With that being said, I am going to try not to be too biased and focus on a lot of the other aspects of the game, as well as the reviews I saw on Steam.
Kenshi is the largest single-player RPG since Daggerfall. This desert world stretches over 870 square kilometers and is yours to discover. The world this game is set in gives me kind of Mad Max/Jakku (the planet Rey lives on in Star Wars: Episode VII The Force Awakens) vibes. Much like those worlds, surviving here is tough. There are cannibals, slavers, bandits, and beasts, and since it is an open world, you get to choose who you will be. There are also a couple of different races that live in this world: humans, Skeletons, Hive, and Shek. As well as the subraces Greenlander and Schorchlander for humans.
One of the more unique and my personal favorite part about this game is that every character is potentially equal. The character you choose isn’t a hero and doesn’t have any special abilities. Your character is just a person among many in a world of chaos. I think that is a pretty cool concept since most games are based on “unique” characters. It’s interesting to just be thrown into a world where everyone is as capable as you. It definitely adds to the difficulty.
The gameplay is really vast since this world is so open-ended. First off, there are several modes you can play. The game is meant to be played using the Wanderer mode but you can choose harder modes if you want to up the difficulty even more. You can build, fight, scavenge, and run an empire all while trying to not be eaten by cannibals or sold as a slave. There is a really complex medical system that effects game play. It isn’t just straight HP but areas of the body have their own health bars. You are also affected by hunger. You have limited inventory space which you can use to hold traded or bought items. The world doesn’t level up as you do so you will find the same items in shops and while looting. Thankfully, since you are able to do so much there are tons of helpful tutorials that you have continuous access to.
There were a couple controls I didn’t like. The camera is moved using the scroll on the mouse and the WASD keys and you moved your character by right-clicking on the terrain. I kept wanting to move the camera by left-clicking and dragging. I fell that is just a more efficient way to move the camera and it was a little frustrating using the keys. Other than that it wasn’t hard to figure out what to do with the tutorials and if you forgot how to do something you could always revisit them. My game does take a pretty long time to load and the AIs sometimes are laggy but that maybe my computer or internet and not the game.
I really enjoyed the music and sound in this game. I thought it was super well done and atmospheric. The graphics are pretty good and I enjoy the art style. I really like the rough sketches on the loading screens and on the website.
A lot of people on Steam say that this is one of their favorite open world RPG’s so if you like that sort of sandbox type of gameplay, then I highly recommend checking this out. Again, this isn’t my type of game personally but I can really admire all the thought and effort that went into creating Kenshi.
8/10
Take a Look at the Kenshi Trailer:
Kenshi is available for PC via Steam Early Access. The game will be fully released on Steam ($29.99 / £22.99 / €26.99 / ¥3500) worldwide on Thursday, December 6, 2018.
Steam Review
I'm a postgraduate Information and Library Studies student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. I'm originally from Texas and have a BFA in Creative Writing from SFASU. I grew up playing video games and now enjoy watching other people play as well. I love anything with a good story!
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