Game profile
Dwarf Fortress
The legendary fortress simulation generates entire worlds with millennia of history and lets a dwarven colony thrive or fail within that depth. Complex systems of crafting, military and emotion produce absurd, memorable stories few other games can match.
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What kind of game this is
At its core this is City builder / Survival, set in a fantasy world. Visually it is built on pixel art, and the overall tone stays somewhere between light and heavy. The world is open, so wandering off and ignoring the main path is part of the deal. It rewards long uninterrupted stretches more than quick check-ins.
It is genuinely demanding, and repeated failure is part of how it is designed. Story exists mostly as background texture rather than a reason to keep going. It is a single player experience from start to finish. It is available on one platform. It sits in the budget bracket.
What stands out
- Procedural world history
- Absurd emergence
- Massive simulation depth
This fits you if
- levelling, looting and optimising a build is your kind of loop
- you would rather build something than be told what to do
- you want to live through a story, not just play a system
- you can sit down for a proper long stretch without interruptions
- you like getting lost and ignoring the main objective for hours
- you want real resistance and are fine with dying a lot
Look elsewhere if
- you want to relax and not be punished for mistakes
- you want a game with a clear ending you can reach
- you only ever get short bursts of play time
- pixel art puts you off
How long is Dwarf Fortress?
This one has no finish line. It is built to be played for years, in whatever rhythm suits you.
How the rating ranks
Critics settled on 90 out of 100, which puts it above 87 percent of the 1276 games here and at rank 132 overall. That is a strong score, comfortably above what most releases manage.
For comparison, City builder averages 81 points across the database, so this one sits 9 points above its own genre. The figure rests on a comparatively small number of ratings, so treat it as an indication rather than a verdict.
Released in 2022 and 4 years old. Recent enough to look and run modern, old enough to be patched and often discounted.
The facts
- Release year
- 2022
- Genres
- City builder, Survival, Simulation
- Playtime
- Endless game
- Difficulty
- Demanding, punishing
- Story weight
- Background flavour
- Play with
- Solo
- Setting
- Fantasy
- Visual style
- Pixel art
- Price bracket
- Budget
- Platforms
- PC
- Critic rating
- 90 / 100
Direct comparison
| Genres | Release year | Playtime | Critic rating | Price bracket |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dwarf Fortress | 2022 | Endless game | 90 | Budget |
| RimWorld | 2018 | Endless game | 87 | Mid price |
| Timberborn | 2026 | approx. 80 hrs. | n/a | Mid price |
| Soulmask | 2026 | Endless game | n/a | Mid price |
If you liked this, try these
- 87/100 RimWorld Shared: City builder, Survival
- n/a Timberborn Shared: City builder, Survival, Fantasy, shorter
- n/a Soulmask Shared: Survival, Simulation, Fantasy
- 86/100 Oxygen Not Included Shared: City builder, Survival
- n/a Going Medieval Shared: City builder, Survival, shorter
- 78/100 Medieval Dynasty Shared: City builder, Survival, shorter