author: Zuzanna Domeradzka
One of the Best Open World Games on Steam Comes From 12 Years of Work by Lone Developer
Kenshi is a very good, original mix of RPG and RTS genres, offering a huge open world to explore. As it turns out, one man is behind the game's success.
You may have heard of Kenshi before. At one time the game was very well received by players due to its originality and the possibilities it offers. Interestingly, this success was earned by one developer, who created Kenshi across the span of 12 years.
What is Kenshi?
Let's start by describing the game itself. Kenshi is an original hybrid of RPG and RTS genres, which was released exclusively on Steam. The game offers an open world of more than 870 square kilometers. After creating one's character, the player can build a base, upgrade equipment, research new technologies, train his squad or interact with various characters, as well as with entire factions.
Kenshi is not a simple game, it's characterized by a high entry threshold. The very description of the game reads that the player is no hero or chosen one. We start as a very weak character, and the gameplay is further hampered by a realistic injury system - an injured character will limp, slowing down the rest of the team, and an amputated leg can be replaced with a robotic one. In addition, blood loss attracts predators and can lead to fainting.
One man's great success
There is quite an interesting story behind Kenshi. Chris Hunt started working on the game in 2006, although, by his own admission, he spent the first six years learning programming and practicing (via Leviathyn.com), and only later did he focus on coding Kenshi properly. He initially interspersed his work on the game with his profession as a night security guard (he received minimum wage for it).
In 2013, the game debuted in early access on Steam as part of the now-defunct Greenlight system. Kenshi was very popular at the time, and the success of the game enabled Hunt to hire his first employees.
The full version of the game was released in 2018, which is 12 years after Chris Hunt began seriously preparing to develop Kenshi. The reception of the game was and is very positive - at this point there have been more than 61,000 reviews, of which as much as 95% are positive. Critics have also appreciated the game, as on Metacritic the average rating of Kenshi is 75/100.
Despite the fact that it has been almost 5 years since the release of the full version of Kenshi, the game is still very popular. On average, between 4,000 and 9,000 players play the game at the same time (via SteamDB). This is a really good result, considering that Kenshi offers only a single-player campaign.
A sequel is coming
The developers report that more than one million copies of the game have been sold. So the reception of the production turned out to be so good that work has been going on for some time now on its sequel. Action of Kenshi 2 will be set a thousand years before the events of the first game. We can expect nicer visuals compared to the first part and new mechanics.
However, we do not know much more about Kenshi 2. The developers so far have not even announced an approximate release date for the game - most likely, following in the footsteps of its predecessor, it will be released in early access.
