As a devoted gamer, the thirst for new, immersive experiences is a constant companion. If you’ve been on the lookout for games like Kenshi, you’ve landed in the right place.
This post-apocalyptic survival game, developed by Lo-Fi Games, has won the hearts of many gamers with its unique blend of open-world exploration, RPG elements, and real-time strategy.
But what do you play when you’re craving similar games?
Here are 22 games similar to Kenshi, each offering its unique twist on survival, resource management, and exploration.
1 – The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind is a highly revered open-world action RPG, developed by Bethesda Game Studios and published by Bethesda Softworks.
Set on the island of Vvardenfell, a district in the Dunmeri province of Morrowind, the main storyline revolves around the character’s evolution from a humble prisoner to a mighty hero who must fulfill an ancient prophecy and stop the blight of a malevolent deity, Dagoth Ur.
The video game’s free-roaming design invites players to explore Vvardenfell at their own pace.
The bustling towns, ominous dungeons, towering mountains, and ancestral tombs teem with opportunities for discovery, battle, and reward.
Players can create the main character from a variety of races, classes, and skills. Whether you decide to be a nimble Khajiit thief, an Orc warrior, or a Dunmer mage, Morrowind gives you an incredible level of freedom to decide who you want to be in the game.
The game’s non-linear story structure means that you can follow the main story, partake in a bunch of side quests, join different guilds, or simply wander off the beaten path, and still have a smashing time.
2 – DayZ
DayZ, an open-world survival game set in a post-apocalyptic world, shares Kenshi’s survival elements and open-ended gameplay.
In the midst of a zombie apocalypse, you must gather resources, find food and water, and fight (or avoid) zombies and other players to survive.
Just like most games in this genre, the world is harsh and unforgiving, with permadeath and a lack of in-game tutorials or guides.
These combine to create a tense, challenging (and sometimes frustrating) experience.
While the setting and gameplay differ somewhat from Kenshi, DayZ’s focus on survival and player-driven stories makes it an excellent alternative for fans of Lo-Fi’s game. It’s also the kind of title you’d like if you love the crossplay-shunning survival game Raft.
3 – Conan Exiles
Next on our lineup of games like Kenshi is Conan Exiles, which was released in 2018.
Developed and published by Funcom, it is set in the merciless realms of Conan the Barbarian.
It thrusts players into a hostile land where they must navigate survival elements, dangerous enemies, and their own drive to build and conquer.
In the expanse of the game’s unforgiving landscape, you will fight against both human and supernatural adversaries, construct and defend a small settlement, and even enslave thralls to do your bidding.
You can play Conan Exiles in single-player mode or multiplayer mode. Some key highlights include diverse biomes, from burning deserts to frozen tundra as well as comprehensive building and crafting elements.
4 – Outward
Developed by Nine Dots Studio, Outward is a fantasy RPG that really tests your patience and fortitude.
In this game, you’re not the typical hero you’d find in most RPGs. Instead, you’re an ordinary person, vulnerable and tasked with the everyday realities of living in a harsh world.
Every expedition you undertake into the vast, beautiful world poses significant risks. It’s not just monstrous creatures that pose threats, but also the need to eat, sleep, and stay healthy.
The game constantly reminds you of the thin line between life and death by introducing challenging survival aspects such as diseases, harsh weather, and the need to set up camp to rest and recuperate.
Your choices shape the world around you and the game’s multiple factions. The game offers a local and online co-op mode, allowing you to face the challenging world of Outward with a friend.
5 – Mount & Blade: Warband
Mount & Blade: Warband is a standalone expansion pack worth mentioning when it comes to Kenshi alternatives due to its similar gameplay mechanics and open-ended nature.
A mix of strategy, RPG, and simulation, Warband places you in a dynamic, medieval world with over 200 square kilometers of terrain to explore.
Players are free to find resources, recruit soldiers, and engage in large-scale battles. There’s no predefined story here. Just like in Kenshi, your actions dictate the narrative.
The game offers both single-player and multiplayer modes, with the latter supporting up to 64 players in a single battle.
It complex, skill-based combat system and robust trading system are reminiscent of games similar to Kenshi, making Warband an excellent alternative for those who love the intricate gameplay mechanics of Lo-Fi’s masterpiece.
6 – Valheim
Valheim, a Viking-inspired survival game, is bound to satiate your appetite for exploration.
You play as a Viking warrior in the purgatory of Valheim, tasked by Odin himself to bring order to this chaotic realm.
This is a sandbox game at its core, where you’re free to explore, gather resources, construct buildings, and combat formidable creatures.
The game’s crafting and building mechanics are elaborate, allowing you to create everything from weapons and armor to fortresses and longships.
Moreover, it places you in a procedurally generated world, ensuring that every playthrough feels fresh and unique.
While Valheim is not a post apocalypse survival simulation like Kenshi, it offers a similar emphasis on survival and sandbox gameplay.
