Ever heard of a free-roaming RPG with no storyline? No? Read on!
- by Nathan H
Kenshi by Lofi Games is a breed all it’s own. It is a strategy RPG that is completely open for the exploring – you are thrown out to make your own story in this strange desert, filled with samurai warriors (so the setting is quite unique, no magic to speak of). I would even go as far to say that it is even more open then Bethesda games (The Elder Scrolls, Fallout 3).
There isn’t any quests in the traditional sense, but there are “events” that you can choose to participate in, such as someone getting mugged or whatever. There are various factions you can join or murder, and you can even join the army and try and survive their epic battles. The game seems to have two focuses – sandbox gameplay and being as harsh as heck. There is a pretty realistic medical system where if you hurt a limb, you cannot use it and will have to go to a hospital.
The game is about 400 square kilometres (or 248.5 square miles) which is HUGE for an indie game. It says that you can do WHATEVER you want in this “world”. It doesn’t really call itself a game. You could kill people, blow up a city, build a fortress, start a shop, join the army, start a militia, roam around, do WHATEVER you want.
The AI is quite a feat too, as enemies and allies automatically carry their wounded to safety and can handle micromanagement you do not want to do. There isn’t any level scaling either, so enemies are not always your level, like in TES: Oblivion.
Kenshi is planning to be fully moddable and will be released with the original toolset. Oh, and random tidbit, Kenshi means “swordsman“. The game is taking a similar business strategy to Minecraft where it is still being developed but you can pay and get the rest of the updates forever. It is $9.99 to buy it right now, and is currently only available for Windows. I might actually purchase it, because all this sandbox gameplay sounds good, especially since it sounds like the game I was trying to make a few years ago – an RPG without a story.
Website: http://www.lofigames.com/index.php
About the author:
Nathan H, aka Super Guy, is our point man for developer interviews. Among his many talents are critical writing and humor. Check out http://gamesbydesign.wordpress.com/ to see what he’s been up to!
