There has probably never been a more independent game than Dwarf Fortress. A game made in ASCII art, developed for 18 years by two people, which survived for 16 years solely thanks to donations from its fans. A game that couldn’t be more independent. And now, it has also received a new game mode that promises to make it more accessible than ever. And even more infinite.
Now the Adventure Mode finally arrives to Dwarf Fortress. This mode will allow us to explore a world created in a completely procedural way in a classic RPG adventure. And when we say it’s completely procedural, we mean it in the most literal way possible. Both the world, the NPCs, the quests, and the campaign itself are generated procedurally, making each new game completely different from the previous one. This, combined with character creation and the granularity of its combat, turns it into an authentic fantasy of endless adventures.
Dwarf Fortress is a game that was released in 2006 and is still considered unfinished. In the game, a procedural world is created that allows us to manage the life of a community of dwarves living in a fortress. With each dwarf having their own unique personality, also generated procedurally, its charm lies in the fact that each game is completely new. And flexible to the point of absurdity.
In 2022, its two developers, the Adams brothers, Tarn and Zach, released a paid version on Steam that included one of the biggest innovations in the history of the game: graphics. Since then, they have been regularly adding new content, with the goal of reaching the same point as the original freemium version with ASCII graphics.
So far, as recently reported by Adams, the game has already sold 800,000 copies on Steam. That means they no longer have to worry about money and can continue working on Dwarf Fortress for the rest of their lives, if that’s what they want. Excellent news for fans of the only game that is literally infinite.
