Recent reviews by FishyCrea

Steam requires devs to disclose if their games contain AI-generated assets. Old School does not do that, and even went as far to patch these in post-release.

Not a fan.

I'm going to open this review by saying if you're coming into this expecting Rimworld-levels of QoL, don't. This update gives the game mouse control and an actual UI, but it's not polishing things up to the level that Rimworld does. The UI makes things more intuitive, but you aren't going to get a menu telling you exactly why your Dwarves are unhappy, or even a numerical value as to what their skills are. That's all flavor text, and if that, understandably, sounds frustrating or outdated, then you'll probably not enjoy your time with Dwarf Fortress. People have been excusing a lot of this by saying the game's been in development for twenty years, but I think that gives new players the wrong impression. Instead, I'll say that this game is twenty years old and directly inspired Rimworld, which came LONG after this game's basic features were set in stone. (Pun intended.) I really hope that future updates to this version add extra ways of providing information to the player. You're left in the dark with a lot of stuff, and it can be a real struggle to figure out *why* something is happening, let alone how to actually fix it.


I could ramble about this port for a while, because I really am mixed on it, but I'll cut to the chase and just the answer the question; Should you buy this game?

If you're a fan of Dwarf Fortress, Yes. Full stop. After twenty years, we can finally pay for our dwarf spreadsheet simulator.

If you're a new player to DF, or someone who tried and couldn't get into the free version, I'd still cautiously recommend this release. See the above paragraph for why, but the TL;DR of it is that the QoL changes that are here might not be enough to make this game appeal to new players.

Alright, time for the rambling.

The new music is fantastic and helps achieve the main goal of immersing the player in the daily lives of their little digital Dwarfs. My complaints on how the mouse controls handle aren't met to detract from the fact that this makes the game SO much more enjoyable to play. As someone who tried to play the original but just couldn't get past the learning curve, this version helps immensely. The art's also beautifully done as well. The paid version of DF is a brilliant glow-up of a twenty-year old game and is absolutely more than worth the thirty dollar price point...but only to some people.

If any new players are willing to take a chance on this version, I wish you the best of luck, and I heavily advise against going into it expecting something like Rimworld. Understand that there's still a learning curve, it's just been made a bit less steep. DF expects you to learn a lot of the game's features and mechanics by experimentation, which often means a lot of failing. It took me three fortresses to understand how to dig a deep hole that didn't cave it. Stick with it though, and you'll find a ton to love with this passion project.

A lot positive reviews are from people who already play Dwarf Fortress. What negative reviews exist are all from people who either play Rimworld and want to check out the game that inspired it, or are from people who've only heard the stories and hype about the game. Both groups of reviews are totally fair, and they each make great points. This isn't a game for everyone, and I don't think it'll ever be. However, it's also clear that's there still work that could be done to make the Steam version feel deserving of the game's legacy.

As a Michigander, I can fully confirm that the three biggest killers in our state are hypothermia, feral dogs, and Bad Mutha. Very accurate game, 10/10.

film some great commercials and then go to hell.

Received a copy of this game to write content on for my job.

Popup Dungeon has one of the best set of creation tools I've ever seen in a video game. Creating characters, abilities and enemies feels seamless and easy. It took me maybe a week of messing around with the in-game tools to feel comfortable navigating them and creating content.

One thing I want to highlight is the auto-balancing. It can sometimes be a bit frustrating, especially before you understand how it works, but the way abilities and characters are altered in order to keep their stats balanced takes away a lot off the headache of making RPG content. Balancing is tough to do, so having a system that automatically does it for the player whilst still letting them be creative is a huge plus.

The only main negative I can think of is how the game's community content is managed. Right now, Popup Dungeon utilizes its own in-game content browser. There's some decent options here for sorting community content, but there's no way to search based on specific tags, like with the Steam Workshop. Plus, it took me a while to actually figure out how to browse community content, since the menu is tucked away in the character select screen. Improving how community content is shared should be a priority for the devs moving forward, but it won't keep me from recommending this game.

If you're a fan of Fire Emblem or other tactics-focused games, you owe it to yourself to pick this game up.

My team has come up with an intricate form of code names to use over the radio that we instantly drop whenever anything spooky happens. 11/10