Dwarf Fortress

[h1][b] TLDR: An incredible colony-builder with crazy depth and a vast underground world. Most modern games do what this does better, but still an addicting experience. [/b] [/h1] [h1]PROS: [/h1] ➕Workshop support ➕Music ➕World feels vast and alive ➕Building down levels into the ground feels unique [h1]NEUTRALS: [/h1] 🔹No achievements 🔹Insane depth, but also insane complexity [h1]CONS: [/h1] ➖Graphics ➖Cumbersome UI ➖Tutorial is over in 10 minutes and explains almost nothing ➖Bugs - couldn’t do things I’ve already done with no reason why [h1] [b] Content (Game world/Narrative) – [7/10] [/b] [/h1] The game world is the star of the show and something truly special. I loved how vast the world is and how you can build your fortress underground, multilevel. It not only adds in lore accuracy for dwarves, but it’s (to my knowledge) one of the big things that successors, like Rimworld, lack. There is no set narrative here. Instead, you create your own stories through your colony. [h1][b] Gameplay (Mechanics/Difficulty) – [7/10] [/b] [/h1] The mechanics are….vast, but unrefined. You’ll find depth intertwined within the lives of your colony. There actions, everything, can be micromanaged to an insane degree. The complexity is as intriguing here as it is a negative - I can understand how first-time players like myself might feel overwhelmed at best, and lost without a wiki page at worst. The game doesn’t explain much outside of its 20-minute tutorial. It basically teaches you how to designate zones, construct a bed, and….. good luck! The difficulty, at least with only 10 hours of gameplay, felt forgiving. You won’t be raided or shown combat at the start for the same reason the narrative is played on a macro level - the world doesn’t know about your existence. Instead, the primary difficulty of the game comes from its uninviting UI and the complexity that requires a wiki to understand. [h1] [b] Graphics (Quality/Technical) – [2/10] [/b] [/h1] Probably the worst part of the game. The graphics are simply terrible. It looks graphically like a PS1 game with the UI from the same era. I can’t describe how much of a turn-off this is. I understand that the game was originally ASCII and that the Steam graphics are an “Improvement”, but it’s bad. Like I can overlook the graphics if the UI was good, but it just puts a bow on the crap package. The technical side…ehh, it’s okay. It seems like the game’s speed is bound to FPS(?) so I have to manually increase and decrease the FPS to change the speed of my dwarves. While my Steam FPS counter was showing around a 50-60 FPS, the in-game FPS counter tied to speed was in the 150’s. So this just seems like poor from a technical side. I did also notice many bugs, or at least what I thought were bugs. Things that I did in the tutorial, like placing stairs up and down a level, suddenly didn’t work anymore. And of course the game isn’t going to tell you anything, so I’m stuck googling and reading message boards to figure out my issues. Not a great time. 1440p @ 240hz | installed on SSD [h1] [b] Audio – [6/10] [/b] [/h1] Fairly good. The music seems okay and enjoyable, but there wasn’t much else with sound. I didn’t really notice any sound effects. I guess you could say….I dig it :) Needless to say, no voice acting. [h1] [b] Replay Factor (Longevity) – [7/10] [/b] [/h1] The potential here is huge to invest hundreds of hours creating a civilization of dwarves. I can see the allure/potential of having the “Just one more game” feeling while doing simple things like crafting my cavernous fortress. Still, I do wish there were any sort of modern elements, like online components. [h1] [b] Final Verdict – [7/10] [/b] [/h1] Dwarf Fortress (DF) is a historied game. This thing has been a working project since sometime in the early 2000s. I’m sad that it took me this long to play it because what it has created is absolutely incredible, and unfortunately also overshadowed by more modern offerings like Rimworld. My favorite part would have to be the worldbuilding in general. I like the depth (pun intended) involved with your colony, their wants/needs, making them happy, building a multi-level living and working area, all of these things offer great and addictive gameplay. What I don’t like is the UI and (to a lesser extent) the graphics. DF looks and feels ancient. It’s cumbersome and uninviting and does nothing to alleviate the already high complexity of the game. You’ll often find yourself googling simple things like how to delete walls or place doors, and these are the easy things to figure out. DF badly needs some sort of direction or UI shift to make it more user-friendly. Overall, I do recommend DF, with the caveat to know what you're getting into - modern experiences, like Rimworld, do most of what DF already does, but better. It can be very hard playing this when modern quality of life exists elsewhere. [h1] [b] Recommend? (Price) [Y/N] [/b] [/h1] [h1]Yes[/h1] $30 is steep for the age of the game. Even the sale price of ~$24 is a bit much, but also the replay value can justify the price. Due to the age of the game and the numerous UI issues/bugs, I would say $15 and less is a good price point. You can find my curator page here: https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Synik_GR