A Very Small Journey

I came for the local 4-player support, but stayed to play it alone. This is one of the relatively few games that is fun with friends and also great fun alone. It is also really good looking - perfect pixel art. At least for an old guy that grew up with the Commodore C-64 and Amiga machines. My first test was alone, I enjoyed it a lot. In the evening my wife joined me, it was chaotic and also fun. On the weekend two of my kids joined us - oh my god, what chaotic fun! One caveat, though - the main game mode - Adventure - is not a casual party game with 3 minute round duration. This is a full-blown roguelite hack and slash game, which needs to be played over a longer time and with (more or less) experienced and dedicated players. For casuals, there is a platform brawler mode (either FFA or team based) and there is a simple horde defense mode. The adventure mode, though, needs a bit more dedication to play. You have to find four runes to unlock the portal to the Dwarfen Fortress... rumored to be full of gold to loot.

MY OVERALL SCORE 6/10 The Game is very complex giving you tons of options to build your ultimate dwarf city. The problem is the game is too complicated for new players to enjoy and the tutorial is more frustrating than helpful. Not just generated geometry -- a whole simulated world. Generated rise and fall of civilizations, personalities, creatures, cultures, etc. Infinite hours of gameplay. Now with beautiful pixel graphics!

Dwarf Fortress is the ultimate city building simulation experience. The attention to detail and complex gameplay gives you unlimited options. The game starts off by giving you a randomly generated map, but this is done by showing you events that have taken place before your dwarfs take over. This simulation makes the maps never the same and gives you truly a unique layout every time. The graphics are done in a 2D pixelated style which isn't horrible but does make it hard to identify some things, and that's because of the complexity of the game.