Dwarf Fortress is a mix of role-playing and strategy simulation. At its core, it is a story generator that allows dwarves to experience adventures in a fantasy world over generations. Since the release of this gaming jewel on Steam in December 2002, the reviews have been 95% positive. Many players have already spent hundreds of hours in the Steam version and write fantastic reviews.
What makes Dwarf Fortress special: For 16 years, Dwarf Fortress was really only for the “hardcore RPG freaks,” as the game was extremely deep and even simulated what happens when cats lick up beer, but it didn’t use conventional graphics, instead representing objects in the game world through ASCII code. It was only with the Steam version that “normal graphics” came to the game.
Dwarf Fortress comes from a brother duo, Tarn and Zach Adams, and simulates the life and death of dwarves in a fortress that they continuously expand by digging downward.
The game is considered a pioneer for “roguelike” games: These are games where the world is regenerated anew each time. Such games do not tell a pre-made story but are story generators where players experience new, individual adventures over and over again. Dwarf Fortress has inspired games like Rimworld and Prison Architect in the last 20 years, which have become major commercial successes.
A 9-year-old dwarf child destroys the fortress
This is how the Steam reviews read: The reviews on Steam tell such stories of players who have already spent hundreds of hours with the Steam version.
A Steam user with 690 hours writes:
I just spent 20 hours building a fortress, surviving beast attacks, constructing a lava moat to fend off goblin sieges, and producing enough metal barrels to keep the elves from riding on my [censored] depending on how many trees I cut down. 20 hours, only for a SINGLE CHILD to go berserk, grab a donkey bone axe, fall into a war trance, and then single-handedly slaughter the entire dwarven fortress with 150 dwarves.
The little guy was so angry that he slaughtered my entire iron-clad 50-dwarf military with a DONKEY AXE. A biblical massacre by a drunken, depressed, and enraged 9-year-old (and all because I couldn’t get him aluminum bars fast enough).
The user rates it 11 out of 10 points and says he would play dwarves again.
The return of the dwarf baby
After 100 hours, a player writes on Steam:
“In my current fortress, it was the year 102. With a stable food supply, access to water, and trained guards, I was proud that I had not suffered any losses in this fortress so far. I noticed a warning appearing at the edge of my screen: “Thief: Child Thief.”
This was the first test for my defense. The dwarves were ready. The goblin child thief came with two goblin minions. They quickly approached the main gate of my fortress. I sounded the alarm and called all dwarves to my gate and raised my drawbridge. A few dwarves stayed outside with the gatekeepers. They had support from the crossbow dwarves in the gate towers. It was more important to protect the children. In the end, the militia of Kolsherik made quick work of the three goblin thieves. We lowered the drawbridge to let the remaining dwarves back in to celebrate.
A few days passed, and the dwarves noticed that someone was missing. A baby named Aban Stigazezum. She was one year old, and no one had seen her since the attack. I looked at the defensive measures, but I could not figure out what had happened. I could have sworn there were only three thieves and that I had killed them all. I knew where the bodies were buried.
Six months later, the dwarves and I continued with our daily lives. One night, while I was looking at the watchtowers, I noticed an additional, naked green dwarf standing next to the regular guards. I took a closer look at the green dwarf, it was Aban. She had returned as a ghost to take revenge on those who had allowed her to be stolen. Aban liked to glide silently in the watchtowers, up and down between the floors and through the walls, occasionally stalking the guards at the entrance. Perhaps she blamed them for the security lapses.
After a few more months of harmless but unsettling hauntings, I finally found time to build a crypt. While I didn’t have a corpse for a proper burial, a personally etched memorial plaque for Aban should put her to rest and calm my guards a little. They learned from this, Aban. They will never let a thief into the fortress again.
I lay down the plaque, and Aban is content and laid to rest. I read the plaque to see what my engraver wrote about Aban.
On the plaque it says: “In memory of Aban Stizgazezum / Born 102 / Crushed by a drawbridge in the year 102.”
The last survivor
A third Steam user tells:
“I managed to build a functioning fortress with about 100 dwarves after 6 years. I had a functioning army with fully armed and trained soldiers. Some powerful beasts came from the depths, but my soldiers killed them one by one. They were awarded the title “Monster Slayer.”
And then another beast appeared. I dispatched my soldiers as usual, and they were killed one by one. Then the beast climbed the stairs of my fortress and killed everyone who stood in its way. My population began to dwindle. At the same time, my fortress was attacked by fishermen. Meanwhile, the beast reached the main floor of my fortress and was still killing everyone. The population is now 1. And behold, Mudi Gisepuki, an 80-year-old man, attacks and defeats the beast. He suffers nerve damage, loses the ability to stand, and slowly dies in the tavern…. Two fishermen come and attack him, but the mighty Mudi kills them without even getting up.
After a while, he can get up again! He starts walking and goes… to the kitchen to get something to eat. Then he loses consciousness, the end is near… But no, he comes to again!
He now spends his days in the temple, praying and haunted by a fallen comrade. From time to time he takes a break to grab a clumsy helm-beer that makes him euphoric and returns to the temple. On the way there, he passes the bodies of his fallen comrades and feels nothing. Some visitors often come to the fortress, and Mudi feels comfortable talking to them about his problems.
After a while, another army of fishermen attacks and manages to kill him.
Mudi Gisepuki, the man-eater and monster slayer, was 80 years old, had 2 lovers and 11 children. He valued peace and knowledge.
Nice game.”
What’s behind it: Dwarf Fortress has a notoriously steep learning curve. And for many, Rim World may now be the easier and more attractive sci-fi variant. But those who delve into Dwarf Fortress and dedicate themselves to the game can have fun for many hours. The game costs €29 on Steam: 2 brothers develop a game for 20 years, fall into financial trouble – bring it to Steam and become millionaires
