Kenshi

Skills improve only through use, so a character who spends a fight running away actually gets better at running, and losing is a normal part of play: characters can be captured, enslaved, or lose limbs, and the story keeps going from there rather than ending.

The player can lead a lone wanderer, a small band of fighters, or grow an entire settlement complete with farms, walls, and manufacturing, and factions across the world react to the player's choices with trade, hostility, or outright war.

Recruits found wandering the world bring their own skills, backstories, and starting relationships with local factions. The harsh survival systems mean a badly planned expedition into hostile territory can end with half a squad captured and sold into slavery, a fate the player then has to plan a rescue around.

• No fixed main quest The world offers factions and locations to react to, but no single scripted storyline to follow.
• Use-based skill growth Every skill, including running away, improves only through the act of doing it.
• Full settlement building Bases can be raised from nothing, with farms, walls, and production chains built by hand.
• Real, lasting consequences Captured or maimed characters keep playing, often fitted with prosthetic limbs rather than dying outright.