For the last 16 years, there’s been a magical story unfolding with a little game called Dwarf Fortress. You see, Dwarf Fortress is the product of two brothers, Tarn Adams and Zach Adams, who’ve been steadily plugging away at this massive and amazing simulation game. Dwarf Fortress is not so much a game as it is a storytelling tool. Players generate an entire fantasy world, complete with hundreds of years of history and backstories for thousands of characters across the entire world. It’s one of the more creative ways to setup a fantasy game I’ve ever seen. And from this point, the real game kicks in with you having to manage a fortress of chaotic dwarves whose every need you must meet. Along the way, you’ll delve for treasure, battle ancient forgotten beasts and fight off invading hordes of goblins. It’s all really cool, and it’s entirely free.
However, there’s some really interesting news developing this week as a result of a partnership between the Adams’ company Bay12 Games and Kitfox Games. It turns out that there’s a new paid version of this excellent game coming to Steam and Itch.io in the future. This new version will feature new graphical packs, created in part by Mike “Mayday” Madej and Patrick Martin “Meph” Schroeder, two prolific members of the game’s modding scene. The new version will also get new music and sound effects courtesy of musician and sound designer Dabu.
The ASCII version of Dwarf Fortress will now be known as Dwarf Fortress Classic will remain free, and it will still receive updates over time alongside the paid version. So don’t think that the team is abandoning the free variant. The gameplay will remain much the same in the paid version as well.
The Adams brothers have been relying on Patreon support to pay their mounting bills for years, and the decision was made to create a premium version as a commercial release for the sake of some more financial stability. We wish them the best of luck and hope to see more of what this amazing game can do in the future.
Check out the trailer for this new premium version of the game down below. No release date is known for Dwarf Fortress on Steam
Source: Bay12 Patreon
