0.74.9 is now available as the main version on Steam. Here’s the latest release on Experimental:
New update out now! For the time being, this is available via Steam Experimental only, please see how to opt-in here.
NOTES:
Now in the stable branch on Steam
Most of our planned content has been temporarily put on hold due to a change in plans. As you might already know, we’ve been prioritizing bug fixing and stability over the last month or so. This means that our 0.8 New Lands release will be delayed until further notice and we won’t be hitting a summer release as we originally hoped, however most people should be happy to know that the game will at least reach a more playable state instead. Hence why we’ve been pretty quiet on the blog. Work on dialogue and lore is still continuing though.
Here are the changelogs for the minor patches we’ve released over the last week. As of now, 0.74.21 is in stable branch and 0.74.22 is in the experimental (read how to opt in to experimental here) on Steam.
Just remember to import your game when playing a new update.
There seems to be a lot of bug reports lately of the game crashing when loading certain savegames. These are NOT caused by corrupted savegames, but are crashes from loading certain stuff. If you experience this, send us your savegame, we will fix the bug and your savegame will work again after the next update.
Some savegame “corruptions” it turns out are caused by not importing your savegame after update 0.74.14. Import if you have problems, report the bug if you still have problems.
Our recent patches over the last week, available in the Steam stable branch:
Feature-wise, progress for Kenshi has been trickling along slowly this past month or two, however we now finally have some screens of what our artists have been working on while the programmers fix bugs:
^ Another new creature, a giant frog from the swamplands area of the new world map, all modeled up but still in need of animating. Note that Swamp Frogs aren’t yet released in game.
^ More mystery ruins for the New Lands
^ Scaffolds of a mining town on the border of the Tar Sands. (Eventually there will be buildings on the flat tops with bridges connecting the flat-topped islands of rock/ small settlements. The tarry canyon bottoms will be fog-filled, unconnected from the tops and poisonous. So far, this is all procedural)
And in our latest update, Chris recently added the small feature of Mercenary Shops. You’ll now be able to hire temporary mercs to defend your base – these are currently only in the Experimental build and you’ll need to import to a new game for them to appear.
Please keep sending in your crash dumps and bug reports, it’s been a massive help so far, thank you to everyone!
Updates will continue to focus on bug-fixing and stability for the near future, my goal is to get a reasonably stable version released before we carry on with major features.
For this period Steam updates will be frequent- every day or two-, and the “Stable” and “Experimental” versions of the game will be similar. Once a stable build is achieved I will release a new standalone installer for the non-Steam folks. Most of our work will depend on the awesome players who send in crashDump files and buggy save games.
Sorry for the delay of the latest update, it has grown into a big one again. I have added thievery to the game now, along with AI crime-recognition and prison sentences, but consequently need a lot of time to balance everything. Currently there are a lot of situations where it’s too easy (eg standing behind a shopkeeper and stealing from under his nose) or has unrecognised contexts (eg AI forgetting about crimes, or ignoring alarms), all of which I am currently hunting down and ironing out.
I hope to make a rough release next week, it will be in the experimental build only until I finish fixing all the bugs.
Here are the additions so far:
The thievery update is out, in the “experimental” Steam branch only for now. It’s probably unstable and still in need of further balancing, so it’s there as opt-in for those who want to try it out.
0.75.0
Now that the big bug fixing phase is over, we’ll get back to the dev blogs… Here are a few little things we’ve been working on lately:
Mostly, everyone is working on smaller bug fixes while Chris finishes up the thievery system. The shadow system is currently being upgraded so that it runs faster, thanks to some suggested techniques from Linda. Mike’s also started adding the ability to swim for the Newlands. You can follow the bug fixing in more detail on our Trello.
Otto’s created some new interiors for various buildings. Here’s a new standard building interior for the Storm Building:
And as for the biome design, Oli’s been positioning the roads and main travel routes while Chris has been populating our first New Lands town. We still have a way to go before we can release the New Lands to the public – this includes technical fixes like shaders and performance improvements; weather; resources; ruins; and then gameplay elements and gamedata.
I’ve gone back to working on basic dialogue packages for a few various personalities – basically reactions to certain events (crimes for example), plus a few more escape events. To keep things realistic, we changed some of the conditions for the existing escapes so that the imprisoned npc will now be able to distinguish whether you’re his/her captor or not. This all still needs some bug fixing and more testing before it can be released into the game. I’ve also taken on a super helpful volunteer, Gauthier, who has been helping me flesh out the lore of the individual factions to be more coherent and in-depth.
