After 12 Years in Development, 'Sword-Punk Sandbox RPG' Kenshi Launches - MMORPG.com News

SBFord

After 12 Years in Development, 'Sword-Punk Sandbox RPG' Kenshi Launches - MMORPG.com News

Kenshi has officially launched after 12 years in development by lone game designer Chris Hunt. Kenshi is described as a "huge sword-punk sandbox RPG" that mixes in a healthy dose of squad-based control and city building features. In four years of early access testing on Steam, Kenshi has earned itself nearly 6,000 Mostly Positive reviews, with the most recent 800 coming in at "Overwhelmingly Positive".

Read the full story here

JeffSpicoli

I forgot i even had this in my Steam library, It has to be years since i played. It was very raw when i bought it but you could see it had a ton of potential at the time, I'll have to revisit this one.

Scorchien

thunderC said:

I forgot i even had this in my Steam library, It has to be years since i played. It was very raw when i bought it but you could see it had a ton of potential at the time, I'll have to revisit this one.

Same , i actually bought this like 10 years ago before it was on Steam , it had no sound full of bugs , But has come along way and is a very cool game now .. So many options and ways to play , a real overlooked hidden gem

xerax

The first EA game I ever bought on Steam. After 10-15 Mins I was thinking meh! and was about to ditch it, but somehow an hour later i was still playing. Now I have put more hours into this game than any none mmorpg game I have ever played.

It is difficult to put my finger on what exactly make it so great but I think perhaps its the way its a sandbox world where you are not the central character. The post apocalyptic world runs entirely independently of you.

All I can really say is play it and give it a proper chance (3-5 hours) and It will have you hooked like an early mmorpg!

Keller

I knew I had it. Took me a long time to get on board though. Eventually I liked what I saw and purchased it.

Cryomatrix

Looks interesting, will keep my eye on it.

Wizardry

Pretty much need only say a few things.lol yeah right.
Who thought DF 1 disappeared lol.
Open world survival game,yeah we seen a lot of these,empty games ALL of them.
Giant world?Well i can make my own giant world in about 5 minutes on any free engine,like the UDK kit.The world needs substance and LOTS of work to make it feel like a homeland.

Open ..open ..open,yeah sounds nice but USUALLY/Always what this means is one thing.I don't have enough manpower or money to fill this game up so i'll just call it an open world.It is the exact same reason devs aim for stuff like Fallout,APOC world,easy excuse for why the world is so devoid of content.

It i nice that there is no artificial leveling,but shops/npc's SHOULD have some kind of AI system,example ,the prices change depending how often people shop.
I did not hear anything about crafting,but seems there are modules to plot down,i am not a fan of module planting to be honest.I don't like all those games that plant down modules because they look like FAKE worlds,like the Starcrafts and Command N Conquers.That stuff was mildly cool 15 years ago but not anymore.

I guess the keyword in all of this>>>IMMERSION,you have to do enough work on your game to make people feel immersed from the minute they step in the game.More pvp gaming in open world sandboxes lol yeah Darkfall here we come,this model has come n gone,it is NOT very popular.

druez

This is a fantastic game. You need to give it a few hours, but once you do it will consume your playtime. Early access done right.

alkarionlog

yeah even last year having half map to play you ahd a lot of things to do, then after sometime I stoped because let's wait for the final version, if not I would be burned

Sovrath

might pick this up this weekend.

Panther2103

I had a friend point this game out to me a few weeks ago, I thought it looked pretty neat. Now that I know how well it's being received I think I may end up picking it up soon. 

Forgrimm

Kenshi is available on Steam for $19.99 in multiple languages.

It's showing as $29.99 for me.

Scorchien

Torval said:

The price seems high to me for how it looks and what it is. I guess it just doesn't click. The graphics look like EQ2 or at least no better than wurm. I'm not seeing why I'd pick this up over any number of other sandbox, sim, survival, builders.

well its pretty unique and unlike other Sandbox/Sim/Survival builders..

    Much more immersive , decisions matter much more .. Much more  in the RPG and a much better world .. Not an empty field like most Survival games .. There is a very active world going on around you at the same time ..

H0urg1ass

It must be the gameplay because the YouTube video didn't sell me, that's for sure.

Amathe

Because the name "Fun Game Buy Me Plz" was already taken?

Sovrath

H0urg1ass said:

It must be the gameplay because the YouTube video didn't sell me, that's for sure.

I think this is a case about game play being more important than cutting edge graphics.

For a game like this, for me, I look at art design.

It looks unique. And the idea that one can be so many things, probably no hand holding, is very intriguing.

d_20

Wizardry said:

I guess the keyword in all of this>>>IMMERSION,you have to do enough work on your game to make people feel immersed from the minute they step in the game.More pvp gaming in open world sandboxes lol yeah Darkfall here we come,this model has come n gone,it is NOT very popular.

This is a single player game. No pvp. I don't understand what you're talking about.

Cryomatrix

Sovrath said:

might pick this up this weekend.

Wait until Christmas sale.

Kyleran

Torval said:

The price seems high to me for how it looks and what it is. I guess it just doesn't click. The graphics look like EQ2 or at least no better than wurm. I'm not seeing why I'd pick this up over any number of other sandbox, sim, survival, builders.

Perhaps it has fewer bugs than FO76 and they know where the canvas is stashed?

MadFrenchie

Torval said:

The price seems high to me for how it looks and what it is. I guess it just doesn't click. The graphics look like EQ2 or at least no better than wurm. I'm not seeing why I'd pick this up over any number of other sandbox, sim, survival, builders.

The one thing that struck me was squad gameplay with AI companions.  That seems a unique take.  But I'm not big on the survival genre, so it may already be featured in another title.

