Honestly, this isn't normally my genre. I tend to find games like this exceedingly tedious, and I feel very restricted at all times. Every project seems to be miles away, with a year of tedium between me and finishing it.

I had heard of Dwarf Fortress for literally over a decade, and I always loved the idea and the ambition, but never dove in because the genre just isn't for me. But recently I spoke with someone who told me that gaming is his main hobby, but he only plays two games: Tales of Maj Eyal and Dwarf Fortress. ToME is one of my all time favorite games, so I thought "huh if it appeals to a ToME player, maybe I should give it a try."

I'm very glad I did. There's something about the absolutely maniacal depth of this, the fact that every new thing I learn makes me realize there are a dozen more systems in the game that I didn't even know existed, that scratches an itch in my brain. The complete sandbox experience is both wildly engaging and overwhelming. There is *so much* to do, and that can make even just deciding on the next project to tackle feel like an agonizing decision.

You also have to kind of change the way you think--in most games I've played in this genre, building things seems to take a great deal of complication, but in DF it's actually kind of surprisingly...easy? You don't have a tech tree to unlock, and most (?) things can be made out of many different materials. Want to build a mechanic's workshop right away, even though you don't really have any need for one yet? You can, and you can build it out of pretty much anything you have available. The complication is less in *having* the requisite materials, but which you end up deciding to use, and how you organize and coordinate your fort to operate effectively.

I'm still a complete newb, but I wanted to write this as an encouragement to people who are curious but on the fence because of the genre/the learning curve. You don't have to know everything to enjoy yourself. And the process of learning as I go has been incredibly enjoyable. Give it a try.

You develop feelings to your dwarfs, you care for them and they inspire you

Too many simple things are broken or extremely tedious to do. DFhack helps, but it shouldnt be as necessary as it is and even with it, a lot of stuff is extremely frustrating and not in a good way.

Its an amazing game, but I would never recommend it to someone unless they fix the basic stuff (for example, let me build a simple wall. Right now, if you try to build walls around an enclosed room the corners will not be completed)