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Dwarf Fortress

Build a fortress and try to help your dwarves survive against a deeply generated world. Keep your dwarves happy, grow their community and beware of digging too deeply. The deepest, most intricate simulation of a world that's ever been created.

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Developer
Publisher
Release
December 6, 2022
3 years and 240 days ago
Steam Reviews
Very Positive31,320 reviews94.8%

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Notes
Latest Contributor: IGF TeamEdit notes
Updated: Jul 13, 2026Developer scaleThe operating scale of the game's developer.
Updated: Jul 13, 2026Publisher scaleThe operating scale of the game's publisher.
Kitfox Games meets the large-publisher game and partner thresholds.
Search Google: Is Dwarf Fortress self-published or published by Kitfox Games?Publisher statusHow the game's publishing relationship is classified.
Search Google: How is Dwarf Fortress and Kitfox Games funded?FundingThe known source of funding behind the game.
Search Google: Who controls the creative direction and IP for Dwarf Fortress and Bay 12 Games?Creative controlWho appears to retain creative control of the game.
Updated: Jul 13, 2026Release statusWhether and how the game has been released.
Kitfox Games is listed as a separate publisher for this release.

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About the Game

Prepare for the deepest, most intricate simulation of a world that has ever been created.

  • Not just generated geometry -- a whole simulated world. Generated rise and fall of civilizations, personalities, creatures, cultures, etc. Infinite hours of gameplay.

  • Now with beautiful pixel graphics!

  • Learn the basics with in-game tutorials

  • A lifetime “living” project - created/updated since 2003, with no end in sight

  • Generate your unique world and manage a bustling colony of dwarves, even as they probably mine towards their eventual demise.

  • A new endless hobby, just for you!

The legendary Dwarf Fortress is now on Steam! Build a fortress and try to help your dwarves survive, despite threats of starvation, dragons, and madness.

In this complex construction/management/roguelike simulation, every generated world brings a unique challenge, whether it’s dwarves with their own simulated personalities or aquifers. Observe what makes your civilization fall into eventual decline, and learn for next time… until something else inevitably goes wrong.

The combat model includes skills, body parts, material properties, aimed attacks, wrestling, pain, nausea, various poison effects, and much more.

It’s difficult to convey the depth of the generation. Hundreds of animals and monsters, many of which are randomly created for each world, as well as generated poetry, musical forms, instruments, and dances for your dwarves to practice and perform. A dynamic weather model tracks wind, humidity, and air masses to create fronts, clouds, storms, and blizzards. Over two hundred rock and mineral types can appear, in their proper geological environments.

Remember: Losing is fun!

This is still good old Dwarf Fortress, but with graphics support and music provided. A few bells and whistles won’t change its essence.

Classic Dwarf Fortress mod-artist Jacob "Ironhand" Bowman collaborated with artists Carolyn Jong and Neoriceisgood to create an all-new sprite pack for the game, which they continue to add to regularly.

Dwarf Fortress also has hours of music in a two-volume soundtrack by Dabu and Simon Swerwer, including tracks in the Dwarvish language!

It's never been easier to start playing! We've improved the new player experience with the addition of tutorials to guide you through building your first fort and keeping your dwarves happy.


Command your dwarves as they search for wealth in their generated mountain. Your dwarves will need a steady supply of food and beer, but they’ll also need your guidance in surviving attacks from hostile civilizations, the wilderness, or even the dead.

  • Craft treasures and furnitures from various materials

  • Establish a barony and support the increasingly demanding nobility

  • Read your dwarves’ thoughts to keep them happy

  • Build floodgates to divert water for farming, and/or prevent magma mishaps

  • Build structures and watch your dwarves discover and build their culture, like taverns, libraries, temples, honey, wax, pottery, animal training, bookbinding, and more.

  • Go anywhere! Explore any civilization, earn a reputation, and recruit followers to join you

  • Experience your fortress and the simulation in a new, more embodied way

  • Explore mythical dungeons to find magical items, artifacts, and fill your quest journal

  • Hints of mythology and magic as a start of future simulation enrichment to come

  • An additional hour of music from Dabu and Simon Swerwer, presented as a second volume of the original soundtrack

  • The original inspiration for RimWorld, Prison Architect, Minecraft and more.

  • One of the first video games acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York

  • Updated for over 16 years by two brothers, Tarn “Toady One” and Zach “Threetoe” Adams, and with the support of Kitfox Games since 2020.