There is one game that stands above all others on the complexity scale, modeling everything from individual body parts, to geography and weather, to each game’s specific history. Dwarf Fortress has been kicking around for sixteen years as possibly the most in-depth simulation in all of gaming, thanks to endless detail-oriented development enabled by a strong and enthusiastic fan-base. The base game is free, you canget it right hereand start playing immediately, but the hidden cost is time and frustration as you learn its ASCII graphics and user-hostile interface. A huge part of Dwarf Fortress isn’t so much playing the game as learning to play, but a big part of the fun is screwing over the Dwarf settlement you’re trying to raise due to the unforseen consequences of having no idea what you’re doing. It’s a complicated vicious beast of a settlement sim, but people love it anyway due to its near-limitless playability once they finally get an idea of what to do. It’s not so much a learning curve as it is learning wall, but that’s about to come tumbling down thanks to the new, slightly more user-friendly version that’s almost ready for release on Steam and itch.io.
Still just called Dwarf Fortress, this will be a paid version that includes actual non-ASCII graphics and a tutorial, not to mention a functional user interface. While this sounds fairly basic that’s only because the entire videogaming industry has been working towards a more frictionless level of accessibility for as long as its existed. Dwarf Fortress, on the other hand, hasn’t needed that, so retrofitting these features into place was a major undertaking. Because of this the initial release of this version will be missing the Adventure Mode, which is more of an RPG featuring a single Dwarf exploring the world rather than the included main Fortress mode’s base-building. Dwarf Fortress has been in development for sixteen years now and that’s not stopping any time soon, so cramming it all into an entirely revamped edition is going to take some time. The bulk of the porting is just about done, though, and the much-more-user-friendly version of Dwarf Fortress will be available on December 6. Just remember going in the Dwarf Fortress mantra- losing is fun!
