Kenshi is a janky, clunky and ugly RPG that, for all of its flaws, I still think is one of the best open-ended RPGs I've played. It doesn’t have a storyline to follow, you just get dropped in and have to figure out the rest by yourself. This can make for a difficult early game in the beginning, until you understand how the different mechanic’s work. Due to this, I can’t recommend it to anyone looking for a peaceful and stress-free gameplay experience, nor can I recommend it for an expansive storyline. Kenshi is, for me at least, the definitive make your own story type game. The possibilities are many, and this goes for replayability as well. Many will bounce off Kenshi for the problems mentioned above, but those who aren’t bothered by it will find a truly amazing game.
Story
The world of Kenshi does the heavy lifting, as there is no main narrative to follow. It’s set in the post-apocalypse; however, the apocalypse was very apocalyptic, and it happened very far in the past. Technologically, it’s a weird mix of medieval era and modern day. Like, the most effective ranged weapon is a crossbow, but there are also fully functional autonomous robots. There are also remnants of the old world, like long abandoned ruins or a space lase that randomly fire down to Earth.
That’s one of the four races. The others are: humans obviously, Sheks like humans but more stupid and brutish, and the Hive who are bugmen that make for great manual labour. In addition, there are also many factions, all of which have their own relationships with one another and their own rules. Like the Holy Nation will kill you on site if you have any mechanical part.
As I said it’s a make your own story, the game helps with this by being so cruel, you can’t help but bond with your characters and the suffering they are being put through.
Mechanics and gameplay
It's an RPG, and it has all the elements you would expect. There is combat, base building, skills, and so on. I don’t want to spend the next 10 paragraphs describing all the mechanics, so instead I will give a short summary of one of my playthroughs.
My journey began with my two characters already enslaved by the Holy Nation and working in the Mines. Their names were Eon and Shem. My immediate goal was to obviously escape, and for that Shem was the promising one. He was faster and stealthier. So, one fateful night, I plotted my escape. While the guards were sleeping, Shem would unlock his cage and knock one of them out, take their armour and disguise himself. Everything was going well, until a guard walked in while Shem was stripping the downed guard. Shem was promptly beaten up and put on the cross, he lost an arm. Eon was in the same building while this was taking place, and he managed to escape.
The next few days were spent in hiding, avoiding anything and everything. Eventually, Eon travelled beyond the borders of the Holy Nation. There he made new companions, started a base, smuggled drugs and made a lot of money in the process. During that time, he was also training, he didn’t forget Shem’s sacrifice, and he wouldn’t leave him a slave.
He gathered his strongest warriors and led them through the Holy Nation undetected until they reached the Mines. A great battle took place, Eon’s warriors were strong and their weapons powerful, but the Holy Nation had numbers. Eon underestimated his foe, but he could buy time, just enough for Shem to limp to safety. After the dust settled most of the warriors were dead or met an even worse fate, Eon was back in his chains, and Shem brought himself back to Eon’s base. He would return the favour.
The cycle will continue.
Graphics/Artstyle
This won’t win any awards for good graphics. If one were to zoom in far enough, the difference between Kenshi and an asset rip on Steam wouldn’t be that big. There are mods to improve it, but I find it oddly fitting.
It's an ugly world, can’t have it looking pretty.
Atmosphere/Immersion
I find Kenshi very immersive. Throughout my playthrough I got very attached to my characters, more so than other games, even though they had no actual personality. I believe this is due to the cruel and unforgiving nature of Kenshi, that gives a sense of realism and validity to the trials and tribulations that the players characters experience.
In fact, this can be applied to the whole game. The world is interesting because it doesn’t care about you, the player is just another small part of it. Thus, it feels more real, almost like it could actually exist.
Soundtrack
It’s a nice tribal-like ost that leans into the desert part of the game. My biggest problem with it is that it plays very rarely. My favourite part is “Scorching Wind”.
Final Thoughts
40 km/h seems like a reasonable pace for someone to be travelling for multiple days, without rest, sustaining themselves entirely on 3 loaves of bread. Right?
Story
The world of Kenshi does the heavy lifting, as there is no main narrative to follow. It’s set in the post-apocalypse; however, the apocalypse was very apocalyptic, and it happened very far in the past. Technologically, it’s a weird mix of medieval era and modern day. Like, the most effective ranged weapon is a crossbow, but there are also fully functional autonomous robots. There are also remnants of the old world, like long abandoned ruins or a space lase that randomly fire down to Earth.
That’s one of the four races. The others are: humans obviously, Sheks like humans but more stupid and brutish, and the Hive who are bugmen that make for great manual labour. In addition, there are also many factions, all of which have their own relationships with one another and their own rules. Like the Holy Nation will kill you on site if you have any mechanical part.
As I said it’s a make your own story, the game helps with this by being so cruel, you can’t help but bond with your characters and the suffering they are being put through.
Mechanics and gameplay
It's an RPG, and it has all the elements you would expect. There is combat, base building, skills, and so on. I don’t want to spend the next 10 paragraphs describing all the mechanics, so instead I will give a short summary of one of my playthroughs.
My journey began with my two characters already enslaved by the Holy Nation and working in the Mines. Their names were Eon and Shem. My immediate goal was to obviously escape, and for that Shem was the promising one. He was faster and stealthier. So, one fateful night, I plotted my escape. While the guards were sleeping, Shem would unlock his cage and knock one of them out, take their armour and disguise himself. Everything was going well, until a guard walked in while Shem was stripping the downed guard. Shem was promptly beaten up and put on the cross, he lost an arm. Eon was in the same building while this was taking place, and he managed to escape.
The next few days were spent in hiding, avoiding anything and everything. Eventually, Eon travelled beyond the borders of the Holy Nation. There he made new companions, started a base, smuggled drugs and made a lot of money in the process. During that time, he was also training, he didn’t forget Shem’s sacrifice, and he wouldn’t leave him a slave.
He gathered his strongest warriors and led them through the Holy Nation undetected until they reached the Mines. A great battle took place, Eon’s warriors were strong and their weapons powerful, but the Holy Nation had numbers. Eon underestimated his foe, but he could buy time, just enough for Shem to limp to safety. After the dust settled most of the warriors were dead or met an even worse fate, Eon was back in his chains, and Shem brought himself back to Eon’s base. He would return the favour.
The cycle will continue.
Graphics/Artstyle
This won’t win any awards for good graphics. If one were to zoom in far enough, the difference between Kenshi and an asset rip on Steam wouldn’t be that big. There are mods to improve it, but I find it oddly fitting.
It's an ugly world, can’t have it looking pretty.
Atmosphere/Immersion
I find Kenshi very immersive. Throughout my playthrough I got very attached to my characters, more so than other games, even though they had no actual personality. I believe this is due to the cruel and unforgiving nature of Kenshi, that gives a sense of realism and validity to the trials and tribulations that the players characters experience.
In fact, this can be applied to the whole game. The world is interesting because it doesn’t care about you, the player is just another small part of it. Thus, it feels more real, almost like it could actually exist.
Soundtrack
It’s a nice tribal-like ost that leans into the desert part of the game. My biggest problem with it is that it plays very rarely. My favourite part is “Scorching Wind”.
Final Thoughts
40 km/h seems like a reasonable pace for someone to be travelling for multiple days, without rest, sustaining themselves entirely on 3 loaves of bread. Right?