7 – Sands of Salzaar
Sands of Salzaar is an immersive sandbox RPG set in a fantastical desert filled with secrets.
In it, you can recruit soldiers, fight fierce creatures, and explore a world that responds to your every decision.
The game boasts an impressive non-linear narrative that, coupled with its vibrant visuals and strategic combat, makes for a compelling gaming experience.
While the setting is vastly different from Kenshi, the core gameplay mechanics are quite similar.
Both games emphasize exploration, survival, and tactical combat. They also offer a vast, open world that dynamically responds to your actions.
8 – Dwarf Fortress
Dwarf Fortress is one of two candidates on this games like Kenshi list that don’t share too many similarities it.
It’s a blend of city building, management, and roguelike elements. In it, the player oversees a group of dwarves aiming to construct a successful and prosperous fortress in a procedurally generated world.
Dwarf Fortress can be punishingly difficult. It has a steep learning curve and complex systems to master. However, it’s precisely this depth and complexity that make games like this so rewarding.
Each game unfolds differently, with dynamic events shaped by the sophisticated simulation mechanics integrated into it.
9 – State of Decay 2
State of Decay 2 is one of the best games to play if you want a post apocalypse survival simulation overrun by zombies. It offers a similar experience to Kenshi but with a heavier focus on combat.
In this game, you’ll need to scavenge for resources, build a base, and manage other survivors, all while battling hordes of undead.
The game features permadeath, meaning that once a character dies, they’re gone for good, adding an extra layer of tension to every decision you make.
With its blend of survival, base-building, and resource management mechanics, State of Decay 2 will appeal to fans of Kenshi’s hardcore survival gameplay.
10 – Kingdom Come: Deliverance
Kingdom Come: Deliverance is an action RPG that drops you straight into a harsh and realistic world.
With a medieval setting in the Kingdom of Bohemia, the game prides itself on its historical accuracy and realism.
You play as Henry, a blacksmith’s son, whose peaceful life is shattered when his village is burned down by an invading army.
Kingdom Come: Deliverance features a classless role-playing system, allowing you to shape Henry as you see fit.
Its combat is grounded in realism, with sword fights requiring precision and strategy. While the game doesn’t have Kenshi’s base-building and management elements, it shares its commitment to challenging, immersive gameplay.
11 – Battle Brothers
If you want more games where the backdrop is a medieval world, there’s Battle Brothers.
In this turn-based tactical RPG developed by Overhype Studios, you lead a mercenary company in a gritty, low-fantasy setting.
At the heart of Battle Brothers, you’ll find a layered and strategic fighting system. Players need to cleverly utilize the unique skills, weaponry, and positioning of their diverse roster of mercenary brothers to overcome other factions.
Battles unfold on grid-based maps and are impacted by a host of factors, including terrain, visibility, morale, and fatigue. And there’s permadeath too.
Whether it’s engaging with a band of brigands or negotiating a higher payout for a contract, your choices shape the overarching narrative of your experience.
12 – NEO Scavenger
Neo Scavenger is a post-apocalyptic offering developed and published by Blue Bottle Games.
This turn-based role-playing game offers an immersive experience as it plunges you into a desolate world where every decision matters, and the struggle to survive is real.
The game begins with your character waking up in a cryo-facility in Michigan.
You’re tasked with managing your health, hunger, thirst, and temperature while also dealing with injuries and diseases.
Scavenged materials and objects can be combined to craft items such as tools, weapons, and other necessities.
The fighting system in this game is turn-based and requires strategic planning. Engagements can be lethal, and it’s often better to avoid conflict when possible.
The game also boasts a deep, narrative-driven storyline filled with mysteries for you to uncover as you slowly recollect your past and discover the reason behind the world’s end.
13 – Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord
Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord, the much-anticipated prequel to Warband, further refines the series’ blend of action, strategy, and RPG elements.
Set in the war-torn land of Calradia, Bannerlord lets you rise from a lowly adventurer to a powerful warlord.
Like Kenshi, Bannerlord is a sandbox game where your actions influence the world around you.
You’re free to engage in combat, trade, politics, and more as you expand your influence across Calradia.
Bannerlord is lauded for many key improvements over Warband that make it more exciting that the latter.
Some of the changes introduced include a birth and death system, a campaign mode, rebellions that must be dealt with, better skill leveling and so on.
14 – Life is Feudal: Your Own
Life is Feudal: Your Own offers a gritty, realistic take on the medieval sandbox genre.
The game places a heavy emphasis on crafting and building, with players able to construct everything from simple tools to grand castles.
Like Kenshi, Life is Feudal is an open world survival RPG where players are free to pursue their own path, with a variety of skills to learn and master.
Its mechanics, such as a robust crafting system, complex combat, and a terraforming feature that allows you to shape the world around you, make it a fitting choice for fans of Kenshi’s intricate gameplay.
15 – Ark: Survival Evolved
Ark: Survival Evolved is another one of those open-world survival games that share several gameplay elements with Kenshi.
