Kenshi Review Summary

A deep, open-ended RPG with a rich world and immersive freedom to explore, though its harsh difficulty, outdated visuals, and clunky optimization drag down the experience.

Freedom to explore and choose: Players have the freedom to explore the world, choose their own paths, and engage in various activities. This freedom extends to character development and storytelling.

Rich and diverse world: The game features a vast and diverse world filled with rich lore and unique factions. The detailed world-building and deep lore enhance the overall gaming experience.

Immersive and engaging gameplay: The game offers a deeply immersive and engaging experience with captivating storytelling and challenging gameplay mechanics. Players find the experience memorable and rewarding.

Mods enhance gameplay: Mods significantly enhance the game, adding new experiences, unpredictability, and longevity. The dedicated modding community provides extensive support and improvements.

Variety of activities and roles: The game offers a wide variety of activities and roles, including farming, mining, thieving, and fighting. Players can engage in diverse gameplay options and professions.

Poor optimization and performance: The game suffers from significant optimization issues, including high CPU usage, long load times, and overall poor performance. These issues make the game feel unpolished and affect the overall experience.

Outdated and poor graphics: The graphics are considered outdated and unappealing, detracting from the overall visual experience. Many players find the graphics to be a weak point of the game.

Harsh and unforgiving gameplay: The game world is described as harsh and unforgiving, with challenging survival mechanics and combat. This can make the game feel punishing and difficult to enjoy.

Game-breaking bugs: The game is plagued with numerous bugs, including frequent crashes and freezes. These bugs significantly impact gameplay and can make the game unplayable at times.

Grindy and repetitive: The game requires a significant amount of grinding, which can feel tedious and repetitive. This aspect of the game can be off-putting for many players.

Factions and world-building: The game features unique factions, alliances, and interactions, along with rich lore and world-building. Combat and battles are integral parts of the faction play and economy.

Open-world survival sandbox: The game is an open-world survival sandbox that offers a vast, unforgiving world with a focus on player freedom and emergent storytelling. It includes survival mechanics, combat, and character progression without a main story.

Character customization and development: Players can engage in open-ended character development with extensive customization and progression options. This includes character interactions and storytelling elements.

Base building mechanics: Base building is a key feature, including resource management, fortification, and combat mechanics. Players can also engage in settlement building and management.

High difficulty and progression: The game offers a high difficulty level with a steep difficulty curve and progression. It involves multiple gameplay cycles and requires mastery.

Game plagued by bugs: The game is frequently described as buggy, unstable, and prone to crashes. Players report critical errors and constant crashing issues.

Long loading times: Players frequently mention long and frequent loading times, especially during travel. This issue persists even on high-end PCs.

Graphics and visual quality: Opinions on graphics quality vary, with some players praising the visuals while others find them lacking. Mods are often used to enhance graphics.

Physics and collision issues: Players report issues with bad ragdoll physics, clipping, and collision problems, particularly in base building. Terrain and meshes also exhibit strange behaviors.

Game engine and technical issues: The game engine is criticized for being outdated and decrepit, leading to various technical issues and bugs. Players often need to use developer tools to fix these problems.

Challenging and immersive gameplay: The game is highly recommended for players who enjoy challenging and immersive experiences. It offers a deep and complex gameplay experience that is both rewarding and unforgiving.

Unique and immersive experience: The game provides a unique and immersive open-world experience that is highly engaging and emotionally impactful. Despite some flaws, it is recommended for those seeking a true gaming experience.

Freedom and personal storytelling: Players who enjoy freedom, exploration, and creating their own stories will find this game highly rewarding. It offers a true sandbox experience with emergent storytelling.

Hardcore survival and sandbox: Fans of hardcore survival games and open-world sandbox experiences will appreciate the game's brutal and punishing environment. It is recommended for those who enjoy post-apocalyptic settings and grinding.

Worth the price despite flaws: Despite some initial difficulty and jankiness, the game is considered worth the price. It offers a unique experience that outweighs its flaws.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $26.99.

Game completion: 60.0h.

Session length: 15.0h.

The game has a steep learning curve and lacks clear guidance, leading to initial frustration. However, once players overcome these challenges and technical issues, they can enjoy a unique and immersive experience.

Reported time to anchor: 2h.

Friction: Steep learning curve; Poor in-game tutorial; Technical issues and bugs; Unpolished visuals and performance problems.

Unlock drivers: External resources like wikis; Patience and persistence; Exploration and discovery.

Freedom-Seeking Grinder: Grinds through challenges to explore and engage with the game's systems. Motivation: Enjoys the depth and freedom of the game despite its challenges. Stance: buy.

Guide-Dependent Newcomer: Uses guides and mods to ease into the game and learn mechanics. Motivation: Seeks to overcome initial challenges and enjoy the game with the help of guides and mods. Stance: sale.

Hardcore Survivalist: Embraces the game's challenges and finds ways to persevere and succeed. Motivation: Enjoys the challenge and the sense of accomplishment from overcoming the game's difficulties. Stance: buy.

Performance varies significantly across hardware cohorts, with higher VRAM configurations generally reporting better experiences. Lower VRAM and RAM setups often struggle with optimization issues and crashes.

Windows <8GB VRAM / <16GB RAM: mixed. Users report a mix of experiences, with some finding the game playable with optimizations and others experiencing significant lag and crashes.

Windows 8-11GB VRAM: positive. Generally positive experiences, though some users mention optimization issues and bugs.

Windows <8GB VRAM / 16-31GB RAM: mixed. Users report both positive experiences with mods and significant performance issues, including crashes and poor optimization.

Steam Deck: The analysis of user feedback reveals several key issues with the game. Stability problems, including frequent crashes and instability, are the most significant concerns, particularly on platforms like Steam Deck. Compatibility with Steam Deck is mixed, with some users finding it playable and others experiencing significant issues. The game's controls and steep learning curve are also notable barriers. Additionally, poor graphics and issues with cloud saves are mentioned, though these are less severe compared to stability and control issues.

Linux and Proton: The game generally runs well on Linux with Proton, with many users reporting a stable and enjoyable experience. However, there are occasional reports of freezing and stability issues, indicating that while the compatibility is good, it may not be perfect for all users. Selecting the appropriate version of Proton can enhance the gaming experience on Linux.

Monetization: The game is generally praised for its unique gameplay and lack of predatory monetization. Users appreciate the absence of microtransactions, battle passes, and supporter packs. Some users express concerns about potential future monetization, but these are speculative and not directly related to the current game's monetization.

Mod reliance: The game has significant stability issues that many users report can be mitigated with mods. Mods are widely recommended for both fixing bugs and enhancing gameplay, suggesting a reliance on community fixes and improvements. However, some users also find value in playing the vanilla version before exploring mods.

External guides: The analysis of user feedback reveals several key themes. A significant number of users express frustration with the lack of in-game guidance and the poor quality of the in-game tutorial, leading them to rely heavily on external resources like wikis and guides. This dependency on external resources is seen as a major barrier to enjoying the game. Some users, however, encourage independent exploration without relying on external resources, suggesting that this approach can enhance the gaming experience. Additionally, the complexity of the game mechanics is noted, which can be overwhelming and often requires external resources to fully understand.