Top 15 Games like Kenshi That Will Test Your Limits

Dwarf Fortress

If you ask about more games like Kenshi, Dwarf Fortress will most likely be one of the most frequent suggestions. This dwarf life simulator is one of the most complex titles available on the market, but this is exactly what makes it so beautiful!

Image credit: Bay 12 Games

Your objective in the primary mode is to run a successful dwarf colony. There’s no end goal, you just keep on going until either your colony gets destroyed by various threats and hazards or you just get bored and stop playing altogether (or simply start a new game).

It’s definitely a punishing, incredibly complex title. If you love such stuff, you’ll be definitely amazed by what this classic game has to offer. Dwarf Fortress recently ended up on Steam, complete with new features and overhauled visuals. If you enjoyed Kenshi, picking up this one should be your next step. The developers keep updating it, so it’s pretty much a never-ending story!

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Valheim

Where do Vikings who die in combat go before they end up in Valhalla? Valheim has the answer. Alright, it’s a completely fictional tale, but let’s pretend it’s an actual part of Norse mythology, OK?

Image credit: Iron Gate Studios

So, you’re one of the slain Vikings who need to prove that they’re worthy of Valhalla. To do that, you need to kill the six bosses who dwell in various biomes of Valheim. The thing is you start with pretty much nothing, so you’ll need to resort to exploration, crafting and all the other stuff that is a staple of modern survival games, including resource gathering.

There’s even the possibility to play the game with your friends, as well as do some friendly PVP. All in all, it’s a fun survival game that you should try out if you’re a fan of the genre.

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Against the Storm

Beavers, lizards, humans and harpies can totally work together, especially if survival is at stake. This is what Against the Storm is all about.

Image credit: Eremite Games

The premise is sort of reminiscent of Frospunk in a way. A certain cataclysm destroyed the old world and you, the Viceroy appointed by the Scorched Queen herself, are to build a network of cities which will uncover the treasures of the bygone era and withstand the never-ending storms.

That’s right: in contrast to other city builders, here you won’t be building just one city. Against the Storm also features some roguelite elements: should your expedition fail, you will have to start anew, but bolstered with the resources and experience from the previous quest.

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Smalland: Survive the Wilds

Smallaland’s premise is very reminiscent of Grounded. No, you don’t play as kids who got shrunk to a miniature size, but as some fairytale folks (tiny, too). However, you still get to explore the secrets hidden by grass and fight bugs as equals.

Image credit: Merge Games

Smallaland follows the precepts of modern survival games. You need to explore various lands, gather resources required for crafting and construction, build bases, fight hostile creatures, etc. It’s just the fact that everything is so huge which makes the premise and the setting so special.

There are some fun traversal options, too. Jumping around on a grasshopper? No problem! Smallaland supports up to ten players who can cooperate together and fight for survival as one.

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Satisfactory

Satisfactory is sort of what you would get if you blended Factorio with, say, No Man’s Sky. The premise is quite simple: you explore an alien planet where you need to build your own factory.

Image credit: Coffee Stain Studios

And you’re free to unleash your creativity. The sky’s the limit! The planets have enough resources for you to make the wildest ideas come true. Remember: the point is to reduce manual labor to a minimum. Automation is where it’s at!

Naturally, you might run into hostile wildlife. Thankfully, your employer, FICSIT Inc., has equipped you with all you need for combat and exploration. So, if you’re ready, let’s get to work!

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Factorio

One of the critical features of Kenshi is base management. In the game, the player can create their own fortress and upgraded it with new buildings and facilities. Kenshi shares that feature with Factorio – an RTS that’s all about constructing and managing the player’s base.

Image credit: Wube Software

In Factorio, the player’s task is to build a factory and expand it by gathering resources and materials to construct more advanced machines. The game can be played indefinitely, but the victory condition is to launch a rocket into space. The game features elements of survival, as the player faces against the dangerous creatures inhabiting the areas around the factory. Equipping it with a strong defense system is crucial to fending off attacks. Factorio features a multiplayer mode, which can be played both competitively and in co-op. Factorio was met with positive reception from the critics and was also well received by the players.

