This game is one of the all-time best. This game is also ugly and jank, so let's fix it.

A collection of thirty-five modifications for a fairly lightweight, improved, yet-still-vanilla Kenshi experience. These mods serve to enhance the beauty and immersion of the world, improve the user interface experience, and optimise the game's performance. By enforcing a self-imposed limit of thirty-five mods, this collection is intended to stay focused and avoid the mod spam common to games like Kenshi.

As this collection is intended to provide a minimalist approach, none of these mods add new features or alter the game's content significantly. There are no overhauls, no reworks, no extensive custom content, and no total conversion mods on this list for that reason.

The bulk of the mods are focused on immersion and atmosphere. As these mods change the game's graphical presentation dramatically, they have not been tested together for use on low-end hardware. The game is more optimised with these mods, but your experience may vary.

There are two mods in this collection which you might omit, if not suited to your needs.

• The sole change to core mechanics comes from Weaklings Always Give XP, which can slightly soften the grind. For some, this might be too significant of a step for a true vanilla experience. It is included as a quality of life addition, but feel free to remove it.
  
• Additionally, your need for Sol's Transparent UI Ultrawide Trader Money Fix is dependant on your display resolution. If you are running the game on a 3440x1440 display or a similar widescreen monitor, you should subscribe to it. If not, just skip it.

As of 2025, these mods work together with little-to-no adjustment. I would honestly recommend this collection to a new Kenshi player, even for their first playthrough. To use this collection, just hit subscribe to all button on this page, launch the game, setup the load order on the Kenshi launcher's mods tab just as listed below, and lastly click save config, then okay.

All credit should go to the individual mod developers. I didn't make anything. I am a wandering idiot who curated this selection of their hard work. I hope this was helpful. Have fun in the wastes. Try not to die.

Help! I never played Kenshi before, how do I know what is actually changed?

• user interface is now far cleaner and more modern-looking
  
• map with more visual flare and immersion-friendly zone labels with stylish map icons
  
• loading screens are now full-screen, more varied, and without the ugly tip text box
  
• game font is sharper and more readable
  
• game text has had an editing pass resulting in fewer grammatical and punctuation errors
  
• dialogue will repeat, such that the game no longer drifts into empty silence after a while
  
• non-unique NPC names are Japanese inspired, fitting the setting, and has more variety
  
• shader is built into the native engine for a spirited, cell-shaded, and saturated look
  
• sky box at night is higher resolution, more alien and eerie, and quite beautiful
  
• birds are visible in the sky more frequently, especially in areas with bird sound audio cues
  
• fire sources, such as campfires and torches, now produce actual smoke
  
• rotting bodies attract silent fireflies instead of those strange and noisy smudges
  
• blood comes in new lore-friendly colors, depending on the race of the creature
  
• character models (npcs too!) look nicer when randomised due to improved slider averages
  
• item meshes no longer have as many strange spots and holes in them
  
• items on the ground rest naturally in piles and no longer float five meters into the air
  
• equipment, such as sandals, lanterns, and metal weapons, are re-textured to look sensible
  
• weather is more moody and atmospheric and is in areas that had sterile conditions before
  
• lighting and shadows are softer and more immersive and vary in hue
  
• water sources both look more interesting and are better optimised
  
• foliage and ground clutter is better distributed and better optimised
  
• road pathfinding has better routing in a few infamous spots
  
• particle effects are converted to reduce computational strain without loss of fidelity
  
• xp gain from weaker enemies is not capped, so you always grow from conflict
  
• lo-fi games boot logo doesn't have those annoying stray pixels anymore

In the Kenshi launcher, in the mods tab, just put them in this order as they appear.

1. Transparent UI
   
2. Sol's Transparent UI Ultrawide Trader Money Fix
   
3. Nice Map [Zones + Zone names]
   
4. Kenshi Community Loading Screens
   
5. Transparent Map Icons + KC Loading Screens
   
6. Fixed Intro Logo
   
7. No Loading Screen Tips
   
8. Font Redux
   
9. GrammarPaladin - Reupload
   
10. Japanese Names
    
11. Let's Talk
    
12. Weaklings Always Give XP
    
13. Firefly
    
14. Flies Aren't Annoying Me Anymore
    
15. Blue Nebulosity
    
16. Race Blood
    
17. BeautifulBodiesAndFaces
    
18. Minor Mesh Fixes
    
19. BetterLanterns
    
20. WeaponsRetexMetalness
    
21. Wooden Sandals Retexture
    
22. Dropped in Style
    
23. MoreBirds
    
24. MoreSmoke
    
25. ArmofOkranClouds
    
26. DeadlandsClouds
    
27. mals_road_repair
    
28. FASTR
    
29. Native Stylise
    
30. MoodWaves
    
31. MoodShadows
    
32. MoodLighting
    
33. MoodWeather
    
34. Reduced Particle Effects
    
35. KPM Performance Particles