Kenshi is an absolute gem for one very special reason.

The graphics are practically stone age. I mean, Planescape outperforms it in terms of texture quality, richness and detail. The pathing is simply awful, the item variety is remarkably limited, there are so many bugs you're practically drowning in them, and there is no linear central story to speak of. But that doesn't matter, because absolutely none of those things have anything to do with Kenshi's undeniable appeal to anyone who is a fan of fluid, reactive roleplaying.

This is the small squad/large squad/solo RTS RPG that I have always dreamed of, and I've been dreaming about this stuff for close to 30 years now. It's an open world where the goals you draw up for yourself set the stage for a story of your own making, not because you carefully play everything out (although you will try), but because you are constantly forced to react to outcomes that are completely beyond your control. The characters that you create, recruit and customise all have roles to play in the story, and how, when and where you use them form the fabric of your experience in a stark and graphically-challenged - but also somehow still hauntingly beautiful - alien world.

The sprawling landscapes make you feel small. And you are small. Everyone wants to beat you up and take your cookies. Everyone. Well, almost everyone. And you're under no obligation to play the game in any particular way.

Scour the ruins with a small group of tech hunters. Become thieves and clean out whole towns under cover of night. Join up with religious zealots who have some pretty backward ideas and cleanse the many biomes of heretics. Build an outpost and smuggle sake and hash into towns full of desperate escapists. Buy a slave. Become a slave. Lose a leg. Get a new one. Break your friends out of a camp full of people who plan to have them for dinner. Literally.

Kenshi is a blast if you're the sort of person who loves making decisions, then second guessing them, then regretting the last one you made, then making another one that you know will have disastrous consequences, and somehow having it all work out because swamp monsters ate all your enemies while you were out back growing hemp.

Kenshi doesn't need a story. Kenshi is every story.

Fun game. Would die in a puddle of my own legs again.

Kenshi is an absolute gem for one very special reason. The graphics are practically stone age. I mean, Planescape outperforms it in terms of texture quality, richness and detail. The pathing is simply awful, the item variety is remarkably limited, there are so many bugs you're practically drowning in them, and there is no linear central story to speak of. But that doesn't matter, because absolutely none of those things have anything to do with Kenshi's undeniable appeal to anyone who is a fan of fluid, reactive roleplaying. This is the small squad/large squad/solo RTS RPG that I have always dreamed of, and I've been dreaming about this stuff for close to 30 years now. It's an open world where the goals you draw up for yourself set the stage for a story of your own making, not because you carefully play everything out (although you will try), but because you are constantly forced to react to outcomes that are completely beyond your control. The characters that you create, recruit and customise all have roles to play in the story, and how, when and where you use them form the fabric of your experience in a stark and graphically-challenged - but also somehow still hauntingly beautiful - alien world. The sprawling landscapes make you feel small. And you are small. Everyone wants to beat you up and take your cookies. Everyone. Well, almost everyone. And you're under no obligation to play the game in any particular way. Scour the ruins with a small group of tech hunters. Become thieves and clean out whole towns under cover of night. Join up with religious zealots who have some pretty backward ideas and cleanse the many biomes of heretics. Build an outpost and smuggle sake and hash into towns full of desperate escapists. Buy a slave. Become a slave. Lose a leg. Get a new one. Break your friends out of a camp full of people who plan to have them for dinner. Literally. Kenshi is a blast if you're the sort of person who loves making decisions, then second guessing them, then regretting the last one you made, then making another one that you know will have disastrous consequences, and somehow having it all work out because swamp monsters ate all your enemies while you were out back growing hemp. Kenshi doesn't need a story. Kenshi is every story. Fun game. Would die in a puddle of my own legs again.