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Frostpunk

Another title that, similarly to Kenshi, features management of the player’s settlement, with a dash of survival thrown in for good measure, is Frostpunk. Unlike previously mentioned Factorio, this one has an actual plot.

Image credit: 11 bit studios

After the eruptions of volcanoes Krakatoa and Mount Tambora, the sun was dimmed, bringing about another ice age. To counter the deadly effects of cold weather, the British developed a system of heat generators, around which cities were built.

As the leader of one such city, the player’s job is to acquire resources to expand their settlement and provide its citizens with so desperately needed warmth. Gameplay-wise, Frostpunk is very similar to Factorio: the player starts building their city from scratch, gathering resources to expand. What makes Frostpunk stand out are expanded city management options, such as introducing laws and policies, increasing support by either good leadership or force, etc. The fate of the city depends on the player’s decisions, so each one should be well thought through. Frostpunk was met with critical acclaim and was nominated to several awards, winning Strategy of the Year 2018 at Australian Game Awards.

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RimWorld

RimWorld offers bridges the gap between Factorio’s lack of narrative and Frostpunk’s story-story driven gameplay. RW features a system of randomly generated events.

Image credit: Ludeon Studios

Through A.I. storytellers, the player can experience different types of scenarios, varying in difficulty. The events that occur in the game can be good, neutral, or bad, and the choice of storyteller determines the frequency of the bad ones.

RW features mechanics similar to Frostpunk. The player must tend to their colony settlement as well as the needs of its inhabitants. Keeping the spirits high and bellies full is essential in keeping the morale of the colonists. Developing the colony requires gathering resources and using them to erect new structures. Technological developments can be made to facilitate better operation an improved living conditions in the colony. The game also features a combat system in which players must protect their territory from attacks by developing strong defenses. RimWorld’s reviews were generally positive. Especially the game’s challenging mechanics were compared favorably to other titles in the genre.

RimWorld

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Mount & Blade: Warband

In Kenshi, there are no limits on who the player can be. There are no intricate storylines, no heroes or classes – everything depends on the player’s actions in the game. Mount & Blade: Warband offers similar freedom of choosing the protagonist’s destiny.

Image credit: Taleworlds

While not determined by in-game actions, the introduction to the game allows the player to decide on the background of their character, which slightly influences their standing in the in-game society – a lowly peasant will be perceived differently than an heir to a noble title.

The gameplay of M & B: Warband focuses on forging alliances with local rulers and gaining their trust through feats in combat. The game emphasizes a realistic approach to Medieval lifestyle – aside from wars, there are other activities the player might enjoy, such as tourneys, feasts organized by kings, etc. In time the player will be given a fief as a token of their liege’s trust. That provides an additional aspect of managing a small settlement by providing it with resources and defending from bandits. Reviews for Warband were mostly positive: critics praised the length and replayability of the game.

Mount & Blade: Warband

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Kingdom Come: Deliverance

Like Kenshi and Warband, Kingdom Come: Deliverance emphasizes player’s choice in forging their path in the game. In KC: D, the player develops their character, a young boy named Henry, investing in various skills and traits.

Image credit: Warhorse Studios

Depending on which skills the player decides to emphasize, the character will behave differently. The player can also develop combat acuity with specific weapons. With such a robust skill customization system, the only limit is the player’s imagination. Nothing stops them from creating a well-read scholar, a master swordsman with a penchant for herbalism, or a brutal barbarian swinging his ax at everyone.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance plays similarly to Warband, with a caveat that in this game, there is a plot the player can choose to follow. Other than that, the same sandbox features apply. Dare we say that Deliverance takes the whole medieval schtick a little bit more seriously, with the number of factors that influence the gameplay – the character’s needs, layered clothing that determines protection, physics-based weapons behavior, and much more. KC:D received positive reviews from the critics and won several awards, including the Player’s Wards’ RPG of the year 2018.

Kingdom Come: Deliverance

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Ark: Survival Evolved

Kenshi might’ve pushed the envelope when it comes to the game’s with general premise of starting from scratch in an unknown world. But it was Ark: Survival Evolved that capitalized on the trend of putting the player in remote locations with little resources, forcing them to survive in the wild. Also, it has dinosaurs, which is always a plus.

