this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2025
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Dwarf Fortress is a single-player fantasy game. You can control a dwarven outpost or an adventurer in a randomly generated, persistent world.

What it lacks in graphics it makes up for in complexity. I've always been too intimidated to play Dwarf Fortress but hearing stories like "we had to improve cats' livers because the dwarves were spilling their drinks and the cats were drinking the puddles and dying of alcohol poisoning" puts it up there with EVE or Factorio as something I'd love to have the time to dive into.

While they did a paid Steam/Itch.io version recently with fancy graphics, the original is still free to download.

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[–] ook@discuss.tchncs.de 11 points 1 month ago (1 children)

So is there a manual way to get fancy graphics on the free version, like some official mods?

[–] dihutenosa@piefed.social 24 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Yep. You could start with searching for "Lazy newb pack".

[–] ook@discuss.tchncs.de 18 points 1 month ago

Lmao, sounds like you are flaming me, but that is what it is called. Thanks!

[–] zero_spelled_with_an_ecks@programming.dev 10 points 1 month ago (1 children)

For anybody looking for a good story of a Dwarf Fortress game, might I recommend Boatmurdered .

[–] Jakeroxs@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

There's a fun down the rabbit hole video on it as well

Edit https://youtu.be/nI1UmlfP1Cg

[–] BuboScandiacus@mander.xyz 9 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

It doesn't take up that much time

Just buy the steam/itch version (no, you won't have a great, user friendly experience starting with the ASCII and it supports the devs), and watch Blind's tutorial and quick tutorials if you find something cool there. They are excellent and easy to watch. Also, note that if you ever played Rimworld, DF is at a much larger scaale and is overall easier. Yes, even accounting for the -spoiler-->

Tap for spoilercircus and the bozos

[–] prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Just an insane game in general. There's a "no clip" documentary about it on YouTube that's really good

My favorite story about the insane depth of simulation is when cats were mysteriously falling dead and they figured out that they were walking on the floor in the tavern, stepping on spilled booze, and then shortly after, licking their paw to clean themselves, giving them alcohol poisoning, and killing them en masse.

[–] magikmw@piefed.social 3 points 1 month ago

The carp stands up.