We don’t have any updates planned for a while, but in the mean time here are some of the features we’ve been working on…
We’re almost finished on the new game launcher which will fix the resolution selection issues that a lot of people have been having. It also adds the option to select which monitor to use and mods selection. Mike’s also working on a fix for using the best video card for people who have dual video cards.
Our first new town is complete! Check it out:
We also have our new Bat creature modeled and rigged ready for animation:
Annnd I’m just gonna chuck in this Swamp pest which I’d totally forgotten about. He was finished a few weeks back:
The new interiors (from our last Dev Blog) are almost finished with over 20 different new designs for all the bars, shops, prisons, residential houses, barracks and temples etc. Otto’s also added paint for the different faction armours – just to be clear though, this doesn’t mean that gear will be customizable by the player, just that there will be a better variety of armour.
I’ve almost finished a few attack dialogues specific to the Empire, Holy Nation, Dust Bandits, Shek Kingdom and Starving Bandits. With these, the player will have the opportunity to talk their way out of fights instead of just having mindless all-out battles. They still need a lot more testing, plus the way in which the attacks are triggered still needs some balancing too. I’ve also added a couple of new recruit personalities for the bars.
Just a couple of teasers from our progress this last couple of weeks! You should be able to expect our next content update around the end of this month, until then, hold tight…
War campaign AI is now underway so that NPC factions will be able to invade and attack towns. We also now have two new movement formations for NPC squads based on the type of faction that the squad is from.
Firstly, we have military (box shaped):
And caravan (line shaped):
We’ve gone back to working on the weather system too. Here’s our first screengrab of volumetric fog…
Now that we have basic fog, we have a base for other weather effects such as storms and twisters.
This month we’ve been working on bringing back town assaults for release in the next update. Instead of random attacks like before, assaults will now be dynamic, they’ll come from an actual camp or town with a real population count. Basically, this means that you’ll have the option to destroy your attackers at their source, either by assassinating their leader or by just weakening their faction in general by wiping out large numbers of them.
Chris has designed 17 unique bandit groups so far, so we’ll eventually have a lot more variety than the standard Dust Bandits and Starving Bandits. We’ve got racist Shek warlords, sadistic nobles, extortionist mercs… attackers will be able to conscript victims to serve in their own army, or they’ll eventually be able to take over and occupy your town. Here’s the different bandit types we have planned:
Mike’s started updating our current particle system so that we can use volumetric fog (see our last Dev Blog) to create new types of weather effects and biome hazards. We also have a few mask designs which will be used to protect from these enviromental hazards:
We now have a new GUI window for trading characters. With this system, you’ll be able to rent mercs, bail your squad out of prison, buy your guys back from slavers… or even sell them off to the slavers instead.
For those of you who prefer frequent updates, prepare yourselves – our next few updates will be slow and steady with lots of new content every few months or so. Basically, less frequent updates will help massively speed up our progress until Beta… We’re determined to pick up our pace and hit Beta next year 
Note: This is available on opt-in Steam experimental only
Apologies for the delay with this update, we are currently working a lot on content for the new world map and hoping to release the first part of it in the next major update. Much of our work here has been to get the last necessary fundamental systems in place before we make the move to the new world map and the focus moves towards content and balance.
Note that as it’s such a big update, lots of bugs and instabilities are likely until I can get through all the bug-reports. The Stable Build of the game I will leave as it is until the new world map is ready.
12th November patch notes:
9th November patch notes:
8th November patch notes:
6th November patch notes:
5th November patch notes:
This is somewhat long overdue, but here’s the first part of our new series covering the lore of Kenshi! We’ll be releasing our new world map in sections, starting with the first area in our next upcoming update (release date TBA). First up will be the homeland of the revamped Holy Nation, with added weather effects, brand new content and dialogue. To mark each new map biome release, we’ll try our best to add a sneak peak into the background and lore of the main factions – So, first up…
We’re not going to give away any secrets per se, but one of the reasons why we’ve put off sharing stuff so far is because we don’t want to ruin the fun for everyone. Part of the fun of open world games, is exploring the world and it’s stories for yourself. So on that note, beware of spoilers.
The religion of Okran was born from an ancient doctrine which told the story of Okran, a god who sacrificed itself to save the planet by splitting into two lifeforms: one of light and one of darkness. While many people in the world of Kenshi worship both gods, the Holy Nation worship only the god of light whom they believe prevailed over it’s inner darkness (as each and every one of us should do). According to Holy Nation myth, Okran threw his dark counterpart (the temptress god, Narko) down into the abyss, the underworld of Kenshi. While Okran lives on the topside of the world, Narko is said to lie within the roots of the trees, hidden from light where she tempts and controls the unfaithful.
