PC_Powerplay-Iss_275_2019

WGAME REVIEW

I

n my time with Kenshi, I’ve crossed

swamps so vast that I haven’t dared

return. I’ve been beaten shitless by a

pack of goats that were intended to

feed my rabble of listless nomads. I’ve

been a shopkeeper and a thief, a lone

wanderer and a slave, and I’ve been an

entire community of people working

together to—one day—erect our own

city in the wasteland. One day.

None of these events were part

of questlines. There’s no such

regimentation in Kenshi, no tangible

sense of scripted behavior, just a web

of vicious systems so numerous that

they sometimes tangle and fumble and

descend into absurdity.

Upon creating your squad of up to

six starting characters, you’re dumped

into a dauntingly large post-apocalyptic

world. All of your skills start at or

around zero, and you work on them

simply by doing. You’ll probably spend

your first several hours as a lowly

scavenger — sticking to the shadows,

leveling up your stealth, and scurrying

in after skirmishes between the various

factions and fauna to loot the dead.

Beyond that? Perhaps you search the

wilderness for artifacts or lore titbits,

hunt down bounties for the myriad

factions, join up with anti-slavers, or set

up shop on a trade route.

Through bar-crawling and chance

encounters with escaped slaves and

other vagabonds, you can recruit new

people, who you then take control of

just like your original characters. You

can have several squads in different

parts of the world if you wish, or train

new members as farmers and laborers

so that you can build a self-sustaining

settlement.

At this point, Kenshi becomes a

surprisingly effective management

game as you research technologies,

construct buildings, and assign people

long lists of automated tasks like

mining, farming, and construction.

Settlements present their own dangers:

Out in the wilderness you’ll face bandit

and animal attacks, while settling near

cities may subject you to taxation and

other regional rules.

There are a few missions you can

pick up by talking to people, but the

best stories are those that emerge out

of Kenshi’s systems. For instance, in the

early game, my first companion and I

were beset by slavers, who took one of

us captive while the other managed to

escape. I licked my wounds, gathered

my wits, and took it upon myself to

rescue my friend.

After some hours of scavenging,

I saved up enough money to hire a

mercenary band. We raided the camp

and rescued my comrade, but it didn’t

end there, as his shaved-head-and-

shackles look meant that authorities

would identify him as an escapee and

attempt to recapture him. So began a

survival experience in the wilderness

while his bounty expired.

Kenshi’s mechanics and UIs have

an arcane MMO feel, which can get

cumbersome. Combat is automated,

though you can set defensive postures,

order ranged attacks, and play around

with formations. Movement, meanwhile,

is mouse-based, with the WASD keys

controlling the camera. While the

WHY

SHOULD

I CARE?

+ You live

for random

encounters

+ You live for toil

+ You can see the

fun through the

bugs

Kenshi

Become a ruler, a nomad, or a frustrated nobody.

DEVELOPERLO-FI GAMES • PUBLISHERIN-HOUSE

http://www.lofigames.com

My mercs ponder the

irony of a farmer

getting eaten by

herbivorous beasts.

VERDICT:

Work through the

ugliness and technical

awkwardness and

you’ll find an experience

of frightening depth. 8

combat is functional, given how many

people you can end up controlling,

things can get fiddly when you’re

managing inventories, transferring

items between ten or more people, and

trying to get your settlement running as

efficiently as possible.

After around 30 hours, I still feel like

I’ve so much to uncover. Kenshi is huge,

amoral, and opaque enough that I’ll be

deciphering it for a very long time.

ROBERT ZAK

AWARMWELCOME

Igotintoabarfightbyshitmouthingalocal.Town

guardsstreamedintothebar,batteredthemto

near-death,anddumpedtheminthestreet.

SLAVE TO GRAVE

Idroppedabountyoff,onlytofindallthecells

full.Tomakeroom,Ibrokeaprisonerout.The

freedcaptivewasthenkilledforbeingafugitive.

TAX INVASION

Anearbycitysentasquadtoroughmeupfor

taxevasion.Ihiredsomemercs,madeamurder

partyinmycamp,andlootedallthebodies.

SYSTEM OVERLOAD THREE STORIES FROM THE SYSTEMIC MIND OF KENSHI