Dwarf Fortressdevelopers Tarn and Zach Adams have announced that the game’s roguelike Adventure mode will be a huge deal once it finally launches on Steam. Though the game built its following on the basis of its core Fortress mode, the only real way for players to experience everything a given world may offer is to load up Adventure mode, as it allows for free-form exploration.
Being one of the more complex and expansiveindie gamesaround,Dwarf Fortresspresents its players with a unique opportunity to build a thriving colony of dwarves. Since it’s a deeply systems-driven experience, each new playthrough generates a whole continent’s worth of geography and history to provide context to the given sandbox, but these elements don’t necessarily get to shine in Fortress mode. That is precisely where the lesser-known Adventure mode comes into the picture.
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In their recent interview with PC Gamer, the Adams brothers went into more detail about the upcoming Adventure mode, claiming that it’s “gonna blow everyone’s mind” once it comes out on Steam. “We are leaning towards making it a big release,” said Zach Adams, adding that the pair had been working on a veritable questing system forDwarf Fortress’s roguelike Adventure mode. Since the mode is a very free-form sandbox experience, introducing quests would give it the sort of structure that an RPG fan might expect. In turn, this will also make the world more interesting to explore, the developers believe.
SinceDwarf Fortresswants to make losing fun, it makes sense that the devs would want to set up a faster, more streamlined version of the game for those who want something different. The Adventure mode fits the bill perfectly in this regard, and since it puts players in control of a single dwarf as opposed to a whole colony’s worth of creatures, odds are good that it’s going to be fairly popular after people get acquainted with it.
Dwarf Fortresssold almost 500,000 copiesin December 2022, marking the game’s official Steam release as a huge success for the developers. The game is still fully available as a free download from the official website, but the paid version comes with its own dedicated graphics overlay, an improved UI, better controls, and a variety of other quality-of-life improvements. Adventure mode itself is also fully implemented, curiously enough, but the Adams brothers have decided to keep it locked until their team can develop it as an up-to-par alternative to Fortress mode.
There’s plenty more coming toDwarf Fortressdown the line, disregarding Adventure mode itself. The devs have announcedDwarf Fortressediting tools, for example, for those who’d like to set up an array of dedicated assets for use in their playthroughs. Yet neither Adventure mode nor the aforementioned editing tools currently have a release date, and fans of the title will just have to wait patiently.
Dwarf Fortressis available on PC.
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