In Holy Nation territory, women are generally oppressed and used as society’s scapegoats. Other non-human races are treated with disdain and usually enslaved in the name of Okran. All in all, it’s a pretty racist and sexist place to live.
“Man was created in the human image of Okran, Lord Of Light;
Woman was created in the image of Narko, Demoness of Darkness.
Seek caution, children of Okran!
An impure race is an unholy one, they must be rebirthed to serve the cause of Okran, lest they join the cause of darkness.
An unrestrained woman is an idle one, she must be subdued, lest she seduce and tempt the purity of man into the darkness with her.“
– Volume I, Scripture of Radiance by Phoenix I
The Holy Nation particularly hates the Skeleton race, a race they believe to be a threat to civilisation. In the Holy Nation’s mission to protect the world against them, all Skeletons and their sympathisers are destroyed and burned as heretics.
It’s to save the world though. So it’s totally okay.
“The Agents of Darkness infest the world as unholy vermin,
The darkness that caused the world’s First Extinction.
The Agents of Darkness possess the idle man as Darkened,
But it is the faithful man who will prevent the world’s Second Extinction.
Through Okran’s Divine Flame, all evil will be erased and cleansed.
Slay the enemy with fire, purge the world of darkness..“
– Volume III, Scripture of Radiance by Phoenix I
Introducing…
The Holy Lord Phoenix Himself (blessed be his name), Phoenix LXII.
Phoenix LXII, blessed be his name, is the leader of the Holy Nation, the 62nd Phoenix in an ancient lineage of reincarnated Lawgivers. The Lawgiver is said to be the messenger of Okran, the chosen saviour who once unshackled men from a savage life to a holy purpose under the law of god. On Phoenix I’s deathbed he announced that he would be reborn again into the body of the next first born male, and his descendants have directly enforced ‘Okran’s will’ ever since.
In particular, the Holy Lord Phoenix LXII, blessed be his name, is one of the harshest in the line of the Phoenixes. Brought up and indoctrinated in isolation during the whole of his childhood, he was lumbered with the responsibility of judging his own family at the young age of 16. He sentenced them to be purged in the Divine Flame and has unrelentingly cast the judgement of Okran ever since.
Massive shout out to our volunteer, Gauthier, who has also helped massively with the Holy Nation and other lore of Kenshi 
In the lead up to our first part of the New Lands map release, last week we introduced you to the lore of our first big faction, the Holy Nation. So next up, we’re going to share a few more landscape screenshots to give you a sneak preview of what’s to come.
Oli’s still populating the world with towns, farms and mine camps as well as scattered old, ruined building remains. Now that we have the code in place for it, larger buildings are being revamped to include more floors than previously. Just a couple of our finished outposts and remains:
And we now have bridges:
Next up, we’ll be working on some hill hut designs for native villages etc.
One of the hardest parts of world design is filling the land with enough content to keep things interesting. As well as towns and ancient remains, we’ve needed to add smaller detailed features like land textures and sprite plants. As well as adding the main stuff like towns and structures, Oli’s constantly adding new details and textures to the world…
The first part of the new map will be released in our next update. ETA for this is still unknown.
You may have noticed we have been very quiet over the last few months without releasing any updates. The reason is we are on our final run to the beta release with the new world map!
This means all core features and content will be in the game and we can finally focus entirely on stability, bug-fixing and polish. (Features and content may still be added in the future, but not until after a full stable 1.0 release)
I won’t give an exact date for the beta release because it will depend on how smoothly things go, but it will be in a few weeks from now, probably early February. Here are the details:
NEW WORLD (0.80.0)
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.
Content:
Build camps while travelling
New sub-races and Skeleton race in the character editor
Gameplay:
Revamped farming system and totally new buildings
Engine:
New world map and shadow system
What have we be working on lately? First up…
Over the last week we’ve been cutting roads into the landscape for the soon-to-be-released section of the new world. In order to make the road look natural, like it actual belongs in it’s environment, it needs to be leveled, deepened and given embankments. The map below shows the road system we have so far: the dark area shows the whole world being made, the inner box shows the sample world that we’ll be releasing first – this will be a similar size to the current map used in Kenshi.
We’ve also made some general alterations to the landscape such as changing the foliage types and distributions, and adding two new hive villages.
