Kenshi - Review @ Rock Paper Shotgun

Rock Paper Shotgun checked out the sandbox RPG Kenshi:

Wot I Think: Kenshi

Everything and nothing

I could, I suspect, dash myself against Kenshi's wind-bleached rocks for a full year and still feel ill-qualified to pass judgement upon it. You might as well ask me to review atmospheric pressure, or continental drift.

Kenshi is everything. Kenshi is nothing. Kenshi just is.

Before I proceed any further into existential hand-wringing about the amorphous nature of sandbox survival/management/roleplaying maxi-game Kenshi, which just left early access after a half-decade of open development, let me make something clear. Kenshi impresses the bejeesus out of me. Given the opportunity, I'm confident I would play it for a year - more, even.

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Riiiight.

From comments there, for those who got persuaded into buying it:

here’s my not-too-spoilery quick-start tips:

– Always, always, always try holding down right click – there are so many things that are hidden behind a menu that you have to hold right click to access
– You’re probably not skilled enough at anything at the start to do it well enough to make a profit
– Scavenging doesn’t require skill
– Building a research bench opens up tons of options
– Mouse over your skills/stats – the tooltips sometimes have hints on how to train them without risking jail/death

Originally Posted by joxer
Riiiight.

From comments for those who got persuaded:

Well it's RPS so yeah…

Their almost as bad as VG 24/7.

I got persuaded to buy it 4 years ago and I am having an awesome time in it. And yeah it is definitely not the kind of game some people would enjoy there is quite a steep learning curve.
However there is a real and rewarding experience exploring the world and I also appreciate than there is no "plateau" in the power of your char. You can grow and become skilled, rich and powerful and still feel than you can lose everything easily if you are careless.

I'm waiting for a sale. I tried that with Rimworld. The sale never came. It went up five bucks after EA ended. I pulled the trigger anyways and I'm glad I did. I feel like it has a similar concept to Kenshi, which is probably great once you learn it.

The game Kenshi reminds me the most of is Rimworld.

Edit: Let me qualify that. At least, that's the way I'm playing my first go round. I'm going with building a base right at the start, simply because I liked the idea of role playing a colony of robots shaking off humanity's shackles. The dev tells you right in the starting options that the game is meant to be played as more of a wandering RPG. My game is a bit more of an RTS Rimworld game. So, it appears the game can be substantially different depending upon how you approach it, which I find intriguing.

Steep learning curve is right! I'm completely lost! But something about this game just keeps pulling me back in. It's one of the most unique gaming experiences I've ever had.

Does it have a story is it yet another sandbox ?

Sandbox.

I would have more associated Rimworld with another game I love, Dwarf Fortress, but I can see the point

I could never get into Dwarf Fortress but loved Rimworld. My hubby picked up Kenshi, so I'm going to wait for his impression

This is one of those games I would love to play if it had actual content. I wish I didn't lose interest in sandbox games back in the early 90s.

I think it was Frontier (Elite 2) that ultimately demonstrated why such games aren't for me.

Daggerfall cemented that even further, even though it did have glimpses of actual content.

There is content, places to explore, factions, political play. Nothing is randomly generated from a seed like it was in Elite 2 or in No Man's Sky. The map is the same for everyone and has handcrafted elements.
There is a World history, secrets and mystery you can piece together while you explore some places. Exploring is tough but rewarding.

What is not written is who your char is and what his story will be. The world evolves with or without you like it did in M&B but with much more granularity: There are lot of factions around with different goals, very few of them actually plan to conquer anything, and you are not tied to join a kingdom and climb the ranks, you can just build a farm or a lab, or wander around looking for the secrets of the world.

Again, this is certainly not a game for everyone, you get some unforgiving rules, an
unknown and very harsh world and it is basically up to you for the rest.

Well played it for a few hours stopped and uninstalled it. Sorry it's just not my type of game don't enjoy it. Glad I didn't buy it as the game was gifted to me by a friend.

Rather play Mount & Blade II when it's released.

There is content, places to explore, factions, political play. Nothing is randomly generated from a seed like it was in Elite 2 or in No Man's Sky. The map is the same for everyone and has handcrafted elements.
There is a World history, secrets and mystery you can piece together while you explore some places. Exploring is tough but rewarding.

What you call "handcrafted elements" - I call a barebones sandbox. Mechanics are solid, though.

Agreed, it's probably a great game if you're willing to imagine your own interesting content - which is true for many great sandbox games. M&B is an excellent example of a similar game, I'd agree.

It's not unlike an actual sandbox - which obviously isn't procedurally generated either. But you really have to take responsibility for any meaning when playing in it.

It's easy enough to understand, considering the size of the team. Actual and interesting (distinct) content is one of those things that requires a LOT of time to make - even for a large team.

It's just the way it is, really.

You can partially get away with it if you're clever and you use tile-based maps, but - even so - small teams will never match large teams in terms of content.

It's a subjective thing. A lot of people don't seem to mind imagining their own content.

Well, I think I'm becoming a Kenshi fan.

I backed this many years ago when the dev was handling that himself. He was struggling, if memory serves, it got posted here at the Watch and he put it on sale. I'm not positive, but I think I may have backed Kenshi for $4. So, I threw another $5 at them by buying the soundtrack, which I don't normally do. Since I had the tunes, I went ahead and made a video wallpaper…

Yeah, I guess the point I paid almost nothing for this certainly makes me overlook the shortcomings (I bought it in 2012 together with Cardinal Quest, Black Market, Wanderlust: Rebirth, Devil Whiskey and Steel Storm for $6).

I'm not always in the mood for sandboxes with open-ended gameplay, but sometimes, I get the itch.

Originally Posted by Capt. Huggy Face
Well, I think I'm becoming a Kenshi fan.

I backed this many years ago when the dev was handling that himself. He was struggling, if memory serves, it got posted here at the Watch and he put it on sale. I'm not positive, but I think I may have backed Kenshi for $4. So, I threw another $5 at them by buying the soundtrack, which I don't normally do. Since I had the tunes, I went ahead and made a video wallpaper…

Nice I actually bought the soundtrack too some years ago. It reminded me of the first Fallout when crossing the desert.

OT- here's a literary glitch I wish would die: using the term "half-decade," as if you're tricking anyone into thinking 5 years is any amount longer than… 5 years. Five years in game development isn't exactly a shocker.

I believe it was a good bit longer than 5 years, though. From the 1.0 announcement on Steam:

"After 12 years of working alone, working as a six man team, shrinking back to a four man team, and suffering the dreaded year-long pathfinding update disaster of ‘15… we kept going til the end and we finally hit version 1.0."