How many of you have heard of Kenshi? It’s an obscure and unflinching sandbox survival role-playing game in which you wander a desert and can quite easily starve to death. It’s hard, especially at the beginning, it’s systemically dense, and it’s also a best-selling role-playing game.
We’re not talking colossal figures here but they are modestly extraordinary. In a Steam post this week, Bristol-based developer Lo-Fi Games revealed that Kenshi had passed more than 3m sales. That’s more than Dragon Age: The Veilguard managed; it’s a figure most companies would be very proud of. Yet here it’s attributed to one of the most stubborn and potentially unwelcoming role-playing experiences there is; I say these things with love, by the way.
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Visually, Kenshi is also a hard sell, with a dated if endearing almost-isometric view, and low-fidelity character models and environments. It’s also a premium game so there’s a monetary barrier to entry. In other words, Kenshi isn’t the sort of game you randomly stumble upon one night, “phwoar!” at and install.
Kenshi absolutely is, however, a game you stick around for once you crest the initial wave of bewilderment. The sandbox depth here is dizzying. You can wander this wasteland world with your scavenger team and bend it absolutely to your whims. We didn’t review Kenshi on Eurogamer but our indie-loving PC nerd-sibling Rock, Paper, Shotgun did, and RPS loved it. “Kenshi is everything. Kenshi is nothing,” Alec Meer wrote. “Eternal, unknowable, remarkable, infuriating, Kenshi defies easy judgement. Kenshi is. I implore you to play it.” High praise indeed.
Lo-Fi, in response to the sales milestone, said: “Since its original launch in 2018, Kenshi has found its way into the hands of more than 3m players. In recognition of this milestone and the community that helped us achieve it, we wanted to take a moment and express our thanks.
“To the people who picked Kenshi up on a whim. To the modders, fan artists, storytellers, Beep enthusiasts, and content creators. To everyone who’s ever pointed a friend toward Kenshi, posted a screenshot, or clocked more hours than they’d care to admit. Thank you. We wouldn’t be here without you.”
