A screenshot of a typical Dwarven Fortress in Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition
It would be inaccurate to call Dwarf Fortress just a game. To put it more accurately, Dwarf Fortress is a fantasy world simulator where you create your own procedurally generated world. Once you do, you are given a group of Dwarves to protect. You lead them to build great civilizations and grow your Dwarven empire.
One of the most complex strategy “games” out there, Dwarf Fortress has been in development since 2002 by two brothers– Tarn and Zach Adams, with Tarn being the original creator and developer. The game was originally released for free digitally on Tarns website Bay12, but it soon began to grow a dedicated fandom among gamers who were enamored with the complex gameplay and and wacky mechanics. Since the game was free Tarn and Zach had to rely on donations from fans to be allowed to keep working on Dwarf Fortress.
In 2019, Tarn and Zach announced that their game would be released on the popular video game distribution site Steam– with a new graphical update, a better UI, and a new price tag. Three years later on December 6th, 2022, it was released on Steam for $30 to immediate success and very high sales.
Since then, Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition has sold over 500,000 copies making Tarn and Zach a lot of money. The Adams brothers stated that they will keep on updating the older version of Dwarf Fortress as well as updating the Steam Edition with newer and newer features.
The gameplay of Dwarf Fortress goes as follows: you start off by creating a new world that the game procedurally generated for you. After your world is created you can start a new game and are given 8 randomly generated dwarves each with a name, job, personality, hobby, and complete history. You choose a location on the world you created for your dwarves to start off and that is where the game play begins.
You can command your dwarves to do many things, like digging underground, foraging for berries or cutting down trees. You can make your dwarves do all of these things by using the player interface, and its functionality is only limited by your imagination and/or your knowledge of architecture and interior design. You also have to keep your dwarves alive because they will grow hungry, thirsty, tired, and bored, so Dwarf Fortress quickly becomes a tamagotchi simulator.
Eventually as you continue to take good care of your dwarves, other dwarves from far off lands will notice the happiness of your dwarves and will soon start moving into your civilization causing it to grow. This game will throw many things at you and you may lose a lot. However, there is a reason the Dwarf Fortress community has coined the term “losing is fun!” From those losses you will gain many happy memories and lots of great experiences and knowledge which you can use when you build your next fortress.
There are many different “versions” of Dwarf Fortress. The original free version of Dwarf Fortress looks very different from the newer and enhanced Steam version. Here is what the OG Dwarf Fortress looks like:
Screenshot from the original free to download version of Dwarf Fortress
The graphics in the original Dwarf Fortress are very rudimentary, using ASCII and other simple symbols. You can download “tilesets” which are graphic mods that can make your game look better. However there have been so many tilesets released over Dwarf Fortress’ nearly 20 year long development that it is kinda hard to pick which one. I recommend doing some research and choosing which version you find the most interesting if you want to play the original version of Dwarf Fortress. On the other hand, here is what Dwarf Fortress on Steam looks like:
Screenshot of a typical Dwarven Fortress in Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition
Now, there are actual graphics instead of what seems like a copy of Windows 98 puking all over a computer screen. Gameplay wise, they are still very much the same, except the Steam Version is far more appealing in both aesthetics and presentation. The UI has been completely renovated in the Steam Edition– instead of having to memorize what letter of the alphabet corresponds to which menu you can now just click on the toolbar at the bottom to do everything. There is also now a mouse support so that just makes Dwarf Fortress infinitely better.
All of this for a neat price tag of $30, “But Daniel!” you might be saying, “the original version of Dwarf Fortress is free! Is the upgrade to Steam Edition really worth the price tag?” To which I say it is definitely worth it, especially if you want to support the developers as they continue to update Dwarf Fortress. If you are considering buying Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition or maybe you want to try out the original version of Dwarf Fortress, here are a couple of useful resources:
Link to Dwarf Fortress Steam Edition Steam Page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/975370/Dwarf_Fortress/
Link To The Dwarf Fortress Website (Where you can download the OG version): http://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/
Link To Dwarf Fortress Wiki: https://dwarffortresswiki.org/
Link To A Good Guide To Dwarf Fortress(OG): https://df-walkthrough.readthedocs.io/en/latest/chapters/chap01-setup-starting.html
A Youtube Tutorial For Dwarf Fortress(OG): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTeQJOC1H38