# Dwarf Fortress 74 Hacker News commenters recommended Dwarf Fortress and 29 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 13 months; owners who said how long report a median of 11 years (3 owners). It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** Praised as a deep, emergent simulation that rewards imagination and long play; critics agree its interface is hard to learn. ## Why people recommend it - Deep emergent systems and simulation (8 comments): "I used to play Dwarf Fortress back in the 2008-2009 era, and I kept going back to the wiki when I needed to learn something." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49517059)) "all my favorite ones have really been in that genre in some way: Factorio, Dwarf Fortress, Cities Skylines, even Minecraft" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48781423)) "DF is a great comparison, because it speaks to the composability of properties and systems as a key requirement." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49642725)) - Stories shaped by player imagination (6 comments): "It's a sandbox game, which already selects for people capable of making their own fun with a toy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49514822)) "it wasn't despite it that I enjoyed getting into Dwarf Fortress, but in large part because of it" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49536984)) "Dwarf Fortress benefits greatly from the player seeing relatively few samples of the world gen" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49629738)) - Long play and returning players (4 comments): "On my Steam friends-list I have 14 friends who have purchased the game. The top three by play-time are at 314, 267, and 67 hours." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515861)) "I used to play Dwarf Fortress back in the 2008-2009 era, and I kept going back to the wiki when I needed to learn something." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49517059)) "Dwarf Fortress is awesome to come into today, give it a try. I started playing it a year ago and I love it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49496829)) - Steam version adds graphics and UI (3 comments): "really made the Steam version's graphics vastly better than anything else that was available at the time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49523467)) "releasing on Steam and adding a friendlier UI helped the game reach new audiences" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49470264)) "Dwarf Fortress is a very easy recommendation now that it has official sprites." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46384839)) ## What people warn about - Lost keyboard controls and muscle memory (4 comments): "the immersion just won't come back. My muscle memory, hands firmly on the keyboard, is too persistent" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49514966)) "none of my muscle memory transfers over and it adds another hurdle to ever getting back into the game" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49515301)) "There was no way for me to justify buying anything when they announced dropping keyboard support" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49514745)) - Steam UI worse than fan options (3 comments): "Especially if you had been used to using the top mods that existed before the steam release for ease of control." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49522944)) "Steam version is much worse than the fan UI options that were already available" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49522866)) "I agree then that it's disappointing as someone who has played both versions" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49517737)) - Interface hard to learn (3 comments): ""Friendlier" and still one of the worst UIs available. It's nearly impenetrable and the game has no tutorial to speak of" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49513474)) "a trap, which Dwarf Fortress falls into, is to add a vast simulation which the player feels they can never really grasp" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49630160)) "Most annoying is the fact that even though a fair number of keyboard shortcuts exist, a full pipeline often does not." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49518415)) ## Alternatives hackers recommend - [Airport Simulator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/airport-simulator.md): 41 recommend - [Firewood Splitting Simulator](https://hackerapproved.com/p/firewood-splitting-simulator.md): 32 recommend - [RollerCoaster Tycoon](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rollercoaster-tycoon.md): 21 recommend - [RimWorld](https://hackerapproved.com/p/rimworld.md): 19 recommend - [Train SIM](https://hackerapproved.com/p/train-sim.md): 19 recommend ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.bay12games.com/dwarves/) ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Dwarf Fortress", https://hackerapproved.com/p/dwarf-fortress/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).