Image credit: Studio Wildcard

The core gameplay mechanics of A: SE involve survival. At the beginning of the game, the player has little to no resources and has to work with what they have to create tools to build shelter, hunt for food, and protect themselves. And boy, do they need protection. Everything, from starvation, dehydration, and sunstrokes, to dangerous dinos roaming the island, is out for the player’s life. Luckily, the prehistoric reptiles provide an excellent source of materials and food, and taming them can help significantly with exploration and combat. Nothing makes a better statement than riding into battle on a T-Rex. Reviews of Ark: Survival Evolved were generally positive, with critics praising the detailed survival gameplay and exciting setting of the game.

Ark: Survival Evolved

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The Forest

Compare to an island inhabited by dinosaurs in Ark: Survival Evolved, the setting of The Forest is pretty bland. That is until the cannibals appear.

Image credit: Endnight Games Ltd

Then you realize that despite its humble presentation, Endnight Games’ survival title has a lot to offer. Gameplay mechanics? Very similar to the ones in Ark, and equally as punitive.

The player has to make tools to build shelter, find resources, fend off aggressors, and remember to eat something before they pass out from exhaustion. here is a plot about a plane crashing in the mysterious forest, and the only survivors are a man and his son. When the child is kidnapped, the father pursues the abductors, discovering a cannibalistic cult and mysterious creatures living in the underground tunnels. Not the best storyline, but does its job of keeping the player engaged and giving them a sense of purpose other than making another wooden shed. The Forest was met with generally solid reception from the critics.

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Conan: Exiles

Based on the Conan the Barbarian franchises, Exiles puts the player in an uneasy situation of being stranded in a harsh and hostile environment and having to fend for themselves to survive…yet again.

Image credit: Funcom

What C: E does that the previous mention on our list didn’t, is that it gives the player larger freedom of creating their experience without taking away the sense of purpose.

The player begins by creating their in-game avatar, choosing from various physical features and races, including Conan’s kin, the Cimmerians. From that point forward, the game opens its gates to the player, pushing them face-first into the dangerous world of Exiled Lands. Like in Ark, The Forest, and other survival games, the player must keep an eye on the character’s needs, build survival tools, fight enemies, etc. The game doesn’t feature class system – similarly to Kingdom Come: Deliverance, the player, invests experience points into specific skills and attributes. Conan: Exiles was released to solid reviews from the critics, who noted the expanded character customization and survival mechanics.

Conan: Exiles

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Rust

While pretty much the same in terms of mechanics as the previous few mentions on our list, Rust goes into a slightly different direction by emphasizing multiplayer over single-player experience.

Image credit: Facepunch Studios

Other similarities to Kenshi can be found pretty much in every aspect of the gameplay, from starting with little to no resources to lack of character classes. The game emphasizes the player’s resourcefulness, clever use of crafting, and occasional drops as well as cooperation.

As a strictly multiplayer game, Rust encourages the players to team up into clans. Said clans can build bases for themselves to store crafted items and resources. The players organized in a clan can partake in raids against other factions, which provides an additional source of materials. The game also has a sort of free market, where players can exchange goods. Looking for trouble there is discouraged by auto-turrets that will vaporize anyone who draws a weapon. Rust received solid reviews from the critics.

Rust (Steam Account)

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DayZ

Last but not the least, an Arma 3 mod that the fans liked so much it was made into an actual video game. In DayZ, the player is thrown into the middle of a zombie apocalypse.

Image credit: Bohemia Interactive Studio

Their task is to survive against the undead hordes as well as other players. The player can try and make it out there alone or team up into a group with other survivors. The mechanics of the game emphasize survival with all that entails, including staying healthy and well-fed.

What makes DayZ a game similar to Kenshi? Perhaps it’s the fact that the game doesn’t restrain the player in any shape or form. They can go anywhere and do anything. With no defined goal to accomplish, the player can enjoy playing the game the way they choose to. While the game isn’t a single-player title, it can be played solo without feeling like the player is missing something. DayZ is a true definition of a sandbox game – a bunch of features thrown together for the player to enjoy. Like it’s mod version, DayZ was met with a generally positive reception from the critics.

DayZ

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