So when this thread was started three years ago...
Depending on just how well this is done, I can see it being absolutely amazing or mind-numbingly tedious.
I finally gave it a fling when Steam had a sale on it a few weeks ago. Guess which one it was?
For a game which has such a cult following, I was shockingly underwhelmed by it. Yes, I know it's an Alpha, but the gameplay, gameworld, and engine just didn't show any potential to me. Maybe the mid to late game is more interesting once you can afford to build a base, but I didn't find it worth my time to play that far.
First off, combat is straight RTS-like in a bad way. Right click on the enemy, and watch them slug it out. The only kinda real choice is what weapon to use, blunt vs. cutting and offensive vs. defensive emphasis. Blunt has the advantage of causing stamina damage so you can take them prisoner. (Although currently there is no incentive to take prisoners.)
Second, as advertised, the PC is a weak nobody. As is, there is no campaign, plot, or even quests in the alpha. Beyond character creation, there is no way to train skills beyond exercising them. So grind, grind, grind... in the aforementioned boring RTS-like combat. Oh yeah, as advertised, the world doesn't scale to your level. Which would be fine, except your spawn point is random, and there's no labelled easy or hard zones. So the only really valid starting strategy is to kite hostiles back towards town guards and maybe you'll get a few hits in while they have all the fun fighting bad guys. Then go loot the corpses they leave behind and sell it to the town. No really, as is, that's how you play your first few hours of Kenshi.
Really, this is a game with a cult following that has been in development for how many years now? I might check back in another six months or so, but right now I can't possibly advise somebody to spend money on this Alpha.