Each dwarf is unique and comes to your fort with their own name, profession, and family. The dwarves are the most important part of Fortress mode, serving as your workforce, military, and populace. Expansion is based off of fortress wealth, and you attract migrants and enemies as this number goes up.
Your ultimate goals are up to you, though it usually makes sense to bring in enough food and drink to survive and generate enough wealth to be filthy rich. Embarking near a haunted ocean, for example, gives you access to unique beachfront property, though you must first fight off the zombie and skeletal fish that walk upon the land. Your choice of location largely determines what type of fort you end up making in addition to how challenging it may be. You're able to pick the location of your fort, the skills of the seven dwarves you embark with, as well as the items and livestock you choose to bring with you. In this mode you are tasked with the founding of a new dwarven outpost. Gameplay Fortress ModeĪs you might expect from the title of the game, Fortress mode is the main focus of play in Dwarf Fortress.
The game is freeware and is available for download here. There is only survival, and even that is sometimes optional.Īdditionally, there is Adventurer Mode, which is a fully featured roguelike adventure game in which you control a single character and explore the world you previously generated, including old fortresses. The game provides no explicit goal or objectives. No two worlds are alike, and any changes made to the world during play will persist.ĭwarf Fortress is most well known for its Fortress Mode, in which you control a dwarven outpost in the style of a sandbox city builder game. This millenia-spanning process includes building the natural world, such as the formations of lakes or deserts, the arrangement of geological strata, and the spread of flora and fauna, as well as simulating the lives of the previous inhabitants of the world, such as the complete lives of heroes and villains, wars between nations, and the rise and fall of entire civilizations. Lacking traditional graphics by default, Dwarf Fortress opts instead to use ASCII graphics and descriptive text to paint its world.Įach player generates a unique and procedurally generated world prior to playing the game. It's the flagship title of Bay12Games, a two man company consisting of brothers Tarn and Zach Adams. Slaves to Armok: God of Blood Chapter II: Dwarf Fortress (commonly known simply as Dwarf Fortress) is a hybrid roguelike/ city builder simulation game set in an entirely randomly generated world.