I assumed that it would just be the original release with a couple of quality of life bells and whistles added. I’ve played Dwarf Fortress on and off since around 2012 (being the huge lover of obscure indie strategy games that I am) and I’ll be honest with you, I was not overly excited for the Steam release. However, if you can see past it and get invested in the fantasy world, you stop seeing the text and start seeing the respective representation, a la Cypher from the Matrix films.

This could be off-putting for a lot of people and trust me, a long game session can be migraine-inducing even for experienced players. Dwarf Fortress is a text-based game, which means everything from the characters to the enemies and the world itself are made of ASCII characters such as letters, numbers, and symbols such as ! and 4 The graphics of the original Dwarf Fortress

They stick out like a big ol’ sore thumb. One thing stands out from the original release - the graphics. Mining, crafting, farming, and base defence are just some of the areas you will have to worry about if your grand strategy is to succeed. Micromanaging the tasks required of each Dwarf can feel intimidating at first as there is a lot of things to get your head around. Starvation, goblin raids, and incomprehensible monstrosities from the depths of the earth itself are all very real issues you can face on a day-to-day basis. The dangers faced by your loyal clansmen are numerous.

Even though it sounds like a straightforward task, it is most definitely anything but. The gameplay premise is a simple one: keep your group of dwarves alive as you expand your underground base, mining deep into the subterranean world. It is thanks to this level of dedication that Dwarf Fortress went on to influence games such as Minecraft, Rimworld, and FTL: Faster Than Light. However, the developers, Bay 12 Games, keep consistently adding new features, ideas, and improvements. Since it has been in production for 20 years, you may think the game would be done, completed, finito.

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