Kenshi 2: What Features are Needed? Part II

[@SoundTracx]

They honestly just need to update the graphics, better character customization, improved load times with the new engine so less pauses to load the map, expand base building into more(possibly faction type buildings? or customizable prefabs so you can build unique buildings), more efficient UI so you don't have to click through so many menus and honestly anything after that is a sweet bonus to the game. I'd be afraid of them putting too much on their plate at once but the night system seems like a good idea.

[@anecessaryweevil]

Lofi’s early renderings look really good in Unreal Engine so I think we’re getting a significant improvement to visuals. I’m thinking we’ll probably have more prefab structures to choose from, though customizable buildings would be very nice. As for load times, have you tried running Kenshi on a fast M.2? It was a huge help for me. The new engine will probably make the awkward loading and waiting/autopause a thing of the past, hopefully.

[@Hammerheadcruiser]

I would love more exciting weather. The current stuff does add concerns, but they're pretty passive.

[@anecessaryweevil]

Also forgot to mention most of the existing weather damage can be mitigated by the right clothing. Tornadoes, volcanic eruptions, tidal waves and even earthquakes can’t be shrugged off by a dustcoat :)

[@sunnyplace729]

Dude, Lofi Games should hire you. You have lots of good ideas.

[@anecessaryweevil]

Thanks very much! Maybe I have too many ideas 💡 but I would love working for them!

[@bopbop076]

Kenshi 2 needs : -To be more though about small squad. -Dungeon. -Combat abilities. -Mount, caravan system. -Quest and narration. -Real map system (AKA zomboid), -Unique Recruit with their own agenda/background. -Buff/debuff and effect on consumable etc.

[@daoyang223]

Yes. I want unique NPCs with quests. Like nothing crazy. Just stuff like a Unique NPC wanting to save his brother or sister from slavery. Or like retrieving a unique weapon somewhere deep in a beak thing forest. I would love dual wielding. I also would love a caravan system where we can set up trade routes without having to micro manage. I want my dudes to travel to a nearby town to sell like bread or refined metals or even weapons.

[@morgan5941]

I think they should just focus on refining what they already have and only add features that further augment that, QOL and such. Kenshi already does a lot in terms of gameplay. It's truly unique, there's not another game that comes close to it. Niche games die when they step out their own lane and try to target larger audiences. This happens mostly because adding new game systems is a huge time and money investment. I like Kenshi and would hate for the Kenshi 2 development to go bankrupt and die due to wild feature creep.

[@anecessaryweevil]

Agreed, there's nothing else like Kenshi. It would seem the devs have quite the challenge ahead, getting that special Kenshi formula to feel right in a modern game engine, especially when adding one or two new features on top. It's my hope that UE4/UE5 will give them the tools they need to make this possible, maybe even easier than it otherwise would be. Ultimately, I think Chris knows he has something special, and I doubt he would favor some compromise or bloated features to appeal to a wider audience. At least I hope not.

[@DaDoubleDee]

I think boats would be pretty neat, but having more varied weather would be a natural progression. There’s already a whole different colour palette for each region so a different weather cycle for each wouldn’t be too crazy to hope for. Big supercell dust storms and thunderstorms reaching over multiple regions would be really cool. More environmental hazards are always fun, maybe something similar to the Stalker games where lighter damaging but ever moving hazards could be fun as well.

[@anecessaryweevil]

Supercell dust storms would be cool. Maybe we’ll get different categories like dust storm, sand storm, category 5 sand storm where you have to find cover etc.

