What is Dwarf Fortress exactly? It’s indescribable — but let me try

“What is Dwarf Fortress?” is not an easy question to answer. Sure, there’s a quick answer — Dwarf Fortress is a colony simulator game — but that glosses over so much of what Dwarf Fortress is. It’s a fantasy world-building engine a resource management game and a city builder. It’s a game that inspired massive hits like Minecraft and Rimworld. It was featured at the New York Museum of Modern Art.

It’s a Deep simulator. Every dwarf in your castle has different moods, preferences and skills. Every chair you make, every mug, every bed, has a quality or value. Hydrology, geology, and precipitation are the rules that govern how the world is created. Beyond the walls of your castle, the world evolves with the rise and fall of civilizations. You make trade agreements with other settlements and, if you’re not careful, enemies.

There are no win-win conditions. There’s no real end goal. Building a functioning fortress (and society) is a worthy aim, but, more often than not, that’s not the point. The point is fun — more on fun in a minute.

The simple answer to your question is “Yes.” Dwarf Fortress is a colony simulator, let’s talk about the more complicated answer.

Dwarf Fortress It has been around almost 20 years

Dwarf Fortress is the work of Tarn and Zach Adams — the brothers behind Bay 12 Games. That’s it. Two people. Tarn started to work on Dwarf Fortress 20 years ago. He’s described it as his life’s work — “As long as I don’t die, we’ll be doing it.”

As much of a cult that Dwarf Fortress has built, it’s never sold a single copy — it’s always been free. Since its original release in 2006 Dwarf Fortress has survived because of — and been self-sufficient through — donations and a Patreon.

On December 6, 2022, however, Dwarf Fortress Kitfox Games, publisher of offbeat hits such as “The Beat” and “The Killer” is releasing a paid version of the game on Steam. Boyfriend Dungeon Pupperazzi. What has changed?

Recently, Zach Adams was sick. Thankfully, his care and recovery were covered by (his wife’s) insurance, but the brothers realized that if Tarn were to fall similarly ill, the costs could wipe out Bay 12 games — and Dwarf Fortress’s future. And that’s why we’re getting the new Steam version, which is listed at $29.99.

But it’s not really about the money. Tarn stated that his goal is for him to be healthy and continue working on the game he enjoys. “People expect me to take care of myself, that’s what I’m going to do, make sure that my health is in order, make sure that the game is in order.”

The failings of the American health care system acknowledged, let’s talk about what we’re getting now that Dwarf Fortress Accessibility is increasing.

Dwarf Fortress The goal is to replicate everything

A game of Dwarf Fortress begins with generating a world and that world’s history. The creation of lore involves the creation of heroes, monsters, and legendary artifacts and civilizations over hundreds and years. And that … has nothing to do with the game you play. It’s just there.

Image: Bay 12 Games/Kitfox Games via Polygon

The health of every dwarf, squirrel, and aardvark man isn’t represented by hit points. Each creature has its own set of information about limbs and organs. A creature ceases to exist when it runs out of hit points.

That’s how Dwarf Fortress works. There’s the part you see on the surface, and then there’s a wealth of detail behind it that you’ll only find if you go looking.

You’re in charge, but not in control of your fortress

You, as the player, don’t really get to Make Any dwarf can do anything. The closest you get is deciding which dwarves are allowed to do what work (or “labors,” as the game calls them). You can make sure that at least one of your dwarves are allowed to dig, and then designate an area where digging should happen, but it’s up to the dwarf to decide to do so. More often than not, they will, but sometimes they’ll eat, sleep, hang out with a friend, appreciate some art, or run away from a ghost instead.

Image: Bay 12 Games/Kitfox Games via Polygon

That can lead to more problems. To build a chair, you’ll need to ask your dwarves to cut down a tree, build a carpenter’s workshop, and then actually build a chair. Each step requires a dwarf’s determination to complete their task. And your dwarves can be… unpredictable.

A hostile world doesn’t help.

Dwarf Fortress It is as much about emerging stories as it is gameplay

My fort fell within days of arriving at my place because the only dwarf with pickaxe was attacked by a gorilla.

Another fortress failed when the brewer stopped working while being haunted by a ghost — the ghost of someone who fell into a river, and whose body I couldn’t lay to rest.

One fortress failed when everyone died of dehydration because I couldn’t build a well. And I couldn’t build a well because a monkey snuck in and stole all my rope.

Another fortress never got beds because my carpenter’s pet duck got stuck in a tree and she waited at the base of said tree until she died of dehydration.

Dwarf Fortress is a simulation game whose core tenet seems to be, to paraphrase the Yiddish adage, “dwarves plan and the gods laugh.” When it’s at its best, Dwarf Fortress It is a chaotic, almost uncontrollable chaos. It’s ridiculous, and the best laid plans can go sideways in a second.

This is what it is Fun.

Playing Dwarf Fortress means embracing “losing is fun”

It can become boring when the simulator game keeps going. Sure, there’s pride in building up a self-sufficient and nigh-perpetual civilization, but that’s not Fun.

Image: Bay 12 Games/Kitfox Games via Polygon

When something goes wrong, it’s fun. Fun happens when your entire fortress floods while digging a well. It is fun to dig in a cavern filled with underground monsters, and your fortress is covered in blood from a rampaging cavetoad. Fun is when you don’t notice the alert that a werewolf showed up and now the bodies are piling up every month.

Because losing is fun.

It’s a phrase that’s been adopted by the Dwarf Fortress community. Without any win condition, the point is Dwarf Fortress Sometimes, it is easy to lose in new and innovative ways.

To do this, you must first learn the game.

Dwarf Fortress A learning cliff

The learning curve of Dwarf Fortress It is sometimes called a cliff. It was not a tutorial in its original form. In its original form, there was no tutorial. You were simply dropped into a new world and had to find a way to survive. It’s impossible to survive in hostile environments, complicated menus, overwhelming needs, and zero guidance.

The biggest challenge facing Dwarf Fortress Learning to play is often the act that makes it possible. Dwarf Fortress — This is all part of the draw. You learn something from a failure of a fortress. When the next one lasts just a little longer only to fail a different way, that’s a victory.

It all makes even understanding — let alone playing — Dwarf Fortress A point of pride. That’s going to change a little with the new Steam release. The new Steam release includes graphics and streamlined menus. There’s even a tutorial.

It’s not going to make Dwarf Fortress easy by any stretch, but it’s going to make it more accessible to people who may have bounced off previous versions. That means there are more worlds and more thrilling failures.

Now, what is Dwarf Fortress exactly?

Dwarf Fortress It’s fun.