It’s been a long wait for Dwarf Fortress (opens in new tab), which was the hotly anticipated Steam release originally announced (opens in new tab) in March 2019. But avid fans of dudes with big fortifications and short beards can’t wait. much longer. Responding to a tweet asking when Dwarf Fortress will launch on Steam, publisher Kitfox Games said it will arrive “sooner than you can imagine”.
How soon this will happen is certainly a matter of debate. Kitfox Games did not provide any further specifics about the release date, while the launch date on the game’s Steam page still reads “timing is subjective”. However, it doesn’t seem likely that Kitfox Games would make that statement if the Steam release was, say, more than a year out.
Meanwhile, on the Dwarf Fortress development blog, creator Tarn Adams teased an “exciting announcement” coming “soon” in his most recent update (opens in new tab). Adams also mentioned that the announcement pertains to the Dwarf Fortress demo that will be shown at this year’s PAX. Looking at the PAX Expo starting this week, specifically running September 2-5, it looks like we’ll be hearing more about this announcement in the coming days.
There’s good reason Dwarf Fortress fans are excited about the upcoming Steam release, which offers massive changes to the game’s presentation and UI. The ASCII visuals are being replaced with lovingly detailed tile-based sprites, which Sean recently spotted (opens in new tab) to his animal people while reporting on an update to the game. Meanwhile, the game’s UI and menus are getting mouse support, buttons, additional tabs and other quality of life updates (opens in new tab), which will make the game much easier to grapple with.
In any case, it’s all very tricky. Maybe I’ll finally be able to play Bay 12’s wildly ambitious colony sim, which is just what I’ve found sociable up to this point.
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