On 4 November, Hero In His Head streamed Kenshi with Anarchy's Kenshi Multiplayer mod. Players share one world, can form factions and build bases. The stream title refers to a 500-player server, but the mod description and the host's account give different figures for participant numbers.
From an arena to a shared open world
Kenshi Multiplayer previously had an arena mode where players fought waves of enemies. The creator now describes a shared open world on Steam Workshop: you can travel, build and develop your faction alongside other people.
There is still a discrepancy over capacity: the mod page describes a server for up to 200 players, while the stream title says 500. In a Reddit discussion, Hero In His Head reported roughly 150 concurrent players and three hours without crashes. That's his observation from one session; it doesn't establish stable operation with five hundred players.
- Travel, fight, develop your character and build bases in a shared world.
- Join an existing faction or create your own.
- According to the creator's description, a character's death means losing their skills.
- The mod is free and connects players to the project's servers.
- The mod is in early access: the creator warns about bugs and possible progress resets.
🔥 On a shared server, you'll have to account for other players as well as the risk of losing your character's skills on death. I'd start with a short session to check for disconnections and crashes before investing time in a base and character progression.
Several multiplayer mods are being developed for Kenshi, and I cover the different options in my multiplayer guide. Each has its own requirements and limitations, so check the name and creator when installing: this article is about Anarchy's Kenshi Multiplayer, Steam Workshop item 3808257125. If you are also considering a change of engine, keep in mind that MeitouClient is a separate alpha project; its co-op is still only planned.
What to know before connecting
The creator's instructions say to subscribe on Steam Workshop, run Enable AnarchyKenshi.bat from the mod folder and tick AnarchyKenshi in the game launcher. Run Enable AnarchyKenshi.bat again after updating the mod.
While the mod is active, you can't save or load the game normally; run Disable AnarchyKenshi.bat before returning to single-player. Back up any important saves in advance.
Can you host your own server yet?
The current instructions cover connecting to the project's servers. According to Hero In His Head's comments, Anarchy wants to fix the main bugs first, making it easier for others to host servers themselves.
There is no date yet for a self-hosted server release or for opening the source code. I'll return to the subject in the modding news section when more details appear. Would you join a public server, or wait until you can set up a world for friends?
