Kenshi is finally ready for release after 12 years of development
Kenshi is an indie passion project from the mind and developmental fingers of Chris Hunt. Heâs been working on the open-world, sandbox title for more than a decade and despite a lengthy stay in Early Access and plenty of hiccups along the way, the game is finally ready for release. Itâs slated to make its big debut on December 8 and it will likely continue to be worked on after that with additional features and content.
Whatâs there already in Kenshi is rather impressive though. Itâs an expansive open, desert world (870 square kilometers) to explore, fight in, trade in, grow, build, learn, and die in. Your character isnât anything special. Youâre not faster, or better at anything than anyone else. But you can be if you train. In Kenshi, if you want your stamina to go up, you need to run. Improve at thieving? Better stary stealing. You can be and do whatever you want, whether thatâs a local warlord, fighting against others like yourselves, farming on the outskirts of a great city, adventuring with a trusty hound of the wasteland, or building up a band of ronin and selling your services to whoever can afford it.
Over time you can build up a base of your own, set up trading posts, and run the world if you invest enough time and get lucky enough. But itâs quite a slog and the game will beat you down if you let it.
Some may not like that, but Hunt doesnât care:
âI just made Kenshi because I wanted to play it, and if loads of people donât like it, screw it,â he said in a chat with PCGamesN. âI think thatâs the best attitude to have if you want to make something great, because youâre not trying to please everyone or tone things down.â
Kenshi will debut with a launch price of $30.