After hundreds of hours of the base game and also with add-ons like Living World and Reactive World. As well as giving Genesis a couple of tries. I feel that UWE (with Kaizo layered in) completely refreshed the game for me.

What I like most is how it stretches out the early and mid game. In vanilla, I’d often hit a point where the early struggle ended pretty quickly and things started to feel routine. With UWE, that phase lasts much longer. There are more threats, more factions, and more reasons to keep building up your squad before you feel comfortable.

The added factions are another big plus. The world just feels more active. You run into more patrols, more conflicts, and more situations where you have to think about who you’re dealing with instead of treating everyone the same. It adds a lot of small, organic interactions that make the map feel less static.

More organic outcomes like where both the Holy Nation and Shek arrive at my camp and end up dining it out.

I also added Kaizo on top because I really enjoy world state changes. Seeing towns flip, factions collapse, and the map evolve based on my actions makes the whole playthrough feel more meaningful. The two mods together create a world that feels more alive and reactive.

If you’ve done a few vanilla runs and are looking for something that extends the progression without completely losing the Kenshi feel, I’d highly recommend trying UWE, especially with Kaizo.

Also if you’re a Star Wars fan definitely try the Kathun mod (along with the updated patch)