[@DaDoubleDee]

@@anecessaryweevil I'd imagine skeletons would be even more op then lol

[@charrali245]

Personally for me... The boats seem cool but i wouldn't want them to become too much of a main feature... For me it would be enough to have them as a building with turret points that can move in water when piloted, sails running off wind power like turbines and a high tech version being an engine like a generator... Low tech mk1 could be oar-powered or something similar, no turret points but perfect for going down a river and with built in storage. Mk2 turret points on front and back, 3 man crew (2 cannoneers, 1 captain) and more cargo space and seats for friends. Mk3 essentially a floating building around the size of a bughouse or long house which has more turret points and can be built inside and ontop. Honestly i don't know how i want it to work exactly or how it could be implemented perfectly but Kenshi is currently amazing for me and i worry that too much focus on boats could hinder things i want more such as mercenary contracts, factions that actually actively fight each other instead of just roaming spawns clashing, npcs actually having food so i can try a full bandit game... So much to expand already and mods do a good job at this but having more built in would be amazing and for me at least more important than a focus on boats that people like me would probably only use sparingly because i prefer to small squads as a survival game instead of a full faction rts style game... Also i can imagine now wandering the coastline and a random ship just blasting me with turrets from the water and it feeling really unfair when one of my guys just drops from an enemy i had no chance of outrunning or fighting :/

[@dewlittle1211]

What I really can't wait for is for someone to recreate the first Kenshi as a mod for the second game.

[@anecessaryweevil]

Once LoFi is done with Kenshi 2, they might remake Kenshi themselves. I think it was a question posed to the community before they began work on Kenshi 2, to remake Kenshi or work ok it’s prequel.

[@LamarianKing]

Honestly whatever they add, i just want to be able to do everything that npcs can do. For example if npcs are able to have raids and take over a city then we should be able to form our own army and take control of a city as well. I don't want any "limits" to what players can do compared to what npcs can do.

[@TheAnon03]

Vastly better pathing. Aaand that's it. Everything else is just nice to have.

[@bigchungus1513]

you could actually have a moving base in the form of a caravan drawn by garus or a boat drawn by something, maybe even slaves will pull your shit around? instead of having to get an animal\human train up strenght a ton for hours on end. carts and other things would be great

[@Kris.G]

More non-political lore, like the Eye and Venge, Obedience and Stobe, Skin Bandits, Bugmaster, etc. It feels strange to say it, because I hate long dialogues normally, but more info via dialogues and books please. I'm really drawn in by the world of Kenshi. It's very unique and interesting.

[@tobycat5799]

Kenshi was perfectly balanced for difficulty, it's not about strength, it's about knowledge. Theres a fine line to be drawn at difficulty, and random bullshit that kills you for no reason.. like tornado spawns on top of your base... I feel boats will allow new and old players to restart the learning curve. I would love a boat building system, make a harbour, make a fleet! Research to upgrade! Pirate/traders/ explorers so good. But, I'd take basic boats from A to B Just give me boop as beeps great grandfather and I'll be happy tbh..

[@anecessaryweevil]

Yeah, “the random bullshit that kills you for no reason” would be a poor implementation of extreme weather. There are good ways to design it, making the game more exciting, but not a chore or annoyance for the player. I like your construction idea. I could see them doing a shipyard where you slowly research and upgrade your vessels. That would be amazing. I just want to fly the Jolly Roger on my ship 🏴‍☠️

[@TurKlack]

Kenshi is not perfectly balanced. At the beginning it's hard yes, but that will dissipate once you can deal with Hordes of Beak Things on your own. I believe to really give the game a constant sense of difficulty it needs two things: RPG Limits and visibility. First the Limits. To put it very simply, the Player can spend attribute points. Depending how the Player spends them they can be real good fighters, average fighters or bad fighters. Next is visibility. I installed a Mod with the name "darker Nights" for Kenshi. Let me tell you the game becomes a lot more tense when you cannot see the enemy anymore. So instead of adding Tornados and the sort, having Storms that reduce the visibility will keep the player on the edge.

[@tobycat5799]

@@TurKlack ok, you can beat the wildlife.... Did you then move onto the next challenge? That's the beauty of kenshi. Anything from skin bandits, to southern hive, to fighting leviathan! Always a challenge to work towards! Rpg limits is, absoluty amazing! For noobs... anyone who has played once will know how to build an op monster team, and it sounds like you could cheese exp grinding for anything! Hate reduction of visibility That's not a challenge... that's just annoying. The point in kenshi is you start quite zoomed in, and the more you expand the more you zoom out. It expresses growth. Tornadoes would just be gay like light beams... just dont go to that area unless you have the correct race

[@Mrcheekymonkeyisback]

underrated channel, keep it up bud

[@anecessaryweevil]

Thank you very much! That’s very kind of you.

