Kenshi: Open-World Samurai RPG Breaks All Gaming Traditions

This is the kind of game I thought we would be getting more of during this generation. Unfortunately, it seems like only indie devs seem to understand what it means to evolve a genre and keep it fun and intuitive. Kenshi is a unique open-world action RPG where players venture throughout the land fighting in sword-to-sword combat, getting stronger, making allies and buying property.

Indie dev, Lo-Fi Games announced that Kenshi will be heading into pre-alpha testing soon and that gamers can pre-order the game to help move development along as well as secure a copy for when the game does release.

For those of you skeptical about the game’s content and gameplay, just check out the awesome gameplay trailer below.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I really wish we received more games along this line. So far we have Fallout 3 and Elder Scrolls but not many other games where you can venture around and do stuff the way you can in Kenshi. I also like that the combat seems to be pretty neat, it’s not the typical three-hit combos all other games seem to have turned into with the ubiquitous pause between attacks followed by the less than stellar “cinematic” finish.

Hopefully Lo-Fi will be able to get the game finished up real nice and neat because I’d love to see how Kenshi looks as a finished product. You can learn more about the game by paying a visit to the Official Website.

Kenshi Features:

*-Original take on the RTS-RPG hybrid genre*.

No "hero" characters with artificially stronger stats than everybody else- Every character and NPC you meet is potentially an equal, and has a name, a life.

*-You are not the chosen one. *You're not great and powerful. You don't have more 'hitpoints' than everyone else. You are not the center of the universe, and you are not special. Unless you work for it.

*Be cautious and grow. You don't have to win all the time, if a character loses a fight, he actually gains more experience from it. After all you never forget a lesson if it involves getting stabbed*.**

*-Freeform gameplay* in a seamless game world stretching over 400 square kilometers. The game will never seek to limit you or restrict your personal play style. Be a trader, a thief, a rebel, a mercenary, a business owner, a doctor, a bandit... the list goes on.

*-Variation and possibilities**of gameplay*. Be good, be evil, be a business man, be a thief, live in a town, live in the desert, join the army, fight the army, travel alone, travel in hordes, build a fortress, raze a city.

*-Purchase and upgrade your own buildings *to use as safe fortified havens when things go bad or use them to start up a business.

*-Carry your wounded *squad mates to safety and get them all home alive.

*-Dynamic, ever changing world*. Support or hinder whoever you wish, or keep to yourself, the world won't stop moving. This is not just a "game"- you are living and surviving in a simulated world.

*-Absolutely no Level-scaling. *The world does not level up along with you, and the shops don't change their inventory to only items matching your level. At the start of the game almost everyone will be stronger than you and survival will always be a struggle.

*-Realistic medical system that affects gameplay*. A character with a wounded leg will limp or crawl and slow the party down, wounded arms means you must use your sword one-handed or not at all. Lose an eye and it will affect your field of vision. Blood loss means you can pass out, and the blood will attract predators. Exhaustion affects performance and is increased by equipment weight, weather, blood loss and thirst. Severed limbs will need expensive robotic replacements.

*-Aid or oppose the various factions *in the world while striving for the strength and wealth necessary to simply survive in the harsh desert.

*-Independently developed *with no design influences or alterations dictated by men in gray suits who have never played a game before in their lives.

*-Original game world*. There are no fantasy-knock-off cliches. No magical glowing swords.