Party
Adventure
Simulation
Digital
Dwarf Fortress’ Adventure Mode awakened the tiny, pixelated Indiana Jones within me
Dwarf Fortress is many things. Most fans of PC gaming know it as a byzantine simulation of a colony of dwarves. Look closer, however, and you’ll also find that it’s a byzantine simulation of geologic forces, weather systems, and tidal movements; language, psychology, and poetry; medieval combat, of course, and even siegecraft. But the reason that I love the game so much is that it also simulates its own history, with tales of epic heroes and powerful artifacts strewn all across its procedurally generated digital worlds. Starting Wednesday, those histories will be more accessible than ever before.