Kenshi - Big Update 0.90 beta

[HiddenX]

Couch spotted this big update for sandbox open world RPG Kenshi:

Beta Update 0.90 (and Hotfix) Released

NEW WORLD (0.90.0)
Due to the sheer size of the new map the first release will be restricted to a certain area only. This area will gradually expand with more updates, but the main focus now is going to be on stability and polish.

This first build will be full of bugs and instability, please send us crashdumps and bug reports so we can fix it up ASAP.

The update is only available on the "Experimental" branch at the moment, because I'm unsure of it's stability. (you have to right-click on Kenshi in your Steam games list -> properties -> betas tab -> then choose "experimental")


Content:

• Entirely new world map. More detailed and polished, new factions, new content, things to explore. Its' like Kenshi 2. Crazy. I should have called it Kenshi 2 and charged for it again, but I didn't. Damn.
• Entirely revamped research tech-tree, new technologies and balance. Research is faster, but has a cost in items or artifacts.
• Totally new buildings. Multiple floors, and you can mount turrets on the rooftops.
• New power system. Generators require fuel, wind power fluctuates with the wind strength, batteries compensate for fluctuations. Fuel can be made from crops.
• Revamped farming system and different crops.
• New animals, and new races with own strengths and weaknesses.
• There's water now. Rivers to cross and oceans to drown in.
• Camping - You can build easy camp beds and fires for survival when travelling.
• Things and places to find. Bandit bases, old labs, ruins.

Gameplay:

• Hunger is now a thing. You can die of starvation although it takes a long time. Your characters appearance reflects their state of physical strength or malnutrition.
• Buildings are now made with multiple materials. Machinery requires iron and sometimes copper.
• Thievery is improved, buildings have things to steal, guards are more alert.
• Leather crafting now requires you to hunt for animal skins
  Nice new zoomable world map window. It's so nice.
• Your stats are now affected by injuries and malnutrition.
• Certain animals might now eat your crops, your dead bodies, and sometimes even your unconscious bodies.
• NPCs use the stuff in their homes, guards train, people sit etc
  Guards in buildings and shops now descreetly sort of follow you about, keeping an eye on you.
• Fixed getting busted for stealing from accidental clicks. You can look inside unlocked containers, and lock picking has to be chosen through the right-click menu.
• Reduced labour/engineering speed penalty at level 1 from 0.25x to 0.5x. This will speed things up slightly at the lower levels when starting out
  Stealth skill is easier to train in non-hostile environments.
• Increased trade profitability by 50%, this combined with thievery should provide decent alternatives to looting as a profession in the early game stage.
• Characters with a turret job will automatically use whichever turret has enemies in its line of fire.
• New long-distance move command, so you can click on distant terrain and your characters will run there
  Tons of bugfixes.

Engine:

• New fancy shadow system, looks nicer and more importantly runs faster.
• New terrain engine. Runs faster, looks nicer and shows more detail for distant mountains.
• Long-range pathfinding system. You can click on any visible distant. mountain and your characters will find their way there, following roads.
• A lot of fundamental engine optimisations have been done, this may temporarily cause new bugs, but hopefully speed things up.
• Bit of an overhaul to the animation system, runs faster and combat animation should be a little smoother and have more functionality.
• Overhauled with a new PBR & HDR global lighting system, should make a great improvement to the visual quality.
• (Credit for this goes to Linda MacGill and Igor Frolov of Bug Zen!)

CURRENT STATUS:

• Currently only runs in DirectX11 mode, DirectX9 mode will be fixed later.
• No more 32-bit support, the game's memory requirements are too high.
• Not sure how it runs/looks on ATI and non-nVidia graphics cards.

More information.

 

[HiddenX]

Nice to see some progress for this one!

 

[Turjan]

Nice to see some progress for this one!

Indeed. It's been pretty much 4 years now since I bought that, and I nearly forgot it exists.

 

[Darkheart]

Indeed. It's been pretty much 4 years now since I bought that, and I nearly forgot it exists.

How is it?
I hear about the game every now and then and always think that it looks interesting, but still too rough to buy. Also, I'm not sure it will ever be finished...

 

[ChienAboyeur]

How is it?

A long list of promises.

 

[HiddenX]

How is it?
I hear about the game every now and then and always think that it looks interesting, but still too rough to buy. Also, I'm not sure it will ever be finished…

The Early Access version is very popular on Steam. The main developer programmed Kenshi 6 years on his own - now he has a small team:

Lo-Fi Games
We’re a small, independent games studio based in Bristol, UK, currently working on our very first game release, Kenshi. Founded by Chris Hunt, Lo-Fi Games started off originally as a one-man team for 6 long years.
During this time, he struggled to get by as a security guard by night and a lone game developer by day, but dang nabbit he got there in the end.
After success on Steam Greenlight’s Early Access in 2013, Chris could finally afford to get a team together by Summer 2014, and so Lo-Fi Games grew into the (wee) happy family it is today.

 

[Turjan]

How is it?
I hear about the game every now and then and always think that it looks interesting, but still too rough to buy. Also, I'm not sure it will ever be finished…

It was a very rough experience when I got it 4 years ago (when it was dirt cheap), and I haven't looked at it in a long time. That means I cannot really tell you how the game is now, which is why I'm glad for the reminder. The art direction is pretty unique, and much seems to have happened in the meanwhile. Animations still look pretty rough, but that's to be expected with a small team. I hope they did not make the game too tedious.

 

[SonOfCapiz]

Didn't expect a jump to 0.9. Last I saw was about 0.4 I think and that was a long time after the previous update. Though Steam EA reviews are mostly positive (with 1 negative saying he played it for 130 hours), something about this makes me skeptical he'll put it together well although I would be very glad to be proven wrong.

 

[ikbenrichard]

Was not aware of this game. Thank you for letting us know !
Only thing holding me back is squad based. Is it like for an example, baldursgate ( a warrior a wizard etc). ?

 

[greywolf00]

It's been a long time since I kicked the tires on this, but I don't believe there's really classes. You can play solo or with multiple characters though. It's more focused on professions. Fighters/merchants/crafters. Really a big sandbox when I played it last.

 

[ikbenrichard]

It's been a long time since I kicked the tires on this, but I don't believe there's really classes. You can play solo or with multiple characters though. It's more focused on professions. Fighters/merchants/crafters. Really a big sandbox when I played it last.

so solo is a possibility, well then wishlisted it is.

 

[wiretripped]

This looks pretty interesting. Straight on my watch list. I might get this once it is released in full.

 

[you]

Is this an actual game (story/quest driven) or just a large sand box where you wonder around endless until it becomes too boring to continue ?

 

[greywolf00]

As I remember it, just a sandbox. I found an article by the developer (from 2009 so keep that in mind) where he discusses a vision for avoiding scripted events like quests here. He's focused more on the AI and emergent events being created from the players interaction within the world.