I was doom-scrolling on socials this evening, and I did a double-take when I saw a post from indie publisher Kitfox Games about the 20th anniversary of Dwarf Fortress.
I think a big congratulations are due to everyone involved! GG, folks!
The first public iteration of Dwarf Fortress dropped on August 8th, 2006, and ever since that momentous day, the brothers Zach and Tarn Adams have been diligently working on their colony simulator extraordinaire.
Naturally, the game has been in development for some time longer than 20 years, which makes this anniversary all the more impressive, if you ask me, which I guess you kinda did by clicking on the link that brought you here. But I digress…
If you’re not already in the loop, Dwarf Fortress offers the deepest, most intricate simulation in all of gaming. What’s more, the game’s immense depth can be experienced in two distinct ways. On the one hand, there are the colony management elements. On the other hand, you can experience the same fantasy world in a different age, but more like a traditional roguelike via the Adventure Mode.
While the original version was a more traditional ASCII experience, back in 2022, under the banner of Bay 12 Games and with support from Kitfox, Dwarf Fortress launched on Steam PC (Lin, Win). This version represents a huge upgrade over the original, with detailed pixel-art graphics and music to complement the game’s signature mechanical complexity.
Naturally, Bay 12 dropped an update for the game as part of the 20th birthday celebrations. The list of changes isn’t jaw-dropping, especially when contrasted to the dino update we got last month, but it’s always nice to have new toys to tinker with. Unicorns FTW!
Another anniversary treat dropped in the form of the video above, which is an extended livestream replay of Zach and Tarn playing the original build from back in ’06, bugs and all. There are even AWARDS!
There are even more goodies, to be fair. For example, if you want to see the music video that goes with the Myth & Magic artwork that I’ve used as the spotlight image for this piece, check out the notes over on Steam.
I think it’s also worth drawing attention to the newly updated tutorial video for Dwarf Fortress, which you can also see below. If you’ve never played the game before and you’re looking for a place to get started, this is a good shout…