The new big bad world is gonna need a lot of new content to fill it, right? New biomes are great and all, but not without actual interactable items within it. So, we’ve modeled some lil’ bits to steal from Kenshian hoarders, skins for leather making, farmable resources and actual tools – so hopefully when we add the mechanics for it in the future, gone will be the days that you have to hack away at a stone mine with an imaginary pick axe like some kinda chump.
The character editor now includes different sub races with their relative attributes and stat bonuses. We now have three different sub races for the hivers, plus for the humans, we have two types: Scorchlanders (AKA Sundemons) and Greenlanders. Including the Skeletons and Shek, all our races are now complete (in case anybody was wondering what happened to the Stenn we had featured in our concept art from last year, they’re no longer a planned race).
We’ve revamped the map window! This week we’ve finished adding new marker icons for towns, villages, outposts, nests etc, plus a marker for the player’s position. Icon colouring will show whether they’re allies, enemies or neutral to the player’s faction. We’ve also got zoom in/ out with zoom level based information, basically this means that the amount of markers shown depends on the zoom level.
We’ve carried out a few minor fixes to the terrain system and shadow system. Not only should the new terrain system now run a little faster than the old one, but view distance has also been improved. This means distant horizons now have more detail, plus it fixes the disappearing terrain bug:
Just lookit the horizon on that… #saucyhorizon
Yesterday we had some server issues with our website, apologies for the inconvenience, but all is fixed and now we’re back with another progress update for you! The last week or two has mainly involved tweaks and adjustments all round, starting with the environmental stuff…
Last week we were unable to take many screenshots due to a problem with the lighting – Sam’s spent the week balancing this and it’s mostly running nicely now, although water reflection still needs some fixing. Oli’s mostly been making minor adjustments to the road terrain, Artery biome foliage and adjustments to the collision on the storm buildings. Other than smaller tweaks and fixes we’ve finished adding and texturing roof cover awnings…
Plus we now have Hive villages in-game, with their own building types:
At this point we’ve finalized most of Kenshi’s creatures in game now, this week we finished animating and adding in the Gorrillo:
Next up we’ll be working on another new ‘scary’ biome and the new GUI player map (the first section we’ll be releasing in our next update is shown in the rectangle area):
Programming-wise, we’ve mostly been fixing bugs and balancing, however this week Maykol’s almost finished with the crafting bench update. The changes for the latest include saving partial used items for crafting, improving the layout so the item names appear properly, adding an image of the item and changing the item’s crafting requirement to the specific item.
As a new enemy for farmers, we’ve also added pest AI for Swamp Raptors to destroy and eat crops – these walking trash cans will eat just about anything, from rotting corpses to cotton plants!
… Better keep on your toes and protect your crops 
We’ve had a lot of content to cram in before our beta release and it’s been a long update – so thank you all for your patience and support so far! Most of the main features are almost finished so our primary task from here on out is game balancing and bug fixing. Game balancing is actually the more time consuming part of adding features so don’t get too hyped up for a release soon, we still don’t have an ETA as there’s still a lot to clean up. Kenshi needs to age like a fine old cheese to reach it’s beautiful not-so-buggy state…
Anyway, here’s what we’re working on right now:
Hunger has now been added so it will be possible to die of starvation over a long amount of time. Character appearances will change to reflect the state of physical strength or malnutrition – again this is early stages and needs a lot of testing and balance.
We’ve now finished adding lots of different foods, crops (cotton, cacti…), boozes, a new power system (dependent on fuel or wind strength) and, of course, you’ll be able to start hunting skins for leather making. Research has been re-balanced so that it’s faster, plus it’s gonna cost items/artifacts instead of Cats from now on.
Finished work on the destroyed versions of buildings! Enough said.
Thievery needs a lot more balancing but it’s improved greatly since the current available experimental version. Buildings have things to steal, guards are more alert and we’ve fixed it up so the player doesn’t get busted for accidental clicks, or from looking inside unlocked containers. At the moment, we’re doing a lot of testing to make sure it’s not too easy/ too hard, and citizens are reacting normally etc.
The crime reactions in the dialogue has needed a lot of editing this week, if the reactions are too specific or too vague it can become too noisy and ends up sounding like jibberish. So it’s needed a good amount of testing to make sure the reactions fit all possible situations and to make sure people react realistically.
We’re also in the middle of adding the assassination ability, a way to knock people out in stealth mode.
*** The above content has not been released yet. This will be added in the next update, Beta 0.90, ETA to be announced.
Click here for details on the current playable version of Kenshi, available on Steam experimental opt-in ***