I couldn't find any threads about this, so here goes.
So what is Dwarf Fortress?
Dwarf Fortress is a part rogue, part simcity in a high fantasy universe. In Fortress mode, you take command of seven drunken, antisocial, depressed, unethical, and at some points brain dead, Dwarves. The mission of these seven dwarves is to build a successful and wealthy mountainhome, through many different ways. Along the way, the player fights threats of invasion from many different civilizations, animals, massive animals, the monsters of the caverns below, floods of the water and magma kind, vampires and other creatures of the night, and occasionally from themselves, all the while keeping their Dwarves fed, hydrated, clothed, and overall happy. In the Adventure mode, you are put into the shoes of a single sentient being (Dwarf, Elf, Human, the like) and travel across the world completing quests and fighting horrific beasts, and most of the time, being instantly murdered by them. Legends mode looks into the history of the world, looking at the various cities, landscapes, and people. (Some of the more
badass than others)
At the beginning of the game, you create a world of your own. These can range from pocket size, to massive worlds. There are several ways to customize your world, through beat number, mineral frequency, civilization number, and so on and so forth. The map, unless dictated otherwise, is generated randomly, some taking a step further and reproducing Europe. Each of these individual worlds you create has their own civilization names, people, and histories. There are no story lines, and you are free to do as you wish. Without getting killed of course.
The gameplay is rather
simple nightmarishly hard to understand at first, and rightly so. There is no official guide, or manual, or handout that explains what the fuck you just got into, and what kind of sick and twisted vegetable soup is this. Now the graphics in Dwarf Fortress are not super title level like some games can be or are. Hell, there
ARE NO GRAPHICS The 'graphics' in this game are ASCII. Computer characters representing a figure in the game. Thankfully, these are not tossed about at random. An Elephant, for instance, is a capital E. If you aren't a fan of this, several community mods Like Phobeus and Ironhand actually add graphics to the game, if a bit primitive. The basis of the game rarely utilizes the mouse. Most of the game is controlled by keystrokes and arrow keys, such as d for designation, d again for mining, and using the arrowkeys and enter to select what wants to be mined. Oh, be careful about mining. There is a physics for this game, and if you mine too much without supporting columns, the cavern WILL collapse and brutishly murder your mining Dwarves if they are unlucky.
In itself, the game is brutal. The fortress of
Boatmurdered portrays this very well. You will die. A lot. Before you can understand this game you will be smashed into the dirt over and over again, and it will never let up. Just so you know, you will not win this game. There is no way to win this game. The motto of the game is "Losing is !FUN!". Most of us agree the object is to create and epic fortress that goes out in a blaze of glory, or lack thereof. The future is yours! Beat the hell out of it!
You can find the download
HereYou can find the Community forums
Here