Dwarf Fortress

Dwarf Fortress is a construction, management and roguelike simulation in which you generate a world and guide a colony of dwarves as they build a fortress and try to survive. Each world brings different challenges, from aquifers and hostile civilizations to starvation, dragons and madness. Your dwarves have simulated personalities, and the world includes generated civilizations, cultures and creatures. Tutorials guide you through building your first fort and keeping your dwarves happy.

Build and manage a fortress

Direct your dwarves as they search for wealth in a generated mountain. They need a steady supply of food and beer, and your guidance to survive attacks from hostile civilizations, the wilderness and the dead. Craft treasures and furniture from different materials, build structures and floodgates, and manage water for farming or to prevent magma mishaps. You can also establish a barony and meet the increasingly demanding needs of the nobility.

Your dwarves can develop their culture through activities and places such as taverns, libraries, temples, pottery, animal training and bookbinding. Read their thoughts to help keep them happy, and observe what causes your civilization to decline as you learn from each attempt.

Explore the simulation

You can explore any civilization, build a reputation and recruit followers. Mythical dungeons contain magical items and artifacts to find and record in your quest journal. The simulation also includes generated poetry, musical forms, instruments and dances for dwarves to practice and perform, along with hints of mythology and magic.

The world generation includes hundreds of animals and monsters, many randomly created for each world, and over 200 kinds of rock and mineral in their geological environments. A dynamic weather model tracks wind, humidity and air masses to produce fronts, clouds, storms and blizzards.

Combat and content

Combat accounts for skills, body parts, material properties and aimed attacks, as well as wrestling, pain, nausea and different poison effects. The game includes pixel graphics, music and tutorials, while retaining the simulation's open-ended play. Its sprite pack was created by Jacob "Ironhand" Bowman in collaboration with Carolyn Jong and Neoriceisgood.

The soundtrack by Dabu and Simon Swerwer spans two volumes, with tracks in the Dwarvish language. The game has been created and updated since 2003, with no end in sight.