Dwarf Fortress [PC]

[Madmac79]

The freeware ASCII/custom tileset version is around since basically forever, however the "commercial" one comes out tomorrow (depending on where you are) 6/12 on Steam, and I personally rarely if ever awaited a launch like this one.


Already talked about it in the 8-16-32 bit thread (even tho it's not really "retro"). I feel a moral debt towards this game, so the least I can do (other than buying it the second it will become possible of course) is to advertise it a bit.

This title is in development since basically 20 years or something by only two people of number. To keep it short is the deepest simulation of a fantasy colony builder you can imagine, and probably the best random story generator videogame ever existed. For a real, basic review of it, I'll link you this good one by Pc Gamer:

https://www.pcgamer.com/dwarf-fortr...flow&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social

I'll just say that's the only videogame, out of any Rpg or adventure game existent, that made me somehow feel the "Gamebook" feel of wonder, if you ever read them, of my infancy.

Truly hope it will make it big on Steam.

(also gosh, it's probably the first thread I've ever opened here on Evoweb. Too many emotions in just one blow )

 

[Chris Davies]

This is one of those games that sounds 100% down my alley, and I've always considered trying it, but the level of detail scares the hell out of me. I just can't imagine getting a grip of the game and really being able to manage anything properly (which is the whole point for me) - so I've always stuck with Crusader Kings instead.

The graphical update does tempt me, cos it makes much more sense now... but it's missing the RPG mode, right? So I don't really understand what it is, without that...

 

[Madmac79]

This is one of those games that sounds 100% down my alley, and I've always considered trying it, but the level of detail scares the hell out of me. I just can't imagine getting a grip of the game and really being able to manage anything properly (which is the whole point for me) - so I've always stuck with Crusader Kings instead.

The graphical update does tempt me, cos it makes much more sense now... but it's missing the RPG mode, right? So I don't really understand what it is, without that...

The level of details and complexity of the world down to the single being is incredible indeed, but I think the true entry barrier with this game has always been the absolutely atrocious, confusing, counter intuitive interface. To understand even the most basic things to do you generally either had to spend literally tens of hours by yourself or watch still very lenghty tutorials little by little, possibly while playing. Back then I did (of course) the latter and I managed to run some basic, decent fortress for a while (that usually ended up spiralling into madness and chaos after some time, but it's kinda the norm with the game ) without being too much overwhelmed, so even if I've already read critics about it, if the new u.i. is at least less cryptic than the old one complexity shouldn't really scare you.

As for the RPG mode.. in DF there are two playable modes, the colony builder that we talked about above and the Adventurer (rpg) one, which let's you control a single adventurer of a kind and casually roam the world, either the same of your fortresses or of another randomly generated one. People do have neat stories about this mode too, but it has been the secondary focus of the game since practically forever (I've never really delve into it but I've always read it was quite messy in the freeware version), so to answer your doubt with this Steam version you "just" have the colony builder.

My guess (can't remember if they said it precisely themselves) is that to adapt the main mode was already a colossal work that took years, probably they wanted to do that well enough before tackling the second mode that is in theory another whole different game. The Adventurer mode however it's in the plans iirc and if the game will have decent success as I truly hope it will I bet they'll release it too, in their time of course.

 

[Chris Davies]

My guess (can't remember if they said it precisely themselves) is that to adapt the main mode was already a colossal work that took years, probably they wanted to do that well enough before tackling the second mode that is in theory another whole different game. The Adventurer mode however it's in the plans iirc and if the game will have decent success as I truly hope it will I bet they'll release it too, in their time of course.

This is one of those games I will probably end up buying just to support the developer, especially considering that it's just a couple of people making the core game. Whether I can then cope with the game and achieve anything noteworthy is another matter...

 

[millossobek]

This game looks really cool, but also insanely complex! I remember when I got Romance of the Three Kingdoms XI, I spent literally like 2 hours with only the tutorial! When the third hour rolled around I was like.. Man.. I'm gonna play a simpler version and ended up playing ROTK XIII, haha (even though I do want to go back to ROTK XI). Dwarf Fortress looks just like that! Definitely worth it, but with an insane learning curve.

 

[Madmac79]

https://gameworldobserver.com/2022/12/08/dwarf-fortress-sales-160k-units-24-hours-steam

Game hit his two months sales target in a single day


p.s.
see, now DF is a special case, but I hope it could serve as a further inspiration for other small devs (cough* indie football game cough*). If you do things with heart, dedication and talent, there will always be a community (and money) for you, no matter how many microtransaction behemoths are around.