One of the first mainstream indie games ever to deliberately launch in an unfinished, work-in-progress state, Dwarf Fortress now finally has an official Steam release date and is slated to launch on December 6. The original "early access" simulation game and the key inspiration behind modern classics like RimWorld, Bay 12 Games' Dwarf Fortress is still nowhere near complete, and the devs say there's "no end in sight," though this is hardly an issue for the community.
Namely, the development of Dwarf Fortress began in earnest in 2003, before the concept of indie games was nearly as mainstream as it is today. Produced in its entirety by Tarn and Zach Adams, Dwarf Fortress is a comprehensive and absolute simulation of the real world, from massive meteorological patterns all the way to keeping track of the dwarves' individual eyelids.
Up until now, the Adams brothers had been working on Dwarf Fortress without any external support, which is one of the main reasons why the base version of the game uses ASCII characters in lieu of artwork. On December 6, however, the game will launch on Steam, with its substantially improved UI and graphics one of the main reasons why players might be interested. Prettied up though it might be, eager players ought to set the right expectations for the game, because Dwarf Fortress is still all about losing, and there aren't any real win conditions implemented at this time.
Whereas the baseline version of Dwarf Fortress is cited as one of the best freeware PC games of all time, the Steam version will cost $29.99 USD. This will be one of the ways in which the Adams brothers fund the continued production of the game, which is bound to keep going for the foreseeable future. The lofty end goal is for Dwarf Fortress to simulate the entirety of the dwarves' randomly generated universe, with even deeper simulation systems being released over time.
In comparison, the recent console release of RimWorld is a simpler experience, as strange as that might sound. Whereas RimWorld is a complex and engaging simulation in its own right, Dwarf Fortress goes far beyond what any other video game has attempted to simulate. The game's Steam page aptly describes it as "a new endless hobby," and it's bound to find a substantial audience once it goes live on Steam.
In broad terms, Dwarf Fortress is conceptually similar to Matt Dabrowski's Streets of Rogue 2, except for the fact that it calls for meta-level management rather than direct avatar control. The recent Streets of Rogue 2 interview at GameRant helps paint a conclusive picture of the roguelite sandbox title, and it's likely that it, too, will end up getting compared to Dwarf Fortress once both of them are out.
Dwarf Fortress is launching on Steam for PC on December 6, 2022.