Dwarf Fortress, the inspiration for countless games like Minecraft, RimWorld, and Prison Architect, has officially received a release date for the Steam platform. The two-brother team, Tarn and Zach Adams, have worked on Dwarf Fortress for the last 16 years and announced in 2019 that they would team up with publisher Kitfox to release a paid-for enhanced version of their popular game. Dwarf Fortress is one of the most profound world generation and simulation games ever created. Your goal is to build a fortress so your Dwarves can survive this insane world.
When Does Dwarf Fortress Release on Steam?
Bay 12 Games and Kitfox Games released a Release Date Announcement stating that Dwarf Fortress will release for Steam on December 6, 2022, for USD 29.99. As of now, there is no preorder option. You can only wishlist the game through Steam. This will not affect the free game version, which is available on the Bay 12 Games website.
Included Dwarf Fortress Features
Dwarf Fortress will come with graphics support provided by the tile set mod packs from creators Michal “Mayday” Madej, Jacob “Ironhand” Bowman, Carolyn Jong, and Neoriceisgood. In addition, the Steam edition of Dwarf Fortress will have a 15-track soundtrack composed by Dabu, Simon Swerwer, and Agueda Macias.
Steam Workshop is supported, so we are incredibly excited to see all of the fantastic mods the Steam community will put out for the game. Finally, and most importantly, the addition of tutorials will help new players learn how to play the game.
Missing Dwarf Fortress Features
Dwarf Fortress will not include the following at launch:
- Adventure Mode
- Steam Achievements
- Villain Systems
- Armies and Sieges
Bay 12 Games stated in their announcement that the above features will be their priority before their short-term priority before developing into a longer development cycle which will bring even deeper systems and mechanics to Dwarf Fortress.
What Happens Post-Launch?
The developers will oversee the release to see if anything needs to be done to stabilize the game. Ensure you are vocal with them, as they will take input from their player base very seriously.
Bay 12 Games wants to add more graphics to improve your experience visually. This includes graphics for foliage using authentic plant images. They will also add new graphics for baby animals since the current images are still scaled-down versions of adult animals.
Finally, they will also look at an eventual Mac and Linux release for those who run non-Windows computers. However, per their release statement, they will be getting help with Mac builds and Linux libraries, as this is outside their experience.
Dwarf Fortress will be available on PC through Steam on December 6, 2022.
