Maybe you want a mighty dwarven realm with a powerful military, or maybe you want to construct the most lavish dwarven fortress possible for your dwarves to live in. Goals can be as simple as surviving and expanding your fortress with time. It’s up to you to find your own stories in the life of your fortress and goals for yourself. The ‘point’ of Dwarf Fortress is very much up to you, much more so than even Rimworld. Then you can explore the robust systems of crafting that exist in the game, from paper production so you can make your own libraries to the intricate system for making clothes and other farm products. You’ll have to make sure your fortress is well-fed, supplied with beer, and able to trade with outsiders to fill any potential supply shortfalls. You’ll be managing storage, logistics, trade, and the demands of your dwarven aristocracy. Instead, you will be carefully catering to your dwarves’ evolving needs as your colony increases in size. You won’t be learning to master psionic powers or turn your colonists into vampires like with your cool aunt Rimworld. Like many grandfathers, Dwarf Fortress is stern and serious on the surface. Now a paid version of the game is releasing on steam with a new updated graphics tileset in an attempt to make the game more accessible. It’s also intimidating to play, as its ASCII graphics and hard-to-learn hard-to-master gameplay give even the most hardcore management game enthusiast pause.

This game was in the Museum of Modern Art for a time as a part of gaming history.

Minecraft holds Dwarf Fortress as an influence. Rimworld and many other deep colonist survival sim games owe much of their DNA to this 2002 game. It is a venerable grandfather of an entire genre.

Dwarf fortress tileset gallery