Dwarf Fortress

Introduction

Dwarf Fortress lets players found and manage a colony of dwarves in a procedurally generated fantasy world, simulating everything from individual dwarves' personalities and grudges to centuries of invented history. Developed by Bay 12 Games and published by Kitfox Games, the Steam release launched on 6 December 2022 at NZ$46.49, adding graphics and a redesigned interface atop the long-running free classic. Its 25,871 English-language reviews sit at 95% positive, Very Positive — the largest review corpus this outlet has covered. Given that scale, this review read the 100 most-helpful negative reviews of the 1,337 total, alongside a wide sample of the positive side.

Genuinely unmatched emergent storytelling

The praise here isn't abstract — it's built entirely from specific, vivid moments that reviewers share unprompted. "Two giant boars wandered in and ate a bunch of children. They then also killed and ate three dwarfs who attempted to help the children. My mayor then walked up to the giant boars and killed them both with her bare hands," reads one of the most-upvoted reviews in this entire sample. Another: "Told my dwarves to make silver statues for my meeting hall. Noticed that EVERY single statue was of a snail. Looked at my metal smith's personality assuming she adores snails. Turns out she 'absolutely detests snails' and she's just showing her disdain through art." A third, more succinctly: "Going from playing Rimworld to playing Dwarf Fortress is like going from reading about Cthulhu to meeting him in person."

A UI that even veterans still call clunky

What this review's negative sample reveals, consistently, is that many critical reviewers are thousand-hour veterans writing reluctant negative reviews, not newcomers bouncing off unfairly. "3 years later and you still can't designate an individual up or down stair," reads one review with 34 hours logged at the time of a later edit, adding that "modding is still more complicated and unwieldy than it needs to be." Another, with 486 hours: "I spent 10 minutes deleting 200 bedroom zones one by one slowly and painfully because there's no way to mass delete zones." A player with 2,075 hours structures an entire review around six specific, itemised problems with the interface despite deep affection for the game underneath it.

A genuinely brutal onboarding curve

Reviewers coming from comparable colony sims are unusually consistent about how much steeper this game's learning curve is. "I have played 200 hours of Rimworld (maybe that's my problem) and am not new to the colony builder games. For a game that is very complicated the tutorial is incredibly brief," reads one. Another, with prior experience in Rimworld, Factorio, Europa Universalis, Stellaris, and Crusader Kings: "Those are all GOOD GAMES. Dwarf Fortress will never be part of those in my heart," citing constant wiki dependence for basic actions. A specific, well-documented performance issue compounds this at the endgame: "Once you have a mature, multilevel fortress, fps death is close... They even have an entire wiki page on fps- the synopsis to avoid it? Don't make a big base."

An unverified modding allegation

A smaller cluster of reviewers raises a separate, more specific concern this review could not verify. "Kitfox censors Steam workshop and delete any mods they don't personally agree with," reads one detailed review. This review found no independent corroboration beyond the reviewers' own accounts and is reporting the claim with attribution rather than asserting it as fact.

Verdict

Dwarf Fortress remains a genuine landmark — this review's full sample confirms its capacity for specific, unmatched emergent storytelling holds up completely, and its influence on the entire modern colony-sim genre is undeniable. But this review's negative sample also reveals real, well-documented friction that persists years after the celebrated Steam release: a UI even loyal veterans call clunky, a brutal onboarding curve, and performance problems with their own dedicated wiki page. Worth experiencing for the depth alone — just go in with the wiki bookmarked and patience for a genuinely difficult game.