You’re thrown onto an island teeming with prehistoric creatures, from small dodos to colossal dinosaurs. To survive, you must collect resources, craft tools, build bases, and tame wild animals.
The game’s world is rich and diverse, offering a variety of biomes to explore, each with its own specific flora and fauna.
Ark also supports multiplayer mode, allowing you to team up with (or fight against) other players.
While Ark’s setting is wildly different from Kenshi’s, the core gameplay mechanics of survival, resource gathering and management, and base-building are very much in line.
16 – Sons of the Forest
Sons of the Forest was launched via early access on Steam in February 2023.
This sequel to The Forest is not cross-platform, just like the original. But you can play both games with friends on the same platform.
Once again, you are place on a forested peninsula. As the lone survivor of a plane crash, you’ll need to stay alive by gathering resources, crafting items, and constructing shelters.
However, you’re not alone; strange, humanoid creatures stalk the forest, forcing you to survive through a chilling horror experience.
Much like Kenshi, Sons of the Forest offers a non-linear gameplay experience in which the world reacts to your actions.
While it leans more towards the horror genre, its survival and crafting mechanics provide an engaging challenge that Kenshi fans will appreciate.
17 – Going Medieval
Going Medieval is a mix of survival, strategy, and city-building set in the Medieval era.
In the wake of a deadly plague, you’re tasked with rebuilding society from the ground up.
You have access to a deep building system here, allowing you to construct multi-story fortresses complete with trap-filled dungeons.
Just like Kenshi, this videogame blends survival, crafting, and base-building mechanics, all wrapped together in a sandbox world.
With its focus on resource management, character development, and strategic gameplay, Going Medieval is a worthy addition if you’re looking for a game like Kenshi.
18 – Rust
Rust is a multiplayer survival game that pits you against a harsh environment, wild animals, and other players.
Starting with just a rock and a torch, you must gather resources, build a base, and protect yourself from threats.
Rust’s dangerous world requires you to be careful with the management of food, water, and health.
The gameplay is heavily player-driven, with interactions with other players often dictating the course of your game.
The game shares Kenshi’s harsh survival elements, sandbox world, and base-building mechanics, making it a compelling choice for those seeking a similar experience.
19 – Project Zomboid
If you love post-apocalyptic survival games that emphasize realism and challenge, check out Project Zomboid.
It takes place in a zombie-infested world, where survival requires careful management of resources, strategic combat, and a healthy dose of paranoia.
Project Zomboid’s world is dynamic and persistent, with the environment changing based on your actions and the passage of time.
With its sandbox gameplay, deep survival mechanics, and tense atmosphere, Project Zomboid offers an experience similar to Kenshi.
20 – Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead
Cataclysm: Dark Days Ahead is a post-apocalyptic survival game similar to Kenshi that puts you in a harsh wasteland.
The game is set after a cataclysmic event that left the world overrun by zombies and other horrors.
In order to survive, you’ll need to scavenge for resources, craft tools, build shelters, and fight off threats.
Cataclysm: DDA is known for its depth and complexity, with a wide range of skills to learn, items to craft, and enemies to fight.
Admittedly, the learning curve is steep and the graphics might remind you of PC games of yore. But that shouldn’t stop you from exploring it. We consider it one of the best games on this list.
The game’s map is procedurally generated and infinitely large, ensuring that no two playthroughs feel the same.
21 – RimWorld
RimWorld is not your ideal candidate if you’re looking for games like Kenshi, except with regard to its base building aspect. But fans of the latter will appreciate it anyway.
You start with three survivors of a shipwreck on an alien planet. From there, your goal is to build your own colony, manage resources, and fend off threats.
RimWorld’s most significant charm lies in its AI storyteller, which creates unique events and incidents based on your colony’s situation.
This results in a dynamic, ever-evolving narrative that feels distinct to each playthrough.
22 – Age Of Decadence
We’ll start by saying that Age of Decadence, a post apocalyptic, turn-based RPG developed by Iron Tower Studio, has invited some pretty divisive reviews.
Set in a low-magic backdrop inspired by the fall of the Roman Empire, this game features a cool approach to the RPG genre. It places a heavy significance on intricate storylines and has a complex combat system.
Every choice you make carries significant consequences that shape the realm and your character’s place within it.
There are multiple paths to follow, each offering a unique storyline filled with diverse characters and factions.
Your character’s skills and attributes will heavily influence your interactions and your available options.
If you’re not interested in combat, the game offers the option to use diplomacy or subterfuge to navigate through its gritty world, providing a deep role-playing experience regardless of the path you choose.
In Conclusion
While Kenshi’s unique combination of gameplay elements makes it a standout title, there are plenty of other games out there that offer similar experiences.
Whether you’re drawn to offerings with realistic survival mechanics, free roaming exploration, or base-building elements, our list contains the best games like Kenshi just for you.