[@JoseDelpiano]

Imagine how frustrating would it be to loose your main squad in a ship because of bad weather XD

[@anecessaryweevil]

Yes, randomized ship destruction would be annoying. Good game design avoids the issue of annoying the player, and I think Lofi are masters of game design :)

[@gamejunkie4035]

Y’know what I want in Kenshi 2? Shields……… Bows……. Hivers with much more lore

[@anecessaryweevil]

Absolutely, I hope we get more hiver lore and maybe a Bugmaster origin story. Bows would be nice, maybe balanced for speed but not as effective in armor penetration as a crossbow.

[@LecherousLizard]

Well, it'd be weird to not include sailing in some form considering what's already presented in the first game. Like how General Jang was famous for his anti-piracy campaigns during the Second Empire and shit.

[@anecessaryweevil]

I think a lot of things can change over the course of a long development cycle, though I agree with you. I hope they don't have many issues adding sailing and piracy.

[@h.f.v.1428]

first, third and fourth ideas will be nice if have in the game, my personal is that the cities become more alive, if i sell my stuff of better quality i want the people to buy them (even if have a very little chance like the mod fun merchant life) and wear them, this will change state of the city like weapons and armor for example, if people instead of diyng to bandits and wild animals they start to kick them, the place will be more safe and this will attract more merchants, and if they buy my stuff they will start the same thing where they go, but an idea like this will never happen, and sorry about my poor english, its not my first language.

[@anecessaryweevil]

I like having danger almost anywhere in Kenshi, even in cities where you’re mostly safe. I think it makes the game more exciting, though I think I understand what you mean. Maybe one or two major cities with more robust trade opportunities and much safer for player characters. Your English is great for being your second language.

[@h.f.v.1428]

@@anecessaryweevil the idea of the night time being dangerous like in dragon's dogma will be nice, and about the trade, what i mean is not making the world safer, but to make a trader run more relevant, like seling food in the city make you see less starving people, that in the kenshi 1 we sadly dont have this. I have done a run of "one poor man dreaming to be the best smith and make the best weapons, armor and crossbows", but even modding a lot, the run is very disapointing, but that was an ideia i have to test.

[@anecessaryweevil]

I get what you’re saying. A meaningful impact on the world through trade actions would be quite satisfying. I would also like the option to give food/equipment to NPCs as options for role playing a charitable character, and directly influencing faction relations.

[@h.f.v.1428]

@@anecessaryweevil yes, that will be awesome.

[@RikkiNakesone]

It'd be fun to have a reason to train swimming properly, so ocean based creatures and such would be terrifying.

[@RikkiNakesone]

I'd also like more possibilities for horror mods to be created. Sure its hard to make a game like kenshi scary with such a large army, but why not try!

[@anecessaryweevil]

Yes, especially if they're difficult to locate, lurking in the depths, waiting to ambush slow swimmers à la Jaws.

[@nika_251]

its a little sad that the development team probably isn't large or experienced enough to make all these ideas come to fruition, but maybe a big team would be for the worse anyway

[@anecessaryweevil]

Yes, bigger teams could mean the need for publisher funding and unwanted influence. Being more realistic for a second; I would be happy with just one major new feature, and a lot of polish and QOL improvements on top of that. Hopefully they can retain the special recipe that makes the first game so amazing.