Pesky

This is the only game I'm truly interested in at the moment. But I'm a little bit hesitant at the price.

Steam is listing it for $42.95 AU
GOG is listing it for $31.59 AU

Before release, the game was advertised at $20 AU which I thought was very reasonable. So it seems there's been a bit of a price hike for release day.

I'm still going to get it, but I'm going to wait a bit till the price comes down.

DavodtheTutt

Sounds like quite a few things I like the sound of, but that "hardcore" sounds too much like other survival games I've tried where it seems more like a "die a LOT" game than "survival."

Also... singleplayer? I'm looking for a game where real people invite me to team up with them.

Squad-based? Sounds like leadership/management headaches. I'd like to contribute to a team, not take responsibility for one.

Also the videos all seem to have a somewhat distant, ortho/overhead type view, and I'd prefer to switch from 1st person to over-the-shoulder, being or being right there for my avatar.

Know a game like Kenshi but with these differences?

TheScavenger

So some things about the game (and yes this is long):

Developer made a sandbox where he wants you to play HIS way...its probably one of the most linear sandbox RPGs I can think of. The world is open, but how you progress is super linear. For me, there is a lot of playability...but its still rather linear. Mods do a lot to fix that though.

its hard, but its a GOOD thing to lose. The more your party loses, the stronger they get. You can set permadeath to be super tiny chance (like 0.5 chance or something). Its really literally impossible to perma die for one of your characters...I tried super hard with one character and still couldnt do it lol. Its super super hard to perma die. Mostly geat beat up and taken as a slave or left for dead. But its a good thing to get beat up in the game because it makes your characters better at fighting

The game is the most grinding game I've personally played. Good/bad depending if you like grinding.

Game map is massive, but traveling isn't too slow because you can speed up time...still to get from one point of the map to the other can be a drag, but there is no stupid moronic autoteleport to marker on map like so many games have. I hate that feature, so its good the game doesn't have it.

The base building is awesome

Mods are awesome and really add a lot to the game.

It'll take you literally if first time playing a MINIMUM of 10 hours to figure out the game and know how to progress etc. It personally took me around 15 to get a good idea of the game. HOWEVER, even if you know the game, it'll still take a minimum of 5-10 hours to start getting to the point of making a base and what not

Losing is good, yeah I said that, but this is the most important thing new players get mixed up...because other games losing is bad, in Kenshi losing is good. Gotta stress that point...you WANT to be captured, beat up, left for dead...its GOOD in kenshi

Game has racist/sexist/slavery undertones, and I know no politics, but it literally has it.. so unable to leave this point out. Its literally one of the main "features" of the game. One of the factions hates females (there are subtle "ra** statements and subtle scenes involving cages against female characters), they also hate robots or anyone not "man" and "human". If you play a female in the game, except for the lizard people, everyone else treats you like garbage. The desert people just see you as a slave. If you play a robot...well lizard people are okay with you, but that is it besides other robots. Game also simulates slavery to a VERY high degree.

Developer despite being hardheaded in his very pinpoint vision of how he wants the game to be played never gave up after over 2 decades (literally I heard about this game 2 decades ago, no joke)...he really spent a lot of time and work and money into kenshi.

Economy in the game is bar none best SIMULATED economy of any sandbox RPG (that is NOT in space) that is singleplayer. It puts any bethesda faux economy to shame. I'd compare to if X series, if the X series was not space based. Mods further greatly enhance the simulated economy in the game

Most lively game world of ANY non-space based singleplayer sandbox game. I'd dare say its as good as Ultima 7, which is quite a feat as even bethesda can't get their AI anywhere near as good as ultima 7 did. Ultima 7 for so long remained the kings of a lively AI realistic world that no other company even came close to. Kenshi might not be 100% there (but it does outpace it in certain areas like taking over factions and entire cities and game world changes based on that), but the world really feels natural and alive, in a realistic fantasyish-post apoc theme. 

And...well I think that is it. Yeah its super hard, but not as hard as one would think. Dark souls is hard, this isn't like that at all. Its easier in a way cause losing is rewarding in Kenshi. You can also make it easier/harder. But its also harder in how grindy it is and how long it takes to progress.

BUT

If you think the grind is too bad or game is too hard...MODS...answer to any moddable game :P Game is also actually super easy to mod. Even I can mod it...easier than modding skyrim lol

xerax

oh and dont steam demo it. Very unlikely to get into it hooked into it properly in a 2 hour steam demo.

ishist

My favorite Game start :

"Rock Bottom
Starts out in The Great Desert east of Sho-Battai with a missing left arm. No Cats (money), food, weapons or clothing, 1 in all Stats, and already Malnourished. This is one of the harder Game Starts."

I stumbled to the nearest town and was immediately arrested and thrown in jail for being naked and poor. I learned to pick locks on my cage door and escaped. After about half a dozen times being beaten and thrown out of stores to bleed almost to death I finally got my stealth and thieving skill high enough to get out of a store with some clothes and food.

This is the best game I've played in years.

TheScavenger

ishist said:

My favorite Game start :

"Rock Bottom
Starts out in The Great Desert east of Sho-Battai with a missing left arm. No Cats (money), food, weapons or clothing, 1 in all Stats, and already Malnourished. This is one of the harder Game Starts."

I stumbled to the nearest town and was immediately arrested and thrown in jail for being naked and poor. I learned to pick locks on my cage door and escaped. After about half a dozen times being beaten and thrown out of stores to bleed almost to death I finally got my stealth and thieving skill high enough to get out of a store with some clothes and food.

This is the best game I've played in years.

Yup my favorite too, and to me the way game is meant to start as...but its the hardest start for sure. But its literally going from rags to riches and its so amazing when you succeed with it.