There is no other game like dwarf fortress.
The complexity of this game borders on insanity. Every limb, every finger, every muscle, every eye is simulated and reacts to liquids, attacks and anything that happens to the creature to which it belongs. Each dwarf has a deep personality, likes, dislikes, challenges, strength, relations with other dwarves. And cities have jobs, government positions, prisons, crime and soldiers. And cities belong to kingdoms with leaders and armies. And these kingdoms find themselves in a big world, that’s simulated for hundreds of years, before you actually enter the world. Monsters, Wars, Alliances, and Legendary Items shape a whole unique world. And this is built up on a world that uses realistic simulation to build a world with different vegetation, temperature and humidity.
This is just scratching the surface of the simulated world of DF. And the really crazy thing? This whole simulated world is just the backdrop for the actual gameplay. The actual gameplay where you lead the construction of a dwarven fortress, in a 3D world, with complete freedom. It is the ultimate sandbox. Build a Tower, build a giant hall, build a water pumping system that makes an indoor canal, build a town, build an inn, build a forge, build farms, build animal pens, open up the caves deep in the ground and defeat ancient horrors. But you can also go deeper. Let’s say you collect a lot of bones from fighting beasts or animals. You can then collect up those bones and then give it to a dwarf to sculpt them into artifacts, which you can sell. But bones on their own are not worth much. So you can have another dwarf polish gems from deep in the earth and then decorate your bone trinkets with these gems. Now your city has a truly unique ware to sell. And every step of this process can be programmed to happen automatically based on available bones, finished trinkets, amount of uncut gems etc. And this is just one example. There’s also smithing weapons, smithing armor, carving wooden furniture, making stone furniture, making steel, making any mineral, making your minerals into weapons and armor, making your minerals into furniture, making siege weapons, making instruments, farming, making food, making drinks, fishing, making honey, making clothes. The list goes on and on. You could play this game for hundreds of hours without seeing half of the possibilities the game has.
And on top of this gameplay you also have the unique ability of the game to make emerging storylines, just based on the dwarves' interactions between each other, how you interact with them, and how you shape your fortress. If you know where to look you will see these stories, and they will stay with you as some of the most memorable gaming experiences of your lives.
Now the game is not without flaw. The steam version is an improvement to ease of use, but certain parts of controlling the game is still clunky and outdated. And in large fortresses (150+ dwarves ish) lag is a serious problem. But with all I’ve said being only a small part of how cool this game is, and how unique it is, I think it would be unfair to see it as anything else than one of the best games of all time. 10/10
The complexity of this game borders on insanity. Every limb, every finger, every muscle, every eye is simulated and reacts to liquids, attacks and anything that happens to the creature to which it belongs. Each dwarf has a deep personality, likes, dislikes, challenges, strength, relations with other dwarves. And cities have jobs, government positions, prisons, crime and soldiers. And cities belong to kingdoms with leaders and armies. And these kingdoms find themselves in a big world, that’s simulated for hundreds of years, before you actually enter the world. Monsters, Wars, Alliances, and Legendary Items shape a whole unique world. And this is built up on a world that uses realistic simulation to build a world with different vegetation, temperature and humidity.
This is just scratching the surface of the simulated world of DF. And the really crazy thing? This whole simulated world is just the backdrop for the actual gameplay. The actual gameplay where you lead the construction of a dwarven fortress, in a 3D world, with complete freedom. It is the ultimate sandbox. Build a Tower, build a giant hall, build a water pumping system that makes an indoor canal, build a town, build an inn, build a forge, build farms, build animal pens, open up the caves deep in the ground and defeat ancient horrors. But you can also go deeper. Let’s say you collect a lot of bones from fighting beasts or animals. You can then collect up those bones and then give it to a dwarf to sculpt them into artifacts, which you can sell. But bones on their own are not worth much. So you can have another dwarf polish gems from deep in the earth and then decorate your bone trinkets with these gems. Now your city has a truly unique ware to sell. And every step of this process can be programmed to happen automatically based on available bones, finished trinkets, amount of uncut gems etc. And this is just one example. There’s also smithing weapons, smithing armor, carving wooden furniture, making stone furniture, making steel, making any mineral, making your minerals into weapons and armor, making your minerals into furniture, making siege weapons, making instruments, farming, making food, making drinks, fishing, making honey, making clothes. The list goes on and on. You could play this game for hundreds of hours without seeing half of the possibilities the game has.
And on top of this gameplay you also have the unique ability of the game to make emerging storylines, just based on the dwarves' interactions between each other, how you interact with them, and how you shape your fortress. If you know where to look you will see these stories, and they will stay with you as some of the most memorable gaming experiences of your lives.
Now the game is not without flaw. The steam version is an improvement to ease of use, but certain parts of controlling the game is still clunky and outdated. And in large fortresses (150+ dwarves ish) lag is a serious problem. But with all I’ve said being only a small part of how cool this game is, and how unique it is, I think it would be unfair to see it as anything else than one of the best games of all time. 10/10