[@nika_251]

@@anecessaryweevil yeah to be honest even just recreating kenshi 1 but then like actually long term updating it with major overhauls would have been perfect. Making a whole new setting, map, and whatnot was definitely ambitious from them but I got hope

[@kainwittrig2180]

kenshi imo would be better if they made the game harder made characters much easier to kill and increased the base cap to like 100. The best part about the game and what makes so unique is the combination of RPG and RTS elements, its the fact that you can have a battle with dozens of characters all with unique stats and gear fighting. Imagine instead of battles being just tiny skirmishes they were the size actually battle maybe hundreds of guy. I think it should also put more into the city building aspect and administration what would be ideal for me is; imagine if you could have NPC squads patrol our settlements, better slavery ,cause it seems broken in the vanilla, imagine if you could decide to be a free democracy or a cruel fisted autocracy. I also think they should focus more on the race. I love the Shek but I feel they are the weakest race in the game by this game being set 1000 years in the past has the chance to show the OG enforcers, which are hinted by skeleton dialogue in black desert city to be the ancestors of the Shek, are every where policing, fighting cannibals, and skin spiders they're everywhere. Where as in Kenshi they are an honor bound warrior race in decline. this game has the chance to show them as the enforcer class they once were. I'm very excited for what's to come next from this game series

[@anecessaryweevil]

I too would like to see a more intense and aggressive Shek. Like super dangerous precursors to what we see in the current game? Maybe they are more rare too, but when you encounter a group of them it’s a real “oh shit” moment and you have to run for your life.

[@noorrogcrm5544]

Спасибо, очень позновательно. Интересные идеи.

[@anecessaryweevil]

Спасибо, я рада, что вам понравилось!

[@ryan.1990]

Actual slaves!

[@Knighted357]

I would like to see diseases. We have eating drinking ( be funny if you can get drunk and sleeping. Also addictions.

[@freedomislie]

do you follow kenshi 2 development closely? when do you think they will release the game?

[@anecessaryweevil]

I keep an ear to the ground so to speak, paying specific attention to Lofi Games official dev updates. I follow them on various platforms and noticed they were looking for a producer recently, so that’s a good sign their work is picking up steam. I wish I could tell you something more exciting, but I know as much as most other Kenshi fans. My personal thoughts are this; Kenshi 2 is at least a year away, if not more. I also think it wise that the team takes whatever time is needed to make the game great, as well as for their team’s personal well being (vacation time, rest etc.)

[@freedomislie]

@@anecessaryweevil thanks for info 🙏

[@anecessaryweevil]

You’re welcome, and thank you for your questions!

[@daoyang223]

I hoel we get boats. I wanna be a pirate

[@Jdjsksjdhdj]

i feel like kenshi being a game that is built to have controllers involved in it would ruin the game lol unless it was a horrible console ui...

[@anecessaryweevil]

It’s not too bad with existing controller support, and very playable on Steam Deck with the touchpads for mouse control. That being said, I don’t think changing the UI would be necessary. Maybe a more controller friendly mode when a gamepad is detected, but not a complete overhaul. I’m with you on not wanting a dumbed down controller UI. I love the existing one.

[@milesdrummond9922]

Less empty space please

[@klipk7296]

lol no

[@BrandChannelPage]

immersive reality works with empty spaces... travel around the world you will be agree. :)

[@JoseDelpiano]

I somewhat agree with this. It is quite disappointing to explore more 'corner' regions of the map just to find out there isn't much going on in there, which raises the question: Why have that big of a map in the first place? (specially when the game has frequent loading times). In the other hand, how would adding loads of content throughout the map affect performance? Assuming Unreal Engine will improve drastically this aspect of the game, it is still a game design decision if they should add content or not for the sake of performance, specially in a game where the whole map is pretty much being processed at the same time. I personally think that adding a sailing mechanic will make travelling around the map a lot faster, which could allow the map to be emptier without felling empty, you just need the points of interest, and moving between them, to be content filled enough. For example, sailing between cities could be a faster and more profitable way of moving around, but at the same time put a challenge to the player by having to deal with pirates and other threats, while cities could be big places with loads of trading opportunities and different groups to interact with. With all of that, there isn't much need to add more things just to fill up empty space in my opinion. Sorry for the long testament, have a good day :)

[@Chandler191]

​@@JoseDelpiano the beauty of the emptiness is that in every pixel of the map of Kenshi blood has been spilt one way or another. The interactions between the spaces make it so much fun

[@Kris.G]

Absolutely not.