It's here, it's finally here. The immense colony sim that is Dwarf Fortress, the relic that no-doubt inspired great games like Rimworld, is on Steam with updated graphics.

Dwarf Fortress' hook is playing and failing, playing and learning, playing and watching random stories unfold. You'll be drawn in to your Dwarfen group of settlers, the relationships their build, the strange cults and religions they believe in. You'll cry as your favourite animal dies of old age.

Dwarfs build their skills up from doing tasks you set them, but they do have a certain sense of free-will which grows as the game is played. Personalities grow. Relationships develop. Mental health deteriorates. The skulls of fallen brothers sometimes are worn. Ghosts might haunt you. Stuff will happen. You will 'lose', the game even warns you. But its all part of the history of the seed world that is generated.

It might feel odd at first if you played the original ASCII release adapting to the new graphics. I even felt like the game wasn't as 'indepth', but its all there for the most part. I wouldn't say this was painstakingly converted over to Steam (although the devs might disagree), this one was done with love and care.

I played an hour or so on the Steam Deck, which while isn't officially supported, ran without any real major issues. Framerate was all over the place, but isn't something you'll overly care about with Dwarf Fortress. The only real sticking point were the some of tooltips and font sizes perhaps being a little small... but I'm old and was playing late at night, so that's maybe that one is on me.

More Steam Deck Reviews here: https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/43052238-Ideal-for-Deck/

It's here, it's finally here. The immense colony sim that is Dwarf Fortress, the relic that no-doubt inspired great games like Rimworld, is on Steam with updated graphics. Dwarf Fortress' hook is playing and failing, playing and learning, playing and watching random stories unfold. You'll be drawn in to your Dwarfen group of settlers, the relationships their build, the strange cults and religions they believe in. You'll cry as your favourite animal dies of old age. Dwarfs build their skills up from doing tasks you set them, but they do have a certain sense of free-will which grows as the game is played. Personalities grow. Relationships develop. Mental health deteriorates. The skulls of fallen brothers sometimes are worn. Ghosts might haunt you. Stuff will happen. You will 'lose', the game even warns you. But its all part of the history of the seed world that is generated. It might feel odd at first if you played the original ASCII release adapting to the new graphics. I even felt like the game wasn't as 'indepth', but its all there for the most part. I wouldn't say this was painstakingly converted over to Steam (although the devs might disagree), this one was done with love and care. I played an hour or so on the Steam Deck, which while isn't officially supported, ran without any real major issues. Framerate was all over the place, but isn't something you'll overly care about with Dwarf Fortress. The only real sticking point were the some of tooltips and font sizes perhaps being a little small... but I'm old and was playing late at night, so that's maybe that one is on me. More Steam Deck Reviews here: https://steamproxy.com/steamstore/curator/43052238-Ideal-for-Deck/